Last of three proper cycling days. Got up early and hit the road. First the track went along an amazing stretch of burnt forest, half submerged in the lagoon, even complete with a viewing tower.
After that came the only hard to ride bit of the tour, with a two kilometre long stretch of sand and gravel that had me pushing my bike at some parts.
There is the option to take a small ferry, which takes about 10 Minutes on the water and shaves around 40 kilometres off the total tour, as it crosses straight over the lagoon instead of having to ride along the lagoon and then back the way you came on the other side of the lagoon. But I kept on pedalling, deciding I wanted to complete the full tour. So I went the long way round and soon was driving through the tiny villages of Usedom.
The bike path leads away from the main road, which is a good idea as the main road had me hunker down and pedal for dear life as caravans and lorries passed me with A-Road speeds. The small roads never seemed to run in a straight line, instead weaving back and forth, the quality of the tarmac being quite shoddy in places but at least it was much more relaxing then the main road.
As I hit the east part of Usedom (near the polish boarder running dividing the island) I only had to drive a few kilometres north in order to finally stand looking at the Baltic Sea. But the last kilometres really got the best of me, as the road turned into a muddy track running through the woods. Never thought an island could be that hilly but I fought my way up and down a dozen inclines.
Finally I arrived at the town of Seebad Ahlbeck and headed for the Pier to have a nice view out to sea.
After taking an arrival picture I cycled west along the coast, steep in some parts to head to my campsite for the night, which I found at the Naturcampingplatz near Ückeritz after a 100 Kilometres of biking that day.
This was a huge campsite, very narrow but long, and I set up my tent far away from other people and headed off to the beach to christen my bike with some sand and salty air. I even had a treat for myself, bought in the supermarket in Prenzlau.
Pretty good G&T, although it really gets to your head after a day of active pedalling.
To treat myself even more I hit the fish restaurant on the premises of the campsite and had a well-deserved fish-supper after the disgusting ready-meals of the previous evenings.
The big church in Prenzlau’s city center
Easy riding
Unpleasant sight as soon as I hit the federal state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Seemed to be the village’s Nazi meeting point.
View of the lagoon
That’s what you call a tail-heavy bike!
What a sunset!
The workhorse, functioning flawlessly until now.
