We were on our final day to Cuxhaven ,6.30 start, and for the first 15km we stayed on route 73. The bike path was smooth ,the sun was shining and happily, NO WIND today.!
Neuhaus
We found an Aldi open at Cadenberge and had breakfast ,and then at Neuhaus we left route 73 and got back on the Elbe bike way .
The canal we were following ran beside the sea Dyke until it came to these Gates. The Dykes on the North Sea are massive! All the way down to Holland and then Belgium Originally smaller but hand made. Wheelbarrows and shovelsWe must have missed a sign somewhere and had to get off this road and through the gate to get back onto it again
No sooner had I shut the gate when a red faced farmer raced up the road behind us in his car ,leapt out and yelled what I guess were obscenity’s at us ,pointing to the sign. I think he was saying. “Can’t you f…ing read , the f…ing sign says use the sty NOT THE F….ING gate. “. Sorry I replied sweetly , only speak English. He sheepishly put away his machine gun and drove away. I may have embroidered that bit slightly
So up and over the Dyke we went to discover his sheep are grazing the Dyke. The sods only gone and trained his sheep to shit on the path. The cyclists were weaving all over the place avoiding the fresh ones!Long before we got into Cuxhaven we were seeing huge factory’s. I didn’t realise it would be so big. This one was 3km long and made wind turbines .I would love a tour through that factoryCloser to the centre the old fish markets are now shops. We stopped at this bar for a coffee and a toilet stop, it was an old fish factory so I had a *fish cake* with my coffeeThe warehouses went on forever ( like this lovely old Morris Minor)The old town can be closed off in minutes from the North Sea storm surgeBefore ship to shore radio this old semaphore tower was used to talk to incoming shipsOur hotel is on the edge of town so we passed the ‘free’ beach on the way. The swim might be free ( no sand)but the little loafer seats are €10 /day. They’re all numbered and at the far end of the beach they were up to 460. School holidays start on Monday and this place will be PUMPING. Thank goodness we’ll be goneThis is the ‘Sandy’ beach and you must pay €5/ day plus loafer hire for the privilege of playing on it
Anyhow ! This old light house marks the end of the Elbe . It’s about 20km wide at this point
It might be the end of the Elbe but we still have a way to go to get to Amsterdam We’re in the Seehotel and this our view of the lighthouse. This town has the most visitors of any holiday place in Germany. Over 4 million a year and each one pays a local body tax of €4.80 to come here
There’s one other thing we want to do in Cuxhaven and that’s to visit the Emigration museum in our quest to find records of Christine’s ancestors departure for New Zealand.
Like Gdańsk in Poland and Bremerhaven, the museums are in the actual departure terminal where they left from.Most departures from here went to America and didn’t start until 1889. Her Ancestors,the Schrider’s, left in 1879 so we’ll have another look in Bremerhaven as we pass through.
Paris to Paris 