The train out of Germany

After leaving Hamburg, we took a train to Schwerin, which looked like it would be a nice place to start riding again. We weren’t wrong. The ride started by passing underneath an old castle perched beside a lake, then quickly gave way to quiet forests decorated with their fall colours. For 4 days we passed by more forest, picturesque old villages, and calm lakes.  On the 4^th day it became apparent that my sore knee was not actually any better and, even worse, my other knee was acting up too. So, we changed plans again and decided to head back to the train station, this time to jump ahead all the way to Poland.

We ended up hardly riding any of Germany, only 259 kilometers.  Pressures from our Schengen Visa timeline and the cost of accommodation forced us to move on to better place to find a solution to the knee issue, somewhere cheaper and further down the road.  I think that the section we did get to ride was one of the nicest along our planned route. Highlights included quiet roads, bike trails through National Parks, and a wonderful stay with a couple from Warm Showers who took us in, fed us and spoiled us for a night. Low points included struggling with my bad knees and the fact that it rained on us every single day. I guess that’s what we get for visiting Northern Germany in November?  We’ll have to go back to Germany someday to fully enjoy the country.  The roads between Schwerin and the train station in Furstenberg were some of the most enjoyable cycling of the trip.

Germany Round up:

ODO Start:  1368

ODO Finish:  1627

Km pedaled:  259

Km by train:  553

Train Connections: 5

Train connections missed:  1

Days in country:  11

Days of rain: 11

Nights camped:  3

Hospital visits: 1... due to an infected pinky toe! :( 

Days of bed rest prescribed: 5-7

Days of bed rest taken before getting too restless to sit still: 3

Furthest ridden in a day:  76km

Most popular attraction in all of Germany according to Trip Advisor:  Miniature World

Christmas Markets: 1

Other Cycle Tourers encountered: 1 ( A Japanese guy, heading to Berlin to hibernate for the winter.)

Biggest money suck:  German Bakeries. Mmmmmmm pastries!

Germ 'n Knee

Anyone who’s been following our InReach might have noticed something different in Germany; that’s because we cheated! We rode out of Denmark into Flensburg and stuffed the bikes onto a train to Hamburg.  There were a couple of reasons for this decision. First of all, we’re starting to feel a bit rushed on our Visa. We’re only allowed 90 days per 180 day period in the Schengen zone, which started in Iceland and counts until we leave Hungary for the Balkans. We also need to make sure we have enough time left to enter Greece, which is also included in the same visa. Also, my knee has been giving me some trouble for a few weeks now, which is part of the reason we didn’t move faster through Denmark.  We cut our days way back to try and help it heal, or at least stop it from getting worse. We crunched some numbers and realized that without some real rest or the ability to do longer days, we’d be running out of time pretty quick. So, to Hamburg we went, to rest a bit, jump ahead a few hundred kilometres, and dry out our soggy tent.

We were originally going to spend 3 nights in Hamburg and keep moving, but that didn’t happen either. The night we got here I noticed that a blister I had on my toe had gotten super infected and had a red line shooting out of it and up my leg.  So the next day we ventured into the German Healthcare system to get it looked at. I was helped out by a very nice doctor who spoke great English and hooked me up with some antibiotics. Unfortunately, she also gave me some very strict orders to rest and not to exert myself or walk around too much until all signs of infection were gone. She put that estimate at about 5 days, at least! 

So for the next few days I lay in bed with my foot up on a pillow while Steve explored the city, did some errands, and brought me snacks. It was boring, but the forced rest was good for my knee too. I’m feeling better now, and have even been able to do a bit of city exploring myself. Yesterday we visited the Miniature Wunderland, which sounds cheesy but is actually really impressive. It’s the world largest model train set with 16km of tracks carrying over 1000 trains through highly detailed and computer controlled miniature cities and villages. Today we went to the St Paulis Christmas Market and got some bratwurst and feuerzangenbowle, which is a yummy drink where a rum-soaked sugarloaf is set on fire and drips into mulled wine. Delicious. 

As good as this week off has been for my poor old body, it really hasn’t helped our timeline. So, tomorrow we’re going to hop onto another train to gain a few more kilometres before getting back on the bikes. We definitely aren’t getting to pedal as much in Germany as we’d planned, but I guess that’s just how things go sometimes. Hopefully I’m all sorted out now and can get back to some bigger days.

Denmark's Cycling Dreamland

In case you haven’t heard, Denmark is one of the most cycle friendly countries in the world and, to be honest, there’s not a whole lot to say about this fact.  There are cycle lanes and named and signposted routes between most towns as well as several long-distance, cross country cycle routes designed to take you to some of Denmark’s more interesting sights.  Actually, everything is so well laid out and safe, it can be a bit boring for adventuresome tourers.  We were lost most often when we failed to spot a sign indicating our route was turning, leaving us to pedal off blindly in the wrong direction until we’d hit a major intersection where the lack of a bike route sign would then indicate that we were lost.  We’d pull out our map, attempt to correlate roads and intersections which have no names (on our map), try to remember the names that were on the last sign telling us the distance to the towns on the road.  Eventually we’d turn a phone on and let the gps figure it out for us and use the phone to figure out how to get back on track.  A route would be mapped and this would ultimately lead us on to busier roads with no shoulder until we reconnected with the bike route.  You then get to feel a bit silly, pedaling down a highway with a 6” shoulder being passed every 10 seconds by people who are wondering why you’re there and not one of the 12,000kms of bike routes.

So forget bike routes.  We found a better way...for us.

Shelterplads.

Shelterplads are free, basic shelters scattered about Denmark.  They’re meant to be used by hikers and cyclists only and are usually hidden away with in small forests.  Some are signed, some are not.  Often they’re found near those meandering cycle routes, but just as often they’re located in forests near the communities and people that maintain them.   Once we decided to abandon the cycle routes and create our own path linking up shelterplads as we discovered them, the trip sped up and got much more interesting.  Instead of constantly being on the lookout for bike route signs, we would find our own way, taking short cuts down sandy forestry roads, smooth single track trails and quiet farm roads.  The cycle routes also have these, but for us, we found ourselves spending too much time trying to stay on track rather than simply letting go and making decisions as we went.  Plus, nothing screams fun like pushing your bike up a steep rain runnel in soft sand!

Our route through the north of Denmark took us along sandy beaches and grassy dunes.  We passed through many cozy beach towns full of friendly people.  As we moved south and away from the coast (to escape the winds which had been dogging us since Iceland) we found beautiful old farmhouses and tidy villages and towns set among rolling forested hills.  We spent time linking up roads and trails that passed through woodlots and protected forests.  We spent a couple nights in Viborg, one of Denmark’s oldest towns, before plotting as direct a line as possible to the south to get us through the corn and potato fields as fast as possible.  Farmland often creates complications for cycle tourers; there are usually fewer places to camp.  Denmark, being different that most places, even through the farmland we managed to find small forests which inevitably had a shelter or a free tenting site available.  It’s really an amazing network, built and maintained by the farmers, communities and enthusiastic locals.  At one shelter, a couple came by and asked us how we found this shelter, then suggested if we come through the same way on our way back, that we stay in the shelters they’ve built on their property. 

More so than the bike route network, shelterplads are what makes Denmark the easiest place in the world to cycle tour.  The biggest problem of every day is finding a good place to sleep.  With that solved for you already, all you need to do is pedal around and enjoy the beautiful scenery and towns.  Denmark really goes above and beyond for cyclists and pedestrians.  And with that comes a country that has 4 bikes for every car, a high level of fitness among older generations and is one of the happiest places on earth.  

Denmark Round-up:

ODO Start: 804kms
ODO Finish: 1368
Total km:  564
Number of days: 13
Avg km per day peddled:  51
Rest days: 2
Rainy Days: 7
Cost per day each not including guesthouse: $14.50
Cost per day each including guesthouse (2 nights): $25
Pancakes eaten: 30
Number of sore knees:  1
Nights in shelterplads: 7 
Nights in Teltsplads: 4
Campfires:  3
Number of time a fire had to be re-lit because of wet wood:  6
Number of National Bike routes followed or crossed at some point: 8 (of 12)




 

Iceland!

Iceland by bike in October?  It did seem a bit risky, but we were hopeful.  We landed in Keflavik with duffel bags stuffed with winter clothes and gore-tex and our bikes in cardboard boxes.  It was a warm welcome with mostly sunny skies and temps of 7 degrees. Perfect!

The bikes went together and we pedaled the 30km to a guesthouse in Grindavik, hungry, cranky, and jet-lagged. After a couple days of resting and finding supplies we hit the road heading east.

Our first day was reassuring- warm, no rain, and not much of a headwind!  We got our first taste of the lave fields; jumbled and jagged piles of volcanic debris coated with neon green moss so thick it looked like it had been there for centuries. These gave way to black sand beaches with wiry yellow grass clinging to the dunes. The scenery was wild, camping options were plentiful, and we were feeling pretty good about our plans.

The next few days we got stuck in farmland. It was fun at first, pedaling past shaggy Icelandic horses who would watch us ride past, then gallop ahead a few hundred feet, to stand and watch us pass again. The sheep were fun too; they would watch us then run away as we got close. This novelty soon wore off however, when the headwinds started. Our speeds dropped and our effort skyrocketed. We’d fight for hours and make hardly any progress. This led to a few nights of less than ideal sleeping arrangements… one night we pitched our tent in a ditch between farms because we’d made it nowhere that day. We started worrying about out timeline… the ferry was already booked! Would we make it?

After a few days of struggle Iceland gave us a break. It was raining, but the wind had stopped so spirits were high. We escaped the farmland and now rode past craggy peaks and waterfalls, marveling at the sketchy positions the sheep had managed to get themselves into on the cliffs.  A steep climb up a 12% grade led to a satisfying downhill bomb into Vik, where we ate lunch on a black sand beach overlooking the sea stacks of Reynisdrangar.  Next came more lava fields, the moss so colorful and vibrant that it looked like a perfect home for Iceland’s mythical elves.  Some of the rocks actually looked like little creatures, with tufts of grass stuck on top of them like hair. 

Coming around a corner we were greeted with a distant view of Vatnajokull, the largest icecap in the world outside of the polar regions! We kept passing tongues of this glacier for days, which made for some pretty nice campsites and some gorgeous alpenglow sunsets.  

At one point, this glacier reaches right down to the ocean, and chunks of it calve off and float around in a lagoon before drifting out to sea. The landscape was surreal – Misty grey skies, calm grey water, glowing blue icebergs moving ever so slowly past. The ones that make it to the ocean get stuck on the black beach and pounded by the waves as they roll in. Jokulsarlon was one of our favourite sights in Iceland for sure.

As we got further east, we entered the fjords.  Here the wind became even more challenging than the farmland. As we left Djupivogur, the gusts got so strong that they were actually blowing us off of our bikes. Too windy to ride, so we pushed.  The gusts got stronger and started ripping the bikes out of our hands.  Too windy to walk, so we found some marginal lumpy shelter on a hillside as the wind raged around us.  We packed everything away tightly just in case the tent blew to shreds, but thankfully it held.

We got another weather break just in time to get up and over Oxi pass. It was a hard but enjoyable suffer-fest pedaling (mostly pushing) the bikes up 17% grades, but the views were worth it.  Coming down the other side, the temperatures dropped and the wind howled.  Out came the winter gloves and puffy jackets.  We pressed on until the wind started picking up small rocks and hurling them into our faces, then figured it was time to call it a day. That night we camped near some waterfalls whose streams were being blown away into oblivion before they reached the ground.

Our last day of riding was up and over the final pass to Seydisfjordur. 9 degrees and no wind, we grunted up steep switchbacks to a 600m pass. We rode through alpine meadows with half-frozen ponds and streams before a delightful descent back down to sea level, rolling around smooth corners through steep bluffs at 60km/hr. What a great way to end the first leg of our trip! 

Overall Iceland has been great. The biggest challenge was the wind. We knew about the wind before coming, but somehow nothing quite prepares you for it until you’re pedaling downhill as hard as you can into a gale, only managing 3.6km/hr. Aside from wind I think we were quite lucky. There was a fair amount of light rain but only one 24hr period of sideways rain that required us to take shelter behind a boulder.  We woke up to frozen water bottles once, but otherwise were pretty warm and managed to stay dry. Despite the hard days, or maybe because of them, we’re pretty satisfied with our time here. It was nice to avoid prime tourist season and enjoy quiet roads and sights. This morning, our last day in Iceland, we woke up to a chilly wind and snow on our tent, so I think we timed it just right. Next stop Denmark!

Iceland Round-Up

ODO Start:  0km

ODO Finish: 804km

Top Speed: 62km/hr

Avg Speed: 11.41km/hr

Ride Time: 70:11:36

Days: 19

Cost per day per person (excluding the 2 guesthouse nights in Grindavik, flight and boat): $24.53

Days cycled at least 10km:  17

Paid campsite nights: 5

Wild camping nights: 12 

Days battered by strong headwinds:  7

Strongest wind gusts: +100km/hr 

Times bikes blown from hands while walking: 2

Number of bar-tacks torn on our new tent: 1

Rainy days: 6 worth mentioning (some rain most days)

Packages of Hobnobs consumed: 9

Passes crossed: 2

Flat tires: 0

Crashes: 0