30 From Harsefeld to Sommerland - Sun, Elbe beach and: Circus!

After the rainy day gone, my motivation was suddenly back with the sun! My host gave me a great tip for a beautiful route along the railway instead of the federal highway, and as a farewell gift, I even got a small kohlrabi from the garden. A thousand thanks for another amazing Warmshowers experience :)

The next major town on my route was Stade. I deliberately decided to skip Hamburg or pass it to the west, as I spent longer there in January and September last year, and also spent a few days in Bremen and was drawn back to nature.

In Stade, I actually wanted to have a cozy breakfast in a café, but even at the organic bistro, it was a real challenge to find something vegan... I expected more from the hometown of one of my favorite food bloggers :D The old town was still beautiful to look at, so I didn't leave until around noon.

I followed the Elbe towards Wischhafen, where a ferry crosses the quite wide river. But of course, in between, I had to take advantage of the great weather on the Elbe beach and answer some of the many messages :)

So then I crossed the Elbe to Glückstadt and from there, I still had a good way to go to my destination for the day: The Ubuntu Youth Circus.

I found out about it from my hostess in Emmerich, because as you may remember, her son was at the circus boarding school there and is currently involved in the circus project as well.

When I arrived, everyone was sitting at dinner in the large dining tent, which was set up around a truck trailer that houses the kitchen.

After dinner, I got a tour of the grounds, saw the training hall, the tractors that pull the wagons when the circus goes on tour, the workshop where a new toilet wagon is being built, and the wagons that were and will soon be used for the circus boarding school (the project had been temporarily suspended because the cases had become too difficult).

Normally, there are up to 80 artists involved with the circus, who meet for training every Saturday and go on tour through 7 cities in northern Germany in August. This makes Ubuntu the only traveling youth circus in Germany. Due to Corona, the tour is canceled this year, and there is only a small project with about 20 participants and 2 shorter performances. Therefore, the circus is also missing any income, and everyone hopes and worries that it will continue next year. If you want to know more and maybe even support, there is also a website: https://www.ubuntu.de

I was allowed to attend the evening closing session and then fall into bed in one of the circus wagons.

What you experience on a bike trip ;)