Sharon’s awesome summary of our crazy trip can be found here in the Otago Daily Times.

Or read  the ‘Daily Encourager‘ article.

Photos from the trip can be viewed here.

My video blog can be viewed at my You tube channel.

More updates will arrive during the year. It is my hope to write the story in book form and to produce a photo album; both to be sold on Amazon.

Day 7.

It was time to move on and do some serious afternoon cycling on our shrinking tummies. We had found our way on to a good cycle-path and were making good time through seaside wind, when suddenly Sharon disappeared. I looked over my shoulder and Sharon was gone; upon a more thorough examination she could be seen sitting slightly down a bank with her head in her hands. Perhaps leaving sulking Ahrenshoop was harder than I thought. I turned around and cycled back to her, dumped my bike, sat beside a now crying Sharon and asked her what was wrong? She told me she couldn’t go on anymore. I very quickly worked out that she was ‘bonking’. Yes I said ‘bonking’, it is a cycling term for ‘total exhaustion caused by a lack of sufficient food during a prolonged stretch of riding’. Basically two things happen: 1. you really miss your mama and 2. your body just closes down. I had never seen someone bonk before and never knew that it could happen so quickly, this was a fascinating experience for me to witness. I am not sure Sharon felt the same way. We still had a few musli bars in our bag, so I shoved as many of these at Sharon as she could bear. It was just enough to enable her to struggle on to the forlorn town of Dierhagen. Sharon was still totally overwhelmed and ignored my plea to just walk into the first restaurant she found and order as much food as she could. I had to stand back and watch her suffer her way from overpriced tourist-trap to expensive restaurant in search of the more economical choice. She settled on dear kiosk cooked pancakes and within minutes of filling up returned to her usual cycle worn chirpy self.

For the second time this miserable day we skipped town. Because we had been free camping and saving money, because of the threat of rain and because we were ahead of schedule, we decided not to camp and to head to the rather pretty town of Graal-Müritz to look for a B&B. We tried a number of places only to be met with the German growl. The sign ‘Zimmer Frei’ in my experience seems to mean ‘go away stinky tour-cyclists’. I probably need to forgive a few middle-aged frumpy frowning housewives. Just as the rain started falling we stumbled upon a pub called Deutsches Haus that was advertising rooms. It didn’t look good, but by now we were desperate and looking for the camping-ground. The bar was mostly a smokey room of men drinking beer and watching a World War Two movie. I walked up to the bar to be greeted by a rather robust sturdy woman who was friendly and happy to show us her rooms. The place was rather expensive and not flash, but was clean, dry and had a place to lock up our bikes, so we took it.

The early evening was being drizzled with a steady supply of rain, our top priorities were a shower and feed. Fortunately the bathroom did not have smoke detectors and we were able to cook our noodles whilst sitting on the closed toilet. We finished off the evening sitting on our slightly unclean beds watching American Open tennis.

It was a great start to the day and a pleasant end, most of the stuff in-between could simply be described as character building.

All up we probably clocked over about 72km. For some reason my record keeping has failed me a little here, I will have to do better next trip.

Introduction
Day 1 – Setting Sail
Day 2 – Training, part 1
Day 2 – Training, part 2
Day 3 – New Expectations, part 1
Day 3 – New Expectations, part 2
Day 4 – Cobbles, part 1
Day 4 – Cobbles, part 2
Day 5 – Each Other, part 1
Day 5 – Each Other, part 2
Day 6 –  A Sprocket of a Day, part 1
Day 6 –  A Sprocket of a Day, part 2
Day 7 – Bonking, part 1
Day 7 – Bonking, part 2
Day 7 – Bonking, part 3
Day 8 – Time Keeping
Day 9 – Homeward 
Day 10 – I Love Germany

For those of you who are unaware of our future plans, we are about to embark on a wee adventure. During 2017 we will be riding our bicycles across the USA and Canada.

For more info click on the map below.

niveous mist wisps and winds through steeples tall, along
cobbles flat and up your trouser leg. women cower on buses
clutching

                      gloves and bags. Michelin kids slip and slide
wide-eyed tasting skies of their failing flaying youth

the haves shop until they drop and have-nots drop at the shop
collecting alms doing no harm, but spoiling foiling illusions of
‘good tidings for you and your kin’

street windows, flat screens, screaming wars, on the hour every
hour, Aleppo letting go

downloaded and freeloaded an aroma kicks the coma. Coffee to
see, to set free, my tunes, iTunes, oh it’s such A Beautiful Life.

a cross on a spire, a flurry, a story, an electric fire. Santa calls,
snow falls, the barista waits, Jesus weeps

daylight sleeps, darkness creeps, chills spill, dammit this planet
stops a spinning, no one’s winning, no one notices

Christmas          effortless meaningless, unless of course your horse,
your saviour entered this tragically, magically juxtaposed hard-
nosed space & place

to rescue men [and possibly women too] from their sorrowful
pitiful sinful ways

              this Yuletide faze, this yearly craze,
                                it’s rather a random kingdom
                                                               niveous haze

For more photos from our cycle tour of Germany, Denmark and Sweden click here.

Just for those interested.

Name: GEPIDA ALBOIN 300 PRO (2011)
Code: 30110340
Frame: GEPIDA HYDROFORMING – 6061 ALLOY
Fork: RST RF-M7
Headset: GEPIDA INTEGRATED
Handlebar: PANTHER CREDO 2006 STANDARD
Handlebar stem: GEPIDA MTS-C299N ALLOY
Crankset: SHIMANO FC-M4000 40-30-22T – 175 MM
Bottom Bracket: BB-ES300 68mm/BC137 – 118MM
Rear Cassette: ACSHG418134 11-34/ 8 SPEED
BB parts: KINEX BLEPS MONOBLOCK
Front derailleur: SHIMANO TX-51
Rear derailleur: SHIMANO ALIVIO
Shifting lever: SHIMANO ST-EF51
Brake: GEPIDA TX-117 V-BRAKE
Brake lever: SHIMANO ST-EF51
Hub: SHIMANO HUBDYNAMO
Rear hub: GEPIDA ALLOY 36H
Spoke: STEEL BLACK
Rims: RODI SKORPION CNC 36H
Outer tyre: SCHWALBE MARATHON PLUS SMARTGUARD RIGID ROAD TYRE. 40-622. 28X1.50 700X38C. SMARTGUARD HS440, B/B+RT. ART NO 11100770 [not pictured]
Peddles: SHIMONO SPD CLIP
Light: AXA PIC-030
Rear light: B&M DELAYED
Saddle: BROOKS ENGLAND, C17 CAMBIUM CARVED SADDLE, SLATE
Seat tube: POST MODERN SUSPENSION 27.2X300 MM
Kickstand: GEPIDA STANDARD
Second kickstand: KTM
Water bottle cages: ELITE CUSTOM RACE, BLUE – BLACK
Frame size: MAN:48cm 52cm 56cm
Original Weight: 16kg
Wheel Size: 28”