After a few days mixing writing work with exploring Gdansk, I still had five days to spare. So I took a train to Berlin. I had no plan, but I had a bike, which is all you need. This post covers those five days. The first morning I cycled across Tempelhof, on possibly the world’s…
Category: Poland
Poland 16: Hel
With the business part of the trip completed, today was a fun add-on: a trip to Hel and back. Hel is a resort village at the end of a 30km long sand spit that juts out south-east from Poland’s northern coast into the Baltic. On a map the spit resembles Spurn Point, my favourite place…
Poland 15: Gdynia to Jastrzębia Góra
The final day of my Polish End to End was the hottest, sunniest day of the trip so far. It started with yet more miles of mostly decent urban cycleways, continued with rough and unready tracks through country parks with lots of other leisure cyclists, and finished up at Poland’s most northerly point, overlooking an…
Poland 14: Starogard Gdański to Gdynia
The penultimate day of the End to End, and the day I finally set eyes on the Baltic. Today started with yet more flat, easy miles on quiet back roads through woods, and finished with an extraordinarily 35km-long run through bike-friendly Gdańsk on segregated cycleways. I knew I was close to the sea when I…
Poland 13: Grudziądz to Starogard Gdański
The river levels, if anything, rose overnight. No chance of taking the waterfront cycle path this morning (pic). Though it would have been a chance for me to use my trunks, about the only thing in my panniers I haven’t managed to use since arriving in Albania so long ago. After a week and a…
Poland 12: Toruń to Grudziądz
The longest mileage of the trip so far – but it felt wonderfully easy, thanks to a good railtrail, quiet flat roads, sunny but not overhot weather, and no wind. And a cream horn. A good, 21st-century standard, segregated cycleway took me out from the centre of lovely Toruń, eventually turning into a surprisingly good,…
Poland 11: Włocławek to Toruń
Probably the best ‘cycle touring’ day of the cycle tour so far. In other words, a day that demonstrated what cycle touring is really for. No, I don’t mean making friends and relatives at home jealous with Facebook posts. I mean a varied and unfolding day of weather that got better and better, of lanes…
Poland 10: Strzelce Kujawskie to Włocławek
A short day today, with the now-familiar range of riding: quiet back lanes where I was more likely to encounter a deer or hare than a car, farm-track shortcuts to test my front suspension*, bumpy cycle paths through woods ditto*, and fast main roads with wide shoulders that are effectively noisy, but safe, cycle lanes….
Poland 9: Łódź to Strzelce Kujawskie
Another gloriously sunny day, with easy, flat, tailwind-assisted cycling through quiet rural back lanes, my progress further speeded up thanks to new streamlining from yesterday’s haircut. Here’s a typical view. I’ve seen a handful of road cyclists in all the gear so far, but by far the majority of people on two wheels are like…
Poland 8: Łódź
A half-way rest day today, exploring Łódź by bike. In the morning, with yesterday’s crowds now sleeping things off, Piotrkowska Street was deserted, and I could go Art Nouveau spotting (pic) without getting in the way of some city bike-hire tourist, wobbling chaotically around on an unsuitably heavy bike. Me wobbling, that is, not them….