BaltiNavia by Bike

June 2016 - July 2017
A 422-day adventure by Sarah Read more
  • 106footprints
  • 13countries
  • 422days
  • 479photos
  • 0videos
  • 4.4kkilometers
  • Day 325

    Greiz road test ...

    April 25, 2017 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C

    Is spring here??!! I still don't know. Nature says yes! After watching a nest from the house stairs when passing each time for a week the "amsel babies" have hatched! (Blackbirds in English) . On the way out to meet friends in Greiz for lunch two or three very naked-looking bird shapes were just about visible in the foliage. With temperatures between 0-10 degrees C I hope that they'll fluff up quickly and thrive.

    The ride back from Greiz was a bit bleak, a biting cold wind and a saddle that is absolutley not living up to the hype of it its 500 x 5 star reviews and praise as a good touring saddle. Initial tests on the turbo trainer indoors were promising....when it came to it, a 14km round trip turned into a pretty miserable affair. Not a good sign at all!

    Afternoon plans had to fall by the wayside as this is a pretty critical bit of kit not to be right. Selle Italia is not my friend and someone will get an absolute bargain of a saddle on eBay when I'm back!!

    An evening spent shopping on bike24 until the early hours shooooould provide a plan B and C....!! watch this space.

    Before such a long sporting endeavour I'm trying to stay injury free by not doing anything too stupid..(aside from my day-to-day walking /running up and down the steep stairs of an old house in some novelty hugley oversized ant slippers, that is)...it turns out that a single HAIR from a toxic cactus of doom can have much more painful effects than misadventure in inappropriate footwear. Whilst lying on the floor to carry out the first part of kit inventory checking as P was bike tweaking, a cactus hair got into my calf and caused a huge hot red lump the size of a gooseberry which sends a wave of weird pain up my leg everytime I move my foot..like when climbing stairs..and cycling 😂😂😂. Cactus Jack and Selle Italia Diva saddles are on todays sh!t list!!!
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  • Day 326

    Leipzig Decathlon trip!

    April 26, 2017 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    Today Peter and I bought our first home together...a three-person hiking tent from Leipzig decathlon! We decided to go for a new one as Peter's existing one is a snug two-person without a porch and its quite bulky. With the weight being at a premium when bike touring, a smaller more compact pack and a porch space to bring the bags into at night and potentially in the rain is going to be much more convenient.

    We also picked up an inflatable pillow each and a couple of long-sleeved tops in H & M SHOULD the summer ever decide to come!!

    The tent is going to take one hellof a road test so reviews to follow!!
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  • Day 328

    Elsterberg, Zelttest auf dem Spielplatz

    April 28, 2017 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    Wir sind eingezogen! Das Quick Hiker 3 macht aufgebaut einen genauso guten Eindruck wie klein verpackt und ist ein echtes Leichtgewicht. Die Grundfläche ist bemessen für 3 Personen und das Vorzelt geräumig, sodass unser ganzes Gepäck mit im Trockenen stehen kann. Auch ist nun Boris das Wildschwein zu uns gekommen. Er wird uns auf unserem Trip vor den 38000 Braunbären beschützen, die es in Europa gibt. Das Equipment wurde weiterhin komplettiert durch einen faltbaren 5l Kanister und einen Topf aus dem DUK Kaufhaus. Hält man die Augen offen, gibt es auch abseits von Outdoor-Läden günsige Alternativen. Zu nennen ist da auch der Baumarkt für Planen, Leinen, Schlösser etc. Ein Brausekopf für eine Gießkanne wird unsere Outdoor-Dusche. Da ist allerdings noch etwas Handarbeit nötig, bevor wir sie zeigen können. Die Baumdusche in Barcelona hat die Messlatte hoch gelegt ;-)Read more

  • Day 335

    Greiz at Peanuts

    May 5, 2017 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    A quick trip to Greiz to buy some last minute bits and bobs and to test the Terry saddle for the final time....thereafter, there's no going back! Yes, that's beer and water being loaded into the bags by Peter. Well, we are in Germany afterall and beer is cheaper than water...☺

    The little path between Elsterberg and Greiz is pretty grim to ride without suspension of any kind but the individual flagstones make it pretty well-suited to testing whether anything will fall off the bike or whether the seat "suspension" lives up to its confident marketing claim to avoid any seating discomfort!

    Test passed! The Terry Fisio GT is the saddle of choice for both bikes. Lets see what 1000s of kms does to it.

    For anyone ever venturing to my adopted second-home town of Greiz, "Peanuts" is a quaint little pub that sells home-made soup for EUR 3.50 or so, bargainous!
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  • Day 337

    First night wild camping!

    May 7, 2017 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    Accompanied by Peters friend Andreas for first day motivation, we managed our target of 70km and crossed into the old "West" Germany.

    Camping - wild in the forest edge, beautiful but very damp/dark and full of little spiders!

    We got overtaken by about 20 cyclists but overtook two...no idea how that was possible on the bikes which ride like motorbikes with pedals! When we set off the weight and wobbliness took us a hit by surprise despite test rides with some weight. Thabkfully it settled down quickly and the upper body got used to taking some load.

    Derriere- feels ok!
    Muscle aches - surprisingly none for either of us.
    (Wait until we hit today's hills, yesterday's made 100m climbs feel like kilimanjaro)
    Food- we made a nice one pot meal of Hirse, onion, garlic and vegetable tomato pasta sauce followed by dried fruit and chocolate.
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  • Day 337

    Bayreuth

    May 7, 2017 in Germany ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    Irgendwann musste es ja passieren, der erste Regen. Wir haben heute nur 50 km geschafft. Der Weg führte durch das Fichtelgebirge. Kleine bayrische Dörfer, ein kleiner Junge folgte uns ein paar Kilometer. Endstation ist heute Bayreuth. Eine heiße Dusche, eine kleine Einbauküche, ein Traum. Morgen geht es früher los. Unser Tagesziel, Nürnberg.

    Today I found out that my (recently resprayed) waterproof jacket is about as much use as a chocolate tea pot...but also if you keep moving in the rain it doesn't matter so much about getting wet if you have something dry to put on afterwards.

    Having a bike laden with panniers seems to be an invitation for people to ask where you are going :D I love seeing their faces when we tell them 😀. Admittedly only two days in but now we've made the first wild camp, made it through the vogtland hills and the Fichtelgebirge its feeling more like we are getting used to the bikes and being on the go. Here's hoping for better weather tomorrow!!

    (2 days in- still not bought any food! - a sign we brought too much with us 🙊)

    Bayreuth seems to be a quaint small city with some nice architecture, parks and well-conceived cycle routes through the city.

    Peter's beer consumption: 1 small one from the petrol station.

    Chocolate consumption:
    3/4 of a rum and raisen ritter sport.
    1/2 an almond schogetten bar.
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  • Day 339

    NBG!

    May 9, 2017 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C

    Today was the longest day of cycling so far, 90km with a fastest downhill speed of 58kmh...😀 some fairly nasty hills too add to the mix of course.

    We had our first puncture, a board tack IN THE FOReST! Who brings tacks to the forest, eh? Like a pitstop pro the inner tubes were changed in 15 mins and we were back on our way.

    I consigned the sleeves of my useless Tresspass rain jacket to the bin of a bus stop in a little village where we sheltered from rain and where a group of 3 children who had just got off the school bus were giggling at us. The two boys sent the girl over to ask 20 x questions, including why Peter was wearing sandals.😀

    In NBG were were greeted by Peter's friend Philip who was a fabulous host providing beer, showers and a comfy bed for the night. Just what we needed. We ate at the NGB equivalent of Hofbrauhaus in Munich which was very cool despite having a pub sign from the town my old office was based in. Work..? What work!

    A quick trip to Sportscheck made a hefty dent in my travel kitty but I now no longer fear the next rain downpour 😀
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  • Day 339

    Treuchtlingen

    May 9, 2017 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C

    Today had a nice lazy start, breakfasting with Philip before heading off through central NBG for a spot of sight-seeing. We made our way through what felt like 100 red traffic lights before making a stop at the Parteigelaende where the Nuremberg rallies took place. After a quick clothing change (the flecks of blue sky visible from the appartment were just an illusion!) and a "quick" check through all 5 bags for my gloves..(painstakingly taking out every item of clothing from a compression sack, including all my underwear, in front of a group of german school kids in Hitler's congress hall (Kongresshalle) )..which I didn't find until a few hours later, realising they were in fact in the bar bag...oops 😀

    Once we got out of the cycle path myriad of the city we were quickly back into the small village life of rural Bavaria. Rolling hills, punctuated with little vilages full of timber-framed buildings and roofs that arch steeply above the many tiny shutter-covered windows. Each village identical in style but with a different charm somehow.

    Today's riding was kind to us, we hit upon our first long flats!! The Main-Donau Canal (averaging 21kmh for about an hour was awesome!) followed by a nice disused railway cycle track that took us to Heideck.

    Germany really is amazing for cycling, such a comprehensive network of cycle paths in all cities and equally well-connected routes around even the smallest of towns. Signage is pretty clear and following the cycle paths very rarely takes you onto sharing a road with cars. Country lanes are often very very quiet so cycling side-by-side is never normally a problem. The absence of hedges flanking fields also means you can see anying incumbent vehicles in plenty of time to move over. A road biker paradise for sure.

    The only issue I have is the "rechts vor links" principle of right before left, even when you think you are on the main road. This means you can be cycling along a fairly sizable road but you have to look (sometimes stop) into roads joining from the right, who have priority. As Germany typically sees a faor amount of wonter snowfall, roads and priorities are signed on posts as opposed to marked on the ground as in England. I'm slowing getting used to it despite a brief panic mode moment today where a car came and from the right, i forgot all of the "vorfahrt" rules and bolted to the left pavement out of comfort and habit. Haha.

    2 people asked where we were going today, a drunk cyclist in Nuremberg and a guy with a dog who had a good look at our set up before deciding to venture a question or two. Now we are 4 days in, it doesn't feel so abstract to tell them our plans. 😀

    We arrived in a nice little town called Trautlingen in the early evening after passing through our original minimum day's target destination of Weißburg. Trautlingen has a warm vibe (despite the baltic chill that's still not going!!) 2 minutes into the search for a B & B we stopped outside one for a matter of 30 seconds before being greeted by the owner. We were super happy to bring the bikes into a secluded courtyard before the owner ushered us to the locked garage just behind. What more could you ask for as a biker!

    Dare I say it, today for the first time I was almost slightly sad to be ending the day's cycling. After 4 days I think I can safely say that we've found our cycling legs (and bums).

    Today's bike hack is regarding kit: to keep pack weight down and to try and straddle the spring /summer conditions Peter is travelling in sandals with click-pedal fixtures, when its rainy he can put on neoprene socks to insulate and keep out any water. When its not rainy but windy as per today, some black insulation tape was the perfect solution to turn the sandals into wind proof but breathable shoes. I'm cycling in trainers but its a stinky feet recipe risk if the shoes get wet and you only have one pair of closed shoes with you....

    A light-weight gilet is also an essential bit of kit for anyone thinking of cycle touring. A cycle-sepcific fabric one with a waterproof/windproof front and vented back adds next to no weight (you can scrunch it so small it fits into your palm) but is amazing in insulating the body core on cold windy days where you are exercising hard amd don't want the extra arm warmth from a full extra top. It is also great in summer for speedy and breezy descents or cycling into a cooling headwind. If you've been sweating on an uphill climb the body temp can drop very quickly in damp clothes into any kind of wind once you stop exerting yourself. Peter bought one in Sportscheck yesterday by Vaude for circa €50, I bought a soft-shell style thicker one for around €35. It made a world of difference today so money well spent!!
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  • Day 340

    Ehrlich Herrlich

    May 10, 2017 in Germany ⋅ 🌙 13 °C

    Mr. Haupt zuliebe versuche ich heute mal etwas in Deutsch zu schreiben ;-) bitte Schreibfehler verzeihen!

    Edit: Die Schreibfehler sind schon berichtigt. Meine liebe Nichte Victoria könnte ja auch für den Papa übersetzen ;-)

    Heute haben wir gemütlich gefrühstückt in unserem Zimmer in der Pension Tschernach - Joghurt, Brot, Käse, O-Saft und natürlich einen Kaffee und Tee dazu. Bei wunderschönem Wetter sind wir über Monheim, Kaisheim, Donauwörth geradelt und sind heute Abend in Dillingen gelandet.

    Früh ging unsere Route über eine sehr LKW-lastige Bundesstraße entlang. Zum Glück könnten wir nach knapp 3-4 km wieder auf Feldwege einbiegen.

    Monheim hat einen sehr freundlichen, bildhübschen Eindruck gemacht, sowie auch Kaisheim.

    In Kaisheim stand ein interessantes (aber irgendwie sehr schönes) Gebäude -

    S - Wollen wir mal schnell anhalten und die Kirche von innen ansehen?
    P - hmmm, da ist Zaun und Stacheldraht drum herum... sieht aus wie ein Knast.
    S - ist tatsächlich ein JVA....!

    (Sarah)

    Die Donau zu erreichen war herrlich - so eine Art Meilenstein. Die Gebäude in den Städten sprechen die Sprache von historischen Handelsstädten. Fachwerkhäuser, geplasterte Märkte, viele steinerne Tore und das Highlight - Mr. Falafel :-) Meine Handrücken sind braun und die Oberseiten der Knie heiß. Morgen brauchen wir Sonnenblocker. Unsere heutige Absteige hat 4 Doppelstockbetten :-/ Naja, so kommen wir morgen wenigstens früh los.
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  • Day 341

    Munderkingen

    May 11, 2017 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    In Dillingen kamen wir heute früh wieder auf die Räder. Unsere Bleibe lud auch nicht zum längeren Verweilen ein. Die Tour führte heute den ganzen Tag die Donau flussaufwärts entlang - mal näher mal ferner. Die leichte Bewölkung tat gut, waren doch einige Hautpartien von der gestrigen Sonne etwas überstrapaziert. Die Gewitterfront haben wir gekonnt oder besser zufällig umfahren. Die Beine werden täglich besser, heute gab es 4 Opfer ;-) Überraschenderweise trafen wir auf eine römische Tempelanlage. Die Donaustädte sind in ihrem historischen Kern alle wunderschön. Es gibt reichlich Fachwerkbauten, kleine gepflasterte Märkte Tore in den alten Stadtmauern, die ins Zentrum führen. Sehr hübsch ist Ulm, das heute auf unserem Weg lag. Die ganze Gegend ist wunderbar auf Radreisende ausgerichtet, es ist kein Problem, eine Unterkunft zu finden, um den Luxus des Westens noch ein wenig genießen zu können. Als Nutzer eines großen Fernradwegnetzes ist hier auch gut zu sehen, wie eine ganze Region davon profitieren kann, wenn jeder ein klein wenig von seiner Attraktivität anpreist, sei es der Bäcker, das Café, die Pension mit Fahrradschuppen, eine gute Beschilderung oder ein fahrradfreundlicher Ausbau der städtischen Infrastruktur.

    SARAH-The wildlife on today's route was awesome, so far we've seen countless birds of prey (hopefully not eyeing us up!) A few deer, rabbits, woodpeckers, mice, and a lizard - today we saw what may have been a beaver or nutria in the river AND we were cycling under the wings of a circling stork. We then saw two stork nests. WOW, i think a human could have easily curled up in there with a book and had ample space. Quite a cool sight!

    We also sniffed out a whole field of wild garlic today, Peter went foraging and ate 2 stems proceeding to smell delightful for the rest of the day. 😀
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