Stanford Student Letters and Memoirs

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The next morning we took off about 8 AM on our bikes, rode along the Tauber to Creglingen. This was a particularly beautiful stretch with the river in the base of a valley, cultivated hills arising on both sides, little villages every couple of miles. We stopped about 9:30 on the bank to eat breakfast (sandwich, two eggs, slice of meat, piece of raisin cake given us by Frau Krauter, orange and water). Watched a flock of ducks swim by (the river was about 20-30 feet wide) moved very smoothly and slowly. About this time the sun broke through the morning fog and it was quite peaceful and lovely. On the hills behind us farmers followed their horses or walked about spreading fertilizer- farming much as they had for centuries before.

In Creglingen, we caught a train for Wurzburg- a little old one with ancient cars with wood seats. Almost empty of people so that the conduc- tor had time to drop by and chat with us, find out where we were from etc. He said we were the first bike travelers of the season and most people say it is too early in the year but so far our luck has been pretty good. Almost all sunny weather- only cold since Hanover.

We had a couple of hours to ride around Warzburg- too bad because it is a very interesting old city- University and former Bishop's seat. We spent most of our time at the Marienburg Castle on a high bluff with a fine view of the town and its many church steeples. Then on the train again- on to Hanover for the night in a youth hostel.

Up yesterday morning and right off to the railroad station to go to Hamburg. We are trying mostly in these few days to cover mileage in moving northward so sight seeing took a second seat in the large cities especially. In Hamburg I had time to wander around for the afternoon but chose instead to write a letter, take a shower, wash a few clothes etc.- sort of a day off from tra- veling. The hostel there is very large (400 beds) and new. On a hill above the harbor. This is a fine location for the Hamburg harbor is huge- much larger than any other I have ever seen and bustles with activity day and night. The great dock cranes are as thick as TV antennas on Los Angeles rooftops and there are ships of all sizes loading, unloading or moving on. The city itself is sort of sooty, industrial, with a smoke haze even under blur [blue] skies. This seems to be true of most north German cities (Hanover, Bremen, Oldenberg). In sharp contrast to Stuttgart or Munchen in the south.

Well we are rising early in the morning for a long day of biking- hope to make over 100 kilometers which is far more than we have done on any previous day. The time we save now will come in very handy going up the Rhine or wandering in Holland so it is worth the effort.

March 21st

Well here I am in our second night in the Hague and I will try and fill you in somewhat on the last few days. We did manage to cover the 104 kilometers from Oldenberg to Winschoten and without being completely worn out. We left Oldenberg about 9 AM, arrived at the border between Germany and Holland at 4:30 and in Winschoten about 6 and we took about 10 minutes of each hour to rest and an hour for a hot lunch so we didn't really press too hard. The country was very flat yet we saw many thick pine forests- at almost sea level, this is quite unexpected- between the green farmlands. As we moved westward past Leer and into Holland, the forests gradually disappeared and canals became increasing- some little more than irrigation ditches through the fields every 15 or 20 yards- others large enough by