This is the last blog post of the trip. I’m on the train to Berlin and from there directly back into my normal life as I’ll go straight from the train station to the Symfony User Group meetup. I slept unbelievably well in the tent last night, I didn’t feel particularly hungry despite my inappropriate diet for the past few days, but then I hadn’t been moving or expending any energy, so what I had was likely enough to sustain me. Read more...

I am now in the campsite at Travemunde, which was conveniently immediately outside of the ferry port. I had originally planned to cycle directly, overnight, to Rostock (100km) and reasoned that I would arrive at 4am and be able then to get the first train to Berlin, and that the cycle ride would be good and hoped the sky would be clear, but the weather forecast was poor, and in the hours preceding the arrival it had been pouring in rain. Read more...

I have now stayed in Tallinn for 5 nights, stayed in two separate hostels, met lots of interesting people and have been for 4 runs of 10k or more. Time has passed quicky and I wish I could stay longer but I have to be at work in a few days. The first two nights I stayed in the Euphoria hostel, which I breifly described in the previous post - it has a drum kit, organ, piano, several guitars, microphones and amplifiers. Read more...

I’m sitting in the Eurphoria hostel in Tallinn, I got in around an hour and a half ago, and have briefly explored the tourist saturated center, then came back here and played guitar and piano for about an hour and a guy just came in and sat at the drums. There is all the tools required for a band in this room, which is one of the reasons I was attracted to this hostel, and I may be staying here for a week. Read more...

I had prepared for a long day today, and after two days at the Looming hostel in Tartu I was feeling fresh and ready to go in this morning. I had had some good chats with people at the hostel, and the experience was running through my mind for the first few hours of the trip this morning. Tortu’s main square this morning The weather was fine as I left the hostel and headed down to the river, and I felt good. Read more...

I intended to stay two nights in Tartu, but have ended up staying three. There seem to be no logical resting places for tomorrows journey within a 120km distance (other than hotels which I would consider to be beyond what I’d be happy to pay), and the next campsite is on the coast, which would be 155km - a long day. The following day I could do an even longer day and make it all the way to Talinn, which is either 100km direct, or, if following the coast (and I really should follow the coast) it’s almost 163km, 100 miles and this last act of masochism seems fitting for the last journey on this trip, although there is also an outdoor “hostel” or “retreat” in the forest outside of Tallinn which has been recommended to me twice, so that may break my journey. Read more...

As predicted I slept terribly, falling initially to sleep but soon waking up as my head wasn’t comfortable (it was supported inappropriately on my hoody which was in turn supported by my food pannier). As usual when I realised that it was morning and I could get out of bed, falling to sleep was no longer an issue and I didn’t wake until 9am. So I slept badly and got out of bed late. Read more...

At the hotel I settled down with a few beers and Series 8 of of Game of Thrones, I hadn’t watched it up until this point despite being, like most other people, a big fan of the earlier seasons, but it had got progressively worse and I predicted this, the final, series would be mediocre, it wasn’t great, but none-the-less still intriguing enough that I watched 4 episodes back to back. Read more...

Typing this in a Pizzeria as usual, but unfortunately my laptop’s power was drained s I’m typing this awkwardly on my phone. I am in Cēsis, an historical town 100km north-east of Riga. At the hostel I woke relatively late, 9:00, and was able to take advantage of the free waffles for breakfast, washing them down with a good deal of free coffee. After two days rest my arse was road worthy again. Read more...

I don’t seem to have succeeded in integrating very well in the hostel I’ve been staying in for the past 2 days, having not really broken the ice with people in general (with some exceptions) and feeling a little depressed and drained. Most of the staff and guests are relatively young (one girl, 18, is still at high school in Italy) so maybe it’s the generation gap. I did have a good chats with a guy from Wales, and another from Helsinki. Read more...

The road suddenly changed from a very smooth asphalt road to the worst kind of gravel road, and showed no sign of stopping. Potentially running for the remaining 50k to Riga, cars would drive past kicking dirt into the air which would sting my eyes and force me to angle my cap down to avert the dust, which consequently meant my field of vision was restricted to what was immediately in front of me. Read more...

As normal I slept not to well on the campsite, but woke up at 06:00 and made breakfast (coffee, porridge, and some pastry things I found in a shop) and was out on the road at around 08:00 heading to the Latvian border. It looked to be another sunny day, yesterday I had worn my vest for the first time since being burnt over a week ago, and was annoyed that I had burnt again in the same place, I sprayed some sun lotion on to my back and put on my shirt instead of the vest. Read more...

The campsite is almost empty and again it’s a big one sponsered by the EU. When I arrived at 18:00 it was empty and I thought it was closed, but I took the phone number anyway and went to the next campsite on my map 3km down the road, on arriving there I passed what seemed to be a deer enclosure and there was a huge stag sitting in the middle of it. Read more...

Today was the first rest day so far. I got out of bed around 8am, and had a terrible hangover. I went downstairs to the kitchen and sat down, the hostel guy was there and was preparing croissants, also there was a nice old man from South Korea. It was good chatting to both of them, the hostel guy worked in London for 2 years, and actually studied English in my hometown - Weymouth. Read more...

This was the third time camping on this trip, and the third time I had a bad night, and the third time I had blamed my sleeping mattress. On the previous tour I had a “full length” air mattress - a self inflating air mattress that stretched from my head to my feat. This was a perfect mattress, except that it had developed a micro-puncture, which seems to be undetectable (have held it underwater for 10s of minutes and no sign of air release), and after 4 hours of sleep it would deflate and I would wake and not sleep so well. Read more...

Me and another cyclist are the only two people on a large campsite 50km from Vilenus. Coincidentally he has cycled from Tallinn, and is also from Berlin, but is getting the plane back from Vilenus, and we’ll cycle there together tomorrow. This morning I woke and didn’t feel particularly optimistic about the route today, there was one major road heading directly to Vilenus, and I believed it was not legal to cycle on it. Read more...

Loud music was pounding on the street, I thought I would wait until 12, maybe it would stop, but I fell asleep before that. In the morning I made my way to the restaurant to see what wonders awaited me. It was a buffet breakfsat, the guy spoke to me in German and asked if I wanted eggs “Speigel Eier oder Rugh Eier” (and yes, I have no clue how to spell or write in German). Read more...

The hotel wasn’t the best. I didn’t sleep well, and was anxious about my bicycle being in the hallway only demobilised but not locked to anything. I could hear anybody talking in reception. When I woke, I had no breakfast to get ready for, so I just packed my bags and checked out. When I asked the receptionist for water (seeing a basin in the reception) she gave me a litre of sparking water for free and refused to give me tap water. Read more...

Slept perfectly in the airy and cheap room. I really liked the old hotel, it had very tall ceilings and there was lots of space. It was run down and old, but very clean, and the family that were running it were incredibly welcoming. My German has come in very useful so far, but in this town, Bartosxyce, it seems that it’s not as useful, so far nobody has been able to converse with me in either English or German. Read more...

Woke up in the dormitory this morning with a heavy head, we had consumed a fair amount of vodka the previous night. I expected to meet people in the hostel, as you almost always do. The first guy was Xavier, originally from Peurto Rico, but who has been a digital nomad for the past 7 years (and only 29 years old), the young Australian couple, Nikki and Ash, had spent the past 3 months in Canada and visited Mexico, before dropping in to Poland to visit relatives, and then a Swede who had just purchased a boat and came over to Gdansk as he was considering sailing from Stockholm. Read more...

There was a buffer breakfast at the hotel, featuring feta cheese, bread, cereals, and eggs. Again this morning I was feeling less than optimal, and still half knocked out even after the breakfast coffee. I had now the required component to fix my rear break – the missing part was actually very common, and is the same screw that is used to affix the drink holders, so I could have easily cannibalised one of those. Read more...

I’m glad that I turned inland. I decided to head to the town of Bytów which was only 100km from the town, and would be a stepping stone to Gdansk. The people I dealt with have all been unquestionably friendly and the roads have been quiet. I left the hotel without fanfare at around 08:00. I felt pretty horrible - when I got into the hotel last night I looked in the mirror and I had heavy bags under my eyes, and I felt like I had heavy bags under my eyes. Read more...

Today has been a long day. I am now finally sitting in a Pizzeria in one of the many pizzerias in a town which is one of many towns with many Pizzarias. At the campsite I had a slightly better sleep, and think that I will become accustomed to the uncomforted and learn to sleep better. The campsite was very quiet, I woke up at around 5am, then tried to sleep again with some success, finally sitting up, getting out of the tent, using the toilet, then coming back and making coffee and porridge, before packing up. Read more...

Didn’t sleep too well last night. I situated my tent close the the main building where there was a collection of tables and chairs, and these were appropriated by another small group of cyclists. They operated at a reasonable volume until 12, but as tents have absolutely no sound insulation, it’s as if I was there at the table with them. This drove me slightly nuts and I resorted to playing music in my headphones to drown the sound out, while sweating in the still uncomfortable heat, at midnight the small group called it a night, and the temperature dropped and I was able to crawl into my sleeping bag and sleep. Read more...

Sitting in a campsite in the sun, in front of reception. Occuping one of 4 tables, each occupied by a single person (three of which are lone cyclists), mine is the only one in the sun, as I have been in the sun all day I guess it should make no difference that I spend the time writing this blog sweating and squinting at my laptop screen. Was woken from a dream this morning by the sound of a wasp, in the dream, and on awakening there was indeed a rather large bee flying around my room slowly clockwise, inspecting everything, and it would only be a matter of time before it made its way to my bed. Read more...

In two weeks time I’m going to cycle from Berlin to Tallinn. As with my tour to Norway last year, this is a limited 1 month trip, the plan is to set off on July 1st, and cycle through Poland, maybe Belarus , Lithuania, Latvia, the destination Tallinn, then get the ferry to Helsinki, Finland in order to get the Ferry back to Rostock, then the train back to Germany and Berlin. Read more...