24 Sept 2013
Faxe Ladeplads to Nykobing F via Vordingborg
26 miles + Train

I am squinting but for two good reasons: (1) there is sun in my right eye, a rarity on this late-season cycle and (2) there is pastry icing gumming up the sunglass lens over my left eye, the result of finally finding a proper second breakfast in the town we just pedaled out of.

After yesterday’s Plan E (Envision Something Better), I am pleased to report that today marks the beginning of Plan F – Find a Way to Germany.

Starting out the morning with instant coffee and a cigarette (well, it felt like what I think a cigarette would feel like in the morning, that dose of nicotine I absorbed after 8 hours spent shut inside this old, airless cabin), we plotted out Plan F: ride as far south as the cycling route signs and weather allows, staying as close to the train line as possible should we need to bail and fast-forward ourselves to the town of Nykobing F, from where we can continue our journey south to the ferry to Germany tomorrow. This seems like as good a plan as any and one that we’ve turned to before (hello France, goodbye France) with positive results.

Now the fact that there is pastry in my eye is a good sign. Finally a town with some life going on in it, finally a fresh pastry to enjoy on the bike, and finally we are feeling the good vibes of bike touring coming back to freshen our attitudes. Even when we lose the route in Vordingborg we are not deterred, for there is the train station and there is the train and there is the stop in Nykobing F, and there is the hostel, and there is our room, and there is the gosh-it’s-been-a-long-five-days-without-one bathroom that doesn’t require me to put on my jacket and shoes and cross the empty, wind-blown playground to reach, and there is the hope that tomorrow we will land upon the shores of Germany. Maybe it’s too late in the season to make a difference, but at least we can say we tried.