Today we moved away from the Elbe (and the Elbe cycle trail) onto local bike paths, as indicated on the Phone Maps app. The first section of the route, until Glöwen was alongside the road and easy. Then we turned off onto a bike path to Klein Leppin, and suddenly it became very difficult – on sandy roads through the woods. We decided to try changing our route when we crossed a quiet tar sealed road, which had few cars.

This road was really good for a while but unfortunately it didn’t last. The new road took us through Vehlin, Schönhagen, Döllen and Dannewalde. At Dannewalde the bike path turned really ugly again, with large cobbles and sand for a couple of kilometres to Schonebeck. When we emerged onto a main road (B103), we took it in exasperation for a smooth 12 km run into Pritzwalk. However, I was reminded that it is not really pleasant riding with cars overtaking at some speed every now and then, even if they give you enough space.

Pritzwalk was the largest town on our route, it was after midday so we stopped at a supermarket cafe /bakery for some coffee and cake. From here we were back on our planned route and the roads were generally good – we found cycle paths along roads or shared with cars on quiet roads.

The scenery was largely wheat fields, big sky, lazily turning wind turbines and small towns with neat brick houses. Every now and then we would met a big tractor or harvester on one of the more remote roads.

We enjoyed seeing some gliders taking off and landing on a field at Kammermark. There was a very gentle wind and it appeared to be ideal conditions.

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The one exception to the good roads on the second half of our journey was a few kilometres between Grabow and Frehne, which were very difficult again with cobbles and sand. This is particularly hard on the arms and hands and also not very good for the bikes.

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From Frehne we had a easy run to Meyenburg. In all we rode 77 km from Havelberg to Meyenburg through gently undulating landscape.

Apart from patchy and sometimes difficult cycle roads, another frustration was that the odometer would not reset. Kris tried to re-set it in the evening by removing the battery and now it doesn’t work at all. So we will have to find a bike shop again to buy another odometer.

The hotel in Meyenburg is called the Eisenbahnromantik hotel (romantic railway hotel) and is next to the railway line. There is a large historic steam locomotive out back (Dampflok BR 50 334, first in service on 25.05.1940) and the decor has a nostalgic railway theme. Our bikes are stored in a secure carriage on the train! There is a large cherry tree in the front of the hotel, which has really tasty ripe cherries at the moment.

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The rooms are beautifully decorated and we were upgraded to a huge suite after Kris made a comment about the road traffic noise.

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We had a good time in the afternoon drinking beer and chatting with the staff member on duty who has travelled in New Zealand a lot. We also had a good meal in the hotel restaurant in the evening.

We had another big storm with lots of thunder and lightening in the night – this seems to be a pattern for the weather, after hot muggy days.