The unexpected forest

A I remarked yesterday, when I planned this trip I did not really imagine what the countryside of northwest Germany would look like, it was simply somewhere we needed to drive through to reach Denmark. I suppose if I had been pressed to speculate I think I would have pictured it as being flat and somewhat dreary like the fens. It did turn out to be as flat as I imagined but not dreary at all. Quite the opposite in fact. Between Cloppenburg and Oldenburg you cross the eastern edge of an area of ancient forest called 'Wilderhauser Geest'. The forest itself is beautiful, but so are the villages. Old thatched houses abound, it seems empty and remote even though it is close to big cities like Bremen.

We left the forest and headed towards Wilhelmshaven cutting eastwards before we reached the city itself aiming for the tunnel under the Weser. Hereabouts the landscape is bleaker, mainly drained salt flats. Its most interesting feature is man-made. The entire area is covered with enormous wind turbines, hundreds of them stretching so far as the eye can see. It is an arresting, somewhat other-worldly sight, a glimpse into the future perhaps.

Once across the Weser the countryside returns to woodland. The thatched cottages among the trees look even more distinctly 'Hansel and Gretel'. We had made this detour in order to avoid the fearsome looking tangle of motorways around Hamburg; it proved more lovely than we ever imagined.

Before we set out I had noticed marked on our road atlas a car ferry across the Elbe between Cuxhaven and Brunsbuttel. Information about the timetable and fares proved difficult to find on-line.. We were resigned to taking a chance until a few days so, by pure coincidence, fellow moho blogger 'Motoroaming' posted a video of an alternative Elbe ferry between Wischhafen and Neuendeich; it proved to be a shorter, cheaper and more regular route. Thank you Myles and Karen (aka Motoroaming)!

We crossed the Elbe's treacherous looking sandbanks the ferry captain weaving had way between  cargo ships heading to and from Hamburg docks. Now we entered Germany's most northerly province, Schleswig-Holstein; it was an hour's drive from here to Friedrichstadt, our final stopping place before Denmark.