This night we spent on the ferry “Nils Holgersson” that took us from Sweden to Lübeck-Travemünde, Germany. After we had had some unexpected diffculties checking in as we had to pretend to be a car, struggled with bar code scanning and cycling for kilometres along parked lorries, we enjoyed a good night’s rest in a fairly comfartable bed in a ferry cabin. Agaist all forecasts, we saw beautiful sunshine touching the sea surface in the morning. We had some nice breakfast onboard and nice scenery-watching from the ferry, and finally headed off with a little delay from the port on our 80 km stretch towards Hamburg. Passing another hundreds of lorries, we cycled through the outskirts of Lübeck, along IKEAS and green parks. Soon we met our two new day riders Timo and Malte, who we welcomed with our new ritual of letting yourself  fall against the others in a circle. Our tour went on in fantastic early summer weather, through the blossoming rapeseed fields of rural Holstein.

A little break gave us new strength for the next hour to our lunch stop at Jochen’s friend Uli. She welcomed us with so much warmth from the heart, offered us home-made tomato soup, coffee and cake on the terace. Yummy! We felt so grateful, lucky and privileged too enjoy this hospitality. Laying in the garden for a nap, we felt sorry to set off to Hamburg. However, we had gained so much new energy so that just an hour later we hit Hamburg’s city borders. Still in the Green belt, we passed manor houses, farms and hiking paths. We passed the suburbs and soon found ourselves in dizzling traffic. Fortunately, we hit a track along the Alster lake in the end and enjoyed a well-earned ice-cream before arriving at the office of the German cyclists association (ADFC) in the city centre. We enjoyed dinner and soon welcomed people for a screening of the renowned movie Bike vs. Cars. It showcases cyclists’ associations around the globe in their fight for bike-friendly cities. We also presented the Cooperide idea to the local comrades and felt much support. It is this special support that gives us so much strength for our journey.