Day 3: Wustrow - Waren

The third day was physically very tough and somewhat difficult in other ways too. The weather, as well as the scenery were still great.

Early morning.

I woke up earlier this morning and set myself a goal to cover 100 kilometers. My body soon disagreed strongly. As it happened, the terrain changed to more hilly. Already in the first uphill, my legs felt as if I had came 50 kilometers today. Not a good sign.

After around 25 kilometers, I faced another problem. I started to run out of water, but I found out that all services in these 10-house-villages were closed. Each one of them had a sign telling they wil lopen in April or May. Offseason difficulties. After searching through several villages, I finally found a place which was open. The old lady, who was running the place explained to me, that she keeps it open because the local police sometimes comes to eat lunch there. What an abundance of customers it must be! I ate there, bought a bottle of juice (in other words: all they had), and continued the journey.

In the afternoon I got lost again, just as yesterday. The reason was only my own risk taking. Tried to cut one kilometer by taking a shorter route. Obviously, I didn't find the right shorter route. Because this short route turned to a small path, and it was definitely not shorter! After ten kilometers of soft sand and stones (but also beautiful nature), I found my way back to the route. When I arrived in the town of Waren after three o'clock, I was exhausted.

Lost in a beautiful road, in the middle of nowhere.

According to my map, after Waren there is only one possible accommodation place for the next 40 kilometers. Asked in the local tourist info, if they know if that's open. They said sure it is, but I asked for the phone number of the hotel anyway, just to be sure. Decided not to take any more risks for today and called there immediately. "Sind sie geöffnet heute?" "Nein." Plain and simple. A good thing I called, otherwise it would have been a pretty long night biking.

So I found a nice youth hostel in Waren and stayed there for the night. I only got around 70 kilometers today, instead of the 100 I was planning, but I guess I needed the rest now more than kilometers. I also got some really good news at the end of the day. In the local bike store I found out that it is possible, after all, to install a rack in my bike! This means that tomorrow morning I will get most of the weight, if not all, from my back! Hurrah!

Sunset in Waren.