After being grilled by the sun, swimming and doing karate breakdance moves in the first part, we continue in this part.
Day 9 – From Behringen to Reinsehlen
Hiked Km: 13,8 Km
Insight of the day: Relaxation feels good
To shorten the last two days considerably has done our bodies a tremendously well. We are making very good progress, our feet and hips are not hurting as much or as fast. The first two thirds of the way we don’t meet a soul except two friendly mountain bikers. Shortly before our destination, Camp Reinsehlen, where we have been two years ago, we take our lunch break in the middle of the trail. Nevertheless, we arrive too early in the camp, but this is not bad, because now we can surf the internet extensively due to available WiFi and electricity. When we get our keys we first wash almost all our clothes, dry the tent, take a shower and make ourselves comfortable in our room. Moreover, we enjoy the rain which does not affect us now. In the evening we finally have the long awaited heidschnuck ragout.
Day 10 – Pausentag
We have planned two extra nights in Reinsehlen, on one hand to simply enjoy the beautiful accommodation, and on the other to have a good rest for the next kilometres.
But we just can’t stop. With the Heideshuttle we are on the road once more, also to buy food for the next days. We eat an ice cream again and even “hike” a short distance. Otherwise we take it really easy and gather strength for the next days.
Tag 11 – From Reinsehlen to Oberhaverbeck
Hiked Km: 8,8 Km
Insight of the day: We are getting fitter
We have hardly any pain and the backpack is surprisingly light to carry. We deliberately planned a shorter route for today, which seems almost too short for us. The weather is pleasant and we take only one break.
We arrive at noon, take a shower, settle in and eat a piece of buckwheat cake. In the evening I have a delicious heidschnucken burger with sweet potato fries. The waiter is very nice, talkative and we have a great time at Stimbekhof.
Day 12 – From Oberhaverbeck to Undeloh
Hiked Km: 13,9 Km
Insight of the day: The Heide is stuck in the 80s
The breakfast is presented superbly and tastes fantastic. In a conversation with the server we learn a lot about tourism in the Heide, e.g. that the Heide area has more or less stood still in time and has not developed further, which is confirmed by the appearance of some accommodations where we have been and should still come. And we find out that we, as the only guests for this night, are a deficit for Stimbekhof and were only allowed to stay there because a member of staff made a mistake, otherwise we would not have been accepted in the first place. We are happy about this mistake, because we liked the accommodation very much.
We start hiking and quickly notice that today’s tour is going to be a bit more crowded than usual. The heathland is almost flooded with tourists. But in between there are also some who address us and with whom nice conversations develop. For example, a man is very interested in our adventure and we see an enthusiasm in his eyes that his wife, to whom he tells all this, obviously does not share. We call him the “former adventurer”. Further along the way we meet two elderly couples from Hamburg, who are also enthusiastic about what we do and ask questions with interest.
Our accommodation is again typical 80s and we inevitably have to think of the conversation with the employee from Stimbekhof.
Day 13 – From Undeloh to Holm-Seppensen
Hiked Km: 17,9 Km
Insight of the day: Coincidences provide stories time and again
Today we encounter many hikers. Towards the end of this route I say to Maraike that this will be the last meters of the Heidschnuckenweg and thus the last meters where we may encounter these two strange hikers with the dog, as we did a few times before on this tour. But both in terms of time and distance it is totally unlikely that this would happen. Besides, we turn off now and walk to Holm-Seppensen and leave the Heidschnuckenweg. After a few meters Maraike shouts in disbelief: “That’s them!” and points to two female hikers with a dog on the other side of the small river coming from Holm-Seppensen. I wave, they wave back.
Today’s campsite is very modern and we have a site right by the lake. We meet another scooter driver who we noticed the day before. In the evening we get pizza delivered to the site and eat our food on the bench next to our tent.
Day 14 – From Holm-Seppensen to Buchholz in der Nordheide
Hiked Km: 6,9 Km
Insight of the day: The Heidschnuckenweg was really beautiful
The morning is freezing cold, but hiking keeps you warm. People slowly change and become more distant. We’re just taking a break. In Buchholz we buy a charging cable for Maraikes cell phone, because we seem to have lost the other one. We also buy train tickets to Hamburg. Then our hike on the Heidschnuckenweg is completed. But fortunately not our vacation. In Hamburg we meet a schoolgirl in the train who is interested in our adventure. But she herself also has a story to tell, as she participates as a unicyclist at championships and meetings all over the world. Now we go to friends and spend some days with them and have a look at Hamburg.
Day 15 to 17
“Shietweather” (rain) in Hamburg. It’s part of Hamburg and we don’t care. After all, we have a set of rain gear with us and don’t have to assemble anything.
The only thing that didn’t quite work out was the relaxation part, but somehow there is too much to do and see…
Furthermore: fish market, beach pearl, harbour city.
Day 18 – From Büchen to Güster
Hiked Km: 11,7 Km
Insight of the day: No season – everything is empty
We take the train out of Hamburg to Büchen and start walking. There is not a cloud in the sky and along our route on the Elbe-Lübeck-canal there are no trees and therefore is no shade. When we arrive at the camping site we were still not there by far, because the site stretches over 2 km, until we were finally at the entrance. Meanwhile it’s September and it’s weekdays, which is why everything is very empty. We don’t mind, we jump on the bouncy house and take funny pictures. The food in the restaurant, which is run by an old sailor, is surprisingly good.
Day 19 – From Güster to Drüsen
Hiked Km: 18,2 Km
Insight of the day: It’s getting colder
The sailor prepares an incredibly hearty breakfast for us. Fortunately, we need this energy. We make a detour to Göttin (which means “Goddes” in English) to take pictures with the town sign. When we cross under the highway we enter a forest with a spooky spider landscape. Huge spider webs are crossing the forest close together and we don’t dare to leave the path. The camping site is at a lake again, and again today we don’t jump into the water. We prefer the shower. The weather is still brilliant, but in the evening and especially at night it’s so cold that we sleep with long clothing in our sleeping bags.
Day 20 – From Drüsen to Römnitz
Hiked Km: 18,7 Km
Insight of the day: Our tent is really great
Today we eventually hike up and down some hills through the forest. With the heavy luggage it is quite exhausting. We make our lunch break very late because there is no place to sit for miles. Finally we stop on a small footbridge and have lunch there. The last campground of the holiday corresponds to the low expectations for the first time, but that’s not too bad, because we expected it. We set up under a tree in hopes that we won’t get so much morning dew and the tent will be soaked. We take a taxi to Ratzeburg, which is really not very nice, except for the cathedral area, which in turn is very nice. For dinner we eat in the restaurant recommended by the taxi driver. Afterwards the taxi driver takes us back to the camping site.
Our tent neighbours are just having a barbecue when we return. The two in their late forties also have a long tour behind them. They were on the road for three weeks with their bikes and have ridden about 1,000 km. Last year she even went to Iceland with her daughter and an 18 kg heavy backpack with daily stages of 24 km. For the time being we will stay with the easier tours. The last night in the tent dawns and we notice: this tent is simply our best spontaneous purchase of the last years. Easy, quick to set up and take down and the functionality is simply great, which is also confirmed by our tent neighbours, who have 6 tents at home.
Day 21 – From Römnitz to Lübeck
Hiked Km: 19,4 Km
Insight of the day: You can plan as much as you want…
Our tent is completely dry, the plan with the tree was successful. Nevertheless it is relatively cold in the morning. At some point we walk through a forest, which seems to originate from a fantasy landscape. Strange plants and oddly shaped trees stand along the way. We cross the state border to Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and rest on a bench next to several apple trees, which also carry very juicy and tasty apples. Unfortunately, today we also walk on many roads because the route could not be planned differently, but there are still interesting and beautiful paths. In spite of all planning, with Google Maps it is not always possible to see if the paths are allowed to be used or if they even exist. So we have to accept a bigger detour, because there was simply no way. The last meters we walk a little faster to catch the next of the trains that only run hourly. We drive to Lübeck to visit friends and the next day back to Cologne. Our journey is over.
Conclusion
Total hiked kilometers: 227,1 Km
The first days were a constant shifting of pain. On the one hand we tried to distribute the pressure of the luggage to those parts of the body that hurt less than others. Nevertheless it was of course purely painful to endure. But the further we progressed on the tour, the fitter we became. In the beginning our feet and hips hurt after only three kilometers, but in the end we were able to complete the distances without any problems.
In addition, the demands were adapted accordingly. Actually, we didn’t expect any camping site that was really good except for the South Sea camp. In the end there was only one campground which was “only” OK, but even that one was totally fine. The sanitary facilities were in a good condition and we didn’t need more then that. We got along great with the few things we had. If it would have been colder we probably would have had problems to dry the washed clothes every day, but even that happened to us a few times and in the end everything turned out fine.
It’s probably the holiday during which we didn’t experience so much, but learned a lot, especially about ourselves. We feel great, we have been surrounded by nature almost all the time and we met interesting people. But most of all we were able to switch off completely. If I would pick up the current trend I would have to advertise our trip as a “Detox-trekking-adventure with wildlife-experience”.
I can only recommend to everyone to do at least one hike over several days. Because the feeling of being liberated and permanently in nature cannot be described. You have to experience it yourself.