Distance: 41.5 mph

Time: 3:46

Average Speed: 11.02 mph

Elevation Gain: 846 feet

The day started well when a kind Austrian man from the neighbouring pitch brought over a cup of coffee, to the picnic table where I was hunkering down in amongst my layers eating a little breakfast. ‘I used to do the cycling he said, and I thought you could use a cup’. On this occasion he had been travelling with his wife and a caravan, all the way up to the Lofoten islands in Norway, and they were now on their way home.

The weather worsened before it improved and there were regular showers and strong gusting winds all morning, so I sat it out a while, having a lunch consisting of a donner kebab box from the campsite restaurant, before setting off at half past 1, with the sun starting to make an appearance.

Yet to reach the German mainland, I was on the small island of Fehmarn, which was attached to the mainland by a bridge. Looking at the route to get there, I was a little dismayed, it ignored the direct path taken by the main road, and swung round by the small town of Burg auf Fehmarn en route, my dismay diminishing rapidly on arrival, the small town square was picture-postcard perfect with rows of tall trees and chunky cobbled streets.

Continuing onwards towards the bridge, I found the steeply-sloped pedestrian access ramp to be closed off at the bottom, but there was just enough room to get past, so I went for a better look. As I climbed, the view opened up with extensive views up and down the coast, and was worth the climb, even when I reached the top to find the cycle path on that side of the bridge was definitely closed with three additional barriers forming a blockade. Furthermore, there wasn’t a cycle path on the other side, it was reserved for a train track.

Doubling back, my onwards progress seemed to have hit a snag, however, Google Translate was available to lend a hand, truffling out the relevant information from the warning notice at the bottom of the ramp. It appeared there was a scheduled shuttle bus leaving the small village of Avendorf, some 2 km back, and when I scanned a QR code on the sign, it downloaded me the timetable. There was one in half an hour.

Safely dispatched, with my bike – and several other shuttle service users – at Grossenbrode Nord, I now had some time to make up, so plotted a route to Oldenburg in Holstein, before quickly becoming unstuck when the bike suitable route led me around a crescent-shaped bay on an unsuitably bumpy beachside path.

Back on the road, it was clear that the strong winds were going to be an issue along this stretch, I was now trending west as I headed inland, the wind sapping my strength.

Stopping briefly in Neukirchen, I had no idea how new the church actually was, moreso preoccupied with the strong gusting physical barrier to me reaching today’s target campsite in Eutin, still over 20 miles away.

When I did eventually arrive in Oldenburg, I was running low on energy, and feeling chilled by the wind, so when I looked at the map once more, and realised that I probably should have taken the route nearer the east coast via Neustadt and Lübeck, and then considered the fact that if I made for Neustadt now, it would be trending downhill, and with a slight wind advantage, I jumped at the thought.

So, after popping into the supermarket for a few focaccia and pastries, I was off in a new direction, and, buoyed by the significantly easier progress, I made short shrift of the remaining 15 miles, arriving in Neustadt at just after 7, and, third time lucky in finding a campsite with an open reception, I grabbed a beer from the shop and soaked in the sea views.

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