Day 40: Sun 27 Jul - Wittenberg to Bad Belzig, 41km

15-24 deg C, cool to start, then nice and sunny but not too hot

Ride: 41km; total time: 4h47

Ride total G: 1,213km

Rode total W: 1,192km

Walk G: 5km; total: 313km

Walk W: 3km; total: 278km

One of the downsides to riding downhill for too long is that your legs forget how to ride uphill! We were climbing almost from the time we left the hotel. Not that it was a difficult climb, just the legs felt it.

Felt a little guilty today as we only completed 41km! Hardly worth getting the bikes out, and we had about five hours to do it. If we had known that Wittenberg was so significant in the Protestant Movement we would have stayed another day so Greg could have attended a service in Martin Luther’s Church. However because it’s school holidays at the moment we have to book the hotels in advance, so we had to keep moving to meet the reservation. 

A couple of interesting little villages on the way which we stopped at to kill some time. Also went through a fair amount of planted forestry. There were a few more stretches of gravel in the ride than normal, but it was all pretty smooth and well maintained. The majority though were sealed paths that looked like they had only been laid fairly recently. 

Upon arrival at our apartment we used the locked box system to gain entry so there was no problem about being early today. Because we have a washing machine Wendy got stuck in and did a couple of loads of washing. 

Dinner was at an Indian restaurant about 300m walk away and it was very tasty. We didn’t realise it was cash only so Greg dashed back to our apartment to retrieve some real money. Seeing there’s no breakfast with this place we took the leftovers home to heat up in the morning. Curry for breakfast, yummo!

Bad Belzig is a lovely little town, first recorded in 997, with a lot of very old (15 to 17th century) buildings. There are some great medieval examples scattered throughout the town. A lot of the really old stuff is now undergoing some serious renos, which if done properly, will make this town a pretty special destination. Of course, because it’s not far from Wittenberg it has that close connection with Martin Luther and the Reformation. That won’t do it any harm at all.  The local church is an “Open Church” and proudly promotes that Martin Luther preached there in 1530. Being a Sunday Greg visited it after dinner and spent some time in quiet contemplation.  

Another enjoyable, albeit not too exciting, day on tour.  

Wittenberg murals this morning 

Mornos stop

What a network!! And that’s just the National Routes, there’s 100s, maybe 1,000s of local and state routes 

We found one of these, or similar, every 5km or so 

A lovely old stone church at Marzehns with no name, that we could find

Had to put the phone up against the glass window to get these photos of the inside

Some little dude at Marzehns

Playground equipment at our lunch stop at Raben 

Not equipment, but a mole has been digging holes

Love the pig!

Through a pine forest

Some of the other paths today

You just gotta smile when you see a field of sunflowers 🌻 

Our apartment at Bad Belzig - Komfort Ferienwohnung 

Views from our apartment

We had the opportunity to do a proper wash today

Back view

Front view - up the steps, bikes are sleeping in the box below

Ride route and stats

Bad Belzig

Indian restaurant where we had a very delicious dinner

Love the colourful decor 

Lamb biryani for Greg and Butter chicken for Wendy 

Church of St Mary at Bad Belzig

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