Neuland to Hamburg, Germany

My friends in Neuland, at breakfast

The Elbe

Something I've only seen in Germany: a combined car and bike dealership
This is half as big as one I saw the day before yesterday, and in both cases, the car and bike sections were almost the same size!

Hamburg is about 80 km from Neuland, up the river Elbe. I chose an indirect route because I wanted to come into Hamburg from the south, not the west, and I rode 62 miles and climbed 600 feet in about six hours. Having looked at detailed local maps after I got here, I think I could have saved at least 15 km with a more direct route. On the other hand, I rode into town, stopped at an internet/phone place to check my email, and rode, almost directly, to my friends home. I would have had a much harder time finding email access and my friends house if I had taken the direct route.

My friends joined me for a good breakfast at 7:30 and I got on the road about 8:30. It was another beautiful day in northern Germany. The road I started on, and road quite a bit today, had no shoulders and moderate traffic near Neuland. The shoulders were bumpy but, if I slowed down, rideable. I had lots of time, so slowing down wasn't a big deal.

A rural section of D 73 near Neuland

I rode the bike lane next to D 73 through a series of small towns until I was near Stade, the big city in these parts. The road I thought was the one I wanted to continue on, turned out to end at the Elbe, but it was really nice riding and I got some good images of the Elbe so I didn't mind. Then I crosses a draw bridge and rode the Elbe Radweg for the next 10 km or so.

Before I reached that radweg, I had visited with a Dutch couple who had just ridden the Elbe from its headwaters in the Czech Republic to near its end. The Elbe Radweg section that I rode was nice riding. After I left it, I stopped in a small city to get a baugette and pastries. I haven't been seeing baugettes in Germany, so I really enjoyed that very fresh, but short lived bread - and in Jork to eat lunch.

The road to the Elbe

The draw bridge

Looking at my map, I decided to go through Buxtehude on my way to getting back on D 73. That was a mistake. I should have ridden south from Jork to B 73 instead. Buxtehude is nice, but I couldn't find the road I was looking for going south, so I had to keep riding east through this city to get on D 73. D 73 in this part of Germany is a busy highway, but it has a good bike road. From B 73, I went south on B 3 to B 75 some 15 km south of Hamburg, then rode north on B 75. This was all OK to nice riding and it felt like I was coming home.

A thatched roof house in Harburg on my way to my friends house

Once in Harburg, the southern most part of Hamburg, I got on Bremmer Str. and head for Harburg's centrum. I knew an internet cafe there and I needed to check my email to find out when my friends would be home. I discovered a internet/phone place on Bremmer Str. and checked my email for .25 E. Then rode to friends home. They weren't home, but they returned a few minutes after I arrived. It is good to be 'home' in Hamburg!

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