Start:  Heiligenhafen 

Finish:  Puttgarden

Distance:  17

Total:  1828

Today I reached another major milestone. I completed my walk across Germany by reaching the Baltic coastal town of Puttgarden.  It was 642 miles across Germany and it took 42 days to walk it, with 4 of those days being days off. Tomorrow I take a short, 45 minute ferry ride across the Baltic Sea to Rodyhavn, Denmark, where I’ll start walking across my 5th European country.  

Today was a picture-perfect day to walk; partly cloudy skies and mid-60s temperatures. I walked along bike paths most of the day, and had a big bridge to cross from the German mainland onto Fehmarn Island at about the 7 mile mark. I followed a very narrow walking path along the traffic lanes of the bridge and shared the lane with bikers and walkers going in both directions on the bridge. Once I reached the far end of the bridge, there was a noticeable increase in the number of hikers, bikers, campers, and other vacation activities. Fehmarn Island is about 10 miles wide and is predominately farmland, but there is also a significant number of vacationers too. 

At lunch, I stopped in the town of Landkirchen, where I shared a picnic table with Hanelite and Will Hannore, a delightful German couple who were out riding two of those bicycles I mentioned yesterday that are assisted by an electric motor when the rider is peddling. I asked Hanelite about hers. She told me they’re called E-bikes. Specifically, I wanted to know how much one costs.  She thought for a second, and then said 3,500 Euros. I thought she misunderstood the question, or I misunderstood the answer. 3,500 Euros is $3,900 U.S..  I checked online when I finished the day and sure enough, they start at around $2,500 and go up from there. We talked for a while, even though Will spoke no English. Then they went peddling away on their two $3,900 E-bikes.

After lunch, my route took me winding through farmland on some back roads.  When I got about 30 minutes from my hotel, I saw a combine working it’s way through a wheat field and it looked like it would get very close to me just as I walked by the wheat field.  I’d been hoping for this ever since I started seeing this year’s crop being harvested. I pulled out my iPhone and took a video. You can see it by clicking on the video tab at the top of this page.  My friend Brad Johnson will be particularly happy that I made this video. 

Tonight’s hotel is right next to the ferry port. Tomorrow morning I’ll have a five minute walk to the terminal. The ferries run twice per hour. After I get to the Danish port, I need to convert some money from Euros to Danish Krone. In fact, all three of my remaining countries; Denmark, Sweden, and Norway; use their own currencies.  That will take some effort to keep straight. Then I’ve got a 17 mile walk to the town of Sakskobing, Denmark to spend the night. 

I think that about wraps up Day 121. Germany was great. I loved the scenery, food, climate, and especially the walking/bike trails. Now I’m looking forward to the last 30 days of this adventure. Thanks for reading. JB. 

Start:  Lensahn

Finish:  Heiligenhafer

Distance:  15

Total:  1811

Today’s 13 mile walk through north German farmland ended up being 15 miles due to my not trusting the walking route Google Maps had in mind. Instead of the shorter walking route that traversed some wheat fields and woods, I picked the longer bike route that followed paved roads for the most part. 

The day got started with breakfast at the hotel in Lubeck, then a 9:15 departure for a 45 minute train ride to Lensahn where I stopped walking yesterday. The train was packed until our stop in Sierksdorf where the amusement park is located. Then about half the passengers got off. 

My entire route today was along bike trails. With it being Sunday, there were a lot of people out riding their bikes. I’ve noticed it is very popular for couples, especially middle aged and older couples, to be out on bike rides. And I don’t mean a one or two mile ride around their neighborhood. I see couples riding miles from the nearest town. Also, there is a type of bike that is popular in Germany that has some kind of electrical motor, powered by a battery, that reduces the effort when you’re peddling. It does nothing if you’re not peddling. I asked a gentleman who had one about it. He said the battery would last about 100 kilometers on flat terrain. If the battery runs down, you’re on your own with no more help until you get the battery recharged. I don’t see very many young people with battery assisted bikes. 

Tonight’s town, Heiligenhafen, population 9100, is on the Baltic Coast and just opposite Fehmarn island. Tomorrow, I will walk across a bridge from the German mainland, then across  Fehmarn Island to my last town in Germany, Puttgarden. It will be about a 17 mile day. 

I hope everyone had a great weekend back in the USA. I’ve been watching coverage of the unfortunate situation in El Paso, and now that I’m back in my hotel room from eating dinner, I see there was a shooting incident in Ohio. Please keep those folks in your prayers. They need it.  JB. 

Start:  Sierksdorf

Finish:  Lensahn

Distance:  13

Total:  1796

Today was a short day, distance wise, but it took me most of the day to get it accomplished. 

The day started with checking out of the hotel where I’d spent three nights in Lubeck. I wanted to stay there another night, but they were booked full tonight so I had to check out, carry my belongings in my pack while I walked, and check in to another Lubeck hotel tonight. All this is necessary because the hotels in the towns I’ve been walking to for the last two days are full of vacationers. Therefore, I’ve been shuttling back and forth on the train to Lubeck where there are more hotels. 

I caught a train at 8:15 from Lubeck to Sierksdorf where I stopped walking yesterday. I only had 13 miles to walk so I got off the train at 8:45 and started walking to Lensahn where I needed to catch the train back to Lubeck at 2:00. That gave me about an extra hour of time to get there.  As it turned out, I needed all of that extra hour. 

First, I walked about three miles and came to the coastal town of Neustadt. As I walked through town, I noticed a bandstand and a very large number of temporary bleachers set up on the main square. There was nothing keeping me from entering, so I walked in to see what was going on. On the stage was an orchestra of about 75-100 members, and on the back of the stage was a banner announcing this was their annual Folklore Festival. Five minutes later, the orchestra started playing and a large number of the towns people were doing a folk dance. I pulled out my camera and made a video. It is posted under the video tab. 

After watching the folklore festivities for about 30 minutes, I headed on down the road, still with an extra 30 minutes left in my walking time to catch the train. When I got about a mile from the train station, it started to rain. Luckily, there was a covered bus stop, so I ducked under it for cover for another 20 minutes. At that point, I was looking at getting to the train station with only 10 minutes to spare. If I didn’t make it, I’d be waiting two hours for the next train. Well, I made it, and the train was right on time. So now I’m back in Lubeck for one last night. Tomorrow I’ll take the train back to Lensahn and leave Lubeck behind. 

That’s about all for this Saturday. Hope everyone’s day was as good as mine. JB. 

Start:  Sierksdorf

Finish:  Sierksdorf

Distance:  0

Total:  1783

Today was a day off in, spent in the Northern German town of Lubeck. I made a good decision when I decided to walk yesterday and take today off because it started raining about lunchtime and I would have been wet if I’d been on the road. 

Today served its useful purpose; I took a break and got some rest. I also went out to see the town by taking a bus tour.  Lubeck is just an amazing city. It doesn’t get the credit it’s due because it’s a little off the beaten path, but well worth the effort to see if you ever get the chance. 

Lubeck, a city of 216,000+, has an original old town built on an island, completely surrounded by the Trave River which flows into the Baltic Sea a few miles northeast of town. The island is about 1.5 miles long and less than one mile wide. In addition to the Trave River surrounding the old town, the 40 mile long Elbe-Lubeck canal, built in 1890, which connects the Elbe and Trave rivers, creates a waterway between the North Sea and Baltic Sea and passes through Lubeck. Because of its geographic location and the salt mines nearby, Lubeck became the leading trade center in Northern Europe between 1100 and 1400. During those three centuries, it was the capital of the Hanseatic League, a commercial and defensive confederation of Northern and Central European cities that dominated Baltic maritime trade for 300 years. It was also designated an Imperial Free City, basically allowing it to establish its own laws, and more importantly, enabling the city and its residents to get rich from taxes and tariffs collected on the merchandise traded through its port. 

The architecture in Lubeck is very Gothic and beautiful. At one time, entry to the city was restricted to four gates, of which two remain. The original island part of the city is dominated by seven churches with very tall steeples, the oldest of which was built in 1286. In addition, one of the oldest original buildings in town is the Hospital of the Holy Spirit, built in 1280.  

During WWII, Lubeck became the first German city to encounter significant allied bombing. An attack in March 1942 caused a firestorm in the old city that destroyed three of the nine historic churches.  After the war, Lubeck sat directly on the inner-German border between communist East Germany and free West Germany.  Most of the city sat on the free West German side of the border. Unfortunately, one of the city’s districts became part of East Germany. The northern most of only three official border-crossing points in all of Germany during the Cold War was in Lubeck. 

Lubeck spent decades rebuilding its historic old town after WWII, and today it is a major tourist attraction. There are plenty of hotels, many of which reside in original old town buildings. The climate is great during the summer months and it has the Baltic Coast beach town just a few miles away. With that, there are plenty of tourists in town, but nothing like the larger European cities. Lubeck has managed to keep its small town feel. 

Tomorrow, it’s back on the road for me. I have a 30 minute train ride back to where I stopped walking along the coast yesterday. I’ll walk about 15 miles, then catch the train back to Lubeck for one more night. That’s necessary because I couldn’t find a hotel along my route for tomorrow night.  I hope everyone has a great weekend.  JB. 

Start:  Lubeck

Finish:  Sierksdorf

Distance:  17

Total:  1783

What a great day of walking I had today. Fabulous weather, nice scenery, nothing but water in my backpack; it couldn’t have been any better. 

Yesterday, I mentioned that I didn’t know if I would be walking today or taking the day off. As it turned out, the weather forecast was for a nice day until late in the afternoon today, and a good chance of rain tomorrow. So with that, I got up, ate breakfast at the hotel, took everything out of my pack except water, and started walking north at 8:00. 

The town I was targeting for today was 17 miles away and had a train station along my route.  The plan was to walk to that town, catch the 2:30 train back to Lubeck and stay in the same hotel again tonight. As I was walking along, I saw on my phone that there was also a 1:30 train. If I hustled, I could possibly make the earlier departure. So I picked up the pace.  By about 12:00, I had made up enough time that I could catch the early train and even get a bite of lunch. 

I knew from studying my route that about the last four miles would be along the Baltic coastline, but had no idea what to expect once I got out of the farmland and onto the road along the beach.  I was walking along and knew I was getting close because the traffic was getting heavier. The road came to a T, and straight ahead was the Baltic Sea, along with thousands of vacationers. It was just like what you see in a popular U.S. beach town. Miles and miles of beachfront homes, condos, hotels, restaurants, and vendors renting umbrellas, sail boats, bicycles, and all the rest. I could also see a large amusement park in the distance. I could easily see why I’ve been unable to get a room in any of these beach towns this week; they were packed and it’s not even the weekend. It appears this stretch of the German Coast is a very popular summer destination. 

After walking about four miles along the German version of a boardwalk, which was actually a paved pedestrian walkway, and stopping at a beach cafe for some brats, I turned back inland for about a mile and found the train station with 10 minutes to spare. I took the train back to Lubeck where I started walking this morning, which took all of about 20 minutes, and now I’m back at the same hotel for a second night. I’ll actually be here again tomorrow night after taking a day off tomorrow. 

All-in-all, it was a great Thursday.  I hope yours was just as good. JB. 

Start:  Bad Oldesloe

Finish:  Lubeck

Distance:  15

Total:  1766

This morning I needed to make a decision on whether to walk today or take a day off due to the weather. I woke up when the sun came up at 4:30, looked outside, and it was raining straight down. I went back to sleep and woke up again at 7:00 and it had stopped raining. I looked at the weather on my iPad and the radar looked like the rain had moved through. I looked at the hourly forecast and it predicted rain again starting at 12:00 noon. With 15 miles to walk, it would normally take me five hours. So I quickly jumped up and got ready. 

I left the hotel at 7:45 after quickly eating breakfast and checking out. Because it had been raining all night, I was skeptical about the first part of my route that looked like a dirt trail, so I walked a little out of the way and stuck with the paved bike path. Also, google maps had me walking on the highway for about a mile rather than follow the bike path through a town along the way. I once again followed the bike path rather than walk in the wet ditch along the highway. All together, these two diversions added a mile to my day. 

When I was within about three miles of my destination, it started to sprinkle. It was just heavy enough that I needed to cover my pack, but not my body. It continued to rain lightly until I got into Lubeck, my destination for the day. 

I’ll have more to say about Lubeck over the next couple of days, but it is an amazing old medieval German town built on an island in the middle of the Trave River which flows into the Baltic Sea. It is one of Germany’s major ports, and is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.  At one time, the city could only be entered via one of four gates, of which two remain. I walked into town through one of those, the Holstentor Gate, built in 1478. 

Tomorrow I have to make another decision on whether to walk or take a day off. If I walk, I will take the train back here at the end of the day and take my day off Friday. Either way, I look forward to seeing the sites in this very old and historic town. 

That’s it for today. It’s raining outside now, as forecast, and 68 degrees. No need for air conditioning here!  I hope it stays that way. JB. 

Start:  Ahrensburg 

Finish:  Bad Oldesloe

Distance:  13

Total:  1751

Today was an easy 13 mile day that got started late due to weather but I still finished in the early afternoon. 

It rained all night last night and was still coming down steady when I looked outside at about 7:00 this morning.  I looked at the hourly forecast, which predicted the rain would stop by 9:00. With that in mind, I rolled over and slept another hour. After a great breakfast at the hotel, and the rain had stopped, I hit the road at 9:30 under cloudy skies and a temperature in the low 60s. Luckily, there was a bike trail along the road so I wasn’t getting splashed by passing cars and trucks. 

At about 11:30 I walked through a small town with a grocery store so I stopped and had a sandwich from their deli for lunch. After that, it was only two more hours to my destination of Bad Oldesloe. This is a one hotel town, and the accommodations are nothing to write home about, so I won’t. 

Tomorrow I’ve got 14 miles to walk into Lubeck. However, there’s a 90% chance of thunderstorms all day tomorrow.  I plan to walk, but my backup bad weather plan is to take the train from here to Lubeck tomorrow and take the rest of the day off. Then take the train back out here Thursday, which is my scheduled day off, and walk to Lubeck. We’ll see how it shakes out tomorrow morning. 

Finally, I looked hard today for something to photograph that might be interesting. I struck out on that. So this afternoon, I went looking around this little town for something to take a picture of. I struck out there too. Finally, I refuse to post a picture of the hotel I’m staying in tonight because it’s too embarrassing. Therefore, no photo will be posted with tonight’s journal. JB. 

Start:  Harburg 

Finish:  Ahrensburg

Distance:  21

Total:  1738

Today I was able to maneuver myself through and around the very busy city of Hamburg without getting run over by bicycles, cars, trucks, trains, and city busses.  There are 5.1M residents in and around Hamburg and I think I saw a good portion of them sometime today. 

The weather forecast was calling for rain and thunderstorms starting at 1:00 and heavy thunderstorms at 2:00 today. I had a full 21 miles to walk, which normally takes 7 hours, plus stops. So I got up early, ate breakfast at the hotel as soon as it was offered at 6:30, and I was out the door at 6:45.  Google Maps had me zigzagging all over eastern Hamburg so I kept a close eye on the route on my phone. All 21 miles except the last 5-6 were on the sidewalks of city streets. By lunchtime I was about a half hour ahead of schedule and felt confident that if the weather forecast was accurate, I would make it to my destination before the rain started.  I made the decision to press on without stopping for lunch, and opted instead to just get a soda and wait until I got to my destination of Ahrensburg before eating. It all worked out, I got to town at 1:15, went to my hotel to check in, and it began to rain. So I missed out on lunch but will go eat dinner early. 

Before typing this journal entry, I started firming up my lodging plan between here and the border of Denmark which I will reach next Tuesday. Unfortunately, most of the remaining German towns I’m walking through are along the Baltic coast, and this being prime vacation season in Europe, I’m having a little difficulty finding places to stay. I may have to take the train back and forth and stay in some hotels multiple nights. 

Tomorrow’s a fairly easy 13 mile day, so I think I’ll take my good ole easy time getting on the road tomorrow; no 6:30 AM breakfast for me. I hope everyone has a great day. JB. 

Start: Handeloh 

Finish:  Harburg

Distance:  18

Total:  1717

Today I had a very nice Sunday walk into the suburbs of Hamburg; specifically the town of Harburg.

The day got started with a great breakfast (any breakfast that includes real cooked American bacon is a great breakfast).  As I said yesterday, Handeloh was just a very small community so after leaving the hotel, I was immediately out in the countryside. My first 2-3 miles were along a gravel footpath beside the railroad tracks, then I got onto the bike trail running along the highway. I went through several midsized towns with people out and about on a Sunday morning. The pastry and coffee shops were especially busy. 

By lunch I was halfway through my day and against my better judgment, I stopped and ate at a McDonald’s. Sometimes you just have to get something besides the local quinine. Also at lunch, I changed socks, which I always do, but today I brought out my brand new pair of shoes. I’ve been carrying a new pair in the bottom of my pack, knowing I’d wear out two pair of shoes on this part of the walk. So today I decided the first pair were finished and it was time for the new ones. I got 725 miles out of the first pair and I have about 600 miles left to walk so I should be good. 

The traffic got a little busier after lunch, but as always, there were no trucks out on this Sunday.  It didn’t really matter anyway because I had a bike trail and sidewalks all afternoon. 

So now I’m in the edge of Hamburg.  I’m not going to actually walk through the center of the city because it’s quite a bit off my route.  But a few facts about Hamburg anyway. It’s Germany’s second largest city at 1.8M. Only Berlin is bigger. The metropolitan area actually has about 5.1M. Hamburg is also Europe’s third largest port, though it doesn’t sit directly on the North Sea.  The River Elbe creates Hamburg’s deep sea port and it’s route to the sea. 

Hamburg’s history is far too diverse and interesting for me to cover here, but between disease outbreaks, fires, floods, and wars, particularly WWII, Hamburg is an amazing example of resilience. 

Tomorrow I make a turn northeast and make a beeline for the Baltic Coast.  I hope everyone’s weekend was a good one. Mine was. JB. 

OBTW:  I’ve gotten several requests to post pictures of some of the local food I’ve enjoyed. So below I’ve posted my first food picture.  I hope you like it.

Start:  Soltau

Finish:  Handeloh

Distance:  19

Total:  1699

Today’s walk from Soltau to Handeloh was one of unexpected surprises. 

The walking day got started after breakfast at the hotel at 8:30. The route was excellent with a bike path to follow right out of town. I’d walked 4-5 miles and could see a small town coming up. I also began to see random people walking and bicycling into town, and they were all dressed alike; black shoes, black pants, white dress shirt, and the men and some women were wearing the same type hat.  At first they looked very much like a religious group on the way to church. However, from what I’ve observed and discussed a few days ago about the lack of religious gatherings, I had my doubts. As I got into the edge of this very small town, named Heber, I then saw a few people also dressed the same way, carrying musical instruments and forming up on the sidewalk. I crossed the road and approached what was obviously a small marching band and asked if anyone spoke English. One girl said yes and I asked her what was going on. She said they were members of the local shooting club and today they were having a meeting. A few seconds later the drum major blew her whistle and they started playing and marching down the sidewalk to the meeting place. I could hardly get my camera out quick enough. I captured the playing on video and will post it when I have a faster WiFi connection.

When I got within about four miles of today’s destination, I noticed Google Maps had me getting off the nice bike path and onto another trail that cut through the woods to my hotel. As always, when the route goes through heavy woods, you can’t actually tell by looking at the image what the trail consists of. It can be anything from an actual paved road to a gravel road to today’s surprise; a grown over old logging road that had no signs of traffic in years. This was not the way I wanted to end my day, but the alternative was an extra three mile walk on the bike trail. I reluctantly followed the new route into the woods and made it out safe and sound four miles later. So I found the hotel in Handeloh, which wasn’t hard to do because it’s the largest building in this town of 2400. Everyone online talks nicely about the hotel restaurant. I’m about to go find out for myself. 

Tomorrow I will be walking 18 miles to Hamburg’s southeast suburbs. After tomorrow night’s stay, I make a right turn to the northeast and don’t actually walk through Hamburg. I am down to one week remaining in Germany. I hope everyone back home has a great weekend!  JB.