29.06.25 Scheveningen-Mijdrecht

 Waking up to a beautiful morning, breakfast and then on our way back to starting point Mijdrecht. A light northern wind (of course it turned!), but nothing like yesterday.

After leaving Scheveningen, we passed through the medium-sized towns Wassenaar and Voorschoten, before coming to Leiden, a larger university city. After that, riding through a fascinating landscape of meadows, lakes, windmills (especially the old kind) and endless canals of course. I would say this was the most beautiful day of our three-day tour.

Windmill in Achtienhoven, once used for keeping the polders dry

There are many bridges, but not everywhere, and some places there are ferries specifically for bicycles. The Netherlands at its best - water and cycling.

Anbjørg on a ferry close to Woubrugge

And then in Ter Aar, a funny statue honouring another Dutch specialty: ice skating.

A traditional way of ice skating

Around three o'clock we came back to the car in Mijdrecht after a great tour. Some reflections: Anbjørg at 71 hardly ever rides the bicycle (except when we're in the Netherlands), but easily rides a three-day 150km tour. Why are so many people, many much younger, using e-bikes? Too little exercise is one of our time's health challenges. Forget the e-bike, back on your bicycle folks!

60km in 5:30.

28.06.25 Zandvoort-Scheveningen

 Second day of our three-day tour.

This is not quite 40km, so we didn't start before 10:30. Despite a great weather forecast some days ago, it was cloudy with a pretty strong southwest wind  but a good temperature. Indeed, our travel direction. 

We rode through is a really nice dune landscape, quite a bit up and down (for the Netherlands that is). But also quite open, a drawback on such a windy day.

Entering the province of Zuid-Holland

Very good bike lanes. And a lot of cyclists on a Saturday. Mostly racers and e-bikes. We don't do that. There was never anything wrong with using your body. On the contrary.

On the way, we passed two sea resorts, Noordwijk and Katwijk. I had hoped for a side trip to the beach, but it was not so tempting on a cloudy, windy day.

Arriving around three o'clock in Scheveningen, another traditional sea resort. And now the sky cleared and I could finish the day with the beach in the end (Anbjørg is not too keen on that).

39 km in 4:30 hours.

27.06.25, Mijdrecht-Zandvoort

 Although I'm a bit single minded regarding cycling (at least I hear that sometimes), shorter tours are also nice. In the Netherlands, with my wife, Anbjørg. She thinks cycling in Norway is too hard (is IS hard), and several weeks on the bicycle is boring. You can't agree on everything in a marriage!

But a 3-day tour in the Netherlands works, so that's what we do together, like in 2022.

We started i  Mijdrecht in the province Noord-Holland. We use the Dutch system of Knooppunten for planning, as explained in my blog from 8 May.

 Mostly clouded, some headwind, 20 degrees.

Lunch in Kudelstaart, Westeinderplassen.

Lunch at the water front

Continuing through villages and crossing canals.

Crossing the ring-channel around the Haarlemmermeer polder, a large lake that was finally drained in 1852

This area is well-known for greenhouses and flowers

Apart from flowers, there is a lot of other agriculture.

Wheat field. And note the interesting high voltage line in the background 🙂

From here we continued to Zandvoort, a traditional sea resort, where we spent the night.

Funny art in Zandvoort

48km in 5 hours.

10.06.25 Day 33 - Västerås-Ludvika. Finish in the forest.

After 33 days of cycling, 3172km and two restdays I finally arrived in Ludvika. I feel lucky and grateful that I can do this and have not had any problems with knee, bum or anything. Great adventure!

Arriving in Ludvika

The experience of the day is easy to sum up: forest. But the roads are good, the traffic light, and with the occasional views and the lakes on the last part, it is a nice ride.

The first km after Västerås until Skultuna are on bike lanes. After that, you're on the road, but as said, with largely little traffic.

It's all about forests

The landscape is a bit more hilly than most of the tour with 620m of (gross) ascent. This is the highest of the whole tour, but the days in Poland close to the border with Kaliningrad came close with roughly 550m. More hilly means slightly harder, but also nicer because you get more views.

I was lucky with the weather also, the weather forecast predicted rain showers, but I avoided them. On the whole trip, I only got three half days and one whole day with rain - nothing to complain about. But it has been relatively cold.

In Ludvika, Ralf and Elly formed a welcome comittee, and I could rest, take a shower and was offered food and drink. Wonderful.

And that was it for 2025. I hope to take another long bicycle trip next year, but no concrete plans so far. 

117km in 8 hours, active time 6:30.

Total 3172km.

09.06.25 Day 32 - Kallhäll_Västerås. Passing 3000km.

Passing through the Swedish forests and meadows, I passed 3000km. My longest biketrip ever.Will I ever exceed it?

Counting miles. Old Swedish road marking

The first km after Kallhäll are still rather "urban", but gradually the landscape becomes rural again.

Railroad bridge over an arm of the large Mäleren lake

Old industri: grain silo close to Bålsta, to be demolished, but when?

And, I cannot resist to write something more about power. For my friends and ex-colleages in the power sector. In Sweden there are 7 (if I remember right) large North-South connections. I passed several of them today.

Two parallel high voltage lines 

Another Helinox lunch, in the forest this time. Appeared to be in an ant track, which offered some entertainment as I lossed a small piece of sausage.

15 minutes between these pictures, The sauage bite has been partly eaten and moved

I am now following another cycle route, the Mäleren valley route.

Good to know you are on the (a) right track

Also here I meet an old acquaintance, see my blog from Iceland last year.

Nice flower? Maybe, but we should try to stop them

Shortly before today's goal, Västerås, I passed a tumulus (No: gravhaug, Nl: grafheuvel) from somewhere between 500-1000 (funny they cannot determine that more precisely).

Anundshög tumulus, 9m high

In Västerås I enjoy the hospitality of Lena and Peter, who offer a bed (and much more) as Warmshower hosts - thanks a lot to them!

Tomorrow will be the final day of my trip. A strange thought.

102km in 8 hours, active time 6 hours,

Total 3055km (YES)

08.06.25 Day 31 - Åland-Stocholm-Kallhäll. Back on the Scandinavian mainland.

Short (cycling) day, short blog.

More bicycles on the ferry this time

Viking line from Mariehamn to Stockholm, arriving at 19:00, dead in the city centre. But with very good bike lanes and GPS on a functioning phone, it was straight forward to find my way out.

 

Cycling through Stockholm

Staying at a Youth Hostel in Kallhäll, almost 30km from the ferry.

27km in 1:50 hours.

Total 2953km. 

07.06.25 Day 30 - Åland.

Short nigth on the ferry, arriving in Mariehamn 04:40. Hadn't thought to write a blog for today, but I did a small round trip on Åland, so for completeness. And I have some useful experience for the ferries, if that could help someone.

Yet another country, Finland, number 7 on this tour.

Ferry leaving Åland, 04:50

The terminal was open, so I sat there some time. Outside temperature around ten and a pretty strong wind, so not nice to wait outside. Went to my hotel Esplanad around seven, could buy breakfast, and even got my room shortly after eight. Quite uncommon and highly appreciated, so I could sleep a little more.

My idea was to take the Eckerö line to Grislehamn in Sweden. However, this goes, indeed, from Eckerö, which I did not realize is 35 km from Mariehamn. The 08:00 ferry was therefore out of the question for me, as I already had a hotel in Mariehamn. So if you want this option, you should take a hotel in Eckerö. There is another ferry at 14:30, which would be good for me. However, I was not able to select "bicycle" as vehicle, it just did not work. I called them, and it appeared that this was because they could not take more cars. But clearly, a bicycle takes less space! He said they might take it, but he could not guarantee. Dumb. Two pieces of advice to Eckerö line: 1) instead of making it impossible to select an option, give a message and 2) check how many bicycles you can take, count them and allow them as long as there is space, clear yes or no.

I ended up with taking the Viking line to Stockholm. Arrives at 18:55, but I found a reasonably priced hotel 30km away in the right direction, which makes my remaining distance to Ludvika acceptable for two days.

After some sleep I visited the Åland Cultural History Museum, quite interesting if you want to know more about the history of the island. In the afternoon, yes, a cycling tour. Abstinence? Maybe. But I wanted to see a bit more of the island in the short time I had available. Found a 49km ride on Bikemap that looked ok. Quite windy, but with a round trip you get it both ways at least. 

Around Mariehamn there are very good bike lanes. Further away the paved roads are also very good, but there are some unpaved roads also, of varying quality. 

What surprised me most was how similar Åland appeared to all the other places I have been. Relatively flat (though I still had 200m ascent), meadows and forests. I was slightly dissapointed. But maybe that is a little unfair to Åland. After 2900km, more is needed to impress me, especially on a grey and windy day. I deviated a bit from the planned route, but then made some mistakes so it became almost as long.

Here the road was really closed. I understand they may not want cars, but why make it hard for bicycles to pass? There are not that many. I carried it over anyway, but with the luggage I would have needed to take it of firstr.

I came to the airport in the end, then turned back to Mariehamn.

Windy

It could be nice to take 2-3 days to cycle around - provided you have sunshine, and not too much wind. Hard to guarantee when you book something.

Next day: I see now you can take ferries to other small islands, do island hopping a few days with bicycle. That could be really nice. I

Unfortunately I don't have time for that.

Today's ride

44km in 2:54.

Total 2926km. Only a short ride tomorrow, so I'll need another day to pass 3000.

05.06.25 Day 29 - Haapsalu-Tallinn. I did it!

Tallinn was the goal of my trip, kind of, and now I'm here. Feels a bit unreal after almost 2900km on the bicycle. But I'm not really finished, I have to get home. So moving on to Sweden and Ludvika, to my old friend Ralf. No sorry, young friend. It's just that we've know each other for 51 years 😀. In Ludvika, Anbjørg will come with the car, and we'll drive home together. 

Relaxing and looking around the next two days. And as this is a cycling blog and not a tourist guide, the next blog will be on Sunday, when I intend to continue cycling from Grisslehamn in Sweden.

Tallinn here I come

As indicated yesterday, I took the shortest way to Tallinn, giving me a day to look around tomorrow. I clearly was not he only one to take this way (instead of the Eurovelo 13), as I met several cyclists.

Mika from Finland

I also talked to Robert from Germany, and saw a few others.

After many km in the forest I came to Padise, with a rich cultural heritage.

There has been a bridge here since the 16th century. This one was built 100 years ago, and renovated in 2011.

Monastery in Padise

Gradually it became time for lunch and with few other options, another Helinox lunch. I'm really fond of that chair. You can sit on the ground, but I'm 69 and find this greatly more comfortable 🙂.

Lunch in the fields. Clearly these meadows are not a actively cultivated

So far, the road has been quiet, but the last 10-12km before Keila are quite busy. There is a 40cm shoulder. Before and after Keila there s a bike lane, but then nothing more and a lot of traffic. But now 80cm shoulder. The last 10 or so km before Tallinn and through the city there are bikelanes again.

One thing you see a lot of in the Baltics are deprecated factories. I assume from the communist past.

Not much going on here anymore

With a good tailwind this became an easy day, apart from the part through the city that became a struggle. I have earlier written about the ease of navigating a city with GPS. Well, that assumes everything works well. Yesterday I upgraded my phone, and after that it became "unstable", randomly shifting between apps and menus on every bump. And there are a lot in cities especially. So a lot of screen touching, while looking out for cars, pedestrians etc. But i found the hotel in the end. Need to take a look at the phone.

Last week's route

Now two quiet days, I'll be back on Sunday.

109km in 8 hours, active time 6:20.

Total 2882km.

Link to GPX trail

04.06.25 Day 28 Day 28 Muhu-Haapsalu. More wood chips than you've ever seen and Back on the mainland.

I went for the short route to Triigi and the ferry to Hiluuma. The islands are very flat (almost like the Netherlands), and like everywhere dominated by forests and agriculture. I also saw quite a few stone fences, indicating a more stony soil.

Stone fence in Ühistu

Ferry from Triigi leaving 12:30, 46km away, giving me ample time to reach it.

Time for a break on the seaside

I saw a viper here, but it vanished before I could take a picture.

Ferry approaching Hilumaa

On Hiluuma I had a little more than two hours to reach the 16:00  ferry, which appeared to be too little. Not a problem, but it became a bit late to reach Haapsalu, a nice place on the shore.

As said before, you often are in a forest, even close to the sea.

Pine forest on Hilumaa. Could be eastern Norway

But there were some interesting things here also.

To the experts: how many MW?
Spoiler: much less than one.

Museum in Käina
Surprising architecture

Close to Heltermaa, where the ferry goes, there is a huge wood chip terminal. I've never seen something like this of this size.

Wood chip terminal in Heltermaa

Yet another ferry. Back to the mainland

And what do you see on the ferry?

Lumber is big here

Biggest island is Saarema , the smaller Hilumaa. Red is today's trip, violet Eurovelo 13

97km in 11:30 hours, including two ferries and waiting, active time 

6:10.

Total 2773km.

Link to GPX track 1 and track 2

03.06.25 Day 27 - Pärnu-Muhu.

Note: From now I give links to my GPX tracks at the end of the posts.

Please share links to my blog on social media!

Weather constraints made it a bit difficult to chose a route.

Forecast Tuesday-Wednesday etc

Two nice days, then rain. I wanted to visit the islands Saarema and Hilumaa outside the Estland coast - before Thursday. The Eurovelo to Virtsu (where the ferry goes) is 116km, which I found too long after yesterday's long ride. So I choose a direct route, recommended by OrganicMaps, 67km. However, this turned out to be on the rather busy road 60, so I reconsidered and took 101 towards Töstamaa. In fact, the Eurovelo also goes here, but turns south a little later. That is different from the GPX track I downloaded from Eurovelo.

My route still saves about 25km compared to the Eurovelo. It is a good road with little traffic.

In Töstamaa there is a shop where I wanted to buy apples, tomatoes and bananas. They had none of this. Admitted, they had quite a lot else, but fresh fruit was not their strength.

From Töstamaa I again followed the Eurovelo to Virtsu. On the map this looks more attractive than the inland routes - water always adds colour and dynamics to the views. In reality, there is no difference, because you never see the sea. That said, it is a nice, quiet and attractive route to cycle. A mix og forests and agriculture, much more small scale than I've seen earlier. Many meadows don't seem to be in production anymore.

I have not had any flower pictures for a while. Had not seen these along the road before. Anemone Sylvestris according to ObsIdentify

15km before Virtsu on Eurovelo, there is a dilemma. If I use the "Avoid unpaved roads" option on OrganicMaps, it proposes a 25km alternative. The problem is, you never know if you avoid 1 or 15km gravel (or anything inbetween). In spite of yesterday's experience I still went for the gravel, and this was a good choice. It was a LOT better than yesterday, and it was only 5km gravel. I strongly recommend this option. The roads are really nice and quiet.

I'm still a power engineer. The towers are supposed to have a 60-70 year lifetime. These were VERY rusted. End of life soon?

On the ferry from Virtsu

I'm now on Muhu, a smaller island before Saaremaa, on a small camping in Liiva. Nice weather for camping. Tomorrow I do not intend to continue on the Eurovelo, which goes around the whole island and then around Hilumaa also. Would be nice with a better weather forecast. I take a direct route to Hilumaa instead. Still gives me a flavour of the islands.

103km in 8:20, active time 5:44.

Total 2676km.

Link to GPX track.