Distance: 132 km
Elevation: 425 m
Today was adventure day. I got to “work” around 9am after some nice chats with my tent neighbors. all cyclists.
Then I went to Schmagerow, a tiny place where two colleagues, Anne and Hannes, live. They had invited me to stay over but now where traveling somewhere else because I am ahead of schedule. At least I wanted to see there beautiful place.
Then I wanted to find the Oder-Neiße bike path again. Sound easy, but in this area the path no longer follows the river Oder and is also not too well prepared. So, I managed to miss it and found the German Polish border instead – in the middle of nowhere.
My bike on the picture is partially in Germany and partially also in Poland.
The problem was, that there was no path. Not even a little one. So, at one point I decided to drag my bike through a kilometer of pathless forest to find a road on the Polish side. Great idea, very energy consuming though.
After cycling some distance on the Polish side, I crossed the border again and came to Blankensee were I found some cyclist taking a break with beer and water offered spontaneously by a local. Turns out, this was the former mayor of this place – and he had a lot of stories to tell. We also had enough time since a thunderstorm forced to seek shelter in a barn.
To work on my prejudices, I also asked him for his opinion on Saxonians vs people from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. He said “yes, they have a funny accent, but if Saxonians would be living here, this area would be thriving because they are more driven and more risk taking”. That’s quit a statement, I found.
I continued my tour on the Oder-Neiße-Trail and reached its end in Ueckermünde. What you can see in the background is the Stettiner Haff.
Then I continued cycling to Anklam to the shores of the river Pene. However, the camping site in the harbor area was already closed. However, there was a small unofficial camp spot next door which invited me in. Turned out, it was much nicer and even offered nice chats with friendly people and a bottle of beer. The host asked me to share his contact information in case somebody wants to camp in Anklam. I can recommend it. 5€ per night. New record low!
