Stade

Travelled: 100km plus 3 ferries (Hochdonn free, Beidenfleth €3, Gluckstadt €17.50)

Visited: Gluckstadt, Stade

Stay: Harsefeld- free Motorhome parking at Klosterpark (CamperContact), no services 53.45365 9.50318

Last night there was plenty of thunder and lightning, along with heavy rain. It was that loud that we both put earplugs in to get to sleep. This morning the rain had passed but it was very humid and hazy. After watching a few more vessels pass along the canal we took the free ferry across to the other side to make our way to Gluckstadt where another ferry trip awaited us to cross the Elbe. Unfortunately, a reasonably direct route was thwarted by yet another road closure and so we wound our way through country roads until we came to a ferry at Beidenfleth to cross the Stör River. As it was not a canal we had to pay €3 for the short trip across the river. 

Along the way we saw these signs and we're astounded that there were speed restrictions for tanks! We were very happy we didn't see one of those on the road.

We eventually made it to Gluckstadt and thought that after all the effort we had better go and have a look. The guide book tells us that a Danish King founded the town in 1617. It has a hexagonal layout radiating from the large market square and some of the Dukes palaces have survived. This is the city hall in the square.

You know when you're in Germany when ... There are cigarette vending machines in the street!

After our stroll around we headed to the ferry to cross the Elbe. We quickly became aware that we weren't the only ones with this plan, with the end result being a 1 1/2 hour wait! 

We used our time productively by having lunch and doing a bit of research on our route for the next few days. It was also raining so we didn't feel we were missing out on anything much. 

Yay we're on!

Our 30mins trip went smoothly and we managed to find a park to go to visit Stade. Armed with a walking tour map we set out to see all the sites of this quaint medieval Hanseatic town with its characteristic half timbered buildings. 

The old Wooden Crane in Fish market square.

Spotted some famous people up in the window.

A very decorative merchants house.

An inn  but also the Guild House of Brewers...very important!

This one has 26 different half Suns carved on its facade.

The original organ.

A model of the church's hexagonal tower.

Mark was very happy to find a sausage van!

And then his day was made when he could buy some more German beer...should see us out!

We decided to continue down the road a bit further to our spot for tonight in Harsefeld, which has a nice park area with a ruin of an old cloister next to a church.