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In Which East Meets West

November 29, 2006 by Mike

Eckernforde

Route: Ahrenshoop - Warnemünde - Wismar - Lübeck - Travemünde - Oldenburg - Kiel - Eckernforde

OK, OK so I cheated you of yesterday's details. You know, when I sneakily got away without telling you why it was such fun.

In short: how often have you spent most of a day singing James Brown's "I Feel Good" to yourself because.. well.. you feel good? How often have you sailed beneath a clear blue sky -- at the end of November, no less -- and still felt, if not warm, then at least not freezing cold? And, without uncovering places which defy the imagination or prompt you to stop yr bike, find somewhere to hang yr hammock and decide never to leave, how often have you seen sights that may just stay with you for good?

Among the best bits:

1. The small town of Putbus, out on the island of Rügen that shelters Stralsund from the Baltic. Putbus was the summer residence of some German Prince or other. This one chose well: sweeping parkland leading down to the sea, a decent looking stately home and, in the town itself, a chocolate box-tastic square surrounded by white-walled houses, a theatre, a war monument.

Let's ignore, for the sake of the narrative, the buildings behind the square that are starting to fall down through neglect.

2. Up the road in Sassnitz, I stopped to visit a U-Boat Museum. This, surely, is the kind of place the Nazi U-Boats would have been based? Some insight to that sorry period. only the U-boat turns out to be a decommissioned Royal Navy sub, HMS Otus, which far from sinking convoys in the North Atlantic actually served in the South Atlantic... during the Falklands conflict. Still, it was interesting to poke about inside a sub, twiddling knobs and flicking switches and trying to open locked doors. I think this is a guy thing.

3. Having spent the best part of a week in Stralsund, which isn't very big, I got lost trying to find the road out. D'oh!

4. I got as far as Ahrenshoop, an artists' colony on a narrow strip of land between the Ostsee and Saal Gulf. Arrived just in time to see another magnificent sunset. It's on the Fischland peninsula, in fact, just next to Darß and Zingst. All as cute as it sounds.

--

OK, that was yesterday. What about today?

Overcast skies, a bit of rain, just a hint of sun in the afternoon. Very cold.

I crossed from East (I mean eastern) to West (that's to say, western) Germany.

A few miles eats of Lübeck, at the mouth of the River Trave, lies the border between the states of Mecklenburg Vorpommern and Schleswig-Holstein. Before the Wall came tumbling down, this was a closed and heavily guarded frontier. Today, I crossed it without noticing as I drove down a recently-built stretch of A road, and was forced to backtrack through the old border town of Schlutup (really!) to find the border posts.

The West German customs building remains. It's locked and graffiti artists have been hard at work. (Nothing political.) The speed-dampeners are still there, and nobody's bothered to paint out the 30kmph speed restrictions.

But instead of signs saying 'STOP! Restricted Area', 'You Are About To Leave The American Sector' or even 'Do Not Pass Go', the only warning sign now advises drivers to slow for an impending 'Old People's Home'.

DSC02483

The East German border facilities have been removed - carried off as trophies, smashed by celebrating masses or condemned by bureaucrats, I know not. But there's nobody who misses them - at least, not in public.

There remains one clear sign that the East German border was here, though. I collared a couple of locals whose English was worse than my German. When I asked about the day the border collapsed, they expressed "surprise", then chuntered away to each other in German: I rather got the impression they were rueing the day all those poor, scrounging Ossis were allowed in to their nice, rich Germany.

But one thing I did get from them was the name of the empty stretch of land on the East's side of the border: the Dead Line. It's still there. Several hundred metres wide: open, empty countryside. "There were houses there. Streets. A village. All torn down by the East. All torn down."

That's been the theme of my journey for many weeks and many countries. People forced to move, to relocate, to *flee* from politics and politicians. And soldiers and guns.

--

I stayed away from the big towns and cities today - Rostock, Lübeck and Kiel might all have diverted me for days at a time. The first two, especially: not only were they the twin hearts of the Hanseatic League, but one was in East Germany, the other, 60 miles away, was in the West: interesting to compare and contrast. Next time. But having seen a bit of Stralsund, I want something different now. And with the bike feeling so good, I enjoyed getting some miles under my belt.

I avoided main roads for the most part too, although it was impossible not to ride (and enjoy) a stretch of Autobahn north of Lübeck. I'm astonished by the difference the new, effective tyres make. At the very least they give me renewed confidence, which is worth everything when you're on two wheels. And so giving it some welly where it's safe and legal to do so is a *blast*!

--

Early in the day I was riding down the coast of the former DDR. There are 'holiday flats', rooms and beds advertised in the most unlikely-looking houses, in the least-appealing settings. Live in a dull grey concrete terrace next to a B-road and facing a ploughed field, five miles inland? Then why not open a B&B? They must meet a demand for accommodation sort-of-near the beach that is, how can I put this?, greater in summer than it is in the middle of November.

Closer to the sea, another marked phenomenon. This is where elderly and incapacitated Germans come (or are sent) to "take the airs." There are ruts in the pavement caused by the endless parade of Zimmer frames. I now know the German words for Sanatorium, Clinic, Practise, Centre and 1001 variations thereon. As I entered some villages, the average age of the population fell by nearly half. And no, you're absolutely right, I'm not as young as I used to be, either.

--

A month ago I was in St Petersburg. Blimey.

Comments

By B | November 29, 2006 9:24 PM

Do not miss Christiansfeld another Heritage site.
Moravians place of worship and cemetry are special.

Shame you missed Lubeck. I thought you would have another look at Sweden from safe and jolly Denmark.

By kc | November 29, 2006 10:21 PM

Have been studying your route ahead - DK is gonna be very inter es ting!!!! No time for roots but hay this is a journey to remember! and you will hopefully understand the lingo. Ma and I joined Birgitte yesterday so your ears should have been burning! T'will be good to meet up B4 the years out if u can make it back to no.3 by crimmbles it will be the best pressi for the folk. love sis

By phil | November 30, 2006 12:44 PM

Hope you observed the rules and sang "Putbus city limits" when entering and leaving Putbus.

A mail should be waiting for you in your in-tray.

Phil

By Terry Wooden | December 28, 2007 4:45 AM

Picked up your notes by chance when googling Stralsund prior to a planned visit at the end of Jan 2008. It will probably be bleaker and colder then than when you were there in November 06 - but it appeals because it probably has few UK tourists, the nearby(?) Peenemunde Museum interests me as I recall the rockets from there landing in the London suburbs back in 1944, and there are older historical (Hanseatic League) connections. But your views on Stralsund and the surrounding area for a 4 day visit from England would be welcome.

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