Distance: 26.4km
Duration: 5.5hrs and 2hrs breaks
Weather: first hot with up to 32C and light wind, at 4pm sudden thunderstorm
Knowing that I had a long distance to walk and also being aware that the second part will be in full exposure on the dyke, I started with a good pace and only two small breaks to have water until I reached Bleckede after 14km. There, I bought water and apple juice for the day. With temperatures over 30C, I made sure that I always had 2l of liquids on me.
At Bleckede, set over to the right side by ferry. This time, the conductor was a woman which was great to see! On the other side of the river, I took a break in a very charming café which was family run with homemade food. My plan was to recharge batteries for the second half of the trip which I expected to be tougher due to the sun exposure. While having my coffee, I started talking to a young woman from Heidelberg who was doing a similar trip on her own on the bike, she just went the opposite direction. It was great to exchange experiences and laugh about some typical moments of the trip. Time passed by too fast and I had to rush to get back on the path again with another 12km to go.
Surprisingly, this part didn’t feel as exhausting as I expected it and I believe that it made a difference to have one good break a day, roughly at mid point. When it was around 3pm, the air turned much more humid and I could see the skies turning dark at two points in the distance. I am not sure why but somehow, I felt certain that they won’t impact me. Boy, was I wrong. About an hour later, I was right in the middle of a heavy summer rain. Thankfully, no lightnings as there wouldn’t have been any shelter close by. As it was still warm, I just took my rain jacket and had to learn the hard way that the rain trousers are not only useful to keep your legs dry. Even more important – they prevent the rain from running into your shoes! So with only 15min heavy rain, I had a foot bath in my walking boots and the water wouldn’t go out. Even after 2 attempts to wring out the socks, I still had quite some water and with each step, I felt the water moving along inside the shoe. Thankfully, it was only 2km to go and I was desperate to get the boots off and my feet dried.
The evening was fairly uneventful with a trip to the supermarket and dinner from the shop in the kitchen. Normally, I wouldn’t mind making a 1km trip one way to the shops but with already over 26km walking, the trip there and back felt a bit like a torment. On the other side, I was all set for the next day with food and drinks.
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