From Langeloh to Blankenese

Sunday, June 21, 2020

After this restless night with little sleep, it drives me out of my sleeping bag very early...still the big question mark in my head, where I ended up here. No one in sight...that's reassuring.

I pack up my stuff, everything is wet and full of crawlies... ants, small spiders and whatever else crawls on the ground. I try to pack everything as dry and clean as possible. It's uncomfortably cold, my fingers are already numb. Yuck...I hate the cold🙈 I cheer myself up: If I pedal hard now, I will surely warm up. And so I ride along B 3, straight ahead for kilometers. Coffee would be nice now...but no suitable stop in sight. After 15 kilometers, there's finally a parking lot with a table and two benches😅 Just made for me😊

I reach Hamburg Finkenwerder. The Elbe is in low tide, I can see Blankenese across. A friendly couple has settled down for a snack break, and we start talking. The man tells me about the airport here that was built by Airbus, how people were expropriated from their properties and real estate here, and last but not least about the runway that displaced nature and is now no longer used. A sad story🙁

On the other side of the water, I see a beautiful sandy beach. Now a swim in the Elbe and a little sunbathing would be perfect. After a few hundred meters, I arrive at a boat dock and find out that a ship will leave here in a few minutes heading to Blankenese. Well, my afternoon is already planned! Despite the low tide, we can still cross. I enjoy the ride and the beautiful landscape. Once in Blankenese, I head straight towards the sandy beach. Wonderful...my feet in the warm sand, the sun shining on my belly. A few people are wading in the Elbe. Well...the water isn't clean, it has a brownish color...probably from the sand🤭 Whatever...it won't be that bad...into the tide... It's refreshingly cool. That feels good in the heat.

Right nearby is a beautiful campsite. This is where I spend the night, my tent in the sand under the trees. A dream😇