Volkswagen factory and the Mittellandkanal, Wolfsburg
Wolfsburg: not a place I ever expected – or wanted – to visit again. However it’s a useful starting point for the northern part of the grünes Band/Eiserner Vorhang cycle route. The morning was spent on the tiresome Mittellandkanal; thanks to my careless map-reading, we went further along it than needed, but it actually worked out just the same.
Drömling
There’s a good deal of overlap with the Altmarkrundkurs: I had a sense of déjà vu cycling through the Drömling, and déjà entendu as I heard cuckoos and the warbly-croaky song of a warbly-croaky bird. All very pleasant. This year’s tour has the addition of reminders of divided Germany: near Böckwitz we cycled along the course of the old border, which had displays of the various types of wall, barbed wire and ditches used to keep East Germans in (or to prevent invasion by fascists, as it was presented to those in the DDR). There was also an observation tower still standing. It was incongruous to see it gleaming white, and I wondered if it had ever looked this well when it was in use.
This evening’s Gasthaus in a one-street village is very different from last night’s luxury hotel in Wolfsburg. I doubt that there will be physalis and a choice of yoghurts for breakfast tomorrow. Or even yoghurt.
