taking the long way home

jurbarkas – rest day

it started to rain in the morning and it was cold…. not exactly inviting for a long day on the road. so we decided to make use of the free internet at the guesthouse / campground to update our blogs.

pasyiai –jurbarkas

99km 293 alti meter

nice blooming rape fields along the side roads.

i scream for ice-cream! 

the 3 man from bremen on their way to riga

the rolling bike shop at work….. broken derailer!? leatherman and a little piece of wood….

the skeptic look…. “will this work?”

still skeptic …. but riding ….

curonian spit – pasyiai

63km 258 alti meter

we checked out the border to the russian province and the sand dune before taking a sail boat to the main land (uostadvaris). we met a woman who imigrated to the usa 30 years ago and commented sadly about the economic changes of the area under soviet and now under eu influence.

we all scream for ice-cream!

lithuanian border – curonian spit

98km 224 alti meter

nice bike routes to klaipeda where we met steve from the uk. we took the ferry to the curonian spit where we cycled down to the border to the russian exclave kaliningrad.

jürmalciems – border lithuania

46km 190 alti meter

we tried to stay on the sandy gravel roads along the sea shore and through forests. the deep sand and mosquito attacks made us ride on the beach (same sand but no mosquitos). which was nice along amazing lonely beaches, but turned difficult as the high tide forced us to go through the loose deep sand close to the dune.

riga – jürmalciems

27km 54 alti meter

re the “tour-guide” and flera gave us a ride to the “west coast” with lots of latvia background informations and secret windsurf / kite spots.

riga – rest day

in between french croissants for breakfast and tibetan lunch i did some serious extrem-couching while alex went sightseeing with flera and re.

kabli – riga (latvia)

after a nice camp at the beach a nice ride along the coast to riga. along the way we meet rinrin, a japanese cyclist who is on the road since 3 years. re and flera pick us up at a beach about 35km north of riga. we watch re doing some kite-surfing and hang out at the beach.

http://www.rinrinweb.com/

kurgja – kabli

121km 263 alti meter

nice day on the road with good cycling and a nice lunchbreak in the old town of pärnu.

soodla river – kurgja

115km 289 alti meter

the mosquitos here show a impressive appetite and agressive behavior.

helsinki – tallinn – soodla river (estonia)

61,5km 226 alti meter

rainy morning in helsinki. on the ferry we met 3 cyclists from canada who are also on the way south. after riding through the old town of tallinn we rode east. or originally planed route over the saaremaa island was not possible the way we wanted because the ferry on the south of the island is not operating at the moment.

helsinki – rest day

the slow ferry to tallinn was full, so we stay here in helsinki another day and take the ferry tomorrow…. sightseeing on the the fortress island…

helsinki – rest day

a rainy day after 2 sunny and warm days back in urope. riding around town and collecting some informations about the further route options.

helsinki – sightseeing

riding around town with markus along the shoreline to a very nice spot. great for a swimm and a nap afterwards.

beijing – helsinki

8,5 hour flight from beijing to helsinki. after putting the bikes back together at the airport we rode towards downtown helsinki where markus (our nice warmshower host awaited us). what a change from hot, humid and polluted beijing to clear blue sky finnland!

beijing – rest & pack day

getting ready for the flight to helsinki ….

beijing – sightseeing

59km 168 alti meter

after 6.000km it was time for an oil change a new chain. we spent a relaxing afternoon in the park of the summer palast and on the way back we passed “the nest” olympic staduim.

beijing – sightseeing

18km

back to the “antik” market panjiayuan where 90% of the goods are fake (as we have been told). the market opens at 4.30am on weekends so if there are any bargains they are long gone when the day trippers arrive.

bejing – sightseeing

35km 81 alti meter

the park of the temple of heaven is a nice place to hang out and to watch the people practise kungfu, taichi, juggling, diabolo, dancing, singing…. or just walking backwards!? we passed the “antik” market panjiayuan and decided to come back tomorrow morning as there is just to much to see. in the evening we went to the red theater to see “the legend of kungfu” show. which was nice and touristy with playback voices in english and chinese “subtitels” on a screen.

the CCTV building

a big group of chinese cyclists on the supported tour to shanghai

beijing – badaling – beijing

we took the bus to badaling which is about 70km north east of beijing to see the great wall there. although it is called the great wall, it was almost hard to see the wall because of the masses of tourists!? alex made some great crepes for dinner back at davids place.

beijing – sightseeing

the beijing metro in rush hour is a “impressive” experience! we went to the forbidden city to see the palace museum, the gallery of treasures and the gallery of timepieces…

beijing – sightseeing

40km 109 alti meter

nice ride around town to see the tianánmen square and some hutong called districts. nice little shops, filled with “antik” instruments in one district and all kind of food / non food stores in another one. all what a tourist could want in narrow alleys.

beijing – rest day

we arrived in beijing in the morning and tried to ride to david. (a very nice and well travelled “warmshower-host”) there is a lot to see and do in bejing, so we spent the rest of the day planing the next couple days of sightseeing.

chengdu – beijing

32 hours on the train….

red … travelled on bike

black …. travelled by public transportation (ferry, train, bus)

chengdu – rest day

resting and getting ready for the train ride to beijing. i hope that we get there comfortably, as it took me about 3hours to get the tickets!? at first i had tickets really fast, as i wrote exactly what i wanted and drew pictures, but somehow i ended up with tickets to the right destination but not the beds that i wanted (its a over 30h train ride). back at the ticket office they try to tell me, that if i would like to change the tickets i have to go to the main office at the train station. i tried to explain to them that it was not me who made a mistake and therefore i shouldn´t be the one who has to spend extra time and money into  solving the problem. trying to explain the problem included of course at least 10 people and i ended up going with the lady from the ticket office downtown to the train station and back!? (she had to close her office for that)