I have been in Travemunde once before when I had taken the ferry from Helsinki to Travemunde. That time I was cycling back up through to Copenhagen. This time I was heading south towards Amsterdam. Neither time have I really stopped in Travemunde. It is just a ferry port terminal with a huge amount of traffic and a place to get away from fairly quickly. So I rode down to Lubeck for a morning coffee.
Lubeck is a pleasant little city with the standard cathedral and places like that and some fairly magnificent entrances to the old city itself. This was to be the highlight of my day because from here on it became hell on wheels. While there were many paved paths and ways to follow safely away from traffic, I have never been so jolted, rattled and shaken on any surface for so long. I am surprised my bike didn’t fall apart under the constant jarring. Much of it caused by roots growing underneath asphalt and creating little ridges while the brick paths were so uneven as the bricks shifted. It was definitely not an enjoyable situation and my language turned blue quite a number of times. As if this wasn’t sufficient, I left my iPhone, sitting on a bench after one stop and didn’t realize until about 11 1/2 km later. All I can say is thank goodness for Apples “Find My” app and $160 cab ride later to retrieve my phone. That summed up my day.