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.
