From Baabe to Greifswald

This day was tough. We knew that we would almost certainly get wet, as a broad rain front was due to move across the country from west to east by midday at the latest. There was a small hope that we would at least reach the Gliwice ferry dry. There were several reasons why this didn't work out. Firstly, we were much too slow in the stormy headwind. We also didn't realise that we had to use a small ferry at the beginning of the route. The ferry didn't start operating until 9 a.m. But we were there 20 minutes earlier because we had made a special effort to leave. Secondly, the rain front came much earlier than expected. So we put on our rain gear and pedalled happily southwards, over hilly terrain, an extremely strong headwind and rain that was getting heavier by the minute. About 5 km before the ferry, we came across a group of cyclists, one of whom shouted something to us that I didn't quite understand, but I thought I heard the word "to". With a bad feeling, I stopped at the next place where it was somewhat protected from the rain and looked on Google for current information about the ferry. It actually said that the ferry had stopped operating for today due to a storm. So we had to change our plans. Since we had already booked our accommodation in Greifswald, we had no choice but to drive to Stralsund and from there take the train to Greifswald. That also meant continuing against the stormy west wind with constant rain. When we finally arrived at Stralsund station, the rain stopped and the sun even came out. We quickly discarded a brief thought of cycling to Greifswald because of our wet clothes. When we arrived in Greifswald, chaos ensued again. When I got out, I noticed that my rear wheel was flat - the very first time during what was probably almost a 10,000 km bike tour. We wanted to try pumping it up again to see if it would hold air. Unfortunately, the air pump that I had taken with me on all my bike tours (and never used) was broken. Thank God we were in Greifswald and not somewhere in the middle of nowhere, so Dietrich rode his bike to the nearest hardware store and bought an air pump. In the meantime, a nice cyclist had lent me his pump and I had tried to pump up the tire - in vain. It was clear that we had to repair it. So first we tried to locate the hole and patch it. We actually managed to do the first, but then the patch failed because the vulcanizing compound from the repair kit had dried out. But no problem, I had a spare tube with me. I quickly removed the rear wheel and removed the old tube. The next problem - the valve on my spare tube didn't fit through the hole in the rim. So I rode Dietrich's bike to the hardware store again and bought both a new repair kit and a new tube. It was then extremely laborious to really pump up the tire properly with the newly purchased pump. But it was enough to get to our hotel. Now it's time to focus on drying management.

PS There are no pictures of the rain