day 094 – km 32648

Juli 6th, 2010

ciechocinek – murzynowo

82km 324 alti meter

along the way we meet a writer of a regional historic book and his friend who tell us some things about the area. at the river marina we get invited by peter and his friends to camp there and met a cycling couple who cycle from warsaw to kopenhagen.

IMG_3286 IMG_3287 IMG_3288  IMG_3292  IMG_3295 IMG_3297 IMG_3298 IMG_3300 

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day 093 – km 32566

Juli 6th, 2010

bienkowko – ciechocinek

89km 255 alti meter

we take a look at copernikus birth place torun and try to follow the river. that is sometimes difficult as the traffic on the main road is fast and there is not much space for cyclists. the alternatives are secondary roads which turn sometimes into just a sandy path through the forest. pushing a heavy loaded bike through sand and getting attacked by aggressive mosquitoes is not the best part of cycling around here. we stop to check out the thermal pools which this area is famous for.

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day 092 – km 32477

Juli 6th, 2010

koniecwald – bienkowko

118km 319 alti meter

we follow the vestul river. sometimes on the dam sometimes on allee roads. we pass the nice old towns grudiadz and chelmno.

IMG_3229 IMG_3230 IMG_3231 IMG_3238 IMG_3240 IMG_3241 IMG_3245 IMG_3247P1110457  IMG_3252 IMG_3254

day 091 – km 32359

Juli 6th, 2010

gdansk – malbork (by train) – koniecwald

24km

we left late after another walking tour around gdansk and took the train to malbork to look at the castle there.

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day 090 – km 32335

Juli 6th, 2010

jagodno – gdansk

72km 173 alti meter

we found some nice side roads and crossed the vestula river (the queen of polands rivers) the first time before getting to the impressive old town of gdansk.

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day 089 – km 32263

Juli 6th, 2010

worlawki – jagodno

96km 562 alti meter

we tried to get a boat from frombork to the mierzeja wislana but contrary to the information we got from the tourist information in braniewo, there was no boat that day!? so we checked out where copernicus used to work and continued cycling.

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day 088 – km 32167

Juli 6th, 2010

gizycko – worlawki

110km 510 alti meter

nice day on the road, although the tourist information is closed and we couldn´t get more information about the area passing to the nice old town of ketrzyn.

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IMG_3077 IMG_3081 IMG_3083 IMG_3088    IMG_3104

day 087 – km 32053

Juli 6th, 2010

wydminy – gizycko

30km biking 15km kajaking 182 alti meter

we used the nice weather for a kajak day trip on the lakes and canals. (after realizing that there is one hour time differenz and that we got up at 5 o´clock!?)

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day 086 – km 32027

Juli 6th, 2010

suwalki – wydminy

76km 301 alti meter

some more rolling hills on which we meet joel from paris who walks from tallinn to spain in 6 month!? we stop to take a look at the bunker / "defens”system the germans build in WW2.

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day 085 – km 31951

Juli 6th, 2010

jurbarkas – suwalki (poland)

155km 539 alti meter

a long rainy day on the roads. we leave the flatlands behind us and are getting more and more into rolling hills.

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 IMG_3046IMG_3053

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day 084 – rest day

Juni 23rd, 2010

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.

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day 083 – km 31801

Juni 23rd, 2010

pasyiai –jurbarkas

99km 293 alti meter

nice blooming rape fields along the side roads.

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i scream for ice-cream! 

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the 3 man from bremen on their way to riga

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

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the skeptic look…. “will this work?”

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still skeptic …. but riding ….

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day 082 – km 31702

Juni 23rd, 2010

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.

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we all scream for ice-cream!

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day 081 – km 31639

Juni 23rd, 2010

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.

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IMG_3010 IMG_3013 IMG_3015

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day 080 – km 31641

Juni 23rd, 2010

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.

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day 079 – km 31595

Juni 23rd, 2010

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.

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day 078 – rest day

Juni 23rd, 2010

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.

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day 077 – km 31571

Juni 23rd, 2010

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.

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http://www.rinrinweb.com/

IMG_2941 IMG_2947 IMG_2950 IMG_2951 IMG_2956

day 076 – km 31468

Juni 23rd, 2010

kurgja – kabli

121km 263 alti meter

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

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day 075 – km 31347

Juni 23rd, 2010

soodla river – kurgja

115km 289 alti meter

the mosquitos here show a impressive appetite and agressive behavior.

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IMG_2900  IMG_2903  IMG_2908 IMG_2917

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day 074 – km 31232

Juni 23rd, 2010

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.

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day 073 – rest day

Juni 12th, 2010

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…

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day 072 – km 31169

Juni 12th, 2010

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.

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day 071 – km 31150

Juni 10th, 2010

helsinki – sightseeing

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

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day 070 – transfer

Juni 10th, 2010

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!

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day 069 – pack & rest day

Juni 8th, 2010

beijing – rest & pack day

getting ready for the flight to helsinki ….

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day 068 – km 31059

Juni 8th, 2010

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.

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P1100302  P1100308 P1100316 

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day 067 – km 31000

Juni 6th, 2010

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.

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P1100229 

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IMG_2674P1100234

day 066 – km 30981

Juni 6th, 2010

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.

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the CCTV building

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

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day 065 – sightseeing

Juni 6th, 2010

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.

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