I had a nice breakfast in the hotel. The proprieter was a bit amazed to have someone cycling from Amsterdam to Vladivostok, and shook my hand on the way out. The first 12km were challenging to say the least. Back to busy roads and then onto an expressway going through town. I mostly stayed on the main “7” through town, though in a few spots I tried side paths. There were several no bicycles signs, but I didn’t know other better routes and even saw another bicycle on one of them. I was slightly alarmed though in passing through one of these no bicycles to see several police coming with sirens blaring, but they passed and went somewhere else (and by then I had also quickly gotten onto walking along the sidewalk).

By 12km, reached the other edge of Gdansk and now onto the busy highway with shoulders. Some tailwinds helped me along for a fast ride. I stopped briefly for gas station snack at 26km. Photo at left is crossing the Wisla (Vistula) River at 32km. Even there the road stayed passable. There was some construction at Nowy Dwor Gdanski but nothing too bad. By 61km, I was at the turnoff for Elblag.
I walked and rode through town. Some broad boulevards, a nice flea market area and as I was heading past centrum, decided for some lunch. Saw the food place at right where the “Polecamy” sign seems to suggest hamburger. On ordering they quickly passed me to someone younger and bolder and I was able to ask “what do you have to eat”. She showed some soup packages, looked good and I had a good meal there.

Not long thereafter, was on the small road heading up and out of town. The key word being “up” as it climbed gentle grades over the next bit. I shifted more to a crosswind, so also slower going.

This next road was variable. A few spots nice and smooth, but also among the roughest roads I had ridden so far. The cars seemed to be locals who knew where they were going and were driving fast. So, it was tough to pick the smooth parts of the road. It was slower riding with hills, but a little more scenic than the highway.

By about 92km, I saw the Baltic Sea off to the left. In a few kilometers I came to small seaside town of Frombork. It was still on the early side but the hotel at right was just too inviting to pass up. I almost did pass it up, but then also saw a “hill” sign heading out of town and that sealed the deal. Turned back dropped into the hotel.

Had some time to wander through town. The shops still open on Good Friday. I do notice that they still have better toilet paper here than the Russian type from later.

Tomorrow comes a decision point between a “Plan A” and a “Plan B”. My preferred plan is plan A to cross the border to Kaliningrad tomorrow and take Easter Sunday off as a rest day to see the city. The potential issue with this plan is that I noticed too late that Kaliningrad is one of those special cities with restrictions, so don’t know if my business visa will get me through the border.

If I am not allowed to cross the border, then plan B will be to cycle east for next few days to cross into Lithuania. Weather seems to suggest some tailwinds but also some rain on Sunday to Tuesday. Most shops will also be closed on Sunday and Monday. So will just see what choices pop out.

95 km today. 1300km across Europe. 2938 km total.

The weather was looking ugly, slight drizzle, cold and overcast. The saving grace was a strong tailwind. I had that tailwind for most of the day, though I’ve found I don’t go much fast, just get less tired during the day. Initially the route took me along the same highway and at 3km, started crossing Slupsk. This town wasn’t too hard to cross and soon I was back in the countryside. Before I knew it I was at a gasoline station at 25km. Here I decided to take the smaller “yellow” road rather than continue the expressway. While I liked my smooth road and shoulders, this route would hopefully get me better situated to pass Gdansk.

The quality of this small road varied widely. Some pretty smooth and some you really wondered what were the patches and what was the original road. Fortunately, the traffic was very light so I could usually pick the smoothest surface. It was nice to go through these little towns again. This area had a few more hills so occasional climbing and descents. My tires feel a bit squishy when I’m this loaded so I kept the speeds quite slow. By late morning I was through Czarna Dabrowka at 46km.

The next 23km to Sierakowice were nice cycling. Quiet roads and hills and farms to pass. I still had my wool hat and still had the nice tailwind. Sierakowice had more fruit sellers than other places, and a nice downtown. It was still early to come through at 70km. After this point, the road started getting a lot busier. Typically enough room to pass but traffic was occasionally bunching up. I climbed a large hill and then at 90km, came through Kartuzy. This would have been a fine stopping point, though didn’t see any hotels nearby. So, continued on through town and into Zulowo at 104km.

In Zulowo were two large rotaries as the major road 20 coming to Gdynia met up and this was also the start of road number 7 into Gdansk. Route 20 was entirely blocked up – with traffic at almost standstill. I never quite figured out why.

Road 7 was an adventure. No shoulders and a lot of traffic. Also in severl spots, the very right of the road had poor surfaces. So, I mostly cycled along and let traffic back up behind me. Most was pretty well behaved. After crossing the main E75 highway shown in photo, traffic was entirely blocked the other way. So, I cycled in my lane and let traffic go slow behind me. The car right behind was fine, though several back was a bus and the driver knew how to use his horn. There wasn’t much other choice, and I did pull over once or twice. I was happy though to see the “Green Hotel” up on the right. Nice contrast in different riding today.

It is nice to see that according to the Great Circle distance calculator, that I am now just as far from Amsterdam as from Saint Petersburg. Will see how the actual distances work out.

118 km today. 1205km across Europe. 2843 km total.

As I came close to Karlino at 25km, I decided to take the road through town. Like most of the towns, the church is in the center and photo at right was the Karlino church. I’ve done several of my stops at the gasoline station and at 30km stopped at the one on other side of Karlino. They seem to have good international pictures of services. This area had very slight grades but otherwise mostly flat and along the highway. It became rural quickly as I headed towards Koszalin.

Reached Koszalin at 50km. These larger places continue to be awkward to cross. I first took roads to the center and then a mixture of bike paths, walking and the main road. Each had their drawbacks. The main road is frequently narrow with lots of traffic. The bike paths weren’t consistent, sometimes fine but often very bumpy. Walking was a nice break but took a bit longer. What I did find interesting was the large number of concrete apartment buildings in town. Looks like a level of construction similar to Soviet Union. Often painted in shades of pastels. Fortunately, by 56km, I was mostly through the town. A bit of a climb from here and then back down to Sianow.

I’m learning little bits of Polish from signs along the way. For example, sign at the left shows some similarities with Russian (Monday – “Poniedzialek”, Saturday – “Sobota”) and was also useful to see stores might be closed both Easter Sunday and Easter Monday. The sign at right shows a more simple translation between Polish and German and English. There isn’t a lot, but definitely more non-Polish on signs here than non-German in Germany. A lot of it you can figure out from context.

After Sianow, the question was to continue to Slawno (96km) or Slupsk (121km). I decided to stop if I found a good hotel but otherwise continue. The land had flattened out some and I actually had a tailwind! Great, it was nice to glide along on open country a little easier. This bike (or more likely bike rider) is slower than it has been on previous trips, so nice to be riding a little easier. Some fields with potatoes and some empty along the way.

At Sycewioe (109km) was a tempting looking guest house but decided I might be able to do better and in deed, found an interesting motel just a few kilometers further. Nice ride overall, and a bit easier. It is still a little amazing to me to be at a small little roadside motel in Poland with a wireless internet connection outbound. Shows the world has been getting smaller.

114 km today. 1087km across Europe. 2725 km total.

A brief climb out of the city and then it was countryside again. Lots of potatoes and also some fields still to be planted. It was a little colder today and I actually switched from normal cycling gloves to mittens. There was also a slight wind from the north. Otherwise good cycling with stop in Maszewo at 21km. From there north to the town of Nowogard. They have the Aldi supermarket chain here as well as Germany, so this was my late morning snack. From there walked a little through the town before finding the major road heading eastbound.

The next 30km of this road would not have shoulders. There was a fair amount of traffic, so some careful riding. Trucks generally gave me room and oncoming traffic seemed to check before passing. I only got one truck horn. I also noticed that some locals also cycled along this busy highway so I wasn’t the only one. In a few spots, the road wasn’t even so created rather strange bobbles along the right side. This was awkward to cycle. There was also a more consistent north wind, mostly a cross wind. This and very light drizzle. There were slight hills but tough to tell how steep they were vs. how much I was feeling wind.

At 75km, I came to view at right, shoulders! Hooray, this was accompanied with slightly more drizzle but was nice to have a better place to ride. I had thought about riding roughly to Karlino (113km) but with the wind and not knowing Polish hotels as easy to find, also decided I would stop at a reasonable place. Just as I was thinking that, I came up slight hill to Ryman, saw a nice hotel on the right. Great place for an early stop for the day.

My Polish still isn’t very good. I’ve figured out “yes” and “no”. Many of my greetings and thank yous I say in German and they seem to figure that out.

86 km today. 973km across Europe. 2611 km total.

Had a nice breakfast at hotel in Angermunde before setting off. Both sides of the Oder River had some hills so there was some climbing and descent today. Fairly busy on the road but otherwise good travels as I went through last few Germany villages before reaching Schwedt at 24km. I half walked and cycled through town and then found road heading east to the Polish border. The river area itself was several kilometers wide with a shipping channel and some broad river areas. As I came close, looked like this would be a real passport control rather than just a sign as I had seen at the Dutch/German border. They stamped my passport twice, once to leave Germany and once to arrive in Poland.

Krajnik Doiny was the town just at the border. Apparently cigarettes and gasoline were cheaper in Poland as there were prominent signs advertising both. Also a lot of open markets with fruit and such. I got my bearings and headed north on the small road along the river. A few climbs and descents. A little rougher road but hard to tell. After 11km, came to a larger road heading north to Gryfino. The road signs were now green after yellow (Germany) and blue (Netherlands). The roads had a few more rough spots than Germany but otherwise good.

After 40km, I came to gas station at upper right. Stopped in to get something to drink and some chocolate. The attendant told me the amount in Polish. I went to pay with a five euro bill. The attendant looked at me funny. So I asked to see the register of how much…6.80. Wow, seemed a bit expensive so I got out a 10 euro bill. He then explained they didn’t take euros only the Polish currency, zloty. Now I felt foolish. I knew Poland was part of the EU, and thought I had heard something about them joining the euro, but that must be in the future and I hadn’t learned enough about the country to even know their currency. I really had treated this like a blank space (though in my defense, I had been confused when gasoline stations at the border advertised prices in euros…but that was just to convince the Germany tourists what a good deal it all was).

Photo at left was the big church in Gryfino which I reached after 58km. Lots of people out on the streets. I stopped at an ATM to get some Polish currency and then headed east on smaller roads. A little climb out of the river valley and then some gentle hills to climb. This road was nice traveling. One of the small towns had the church shown at right. Look carefully, instead of a steeple, there are two storks building a nest.

Went through small towns and bought some in a shop, eventually coming to a major road at 80km. This one even had shoulders, though I noticed the traffic was using them to get out of the way of passing traffic. Followed this for 4km before eight more kilometers of small road.

The last 10km or so were into the town of Stargard Szczecin, a mid sized Polish town. These towns really aren’t made for bicycles. The sidewalks become narrow and bumpy and prohibit bicycles, the roads are quite busy. I walked some through town and sometimes was on the road. As I came into the center I looked for a hotel. This was tougher than I thought. I got mixed reactions asking people. One or two helpful suggestions. One or two complete cold shoulders as they realized I couldn’t speak Polish. In the end, I didn’t quite find a hotel and was suddenly heading outbound past city limits. Oh well, as necessary I could try me tent I had been carrying along. However, just past 2km from town I saw a small bed symbol at the gas station. A small hotel! It was tough to translate the language – but we figured it out. The hotel itself had seen much better days but was also about a quarter of the price of night before. I was just happy to have a place. I walked back to town for dinner and then turned in after an eventful day cycling in Poland. I also picked up a Polish auto map that seems to give some hints about sizes of shoulders, so may backtrack just a bit to take another road tomorrow.

108 km today. 887km across Europe. 2525 km total.