Day 7-3. Rest day in Tönning contd.
By four we'd arrived at Mr Kraus' place to find the Troll-Too standing outside in the sun. As promised, there was a new rim built round Damae's Rohloff and a nice shiny new sprocket adorning the hub. Mr Kraus admitted to never having seen a Rohloff before, and yet had been able to get a complete wheel build done in the middle of the summer season in just over twenty-four hours. We wondered if there was German equivalent of the Norwegian agurktid or the Dutch komkommertijd or if it was just a stereotypical example of German pride in doing something properly.
Whatever it was, Damae cheered up immediately when she saw her bike fixed with shiny new bits on it. Mr Kraus said that the new sprocket had been very expensive which was why the bill was so high. We smiled, and thanked him as the price was very reasonably compared with what we would have paid for the same repairs in the Netherlands.
We went straight back to the tent with Damae's bike and checked it over. All was well and everything worked as expected. A weight lifted from us and we decided to head back to the main square for a celebratory ice cream at the ice cream parlour. We sat outside in the sun, and although Damae can't remember which ice cream she chose, she does remember it was very, very good.
With our ice creams eaten, we returned back to the campsite and started preparing for the next day. Clean clothing was sorted and packed back into our Ortliebs. Over dinner, we tested our new tablecloth groundsheet for the first time and also checked our maps. It looked as if Denmark might just be within reach tomorrow, if we were to get off sharpish that is. Plus we might have to cut off a few unnecessary loops in the route. Even so, this would mean cycling more than a hundred kilometres but we were well rested and ready for a challenge. All we wanted now was a good days cycling.
After dinner we made sandwiches and washed up. We hoped the wind would stay favourable tomorrow which would help us with our slightly ambitious goal. The sun set slowly first turning windmills on the other side of the river gentle shades of pink and orange, then it lit up the clouds above our heads in a similar way, before finally disappearing out of sight.
With Damae's bike repaired it looked like our cycle tour was back on track. Fully rested, we went to bed early, determined to make a good day of tomorrow.