3rd time 100+ km...

Since I've done my first 2 times 100 km in 24 hours in New Zealand I wanted to try it on the NST at least once and this is how it happened.

I woke up in the Elisabeth tower on the Bungsberg with 168 m the highest elevation in the northern part of Germany. Now in daylight I saw the sea in the distance and many wind turbines across the country. I packed the stuff and had to realize I left my water bottle in the last village I came through the evening before. As an interim solution I filled a small sealable box with water until I found another bottle.
At 8.24 am I started tracking on komoot with the intention to walk at least 100 km and maybe 24 hours. The first hours went really smooth with an average speed of 6.1 km/h. I felt really confident with perfect weather conditions and a good mood to start with. Dwelling in memories of the 100 km in New Zealand I even started to cry missing the time with my friends there.
The trail led through fields, small villages and alongside many lakes (15+). A lot of cyclists and dog owners came past and some of the cyclists I saw multiple times.
Every 2 hours I had at least a short break to take off my shoes and stretch myself a little bit. In Plön I stopped for lunch and bought a falafel dürüm at lake Great Plön. It wasn't the greatest, falling apart while eating, but it served its purpose.
With a full stomach I continued to Kiel, the only city on this challenge still many hours away. My mood was fantastic, my legs felt great and I listened to the Alpensinfonie, which a friend of mine is going to play in an orchestra. On the trail a small part was blocked by a fence claiming private property no entry. I climbed the fence, walked at the edge of a small field and got out on the other side. I took a screenshot of the spot on my map for then later sharing it with the community to avoid unnecessary detours. The next town I already entered in the dark. There I got a falafel döner with nothing else open on a sunday night. At the town's monastery I found a toilet where I put on all my clothes for the night, but took off my puffer jacket after I started to sweat again. The trail followed the river Schwentine all the way to Kiel where it flows into the Baltic Sea. While writing this I realized I started just north of the source of the river, which itself flows through all the lakes I walked alongside. On this part I had to use the flashlight of my phone with the trail leading through really dark forest areas.
In Kiel I got to where you usually take the ferry across avoiding the city center but there was no ferry at midnight, so I took the shortest way about 7 km around. Then the trail followed the promenade along the water until it was blocked by a military area. I realized I had to cross the Kiel Canal (Nord-Ostsee-Kanal) and the trail led me to another ferry. Luckily there is a bridge not far from the ferry terminal, but the bridge was way taller than normal bridges would be, because cargo ships are passing underneath it as there was one passing by when I got to the terminal. I climbed all the stairs, crossed the canal with only one car on this highway at 2.30 am and got down on the other side back onto the trail.
Now on a direct way north to the shoreline of the Baltic Sea I came across a graveyard where I refilled my bottle. My legs hurt but I wanted to reach 100 km within 20 hours, so I kept up my pace. I finally got there at 3.48 am and was really surprised about how good I felt compared to the first and second time. The conditions were different the first time but even with almost perfect conditions at my second attempt, this one felt way easier. After a short break due to the cold I continued to achieve my next goal, the 24 hours...Read more