Schneverdingen

To Schneverdingen, Germany -- 36.4 miles, 12.0 mph, 750 ft

For the first time in what seemed like ages, it was a clear, dry morning. I almost suggested we stay a second night, but we’d already paid for two nights at a hostel in Hamburg starting tomorrow, and the 70 miles was more than I wanted to tackle in one day.

Nevertheless, we spent a couple hours doing some overdue trip planning -- emails to Mike & Ely about meeting up in London and Paris, message to Cam about our visit to Oslo….  We also made the final decision to skip Iceland -- flights ended up being much more than expected, plus we didn’t want to short change Sweden and Norway.  The kids, of course, were nowhere to be seen.  Happy as clams, they were playing on paddle boards and jumping on the trampoline until we dragged them away.

All this planning led to a new late start record: 12:25 p.m! I almost laughed when the woman at the reception office asked where we were going next, and we replied, “Schneverdingen.”  We’ve decided that this is how an old, bespectacled German would explain a cracked bell -- “Schneverdingen!”

The first part of the route put us on a couple miles of sandy, dirt road right next to a military training base. Even with our wider tires, an inch of sand was enough to totally thwart our progress. A little walking, however, fixed the situation, and we were soon back on paved roads.

Despite the late start, we stopped fairly early to shop in the small town of Bergen and had an uninspiring lunch in the parking lot. In contrast to other days, there were very few turns on today’s route to distract or change up the scenery.  To add insult to injury, Kylie decided she was in no mood for times tables -- party pooper!

I messed up a little on the navigation this afternoon (sigh).  Although Miss Cranky (Komoot) has the advantage for bike route planning, it turns out Miss Google is way friendlier, more informative, and her German pronunciation is tons better. Not only that, her database of locations is gigantic, (unlike Miss Cranky’s). As a result, I inevitably turn to Miss Google for extra assistance at the end of the day to get to precisely the final destination.  Today, I waited a little too long to get her advice, and we ended up with a few extra miles. Needless to say, Team Yellow was not thrilled.

The crowds definitely seem to be increasing.  Tonight’s campground was buzzing with activity as we rolled in, lot’s of kids on bikes as well as big four wheeled pedal cars available for rent. We quickly abandoned the hard packed dirt spot next to a couple RVs and a giant tent that we were showed initially and instead found a grassy spot around the side of the petting zoo with its chickens, rabbits, and goats.

Once again, we enjoyed a nice dinner in the camp restaurant. Dex and Kylie lost no time afterwards scampering off to the playground and trampoline, so Meg and I secretly ordered a slice of apple strudel.  What they don't know won't hurt them.

At 10:00, I finally rounded them up. You’d have thought I asked Dex to eat a bucket of broccoli when I requested he wash off, “I just showered yesterday!” but there was no way those dirt smeared legs and feet were going into the tent. If you can judge a day by the amount of dirt on your feet, then this, definitely, was a good one.