With thanks to Szymon, our wonderful host (with partner Kamila) in Szczecin, Poland, for the above shot of Daisy’s 80-kg (or so) road train in focused forward mode, we start our sixth week on the road with 310 km pedalled over the last three days (50 of those without battery!), well over 2000km in total … Read more …
We’re on the train back to Szczecin from two nights in Gdansk, so herewith some musings on cycling Poland, Russia/Cold War memories (40+ years since we were both last here) and Putin/Ukraine (I think this is crunch time for Russia). There are as usual pictures at the bottom of this post (with captions hopefully explaining … Read more …
We’ve realised that Gdansk/Danzig is going to be a bit of a stretch, so today, just into Poland along the Baltic coast (see maps below), we’ve turned south towards Szczecin, where we’ll park Daisy and do a two-day train trip to and back from the city that gave birth in 1980 to Solidarity and ultimately … Read more …
Experimenting with a quick post from just beyond Greifswald, after a fabulous two day 200km+ run around Germany’s premier holiday island of Rügen (accommodation already in v short supply) and with Jutta fast asleep mid-afternoon on the bench opposite. Portfolio of pix to illustrate, though difficult to capture the staggering around in the mid-night dark … Read more …
Very slow internet in Stralsund, so here’s a very brief update with a phew photos (or should it be few fotos – German is so much more consistent) of two days riding north from Lubeck then east, seriously into the Baltic and old Germany. Yes, taking advantage of our new Deutschlandtickets on DB German railways, … Read more …
It was very good to pause in Hamburg, to see the city writ both large/real and small/model in Wunderland, to cruise the container port and to hear the fabulous Tallis Scholars live in the stunning, overwhelming, brilliant Elbe Philharmonic. Let the following, however, just be an excuse for some hopefully inspiring photographs, with our impresive … Read more …
With just short of three weeks tandeming behind us on our 12-week jaunt through Northern Europe, we’re settling into a pretty solid routine of about 70km a day, regardless it seems of how early we start or how far we intend to travel – feeling a bit guilty about the electrics, but it really does … Read more …
Today, as we take a day off from cycling to visit the Emigration museum in Bremerhaven (with help from German Rail and 49 euro monthly national roaming tickets), I’ll let pictures of the former concentration camp of Bergen-Belsen, on our road from Hanover to Luneburg, speak for themselves. Liberated by the British army in the … Read more …
Hamlin of ratcatching fame from the Brothers Grimm fairy tales has to be one of Germany’s prettiest old towns – and there’s a lot of competition. Hamlin – Hameln in German – is quietly understated, but beautifully preserved and proud of the 1284 story which history suggests was probably to do with local youngsters being … Read more …
Germany certainly doesn’t do food by halves. The portions here at the Westfaelischer Hof in Luegde (2 x 70km days, and moral of the story is don’t expect to camp if arriving after six…) are gigantic, and delicious. Huntsman’s Schnitzel for Jutta and mine overbaked with cheese and mushrooms. Subtle they ain’t, but talk about … Read more …