Day 48. Nynäshamn - home 5 km (1896 km)
I manage to sleep all night.
Day 47. Gdansk - Gdansk 14 km (1891 km)
Last day in Poland.
Day 46. Gdansk - Gdansk 26 km (1877 km)
Still in Kashubia, spend the day biking around in Gdansk and along the coast to Sopot.
Day 45. Kościerzyna - Gdansk 12 km (1851 km)
My newfound knowledge about Kashubia tells me that I will stay in Kashubia all day, imagine that ! Early breakfast and hurry to the train, the first train of the day.
Day 44. Bytów - Kościerzyna 51 km (1839 km)
Yet another gray and rainy day. No end to the misery and muddy roads.
Day 43. Miastko - Bytów 52 km (1788 km)
Rain, thunder and mud.
Day 42. Miastko - Miastko 0 km (1736 km)
Today is cooler and there is rain from time to time. Nice with a day of rest.
Day 41. Barwice - Miastko 76 km (1736 km)
The morning was foggy and cool.
Day 40. Drawsko Pomorskie - Barwice 62 km (1660 km)
Sunny and clear outside. Feeling a bit like a cold is coming.
Day 39. Drawsko Pomorskie - Drawsko Pomorskie 5 km (1598 km)
It’s hot again. The room was very hot and the street outside noisy.
Day 38. Stargard - Drawsko Pomorskie 75 km (1593 km)
Fog and rain in the morning, later sunshine.
Day 37. Szczecin - Stargard 51 km (1518 km)
Today’s forecast was rain and more rain, so I dug out my big higviz bright yellow raincoat.
Day 36. Dessau - Szczecin 5 km (1467 km)
This would be the final day in a series of long days on trains. It was cold and rainy all day.
Day 35. Pfaffenhofen - Dessau 5 km (1462 km)
A very long day on trains. There were delays due to all sorts of problems and many upset people on the trains.
Day 34. Salzburg - Pfaffenhofen 4 km (1457 km)
Last day of trains through the alps, only 2 days by train left now.
Day 33. Graz - Salzburg 10 km (1453 km)
Long day on the trains through the alps.
Day 32. Halbenrain - Graz 31 km (1443 km)
Sunshine and hot. Today will be the first train of many to come in the next few days.
Day 31. Varaždin - Halbenrain 74 km (1412 km)
Today had rain and uphill in the morning, even more rain and also headwind in the afternoon.
Day 30. Varaždin - Varaždin 0 km (1338 km)
Rest day. Major event of the day, haircut.
Day 29. Varaždin - Varaždin 0 km (1338 km)
Rest day. Major event of the day, laundromat.
Day 28. Lenti - Varaždin 60 km (1338 km)
Today is the final day before resting in Croatia and then turning back north.
Day 27. Körmend - Lenti 60 km (1283 km)
I slept a lot on my half rest day yesterday, I am looking forward to my mini holiday in Croatia before I turn back through the mountains.
Day 26. Szombathely - Körmend 30 km (1223 km)
I had been looking for a nice place to take a rest day, but I didn’t find any place or accommodation. So I decided to have a half rest day. Only 30 km today.
Day 25. Horitschon - Szombathely 60 km (1193 km)
There was some VOLT festival goers that came back in the early morning, otherwise the hotel was very quiet.
Day 24. Bruckneudorf - Horitschon 73 km (1133 km)
I slept well in the hotel and after breakfast I get my bike back. It’s been locked away but outside, so last nights rain has cleaned some mud of it.
Day 23. Malacky - Bruckneudorf 66 km (1060 km).
When I look out the window it’s raining and raining and raining, very depressing.
Day 22. Holíč - Malacky 55 km (994 km)
Speed record day. A beatyful and fast day in the countryside.
Day 21. Holíč - Holíč 0 km (939 km)
Restful day. The main event was doing laundry.
Day 20. Otrokovice - Holíč 66 km (939 km)
Today was a record in bike lanes. There was perfect sign posting and one of the best days so far.
Day 19. Nový Jičín - Ostrokovice 72 km (873 km)
A long and cold day with some drops of rain.
Day 18. Nový Jičín - Nový Jičín 0 km (801 km)
Rest day in Nový Jičín.
Day 17. Ostrava - Nový Jičín 53 km (801 km)
My first day in the Czech republic since 2014. The air was cold and clear after last nights storm. The weather forecast was 15-18C and some showers for the next 4-5 days.
Day 16. Rybnik - Ostrava 47 km (748 km)
My last day in Poland for this time. It’s really hot all day.
Day 15. Tarnowskie Góry - Rybnik 58 km (701 km)
This turned out to be one of the best days, nice and quiet roads and forest tracks.
Day 14. Tarnowskie Góry - Tarnowskie Góry 0 km (643 km)
It’s quiet in the morning until 07:30 when the church starts to ring its bells. I guess they are open for business now.
Day 13. Kłobuck - Tarnowskie Góry 72 km (643 km)
Breakfast in the room is normally an extra but the hotel was so minimalistic that they only served breakfast in the room.
Day 12. Bolesławiec - Kłobuck 78 km (571 km)
Breakfast at 7, I expect the place to look like a war zone, but the staff has been up for many hours and cleaned the place so that it looks like new again.
Day 11. Kalisz - Bolesławiec 81 km (493 km)
Leaving Kalisz before 8 in the morning, but it was already very hot. The first kilometers was a nice bike lane but it ended in an industrial area.
Day 10. Kalisz - Kalisz 0 km (412 km)
Kalisz was a pleasant town, first thing to take care of on the rest day was to go and see a bike shop.
Dag 9. Konin - Kalisz 67 km (412 km)
As the hotel was a great disappointment I spent some time finding a good one in Kalisz for a day of rest.
Day 8. Lisewo - Konin 43km (345 km)
Today I had planned a short day, like a rest day light. I found a hotel in Konin that claimed to have "a laundry" and I had some clothes needing a wash. It would be the most expensive hotel so far at 290 PLN, but it would save the time and effort of finding a laundromat.
Day 7. Toruń - Lisewo 89 km (302 km)
The hotel was part of a bigger complex so it felt more like an office building than a hotel. They were rebuilding the hotel so the breakfast was served in a sterile conference room.
Day 6. Grudziądz - Toruń 62 km (213 km)
There had been some rain during the night but the temperature hadn’t dropped so it was very humid. No wedding party last night so the hotel was quiet and nice all night long.
Day 5. Grudziądz - Grudziądz 0 km (151 km)
Rest day.
Day 4. Kwidzyn - Grudziądz 45km (151 km)
Yet another hot and sunny day. The news tells of heavy raining in the south of Poland.
Day 3. Tczew - Kwidzyn 57 km (106 km)
The hotel was a bit noisy so I woke up several times during the night. Breakfast was great with eggs and sausage and lots of other stuff.
Day 2. Gdańsk - Tczew 48 km (49 km)
First day in Poland. The ferry is very quiet and nice around 6 in the morning. There is about 200 km left to Gdańsk.
Day 1. Home - Nynäshamn 1 km (1 km)
First day of the bike trip. Taking the train to Nynäshamn and then a ferry to Gdansk. The trains in Stockholm have had a troublesome couple of days, so I leave much earlier than I have to.
In the morning I am happy to leave Jūrkalne, it’s raining but it feels better to outdoors in the rain than in the molded accommodation.
I have already booked my accommodation for tonight, the coast is very fully booked at the moment. I had wanted to stay at Pilsberģu krogs, but ended up in a much lesser place.
I had done some sightseeing yesterday but saved some for today.
The night had been very quiet and cool.
Yesterday the room was insane hot and this morning there were no hot water. So in average perfect temperature.
Today I will enter the great Lithuanian train lottery.
The hotel was in a rural location so very quiet and nice.
I woke up early. I can imagine that many of the pagan metal people would have a very hard morning.
The night had been cold and damp, but I slept well in the cottage.
I wake up early, the day is cloudy, windy and cold.
I woke up feeling rested and relaxed.
I slept like a king in the hotel.
There was heavy rain and strong wind during the night.
There had been a storm and lots of rain during the night.
The hotel was hot but at about 5 in the morning there was some heavy rain that cooled things down a bit.
The night had been very, very hot. The hotel had no ventilation so it was like a sauna inside.
The night had been very, very hot. The hostel had no ventilation so it was like a sauna inside.
I woke up early and had breakfast, it offered all strange sorts of fish that I skipped. It was already hot and very humid.
The night was very quiet, the breakfast was very bland with strange stuff.
The room was very bright when I woke up, strong sunshine and thin curtains. The sky was blue and it was a bit chilly.
The cabin was very quiet. There still was dense fog in the morning, really happy that I didn’t pay for a window. I had some quick breakfast in the cabin.
First day of my trip, the weather is Swedish summer standard. Light rain, some more rain and then some rain. At least its warm and nice.
Being next to the Baltic Sea means that everything is moist from condensation.
It was still dark when I woke up, the winter is coming, less than two months ago there were no nights at all, just sunshine.
Yesterday I read in the local tourist propaganda that they see it as a major advantage that road 50 soon will be upgraded to a safer 100 km/h hour road with a wire railing for safety. More cars and higher speeds is safer.
This morning I find yellow leafs on my tent.
Some cars arrived late yesterday but I was very tired so I managed to sleep through the night and wake up early.
A late morning, I had slept well in the B&B.
I woke up after a long night of good sleep.
After a long night with light sleep it’s finally morning and I can leave Sjöviksgården.
So finally the day when I get to bike an armadillo bike.
A very quiet and nice sunny morning, I slept very well and wake up late.
The tent has been flapping most of the night, but now the wind is gone and it’s all quiet.
Cold and rain. When I wake up it rains so I decide to sleep a bit more.
No more flat Denmark.
The morning was very nice and cold compared to yesterday.
I woke up really early, it was still almost dark outside and a bit cold.
After breakfast I rode the tunnel, it was a fun experience, really cold there far under the surface.
The Bullitt was still there in the morning.
This morning was the coldest so far, probably around 8C or so, lots of clothes on for the down hill to Hamburg.
A gray morning as usual. It’s ice cold in the wind when I start to ride.
Cold morning with some blue sky. The room was very quiet, warm and dry and I slept well.
First day ! I had a very late start since I went to Velotop for last minute adjustments and butterkuchen.
After 5 days of hard work with testing and adjusting the bike, both I and the bike are ready to leave Bielefeld.
In about one week I will go to Bielefeld and pick my Bullitt up.
Today was the day when I will attempt to get back to Sweden.
It was hot, I had eaten to little, biked to much, I really felt worn out when I woke up.
The hotel is a winter destination, well insulated, so very warm in the summer.
A cold morning, only 8C but nice weather.
Early morning. I was so tired yesterday that I went in to a coma and woke up at 04:30 this morning.
I have breakfast in the restaurant, and then pack my stuff and get going.
Since there was a heated towel rail in the hotel I had done some laundry, so lots of packing to do.
At 04:30 in the morning it’s just under 10 C, my down sleeping bag is doing a great job of keeping me warm.
The alarm wakes me up, I feel very rested. After a small breakfast I set off.
I wake up at home, feels very strange but I had a very good nights sleep.
Heavy rain during the night. Light sleep. There is no real night, just a bit less light.
First day. An early start after a short night. This spring has been cold and rainy, this morning didn’t have any rain but it was chilly.
After being off tour for about a year it’s time for a new tour, a new adventure.
Sunshine! Since I had a few days to kill before the ferry home I had made a reservation at a nice and cheap hotel for 3 nights. So today was an easy day through the countryside. I slept late and started biking late.
The day starts gray and cold, some rain, some headwind. There are lots of Polizei all over the place, on the roads and the river.
I wake early, the room is flooded in sunlight. Breakfast opens at 8:00 sharp. I am the only foreigner, I try to listen to the Czech language but it is impossible to understand a single word.
A whole day of doing nothing, the last 3 weeks of constant rain and cold had worn me out. Spend the day with breakfast, lunch, supermarket, dinner, Internet.
Ruhetag. Cold and rain on a Sunday in Germany. I did some blogging, reading, lots of reading/planning for the Czech republic.
My first day of biking along the Donau river. The morning is very cold, there is even frost.
My last day in France can be described with tree words, rain, rain and rain. It’s cold and dark when I leave the hotel and start to bike along the Canal du Rhone au Rhin towards Mulhouse.
I feel a bit like I have a cold, good that I don’t have to bike too much today. I have breakfast in my room and then I bike over to the station.
I slept late and had some breakfast at the hotel. Then I collected my bike from storage and setup workshop on a small square.
I slept well in my very cold room. The hotel seem more or less empty so I enjoy my tostadas in front of the always present TV. The highlight of the day is when I walk along the big road that leads in to Pucol and do some shopping in the Supermercat.
A cold and nice day, I look forward to biking the Via Verde. I have my breakfast and get going. I struggle a bit to find exactly where the track starts but once I find it, it looks fantastic.
I start the day with breakfast in the room. This is a very nice day, sunny and nice. The first 9 km, out of Linares and then on to N-322 is very messy with road works going on, they are in progress of “upgrading” the N-322 from nice road to highway.
Sunday in Cordoba. I practice the noble art of doing nothing for most of the day. I have a look at maps for the route ahead, update the blog, upload pictures.
The time has now come to leave Benalmadena and Costa del Sol and start the long journey back home. To make life easier I had decided to stay in a hotel for the last nights.
After a few days of slacking in Sagres I have decided to spend 5 nights in an apartment hotel closer to Spain. Portugal is cheaper than Spain and I feel I need a semana tranquila.
First morning in Portugal, there is one hours time difference with Spain so now breakfast is yet another hour later. The morning was cold and very foggy.
I woke up before sunrise and had breakfast and packed all my stuff. After a while I started to wonder why there was no sunlight outside, I had a look through the window and it was dense fog. My bottle of SPF 50 felt like a really good investment.
Leaving Salamanca starts with a long uphill out of town.
The weather is not great, rain and headwind. I mainly cycle on the small service roads along the highway. As it has been raining for a while now the going is heavy and dirty. In a small village I cross paths with two other cyclists, they have narrower tires with less thread so they have to struggle to keep going.
My first night in Spain was noisy but eventually things got quiet. Breakfasts have been getting smaller and smaller the last couple of weeks, judging from this hotel they will continue to be even smaller.
The sun is not shining but it’s much warmer than in the north of France. I start my long and slow journey out of Bordeaux.
The B&B was nice and quiet so I had a nice sleep. The breakfast was just two pieces of bread, butter and marmalade. Not an ideal start of the day for a cyclist.
It’s hard to say what was the highlight of this day. The breakfast was surprisingly good, lots of good stuff and nice bread.
Breakfast at 8 after a long sleep, it seems I really needed 10 hours of sleep. It’s a beautiful day and it’s getting warmer quickly.
First full day of rest, great ! The day starts slowly, I have breakfast and send e-mail to Rohloff about that I need service for my gearbox. I have to fill out a very serious form with all the details.
Leaving the hotel after the breakfast buffet I am thinking that this will probably be the fanciest accommodation for a long time to come. I am following my GPS track out of Bremen, I meet up with the river Weser.
After being home for a while this is the day when the journey continues. I am taking the ferry to Travemünde (Germany) via Ventspils (Latvia). The ferry leaves at 10:00 and I have to be there at least 2 hours before that.
I had already decided to go on with my trip before I arrived in Stockholm. I just needed 2 weeks or so to catch up with everybody and replace some equipment.
The camping is gated so it has been a quiet night. There is a constant noise from road 5, I am hoping that road 13/15 has less traffic. The sun is burning and already at 7 in the morning it’s more than 30C in the tent.
When I wake up I am still in the camping from hell, bummer. I gather all my moist clothes and get dressed and pack up, there is nothing here for me.
I wake up in my overpriced cottage, the sun is shining and it’s really hot.
During the night some people arrived to the camping, their caravan was already parked there but for some reason they had to park their 2 ton SUV next to the caravan. So instead of walking 15 meters they had to wake the whole camping up by driving their SUV between the caravans.
I wake up feeling rested, the wind is strong so I am happy that I put my tent as far as possible from the water. I have heard other tents flap in the wind, but I am behind them and a tree so I am good.
I need to use the rest room at 5, when I go outside it’s mayhem, the festival people are still drinking and shouting. I am so happy that I have an almost sound proof cottage with heating.
I have set the alarm so that I can enjoy the breakfast buffet, I go to the building where it’s served. The breakfast is really massive, it even has waffles.
I wake up to early, it’s cold inside, and some of the other guests are already up, smoking and talking outside. Can’t go back to sleep, decide to get going instead.
Woken by thunder and rain, I check the weather forecast again. It says it sunshine in Skellefteå, so I guess weather forecasts are just an infotainment.
I wake up when the alarm rings, seems like it was ages since I heard my alarm. I must be tired, good that I have two full days of rest planned in Skellefteå. I pack all my stuff quickly and clean the cabin. I ride in to the village and find the local supermarket (ICA), it doesn’t open until 9. So I am stuck outside waiting. While I sit waiting a guy wearing clothes with the supermarket logo on walks by with a baby stroller, I ask him if he’s out delivering food. He has just dropped his kids off at kindergarten.
Resting a day in the B&B in Åsäng. The perfect place for it. The breakfast is so massive that it almost last all day. I supplement it with some food from the store 7.5 km by bike. So I do almost nothing all day, the place is so quiet and peaceful.
My first rest day. Slept late and had some breakfast at the hostel. Bread and Nutella, a breakfast for champions. I walked down to town and had lunch with some friends, we ate at http://www.burritos.nu/.
Day 1, Hour 1, Minute 1, waking up at 4 in the morning to finally start my journey. I had decided to cheat a bit and take some trains. Just to get away from Stockholm and the roads I have traveled so many times.
I am planning to leave on Monday, so I am in the final phase of packing. Packing a bike for a long tour is a psychotic exercise in applied minimalism, all the stuff for eating, sleeping, living needs to go in the bags. If you find yourself choosing between a lighter and toothpaste, your process crashed and you need to restart.
Times flies when not working, but at the end of this week I expect to be more or less ready to go. Have been doing some tests of equipment and drawing some new maps.
“Iman Salbardo Hammed shuffling methodically up to the Blue mosque’s minaret. It is the third time today as he walks the 63 steps. It takes him exactly five minutes. The time is 12:48 when Salbardos wrinkled hand takes the megaphone. He clears his throat slightly and begins to sing out today’s prayer”.
Now I have one week left at work, the reality of leaving my ordinary life and going away on a long trip is starting to sink in. I am not sure if I really understand it yet, I am surprisingly not worried about not having a job to attend and the negative side effect of that.
It looks like my old dream of an extended bike tour is coming true, a perfect opportunity consisting of available funds and being job free has appeared.