We spent a long weekend in a village called Dierhagen. Dierhagen is at the "entrance" to the peninsula Darß. We didn't go further with our camping gear, because the place was already 35km away and the next suitable camping spot would've been in Zingst, over 65km away. That distance, my friends, I was not willing to cycle in one day.
Here's a map provided by our good pal Google:
Thursday
We started the trip with our gear and loyal bicycles on Thursday morning. The weather didn't seem like the perfect lying-on-the-beach weather, but with some clouds and almost no wind, it was perfect for cycling.
Our first stop was in Warnemünde, where we took the ferry over to the Hohe Düne. After arriving to Markgrafenheide, we decided to have a small break and quench our thirst in the only suitable way for Herrentag:
Afterwards we cycled through a forrest on a sand road, which was mainly in good condition. Only a couple of spots with so much loose sand, that I didn't dare to ride. The next stop was Graal-Müritz, also a nice small village. There we only ate a little before starting the last part of our trip. In this picture is also all the stuff we took with, which was not so much compared to some people we met on the way.
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| Banana for scale |
The last 10km were quite nice, cycling next to the sea. The weather was already at Graal-Müritz quite sunny, but the temperature didn't get over 15 degrees.
The we arrived to the lovely camping place called Ostseecamp Dierhagen. For the 3 nights we paid 50e for 2, with 22e deposit for the shower card. We built our first home under some trees, because we thought that the tent might get too warm in the sun.We were wrong.
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| Our first minihome :) |
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| To make camping more enjoyable, we brough an air mattress. |
Friday
Our spirit was not gone after the first freezing night. Luckily Friday was sunny.
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The showers and toilets were right next to us,
in the house behind Marko. Everything was
in really good and clean condition (including Marko). |
After getting some breakfast from a nearby supermarket and a kiosk on the camping area, we decided do some sightseeing in Dierhagen. The place is not big, but was still filled with tourists who were hoping for some sunbathing on the beach. The temperature didn't rise over 20 during the whole time there, so we didn't get any beach action either.
Here are some pictures of the harbour and our short paddling boat trip in Dierhagen.
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| The harbour |
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| View on the Barther Bodden |
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Marko wanted to try out the anchor,
you know how children want to play with new things ;) |
And the trip goes further around Dierhagen. Here's a picture of a quite traditional house with a "Reetdach". The roof is made from reed and a well made Reetdach can last over 50 years. This type of building is of course not only traditional in Germany, but in other parts of Europe too.
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| A must have selfie on the way to the beach. |
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| Dancing trees |
Saturday
On Saturday we planned to meet with Marko's parents at Ahrenshoop for a sailing trip. Ahrenshoop is apparently the "artist village" of Darß, and that can be seen from the Cafe we visited on the way to the harbour.
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| "Artistic picture" called Nonsense 3025. |
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| Cozy cafe |
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| "Artistic picture" called Nonsense 3026 |
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I could live there,
but I wouldn't like to dust under all the decorative pieces. |
Next stop, Ahrenshoop harbour!
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On the right Zeesenboot, a bit later from this photo
we'll sail to the horizon with it (maybe not so far) |
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| This is where the boats sleep in winter |
Sailing was lovely, despite the wind and the cold. We had a captain on board taking care of the boat, which was good news, considering I heard, that one of our group once tipped over a sailing boat, and I was not hoping for the same result. Even better news was, that with this bigger boat, it was almost impossible to turn it over.
These boats were used for fishing and nowadays mostly for leisure sailing. They are quite old (this one built on 1928), and the captain told us that of these boats are approximately 80 left, of which 70 in sailing condition, but only about 15 of them still sail regularly. And we were on one of them!
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Originally the colour came from cow blood,
which was used in the mix to waterproof the sails.
(These ones are just for the looks) |
The cat on the sail is the logo of the sail maker, who fled with a small boat from East to West Germany. All the people using his sails at this time had to take the logo down, and after the reunion he moved back to the East and continued making sails.
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| Our crew |
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| Me and the Seehund ;) |
On the way back to Dierhagen we also saw some interesting places next to the sea, for example old bunkers in the sea between Wustrow and Ahrenshoop.
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| Mohnbrötchen sind die besten Brötchen. |
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| Wustrow |
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| Marko found a cool sandcastle on the beach |
Sunday
Then it was already Sunday, and we had to leave the camping area at 11. Our home was packed and we were ready to go.
In total we rode about 120 km, which was quite light because it's so flat everywhere. I was still a bit exhausted yesterday after getting home, it was a great and active weekend.
