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Where am I?:^mistymornings-->Cycletouring-->2009-->Summer.-->Day 4

Day 4-2. Burhave to Wingst contd.

The weather had improved so we decided to take off our rain jackets and before long were racing north with our tailwind. Shortly afterwards we encountered some cows, and carefully went round them: a surprised/frightened cow can cause you a lot of damage. As we approached Wremertief we noticed that the sky was darkening around us. There then followed forty-five minutes of trying to keep ahead of the storm. We were still in the sunshine but, despite our best efforts the dark clouds started closing in on us. As we arrived in Dorumer Neufeld the storm finally caught up with us. We had just enough time to find some partial shelter next to a restaurant and put our rain coats on before the wind rose and the rain poured from the skies.

This was a short shower and within ten minutes we were cycling under blue skies again. Where the storm had gone to was anybody's guess. We weren't complaining though. In the sun, the lush summer Frisian landscape was charming and relatively empty. Maybe we were doing it an injustice by racing past on our way to somewhere else.

At a quarter to one we stopped for a stretch and a snack. We looked at the scenery again, much the same as the first three days. Windmill farms in the distance, green fields of maize growing tall surrounded by wild flowers and plants. We headed on and twenty minutes later we entered the cool edge of Wernerwald and enjoying the gravel tracks and the hills. We stopped where two gravel tracks crossed each other and decided it was time for lunch. We spent a good half hour eating, brewed up some tea, putting our rain jackets back on as another shower passed overhead. It was nice to be in a forest after three and a half days of dykes and sea views.

Just before two we started on our way again and popped out of Wernerwald into the civilised world. We were now nearing Cuxhaven and although the route started out quiet with sea views, the nearer we got to Cuxhaven the more people we had to share the cycle track with. As we neared the centre the cycle track turned into a 'shared facility', became very busy and we had no time to enjoy the scenery.

At the top of Cuxhaven we passed a fort (the Kugelbake) and, as the traffic had thinned we were able to look out to sea. Soon we were in the main beach area near the centre of town and paused to take in the view. There was a big bicycle sculpture, and behind us a brick church. All around us there were these beach shelters that were to become part of the landscape on the German NSCR. We paused for a few minutes and then headed East choosing to take the alternative route next to the sea. Even so, we had to walk through some busy streets, there being a fair on in the centre of town. The NSCR then took us inland a little through Groden, and towards Lüdingworth.

Once out of Groden we were back into countryside until we approached Otterndorf. We had decided to head for the campsite at Wingst, and as it was already half past five we took a short cut through the south of Otterndorf. This took us straight back out into open countryside. Here, the weather caught up with us again after an afternoon of blue skies. The bad weather started with high winds and rain so we sought shelter under a large tree. As the rain lessened we carried on past farmland until we entered Forst Wingst. This reminded us of the area round Apeldoorn in the Netherlands with deciduous forests with small farms hiding in large clearings.

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