This was a rough ride, sure it was flat, but my sore throat didn’t appreciate the hours I spent cycling. I had some offline maps loaded onto my phone, but my navigation wouldn’t work without data, so I struggled a bit. At one point I took a wrong turn and didn’t realise for a long while, so I followed a bike path detour. It abruptly stopped, so I had to find another way around and it costed me 20km of extra cycling.

The bike paths were quite amazing, they’re separate from the road and very smooth. I also loved the greenery, it provided a lot of shade and made the flat roads very pleasant.

For lunch I stopped by a grocery store, in Trebbin (halfway mark), back in Australia I never shop when I’m hungry and this is why. It ended up being two days of lunch and snacks, so that’s okay. I enjoyed the shopping experience, instead of the giant Coles or Woolworths, they have lots of discount stores like Aldi, Norma, Penny and Rewe. For 3 Euro (approx $4.50 AUD) you can get a loaf of bread, cheese and salami. Plus the flat peaches in Europe (they’re more donut shaped) are even better tasting than I remembered.

After my rest stop I followed some train tracks and my path suddenly stopped. I knew I couldn’t go on the freeway so I searched for other options. Muller, a German cyclist came past just in time and although we couldn’t speak the same language, he agreed to take me to my next stop, Juterbog. He was riding an electric bicycle, so to keep up I was cycling 22-25km/hr. I’m so glad he was there because he took me through the cycle ways where I couldn’t understand the signs at the numerous twists and turns. After an hour we reached Juterbog and parted ways.

Juterbog Town Hall, built around 1500

The rest of the trip was difficult, I just wanted to make it to my destination. At the 100km mark I stopped at a biergarten and had a coke, I know the sugar rush isn’t good for me, but my morale was crushed. As each hour passed it felt like my throat was being rubbed with sandpaper.

I only had 20km to go and my map did start working, so I cut through a park to save a few km. The downside was that the park was super creepy. If you’re ever alone and surrounded by woods, look straight ahead. I noticed that if I looked at the endless trees while I cycled, it looked like they moved or there was a person lurking around. For those 10-15 minutes I tried to think of nicer things.

I arrived in Jessen and there wasn’t much around. It was mostly apartments and garages, I suspect it’s convenient housing between some of the bigger towns. I was relieved to just rest and eat some food too. That night I slept like a log.