I decided to relax some today, since in my enthusiasm to get underway I found myself too concerned about things I couldn’t change. Instead, just take it a little slower and stop occasionally to check the map or just because. However, still turned out to be a tough day because of some consistent headwinds most of the afternoon.

The day began like many others with continental breakfast. A surprisingly filling amount of bread, yogurt, egg, tea and everything else. The evening before I had negotiated the time. The exchange went similar to several others. I’ll ideally want to get on the road earlier because of less wind. So in half-German I’ll suggest a time. This goes back and forth with the innskeeper suggesting a bit later and a good amount of facial expressions. Today we had settled on 8am.

Nice and cool starting out without too much wind. I decided to try one of the small yellow roads marked on the map as I went to Karstadt. Excellent choice as the road was very smooth and had a slight ride coming from the Elbe basin. At 11km, a brief stop in a village of Mellen until reaching the main road at 20km. This main road like those I mostly followed today didn’t have a bike lane, so on the shoulder and without too much traffic. Every 5-10km or so one would come across a village. I decided those plants I am seeing everywhere are potatoes. Relatively flat areas, though also somewhat open so good chance to give the large windmills some wind. I slowly followed this main road inbound to Perleberg where once again I followed small streets into town.

On far side of town, I stopped at local supermarket. I’ve found these to be good snack/lunch spots and went in for mixture of fruit juice, yogurt, pastry and other things for the hungry cyclist. Interestingly, I noticed that the product code for golden delicious apples is the same in US as Germany (4021). There weren’t many bananas but those they had came from Ecuador. At 36km, it was already 11:30, my slowest day so far. From here the next 40km would be along the main highway to Kyritz. The wind had started to pick up, so it was a slow ride into the wind past the open fields and occasional small town. Fortunately, once I reached Kyritz they had another supermarket. I stocked up on a few extra things since stores will be closed tomorrow.

Kyritz was one of those nice small towns with a cobblestone street. That is even bumpier on a bike than the tiles or bricks. Fortunately, the bike paths were frequently brick. I took a nice relaxing break before finding my way out of Kyritz. The signs were starting to say Berlin and less than 100km now on this road. However, after another 10km, I turned northeast again into a stronger wind and last little bits.

It was another 18km, against the silly wind until I reached the main Hamburg/Berlin autobahn. In several of the small towns I took a bit of a break by walking the bike for a bit to get a break from the wind between towns. As I crossed the autobahn, I saw the car on pedestal at left. The storks sure found an nice place for a nest. The last few km went into town. I found the town center ok, but it took a question or two before I found a local hotel. A very nice little place on the water and cost was even reasonable. What had started as a bit of a relaxing day turned out to be a tough ride this afternoon.

By the way, I added some geographic coordinates to these last few posts so if you click on “Map” above you can see a rough progression across Germany.

111 km today. 678 km across Europe. 2316 km total.

Posted by mev as Germany at 8:40 PM EDT

3 Comments »

Today a little tougher than yesterday. A few more hills as I made it across the Elbe River and into the area that used to be East Germany. Last night I was one of few guests at the hotel as they had a party with 130 guests. Overnight it rained lightly and there was very light drizzle as I got up. That stopped and rest of the day was clear. I got back onto the bike path at Escede. The path was smooth but there were occasional ups and downs as I crossed some slight hills. Enough to try some different gears. There was a lot of forest here with occasional signs for forest paths. This part of Germany seems to have some forest bike paths, though the distances to towns always seem larger than the more direct routes.

At 20km, the road joined with a larger road and time for a quick break at the gasoline station. I followed this road until it got close to Uelzen, and once again was directed onto smaller paths through town. This town had better signs and wasn’t too difficult to find my way through. Before I knew it, at 38km I was already on other side of town. From here the bike path discontinued at Stocken (45km) and onto the main road. Seemed like there was a bit of a headwind again. More significantly, were some gentle hills. I shifted into lower gears and slowly lumbered over these hills. Could definitely tell the extra weight of everything. Several small towns, one even with a cafe. Enough open spaces to catch some wind, and see some of the windmills such as those above right. There are multiple country signs for potatoes, honey and even some apples for sale.

Once I got to Ziernen, it looked like the largest of the hills were behind me. I was even surprised at a fair descent of several kilometers. Guess I must have climbed some and not just been slow. A few kilometers further, around km 65 or so, the bike path started again and came into Dannenberg at kilometer 77. A nice small city, where the main road went just past city center. More importantly it was flat here. I stopped for a late lunch before continuing on towards the Elbe River.

At kilometer 89, I came upon the bridge crossing the Elbe. This point had formerly been a border between East and West Germany. I stopped to take a photo and then cycled the long approach to the bridge itself. Just as I got onto bridge itself, pow! My bike was instantly stopped. As I crossed the bump onto start of the bridge, my right rear pannier had fallen into the spokes. This pushed the fender forward and stopped the wheel. Wow! I took luggage off and assessed the situation. My big worry was the rear wheel and particularly the rim. Best I could tell, the fender had stopped the wheel quickly and spokes looked ok. This type of thing always makes me queasy until I have another 100km behind me…so hopefully all will be ok. I bent the fender back, got things back to looking ok and decided to walk across the rest of the bridge.

From here, I turned east (into the wind) and slowly cycled into Domitz. A very quaint old town with several hotels and lots of old looking buildings. I wanted to get a few more kilometers on the wheel so continued out of town. Here I took the back road via Polz since it was 3 km shorter than the main road. That old road did have some very bumpy sections though so I took it slow. I was ready for a stop as I came into Lenzen. Looks like the wheel is doing ok so far. Weather turned out nicer than expected, so perhaps this was all of the quick system that was coming through.

109 km today. 567 km across Europe. 2205 km total.

Posted by mev as Germany at 8:38 PM EDT

1 Comment »

Another beautiful day cycling through Germany. More trees, so noticed the winds a bit less. Many places had bike paths such as those at left or right, and other roads were reasonable. I found it a little tricky to cross the two small cities on my way today: Nienburg and Celle. There seemed to be fewer signs than before.

Had a nice continental breakfast and was on the road before 8am. They let me know I was the first cyclist they had. I wasn’t quite sure if this was for the season or ever. In these places, I’ve been parking the bike out back in the garage. I’d prefer the room, but locking things in the garage seems ok as well. Centers of these towns have bricks and so are rougher than roads outside. Left Sulingen and was soon on some nice smooth roads and paths such as those shown here. Seemed to be making some nice progress in cool morning air. At 24km, the road started to become larger and now the exercise was to cross Nienburg. I first followed bike paths through town of Lemke, and then followed signs to center of Neinburg. A bridge crossed the broad Weser river. From here one or two signs outbound before finding signs to the right suburbs. My detailed German map definitely helped here. After that back in the countryside with easy riding again. Steimbke looked like a nice quaint touristy town.

Anyone have a good idea what the sign at left means? (Reply with a comment). I see these signs occasionally. Coming through Schwarmstedt, I also saw a number of military trucks on a field exercise. Soldiers were up manning their guns. Several of the trucks had large blue flags as in “blue team”. Just a little past that, I came underneath the main Hannover/Hamburgh autobahn, and several rest area businesses including a McDonalds. Decided on a McDonalds meal here and saw a number of different soldiers here as well. I wonder if the army exercises include McDonalds?

After lunch, just 28 km on to Celle. Most of this was a flat forest path, but last few kilometers through a few small towns. Outside Celle was a large map. Ok, plan was to go underneath railroad tracks and then eventually northbound across the city. Celle was at 94km and considered stopping here if I found a nice looking hotel. My route didn’t take me past anything too interesting and soon I was north of the city again. From here I decided to go to Eschede, 16km away. My map had the town underlined so I hoped there might be a guest house or hotel. More nice forest path as I came into Eschede. Earlier than previous days by 3:30pm or so.

I found the first guest house. Nobody was there. I waited for a bit and someone came. In a mixture of German and pantomime, I learned they were full. There might be room just down the road. “How far”? “Not very, just around the bend, 5 minutes”. So I started cycling around the bend, up the hill and out of town. Hmmm… I didn’t see anything that looked like a guest house. Decided to turn around. Came into town and next hotel. Sign said something like hotel and restaurant guests, wait until 6pm. I was sitting there weighing my options (cycle to next town 37km away or wait and hope they had something), when I noticed a button for hotel reception. Yeah, they had a room and I was just as happy finding a place for the night.

110 km today. 458 km across Europe. 2096 km total.

Posted by mev as Germany at 8:31 PM EDT

3 Comments »

A beautiful spring day of cycling across northern Germany. I even came to a hill that I could coast down. However, for the most it was fairly flat. All except for about 8km was along bicycle paths such as those above left. The remaining 8km was on a sometimes narrow road, but traffic was fine.

Ate breakfast at the guesthouse and set off for the day. Nice calm skies and cool temperatures. Most of the cycling was along bicycle paths. Occasionally these would become sidewalks as I passed through towns and they would occasionally stray from side to side of the road. At 11km was first town of Freren. We had some very slight grades here. At Furstenau there was a quick detour and then back to quiet country roads. This one even had a hill to climb over and coast down. The trees haven’t yet blossomed, and some things are planted in the fields. I see occasional tractors along the way and people working the fields.

At 56km, I crossed a major autobahn, and they had a road side rest area including a McDonalds. I opted to cycle into Holdorf instead. I found a local supermarket and wandered through and found tasty looking things: yogurt, banana, pastry and fruit juice. At the bakery, person in front of me had a sandwich made. I’ll have to learn a few more German words to figure that one out. From here the cycling seemed a bit slower and my front fender decided to rub for a while. Gave me an excuse or two to stop before coming to Diepholz at 76 km. All day the signs had said “Diepholz” so it was nice to get there. Decided to go just a bit further and went through more open countryside to make it to Sulingen. Here I took the main road into town and then asked for a hotel. As can see at top right, a nice quiet main street. Lots of little ice cream places and otherwise a nice place to stop for the day.

109 km today. 348 km across Europe. 1986 km total.

Posted by mev as Germany at 6:33 PM EDT

1 Comment »

Made it to across the Netherlands and into Germany! Today was another day of great weather, with lots of sun and headwinds from the east. I had a good stay with Tante Gea and Frans in Olst. It was nice to see them again and I appreciate the hospitality. I also dropped a few small items off including my Amsterdam map. I left a little earlier, though surprisingly today was at least as slow as yesterday. I suspect a combination of my tires, winds and conditioning.

Nice calm winds and slightly cool as I set off southbound towards Deventer. I got close to outskirts of town before turning left and following a ring road around Deventer. The next kilometers were a mixture of roads and bike paths as I generally followed signs to nearby towns “Schalkhaar”, “Bathmen”, “Holten”. At Holten I stopped at local supermarket for more to eat. It was a little confusing from here but I found paths via Rijsen and into Wierden. I stopped in at VVV in Wierden and had a helpful person explain routes from here into Almelo.

Almelo was a somewhat large city, so first followed the signs to the centrum and then outbound. Here I came across a “Almelo - Nordhorn” canal with bike path. Since I was going towards Nordhorn, this seemed like a good choice and made for some pleasant cycling without much traffic. I made some good distance along the canal but saw confusing signs around kilometer 64 so turned northbound. This took me on quiet roads and one dirt path via Groot Agelo and into Ootnarsum.

Ootnarsum was a nice little tourist town with a quiet center, a lot of little hotels and a busy VVV office. It definitely looked like a tourist destination. I walked some through town and then set off east again. These roads took me via Tilligte and suddenly I was back at the original canal. I had added at least six kilometers with my detours though also saw a nice town. I followed the canal for a bit, and then came onto the main road leading into Nordhorn.

Around three in the afternoon I crossed the border of Netherlands and Germany. Nice to have crossed my first country, though now I would need to work harder at the language. I followed main roads into center of Nordhorn and then outbound towards Lingen. Bike paths weren’t as consistent as in the Netherlands and I was along a busy highway for a bit. Fortunately, the main Nordhorn/Lingen road had a good path. At 96km I saw a nice hotel and was tempted, particularly since the headwind was stronger here. However, I wanted to get at least 100km today so kept going. At 106km the bike path went directly in towards Lingen. I followed it into center of town.

I passed multiple hotels, but none seemed quite right. I kept going outbound out of town and saw signs for two guesthouses 3.5km ahead. The first one was in Ramsel and was closed. The second was in Baccum and with some pantimine and half German, and a few choice Dutch words thrown in, I arranged a room and had a nice schnitzel dinner. Nice end to a day that was surprisingly longer than I expected.

So far Germany looks a lot like the parts of the Netherlands I’ve just been. Slight differences in road signs (yellow not blue) but similar houses and landscapes.

116 km today. 239 km across Europe. 1877 km total.

Posted by mev as Netherlands, Germany at 6:28 PM EDT

No Comments »

First day of cycling in Europe! Nice to finally be riding from Amsterdam on a trip titled “Amsterdam to Vladivostok”. My bike was visibly heavier than riding in Texas. I also noticed when the bike paths had square tiles, that the handling in the front was a bit bouncy. It was a little slower cycling today, despite absolutely flat terrain.

Left Amsterdam just past 9am. The first exercise was to find my way out of Amsterdam. I mostly tried different streets heading towards the east (into the sun) and also looked for signs to “Diemen” and “Weesp” since those towns were just east of the city. Cycling was still a little slow with the weight and occasional stops. At one point, I came past the “Amstel” train station and noticed I was a little too far to the south, so corrected to the north.

Outside Naarden, the bike path was suddenly closed due to construction. Just at this time a group of tourists came by on bikes with helmets and went on the road. So I followed. I took small roads to Laren and from here decided to take back roads through the countryside. The land was flat and open, but I also noticed the winds from the east. Weather forecast had called for winds of scale “4″, but I assume this beaufort scale. At noon, I had done just 45km and came to the Eems River. There was a ferry here and as you can see, the ferry was stopped until 13:00. Not much to do, but wait for an hour.


After the ferry was Eemdijk and then Spakenburg. More flat and sometimes windy terrain across to Nijkerk at 60km. From here, more trees and slightly faster cycling along smaller roads and bike paths to Harderwijk (82km). I was feeling the cycling already but came east to Nunspeet (98km) and then turned south through the Veluwe Forests. Some beautiful cycling here via Epe (110km). Here I accidentally got onto a larger road without a bike path. Despite the “caution bicycles” sign, several of the cars let me know with honks that they didn’t expect a bicycle.

From here a few small towns including Oene and then via Wilsum across another ferry. I wasn’t quite sure how long this one might be open so I kept going to reach it just before 6pm. Crossed the river and made my way to my Tante (Aunt) Gea. Nice end to the first day of cycling. I’ve decided to increase my estimated trip distance to 13000 km, since it may be a little further to St Petersburg than initial estimate. 123 km today. 1761 km total.

Posted by mev as Netherlands at 8:30 PM EDT

No Comments »

Reached Amsterdam! An easy rest day today before starting the trip. Photo at left is an official “start” photo taken outside the train station in Amsterdam.

An uneventful flight that was delayed by 60 minutes by weather in Chicago. Other flights had been delayed before, so our flight was completely full. Sitting behind me were folks from a tour group. They were going to see Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris and London…all in one week! Now just six days because they had been delayed by a day.

Luggage was slow to arrive, but bike and all gear arrived in good condition. At Amsterdam I was met by Mickey. Mickey is planning to cycle across Eurasia as well. Leaving Amsterdam a little later and then joining together from St Petersburg. We left bike in the box, and took the train and metro to Mickey’s place.

In the afternoon I put the bike together and we bicycled to my Oom (Uncle) Gerard. Along the way we took an official start photo shown above left. A nice meal in Amsterdam before turning in early for the night.

Posted by mev as Netherlands at 8:26 PM EDT

1 Comment »

This posting made from Dallas airport. I’ve used the future posts feature to hopefully post this when I am underway. The word “hopefully” has snuck in there since my Chicago bound flight has a sign “delayed ???”. Appparently there are storms in Chicago delaying us at least two hours in departure, and my connecting flight as well.

I packaged up my bike and gear. It weighed in at 57 pounds for gear. Yikes!, though actually not a lot different from when I departed LA to Australia six years ago. I’ll see about shedding some gear on the way though.

Update: reached Amsterdam - uneventful flight and only an hour delay.  More later.

Posted by mev as Texas at 10:00 PM EDT

No Comments »

Shipped 22 pounds back to Colorado. Still lots of pounds to carry on the bicycle. Otherwise got ready to travel to Amsterdam.

Posted by mev as Texas at 4:07 PM EDT

No Comments »

Where are the bicycles? This area has quite a few major expressways - typically six lane divided highways with curb and gutter. There is a lot of high speed traffic on these throughways, but I only saw two bicyclists riding today. Perhaps on smaller roads.

I did stop in at the largest bike shop I’ve seen: Richardson Bikemart. It is essentially a super-market sized bicycle shop with claims to be the worlds largest bike shop. Several of the bike mechanics at Texas Hell Week had been associated with the store and so I made an appointment to have my bike checked over. Along the way, I also had the chain and brake pads replaced. These are replaced ahead of time, but rather do these preventively in advance. I also stopped at the laundromat, and several local shops (Barnes & Noble, REI, Frys Electronics,…) and otherwise had a restful day. I also picked up my extra stuff I had left behind. Tomorrow the task will be to sort through everything and perhaps mail a few more things back to Colorado.

Posted by mev as Texas at 7:43 PM EDT

No Comments »