Another relatively long day today from the wonderful town of Zeven (which serves as a halfway point for those travelling between Hamburg and Bremen) to Oldenburg. We had actually intended to stop just past Bremen in Hude, but were refused at the Hostelling International hostel there for arriving roughly 20 minutes past the office closing time. Oh well. Much profanity, cold air, and lactic acid buildup later, we finally made it into Oldenburg. As per usual, this was not the end of our daily adventure; given only a compass and large-scale map, we had to find a place to stay for the night. Being more than a little tired and sore, we opted for the local hostel towards the north of town; setting out in what we thought was the right direction, we instead succeeded in finding the pedestrian centrum. After some amount of aimless perambulation, we were almost ready to give up - 120 km is a long way to bike in a single day, and it was getting rather late - when a friendly older couple noticed our predicament and offered to walk with us to the hostel. This was fortunate indeed, as I strongly doubt that we would have found it without assistance!
They explained a number of things about Oldenburg:
- Oldenburg had the first pedestrian area in Germany - with the advent of the horseless carriage, the roads in that area of town proved too narrow for vehicles...so they converted into a pedestrian district instead.
- The town is roughly 600 years old, with around 160 000 inhabitants.
- Oldenburg is rather large compared to other towns of its size; many residences in the centre of town have sizeable yards, which is unusual in Europe.
Anyways, we managed to get ourselves checked into the hostel, whereupon we promptly lifted our spirits with Bier and Döner before collapsing in an exhausted heap on the bed. Aside from that: we are now furnished with new maps courtesy of some German cycling association in Bremen, which should last us to Amsterdam. The second half of the Hamburg-Bremen cycling route (indicated with HH/HB signs, corresponding to the regional codes for each city) is no less circuitous than the first - the Germans seem determined to ensure that cyclists visit every town on the map! We're almost out of Germany at this point; hopefully we can make it across the border into the Netherlands tomorrow!