Distance: 19.7km
Duration: 4.5h and 2h breaks
Weather: hot with 32C
Leaving Geesthacht was a bit painful as I had to walk along the road in the industrial area for a long part with a lot of trucks passing by. The good side was that I came past a supermarket to fill up my water supplies.
Once, out of town I saw the first Hamburg sign indicating the border of the county. If I would have gone lazy, I could have stopped there as I formally reached Hamburg but my ambition was to walk right into the City. Hence, I would have to continue for another 35km.
What followed was another very sunny stretch on the dyke and only little wind. On the search for some shade for a break, I walked into a group of trees not knowing what to expect. How lucky was I – the space opened to the river with a sandy patch and a small beach! I would have never expected that when looking at it from the path. So I stayed on my little paradise beach for a bit to cool down and rest. The tricky bit was that afterwards, I couldn’t leave out another group of trees without checking if they covered another treasure like that beach. And in fact, there were quite a few of them which are only visible from the water.
With the temperatures and the sun, I was thankful that I had a shorter distance of just under 20km.
When I arrived at the guesthouse an elderly lady was sitting there with a cappuccino while waiting for her take-away food. She asked me to join her until my room was ready and we got into a conversation. She was such a lovely woman who really wanted to understand my motivation behind the walk and if I wouldn’t be scared. When she was younger, she did skiing trips on her own but back then it was even more unusual to travel alone as a woman. Another thing that stood out to me was her love for water and especially the Elbe. She could never live anywhere else and needs the daily trip to the river to feel alive. When she was about to leave, she leaned over and slipped a note of money in my hand in case I would want to take the taxi the next day for the final trip. We had a bit a backward and forward as I didn’t want to take the money. However, I felt it was important to her. In return, I paid the next cappuccino and her meal in advance when I checked out the following morning. When listening to my story she probably thought ‘Poor little thing. She wants to go to Hamburg and probably can’t afford a train ticket. Let me help her’ It was such a heart warming interaction with her and I will never forget how her eyes lit up while talking about ‘her’ Elbe!
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