Tour Plans for 2024

[Slowroad]

I think one or two others might appreciate this!
For the third year in a row I'm hoping to get abroad again. Hopefully third time lucky - didn't manage it the last couple of years... Maybe Belgium and The Netherlands, nothing too dramatic... As it's been 5 years since I've been abroad, and a few things have changed, I'm going to need to research travel insurance with an existing health condition, and any extra paperwork due to Brexit.
But, in the meantime, I'd love to hear what plans other tourers are hatching during the winter months!

[Jdsk]

We're still looking at the eastern Baltic. And very grateful to everyone who has shared experiences and expertise... getting there and back isn't easy.

Jonathan

[Andrew-l]

I'm looking at a solo sprint along (roughly) EV3 from Bordeaux to Paris for a week in June. Just have to book Eurostar now! Happy for any advice on what to avoid and what is a must-see on that route if anyone has done it previously.

[glucas]

We're still looking at the eastern Baltic. And very grateful to everyone who has shared experiences and expertise... getting there and back isn't easy.

Jonathan

Hi Jonathan,

I went to north east Poland earlier in June this year. Roughly 80 miles south east of Gdansk. Stayed with a friend there for a couple of days and then cycled westbound from Gdansk across the baltic coast into Germany, and then took the train home from there.

I know you are an experienced traveller, but I will mention some points:

i) This is relevant if you are not flying. I took the overnight ferry from Harwich to the Hook of Holland. The following morning I ran into some problems between Rotterdam and Utrecht whereby I was thrown off the train. This was one service I was unable to book and it did not take bikes. As a consequence I missed connections and did not make it to Szczecin and had to stay overnight in Berlin instead. That also messed up the itinerary for the next day and I arrived in Paslek a day later than expected. There were also problems with Deutsche Bahn (you don't say!) and a train broke down en-route to Berlin and everybody had to get out and change on to another train. So all told I left the UK Friday night and did not arrive in Paslek until 11am Monday morning.

Edit: I thought I might add a few things about the seat/bike reservations. For booking the trains for the start leg of the journey (Rotterdam --> Berlin) I used Dutch railways - NS. I looked up their international number and called them,and obviously, they speak English, so I was able to book seats on trains as far as Berlin. However, the one train, as mentioned above, that could not take reservations because it was not an international train, was the Rotterdam to Utrecht train, and I was thrown off at a station before I reached Utrecht. For Berlin to Szczecin I took 2 RE (Regional) trains, and on these there is no need to book. From Szczecin to Paslek I used the website polrail.com (see below) to book what was an Inter-City (PKP train).

I had an Inter-rail ticket, and on the way back I needed to book Berlin to Rotterdam again (from Rotterdam I travelled on the Metro to the Hook of Holland). I went into the ticket office at the main station in Berlin and was able to book the necessary bike places. I have since heard that the Deutsche Bahn App now has the functionality to book/reserve bike spaces. But I don't know if this dovetails with an inter-rail ticket or not.

As a general rule the bike reservations unfortunately have to be made against the national operator. So for example, when travelling the previous year between France and Germany I booked the TGV leg from Paris to Strasbourg on the SNCF Connect website and then used Deutsche Bahn to book trains from the border to Munich. However, I did find that NS and Deutsche Bahn were able to reserve trains in and out of Holland and Germany (although not on the Polish side).

ii) There are websites for reserving the Polish seats and bike - polrail.com - who were excellent. However, because my connections were all messed up I had to reserve the bikes again in the ticket office in Szczecin and Gdansk. Nobody spoke English and I had to use google translate. In fact in Szczecin they told me that trains bound for Gdansk were fully booked but when they arrived I could see there were bike places, so I took my chances and got an earlier train than I was reserved on.

iii) If you are using Eurovelo 10/13 eastbound, there are some stretches that are really hard to navigate - basically mud. So you have to get out and push the bike. From memory between Koszalin and Gdansk. They were doing a lot of laying of new track so it might be better now, but it was very hard going at times.

iv) You probably know you can't go through Kaliningrad!

v) I never went hungry in northern Poland! There are loads of mini-supermarkets. Plenty of Lidl, Zabka stores etc.

[Galactic]

cycled westbound from Gdansk across the baltic coast into Germany

Hi Glucas,

Starting from Gdansk and cycling to Szczecin is on my bucket list, so just wondered if you had any tips or a travel report or anything like that. Specifically wondering how busy that route gets and any experience of wild camping near the coast.

Thanks

[roubaixtuesday]

We have an incredible plan for 2024.

This comes from a long held joke/dream about cycling the tandem to Istanbul. Talking about this over several years has made it real, and leave of absence from work is agreed.

It's since morphed a bit so we can get home logistically, so now is:

UK: Home - Portsmouth, ferry to St Malo
France: St-Malo - Nice
Italy: Nice - Bari, Ferry to Albania (Durres)
Balkans: Albania - North Macedonia - Montenegro - Kosovo - Bosnia - Serbia
Central Europe: Hungary - Slovakia - Czechia - Austria - Germany - Holland, ferry to Hull
Home!

I've no doubt we won't do exactly that in the end.

[Pendodave]

Feeling a bit of a stick in the mud, as I'll be keeping my eye out for weather windows in the spring/ early summer to get up to the Highlands and Islands.

I'm looking forward to reports back from all the Parts Unknown though.

[glucas]

cycled westbound from Gdansk across the baltic coast into Germany

Hi Glucas,

Starting from Gdansk and cycling to Szczecin is on my bucket list, so just wondered if you had any tips or a travel report or anything like that. Specifically wondering how busy that route gets and any experience of wild camping near the coast.

Thanks

Hi Galactic,

I didn't really put together a travel report. But I can summarise my thoughts from the trip, which I made earlier this June:

i) It was fairly busy. It was the last 2 weeks of June. The Eurovelo 10/13 goes through several resorts and there were quite a few people out and about. I had to be careful on the bike going through the resorts - Jastrzebia Gora, Ustka, Mielno, Pobierowo, Pustkowo. I believe that the resorts get flooded with Germans and Poles more probably after June, certainly in the high season.

ii) The cycle paths were generally excellent. Although there were stretches from Gdansk to Jastrzebia Gora and possibly westwards to Ustka, from memory, that were basically too muddy to cycle on, being in close proximity to the coast. One had to get out and push the bike. I did notice that there was new track being laid - I think they are tuning into the economic benefits of cycle tourism. Also - drivers are really courteous towards cyclists. They actively look out for you, and will stop, even on the main road and let you cross the road when you are crossing.

iii) It's basically as flat as a pancake along the northern coast. 95% of the journey was basically through the woods straddling the beach - so most of the time one was no more than a hundred metres from the beach! So bring your swimming trunks. I am not a fast cyclist, but I managed 9 to 10mph on average easily. On the last day into Germany I cycled 85 miles without any problem.

iv) There are plenty of supermarkets in the main towns - even outside in the villages. Prices were roughly half/two thirds the UK.

v) Accommodation likewise was fairly cheap. I paid £25 to £65 for everything I booked on booking.com apart from Germany/Berlin, which was more expensive.

All in all, a nice experience. Not to be negative, but just cycling the 250-300 miles or so was a little bit samey at times. I did not really investigate any waypoints, castles etc. I think if I was to do it again, I would spend more time exploring. There are some nice stretches when one can really see the sea, but there are others when it's just basically through woods.

On the question about wild camping, I'm sorry, I can't help there. I was basically credit card touring. I didn't see many camp sites, I must confess, or even people camping in isolated places.

Edit: Some photos from the trip:

[ophspeed]

6 days in the Austrian and Italian Alps - one big climb a day. 2 days to get there by 9 trains, and 2 days to get back by 9 trains.

[Jdsk]

We're still looking at the eastern Baltic. And very grateful to everyone who has shared experiences and expertise... getting there and back isn't easy.

...
I went to north east Poland last June. Roughly 80 miles south east of Gdansk. Stayed with a friend there for a couple of days and then cycled westbound from Gdansk across the baltic coast into Germany, and then took the train home from there.
...

That's very helpful.

Thankyou

Jonathan

[Galactic]

I didn't really put together a travel report. But I can summarise my thoughts from the trip, which I made earlier this June:

This is very helpful, particularly the bit about the saminess. I had been wondering about that, but forgot to ask. Sounds like I need to look at a map and plan some detours rather than just sticking to the coastal cycle route.

Thank you

[simonhill]

Early January off to Vietnam utilising the new 45 day visa free entry. Cycling from Da Nang down the coast to Saigon, then rest of time in Delta area.

Then across to Thailand for the 30 day visa exempt period. Planning on a loop out of Trang, down to Malaysian border and up to Khao Sok National Park. Filling in a few gaps, but mainly visiting places I know and like.

Probably in June I want to complete my Channel to Gibraltar. Only a little bit left from Santiago to Porto, so will add other stuff. There's a Templar town I missed on my COVID Portugal tour.

Late September/early October it'll be time to start the 23/24 winter touring season.

[glucas]

I didn't really put together a travel report. But I can summarise my thoughts from the trip, which I made earlier this June:

This is very helpful, particularly the bit about the saminess. I had been wondering about that, but forgot to ask. Sounds like I need to look at a map and plan some detours rather than just sticking to the coastal cycle route.

Thank you

Yes. Certainly would recommend that in this case. Forgot to add, the resorts (with the exception of Gdansk) themselves, whilst nice, are also a bit samey. Nothing spectacular - this is not the French Riviera. I think Hel is probably worth a visit, although I didn't go there.

[Navrig]

Earlier this year I completed my first long tour from Santander to Athens although I did ferry from Venice to Porec to avoid the horrible storm and flooding which hit Italy in April/May and I took a bus out of Albania to Greece when the temps were rising and I was facing the southern mountains. Overall 3200km and 3 months.

I hoped that I would come home enthused and keen for another trip. Thankfully that was the case and I am currently looking at South-east Asia.

Something like this: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit? ... sp=sharing

The finer details for a route corridor have still to be worked out and @simonhill of this parish has been helping me with suggestions based on his SEA experience.

[Psamathe]

Must confess I'm in desperate need of inspiration for 2024. I did a couple on months (2000 miles) this summer in France, Germany & Netherlands and whilst it was better than sitting around at home it was a bit dull, un-inspiring. Previous tours I've arrived somewhere, set-up and gone wandering around town and the area looking at chateaus, etc. This year arrived, set-up camp and read a Kindle - seemed to be in a state-of-mind where "just another town, another church, another chateau".

German camp sites were truly dreadful (even got thrown out of one at 17:00 for "every changing reasons" - they'd give me a reason why they were throwing me out and I'd demonstrate it was complete rubbish so 1 min later they'd concoct another reason ... until they called the owner (a large strong and very aggressive person).

So I'm following this thread hoping for inspiration.

Ian