The hotel didn’t do breakfast so we shot down to the ferry, luckily not far away, and caught the 6.30 crossing to the west side of the Wesser. 
There was a little cafe on board where we bought a coffee and a very salty pretzel.
but then had to wolf it down as it only took 15 minutes to get across. The bridge was coming down as we touched and the early commuters were gone in a few seconds. No leisurely cruise this one.
Once we had cleared the port town of Blexen we followed the well signposted North Sea trail.
Mostly on the inside of the dijk but occasionally it would take us briefly to the top when there was something worth looking at. Like this silhouette of Bremerhaven as we leave it behind.
hardly a cloud in the sky, no wind , but it was very chilly ! Wonderful riding though ,( but boy am I getting sick of looking at mushrooms and not picking them)
Burhave. There are Huge caravan parks dotted along the coast
with all the mud you could ever want to look at
but also all with a little man made beach to sit beside in your very own cane basket. In case you didn’t realise I’m being facetious. A guest here tonight explained that when you live in a busy city, this is just the sort of peace you crave.
Eckwarderhorne. This is where my plans were to take the ferry over to Wilhelmshaven. It was a shock to be told that the ferry only runs once a week on a Sunday. SHUTE !!
Nothing to do but start biking the 40 odd kms around this huge estuary. The wind’s got up now and for a start it was behind us giving us a massive push as we flew along the outside of the dyke.
As we went further along though ,it blew hard straight at us . All the ablution blocks at this camp are on stilts as it floods regularly from the North Sea .
By mid day we were famished having only had that salty pretzel at 6.30. So at the first restaurant we had seen open all morning we ordered the local speciality. Mejte mit salat. (A local fish with potatoe salad and green salad. Not good ! The fish was served raw and the potatoe salad was SALTY. Oh well ,you’ve got to try these things
I stopped and watched these brickies putting a whole new wall on the outside of the old one. It was a bit rough and patched up so covering it was the best option
While Christine found these 6 month old twins more interesting . And of course anything to do with flowers
By the time we had reached Varel we had done 74 kms, but unfortunately not in the direction we really wanted. A quick visit to McDonalds to use their wifi resulted in us finding a lovely BnB on the edge of town .
We’ve got the entire upstairs apartment in this old farmhouse. 
I broke a wine glass on the lounge floor. Luckily not full !
Varel
Published
Paris to Paris 