Great weather and a good road on the way to Mikolajki start the day off on the right note. After 31km on shady roads through the woods, we reach the tourist destination, full of German tourists once again. After some ice cream in a cafe, we take a stroll along the beach promenade, trying to find a boat that will take us across the Sniadrwy-lake. The only one we find is a private motorboat company, who would charge us zloty 400 (that's about €100), an offer we gladly decline. So we'll take the bike for a change. After a few wrong [View Full Entry]

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What a great campsite it was! After a good night's sleep and some breakfast and coffee, we continue along eastward. We don't get far though, as the Masurian lakes are tempting...calling us to take a break...campsites and hotels left and right, people kayaking around in the lakes, and our legs feeling as though they're made of lead, we soon give in to temptation and stop in Zgon, where we decide to spend the rest of the day and take a room in a hotel. The first B&B we find has no rooms left, so we move on to the next...an ex-Sowiet [View Full Entry]

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I wake up at 7am already, although it took me a while to fall asleep - Hans' snoring didn't make a good lullaby. Since I find myself in a bed, I decide to force myself back to sleep - enjoy it while you have it! I manage to sleep on to half past eight. Another shower and then off to breakfast: coffee, eggs...I'm in paradise! Around 9:30 we're on our way. The sun is hiding behind clouds, perfect weather for cycling. We follow the road into the woods and find the junction Christof (the son of the German family) showed me [View Full Entry]

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I wake early from a not very restful sleep, around 6am we are up. I get some coffee from the nearby petrol station while Hans takes down the tent, then we slowly make our way out of Kwidzyn. The town looked quite attractive last night, but neither of us are in the mood for sightseeing, we simply want to get out of here. The first 20km are a drag, the road constantly rising and falling, with the uphill stretches too steep for a loaded bike. After 25km, we find a lake with a beach, almost empty since we're early. We take [View Full Entry]

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I wake up at about 6:30, probably due to the missing rain cover on the tent. Chances for rain are virtually zero at the moment, during the day temperatures of around 30 celsius make getting far very hard. It's the evenings when we get the most cycling done, even in the morning it's too hot to cycle comfortably. First, we reach Chelmno, a lovely small town, located on a hill (which makes getting there a bit of a pain). After yesterday's flat tyre, I need to get a proper spare tube, and we go looking for a bike shop. The one [View Full Entry]

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We make it through the night ok, if not quite rested. Our "hosts" had a party (Hans said he was close to complaining about the noise), and the dogs on the neighbouring farms gave an all-night concert. We use our burning alcohol to make some coffee and then hit the road. At Trzcienka, we take a break in front of a Sklep, where two Polish men start their Sunday with beer and a cigarette. One of them speaks a little German. When we tell them of our plans, they tell us that we're crazy, especially Belarus is full of robbers and [View Full Entry]

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The day begins with the search for coffee. After I bought some lighter fluid yesterday, thinking I could use it for my cooker and the stuff just wouldn't burn, we're unable to make coffee in the morning. Thinking we'll find some in the next town, we cycle to Mi?dzyrzecz. This turns out not to be quite as easy as we'd imagined: apparently, cafes are not usual in Poland at all. We ask a local, who points us to a block of flats, but decide to try our luck in the centre, but no cafe in sight. So we turn to our [View Full Entry]

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Friday the 13th - the ideal day to start off a two-week long bike tour! After a quick breakfast, we jump on the train to Frankfurt/Oder, on the border to Poland. After the border, we cross over the Oder, Poland waiting on the other side. Immediately, confusion: only the main route is signposted, we need to find a smaller road. The first "conversation" in Polish follows: using hands, feet, and the map, we get directions and find our way out into the countryside. The weather is slightly wet, but ideal for cycling, the road good, a good start to our tour. [View Full Entry]

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The bike stored away safely in the huge bike carriage of the train (never seen anything like this in Britain), I'm on my way to Berlin, through the Czech Republic. Quiet ride, lots of time to read, look out of the window, think about what's to come. Soon, I'm hungry, head for the board restaurant, where I have some gulasch from a tin, disgusting. Seems the quality of Czech train restaurants is not quite up to Austrian standards yet, judging from this experience. I hope I'm wrong. In Prague (a city I should definitely visit sometime), two American girls come in [View Full Entry]

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It's the day of departure from Vienna - or maybe not? The train I booked has no bike storage (night train Vienna-Berlin), so I'm forced to book another train for tomorrow, leaving in the morning and arriving in the evening (19:12). I spend the afternoon running through Vienna, getting my bike from the mechanic, who did some last-minute checks and got it ready for the tour. I'm almost all the way through my list, even got the 1:300 000 map of Poland, just missing sandals...do I really need that PDA? [View Full Entry]

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