Today was another short but scenic ride. In fact it could have been done in around 25 km, but we stretched it out to 44 km by meandering along the way.

We followed the Wakenitz river as far as possible out of Lubeck, down to the west side of the Ratzeburger See.

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Sometimes the bike paths moved us away from the river. We were impressed to see some free range chickens living in mobile chicken houses, alongside the bike path. You can see one in the photo of Kris resting on a granite boulder below.

The path alongside the Ratzeburger See was very peaceful, and nice and cool under the trees.

We crossed over to the other side of the lake at Ratzeburg. Part of the town is on an island in the middle of the lake – reached by bridges on either side. We stopped and drank a beer at a beer garden on the island. It was very hot.

After shopping in the main Ratzeburg town (on east side of the lake), and eating an ice cream, we headed to Romnitz a few kilometres to the north. Our hotel is right on the lake, with some berths for yachts. There is nothing else nearby, apart from the next door camping ground. It was baking when we arrived. Our room was disappointing as it was very small and right at the top floor of the hotel – hot and hard to cool. We took a quick dip in the lake next to the yachts to try and cool off. The bottom was muddy and full of stones with a long shallow drop off, so not ideal for swimming.