Weather: sunny and hot, ~32° degrees

Kilometers on bike: 20 km

5:00 - alarm clock horror! I don’t want to get up. Bah, I should have taken a train later. Ok, I am jumping out of my cozy bed, turn on my computer and shove MP3s onto my mp3-player (Thanks Volker!). Doing yesterday’s dishes and packing the last items. Around 30 kilograms of luggage. Oh my… A streak of panic… Ok, hiking boots stay at home.

Short shower and getting the last litter out of my flat. Stripping baggage onto my bike. So, I should get moving… 6:32 and my train leaves Münster at 6:57. First real run in to the train station - goes well. Easier than I thought. 6:45 at the train station. I am not sure if the station in Münster does have elevators to getting up to the platforms, at least I cannot find them in my hurry. So I am dragging my bike complete with baggage up the stairs to the platform. Well, it’s heavy. I am packing the four bike bags into a my Vaude Tarp & Travel bag, which functions as a four-bike-bag transportbag as well a tarp. Very useful for flights and I thought perhaps when going by train, too (knowing the helpfulness of German conductors when they oversee you arriving with a lot of luggage). Two minutes to go until the train arrives.

Entering the train… well, a few minutes later I see I am in the wrong bike compartment - all slots are reserved for other bikers. This train does have two bike compartments. No problem, I am getting my luggage over into the other compartment during the trip from Münster to Osnabrück. In Osnabrück I am changing compartments with my bike. I am now in a big bike compartment with lots of free slots for bikes (as well with my reserved slot to Hamburg).

Next stop of the train is Bremen. During the trip I am talking to a (semi-?)-professional looking biker - of course completely wearing biking clothes. I am more looking like a biker on secret mission. My bike pant is hidden beneath old and worn short pants and I am wearing a loose-fitting checked bike shirt. We exchange stories about our journeys and tours in Iceland, France, Switzerland etc. A nice talk! He leaves in Bremen.

On the way to Hamburg I am quite sure I forgot something… no journey without forgetting something… Ok, it’s the addresslist. I use the wait in Hamburg’s main train station to reconstruct the addresses from memory as well from my mobile. I also start writing my travelogue.

WTF… I am standing on the wrong end of the platform and I hurry up to get my train to Padborg, which I see standing at the other end. Well, I pass the conductor on the platform while he pushes the button “Close the doors”. He only said, the doors are closed now, you cannot get in. Gladly, my sword is at home and I am in vacation mood, otherwise there would have been a loss of a German conductor.

I am looking for other ways to get to Padborg and I get on a regional train to Neumünster and change there onto a train to Flensburg. No problems on the way.

On the train, I am meeting a young German student, who studies Geopolitics in Scotland and is now on his way to his girlfriend in Estonia. With his bike he intends to board a ferry from Kiel. We have a nice talk about studies, linguistics, Estonia etc.

I ask a conductor when the next train leaves from Flensburg to Padborg. Well, I could wait for an hour or go the short distance by bike. Ok, stripping everything to the bike and optimise the luggage. Flensburg is a nice small town (at least the centre), with a very nice harbour. There are also bike signs which show the direction. At the harbour quai a sign points into the town. I follow the sign and somehow there isn’t any visible clue which way to go. I follow my sense of direction and end up at a steep hill, framed with beautiful houses from the Gründerzeit. I admire the architecture and push my bike uphill in the shadows. The sun is mercilessly burning. On the hill, no sign to see. I ask around and a few minutes later I am cycling another long, steep rise up. I did forget how 30kg feel on a bike. As far as I can see, I follow a bypassing road.

14:54 - I am crossing the German-Danish border! A short while later, I am reaching Padborg. Not very impressive. By pure chance I get to the Jernbanegade (after finding no signs pointing to the trainstation, jernbane = train in Danish). A station with only ticketmachines. Well, it accepts cards. I overlook the Maestro-symbol and ask a conductress (well, she’s waiting for the train I want to take) for help (well, my Danish/Norwegian and her southern Jutish clash). She kindly gets me a ticket from Padborg directly to Thisted. Somehow I overlooked the small Maestro symbol on the screen and I happily pay with by card.

On the train to Fredericia I meet a young Danish couple with her eleven months old son. The couple, beautiful mother!, is going back from Berlin to Århus. Holidays in Berlin, nice. We talk in English, but I  also try to understand their dialect when both talk to eachother. That’s really hard.

During the trip, our “bike and pram”-compartment fills steadily. A nice female biker enters and we begin to talk. She is travelling back from her bike vacation to France via Hameln. She is from Hameln and now living and working in Odense for two-and-a-half years. Envy! Sadly, she already leaves the train in Kolding.

In Fredericia I say good bye to the Danish couple and I try to find out how I get to Thisted now. I am happy that this station does have elevators. So down into the mainhall and to the ticket counter. Wow, they understand me and I can understand them.

I have to reserve a Cykelplads in the Danish equivalent to the German InterCity train. The train goes from Fredericia to Struer. If all goes well, I should be in Struer at 19:19. I am the only biker in “my” compartment, the other slots in this compartment’s free space are taken up by a pram, a wheeled Zimmer(?, translation Gehwagen) as well a disabled dame in her wheelchair. The Danish IC is more comfortable than the German ones. While adding to my notes, the train goes through a nice Jutlandic scenery.

In Struer I am changing trains for the last time. I am entering the Arriva (with wireless internet access, but sadly without computer) to Thisted. Well, not many passengers. Slowly I begin to feel the weariness of travels. I am glad when I can jump into my sleeping bag. Around 21:00 the train arrives in Thisted. I am getting off the train and start looking for the camping site. Half an hour later, I finally arrive. I check in, get a Scandinavian Camping Kort and pitch my tent.

End of day: 23:00.