Rough with the Smooth
Berlin to Copenhagen – Stage 05 – Waren (Müritz) to Krakow am See 54 Km (Thu 15-Jun-17)
Weather: 14⁰C min – 24⁰C max, sunny
“Never, never, never give up.” ~ Winston Churchill
Another perfect sunny day greeted me this morning, so I got down to breakfast right on 8 am. The dining room at the pension (also a bowling alley) where I was staying was already full, so I shared a table with an elderly couple who I tried to engage in conversation, but with their limited English and my equally limited German we did not get far. Bowled over already!
A last look at the Waren Harbourside and I was on my way from Waren to Krakow am See. The route out of town wound through classy residential areas of Waren with many impressive houses. This is definitely an affluent area.
Riding surfaces today were a mixture of silky smooth paved paths & roads to rough rocky tracks. One stretch of about 5 Km demanded concentration to avoid the jagged rocks and sandy patches. At one point the track was blocked altogether because of a tractor loading logs onto a timber truck, causing me to have to push my bike through the undergrowth. I have the blackberry scratches on my legs to prove it. I guess you have to take the rough with the smooth.
Again forests were the dominant scenery, but today I think I grew to appreciate them more. The birds were in full voice as I gazed in awe at the tall straight pine trees, their slender trunks denuded and their mop-top of foliage at the top striving to reach the sunlight.
Learning a lesson from yesterday I had stopped at a bakery in Waren’s old town for my coffee and had bought a baguette for my lunch, which I devoured while sitting at a picnic table overlooking a sunlit corn field.
Krakow am See where I am staying tonight might have only a handful of shops but what it lacks in size it makes up for in quality. This is another pretty little town with a mixture of pastel coloured houses and traditional timber-framed constructions. The town is so immaculate and clean it would be a challenge to find a leaf anywhere on the cobbled streets. Down at the lakeside promenade I could feel the tranquillity as I watched an elderly couple in wheelchairs feeding the ducks.
Without a doubt, smooth prevailed today.
