E9: Stralsund – Stahlbrode

Thursday, September 20: Cloudy very early in the morning, becoming quite fine, clouding over in the evening

Im Grünen

Hiking: 28.5 km

Some delivery truck had arrived with goods for the supermarket @ around 3:00, which briefly woke me. Apart from that I was around the block to breakfast just after 7:30, as I had a bus to catch, or at least order and catch. The proprietor briefly showed me the washing machine, and I returned to my room to try to get a skype call through to the transport agency for today’s bus. The first couple of calls ended in a “busy” message and loop back to the menu. I waited for a bit, then repeated the call and got through. My bus for today was ordered, but the gent on the other end of the line couldn’t give me any details about where to change buses, for that I would have to ask the bus driver himself. With that organised, I packed up all my stuff and went down to the supermarket to replenish a bottle of lemonade.

Then it was a long march through town. I had chosen the “blue” route (the latest .gpx file that I could find, which Georget – after some sanity checks for simpler files – eventually converted to .kml), which seemed to go down the main road (Frankenwall, Frankendamm, Rostocker Chaussee, where it seemed to join company with the “red” version – which covers all of the German section). Not any signs – even of a cycle track – could be seen and consulted my map to find where to get off, should I otherwise miss the opportunity. Just as that point a sign turned up for the Hansa Path, which was not helpful, and the path I was looking for went through Devin. Just before the hotel a cycle path did appear to join the paths on the map, and this would make sense, if it followed the shoreline right up to the major bridge, which would have been much more pleasant that walking or cycling down the main road. However, that is a speculation for another day.

Having reached the path proper, markers started turning up! First, two on adjacent signposts in Devin, then a couple at a turning point close to the road, then a sign proper in Brandshagen. There were further markers in the forest between Niederhof and the sea, very sporadically along the shore line, and a couple in Stahlbrode.

The track up to Niederhof was roads of various consistencies, and there I took a lunch break on the village green. Here again I attempted to follow the blue line, but was thwarted by a warning that this was the end of the public track, and returned to where I had seen a track go off to Stahlbrode. It turned up after a bit of searching, and followed fairly closely the red line. This was a very old, very dense forest, and the shade was appreciated. Then the path reaches the sea again, and is quite open. I could see a couple of cyclists toiling ahead, and at a footbridge I overtook them (their revenge was swift and I saw nothing of them again). Then there was a lightly forested section, which reaches a small holiday village probably of GDR vintage, a camping ground (where obviously a group of kayakers are stationed – all the kit was lying around in a familiar fashion), and finally Stahlbrode with its medium sized harbor and ferry terminal. I had a good half hour to spare, and I was intrigued by all the bicycle signs pointing towards Reinberg that I went for a jog around the block to see where my path went. It was fairly clear (three path blocks, two on feeder paths, and one on the main path) that no one shall pass, so I will have to look at another way of getting to Kirchdorf tomorrow. In any case it won’t be far to Greifswald.

Interactive Map

One bus to Reinberg was waiting when I arrived, but I had let it go. Back at the bus stop I had today’s apple, and had just finished it when my ordered bus turned up (with one other passenger). The bus driver didn’t seem to know what connection would get me to Stralsund, either, and murmured something about going off duty, a clinic, and the #3 bus, which made little sense to me. Anyway I was ordered to take a seat up front and would be told where to get off.

First we went to Reinberg to drop off the other passenger, then the trip went to Miltzow, and the bus was taken out of service. I was curious as to where we were heading next, because the screen in the bus said “Grimmen”, and after returning to Reinberg we did actually start following the main highway into Stralsund. Now it sort of made sense to me – there was a clinic opposite to where the road to Devin leaves off, and I made a move to get my stuff together, but was told that I would be taken another three stops. Just before a turn to the west a bus stop turned up and I was released. Pity it couldn’t have been two minutes earlier, because I had just missed a bus and the frequency was quarter-hourly. But it was a good twenty minutes faster than whatever connection was being served up on the VVR website. At the station I tried to see whether a bus would take me to Rostocker Chaussee, but none did in the next half hour or so, so I marched back to my lodgings.

Big cleaning day today! Stripped off everything and put on the fresh undies and the pjs to take everything to the laundry, and got the machine going – it first indicated only wanting to take twenty minutes, but another nine appeared in due course. Then everything was hung op on the official lines, and hopefully enough will soon be dry so that I can wear it into town. In the much more ample meantime than originally planned the .kml data was crunched and the diary written.

Went down to Punjabi Tadka (Frankenwall 23A) which was well worth the almost 3 km walk there. Chicken Tikka with Naan – on its own enough for a main meal (€13.3), but I had to have some mixed pickles with it (€1.6). Heaven. Glad I saved that one up for today. Place seemed very empty, though, can’t be due to the quality, which was excellent. Back here took the sox and undies off the lines, as they should also be dry.