31.05.25 Day 24 - Jegalva-Riga. Short, easy ride and relaxing in Riga-

I had a choice between a short ride, 50km, and staying in Riga or continuing for another half day. Decided for Riga. Found out I could allow myself a comfortable hotel, a little sightseeing and a good meal.

Entering Riga across the river Daugava

Continuing on the P100 after Jelgava. First 6km with bike lane, which stopped in Olkenieni. From there, 30cm outside the white marker. But the road is rather broad, and on Saturday there were no lorries, so unproblematic. After a while you join the four-lane A8/E77. But here there is 3-4m  broad extra file - so if you don't care for the noise, it's ok to cycle. Especially with a good tailwind. 

Riding a 4-lane highway

After 10-12km you leave the highway, and from here using relative quiet parallel roads.

Water tower in Jaunolaine. They are slightly nicer than in Lithuania.

Generally speaking, I found the road into Riga unproblematic. I met a Latvian cyclist in Jegalva who said he avoided cycling around Riga because of the aggressive traffic, but for me it was no problem (only exception: road works). But it might have been better on a Saturday, with few lorries.¨

Red shows today's ride. Green the alternative Eurovelo 9, and yellow the continuation of Eurovelo 13, that I will try tomorrow.

I've been speculating about tomorrow's ride to the north, but ended up with going for the Eurovelo 13, which, after all, is "approved" for cycling. I fear quite a lot of upaved roads. If too bad, OrganicMaps offers alternatives, also different from the A1/E67, which everybody says is horrible because of the lorry traffic. I'll keep you informed tomorrow.

49km in 4 hours, active time 3 hours.

Toital 2349km.

Fun fact: lorries passing is not nice, but there is an upside - a strong drag, representing 2-300m of tailwind! Coming the opposite way, they are less threatening, but you get 2-300m of headwind instead 😀.

Link to GPX track

 

30.05.25 Day 23 - Šiauliai-Jelgava(LV) 🇦🇹. Entering Latvia and an icecream for a traveller.

Another sunny Baltic day, I'm lucky. First visiting the Hill of Crosses, 10km north of Šiauliai. A very special place. Passing the border with Latvia. A car stops beside the road, a woman indicates me to stop and gives me an icecream, because I'm a traveller! I've said it before, many nice people out there. Another night in the tent outside Jelgava.

The hill of crosses

A very special place with religious meaning, but also a symbol of opposition against former Sovjet occupation.

Leaving the A12 towards the Hill of crosses, where the road becomes unpaved. Some parts are very bad, and after a while I chose to go back to the A12. There is some traffic and trailers, but I prefer that to bad gravel roads. I won't say what is better, it depends on your preferences.

I bought some stuff in the supermarket in Joniskis. Surprised to see a well known company.

Norwegain insurance company active here

12km before and 6km after Joniskis there is a good bike lane along the A12. Shiortly after, I entered Latvia, the fifth country on my trip.

Entering Latvia

In Eleja I could chose between continuing on the A12, or take the P103 westward and then to the left in Ziedkaine towards Jelgava. This is 10km longer, but I felt in good shape so I took this. Very nice road among the meadows, quiet, especially after Ziedkaine.

Now I also got identified the grain there is so much of, using Obsidentify. It is rye.

Rye

I found a camping right outside Jelgava where I spend the night.

I found out I could convert the Polar tracks to GPX and show them on Organic maps. 

Red is today's trip

110km in 8:25 timer, active time 6:05.

Total 2300km.

Link to GPX track

29.05.25 Day 22 - Jurbarkas-Šiauliai. Endless meadows, meeting a pro and a hard finish.

As there is nothing between Tituvenai and Šiauliai, it is either 80 or 120km, and I decided for the latter. But the wind turned to the north, and the additional 40km became pretty exhausting. On the way I met a German guy who had really cycled a LOT.

Leaving slightly later than usual because of the time difference, today's trip started with a really nice bike lane along the Neman (Nemunas) river. In Siline, I turned north, following the 146 to the small town Raseiniai. Before, there are only endless meadows with oil seeds and grain and some tiny villages.

Break in the meadows

This road has no bike lane but is broad and quiet and nice to cycle. So.e km of bike lane before Rasenai. After Raseinai I continued on the 148 to Siluva and then Tytuvenai, the next small town. 

Special crosses seen several places in this area

Here I met this German guy who now "only" cycled half a year. Previously a whole year, to West-Africa. So if you think I am crazy...

Meeting a German pro (without helmet)

As said, I decided to continue to Šiauliai, but this became hard against the wind. Maybe I should have returned to Tytuvenai, but turning is not something I do lightly. And I made it anyway. 

Dangerous railway crossing on road 2105

Thi railway is really used, the rails were shiny. I've seen several like this. Must be accidents on them.

Close to the small village Agailiai  new wind turbines were set up.

Building wind turbines in Lithuania

Finally arriving in Šiauliai where I had booked a small apartment. It started raining before I arrived. But nothing to complain about. After I came in there was a real thunderstorm that I missed, fortunately.

Šiauliai is the fourth largest city in Lithuania with 110000 inhabitants.

120km in 9:30 hours, active time 7:10.

Total 2190km.

(Not so) fun fact: in Poland I learned how to translate text from the camera, which I used to translate menus, among others. Tried the same here, but Lithuanian is not supported 😭. However, people are MUCH better in English than in Poland, so you get help.

Link to GPX track

28.05.25 Day 21 Wizajny-Jurbarkas. Entering Lihuania🇱🇹

Early start in great weather. A few 9 and 10% ascents, before coming to the border with Lithuania.

Entering Lithuania

Some milestones today: starting week four of my tour, passing 2000km and entering a new country!

After the border following road 185 to Vilkaviskis, a medium size town. I have hardly seen bike lanes in Lithuania today, but the roads are good, and on most there was litt traffic, so fine for me. Work meeting at 9.

I see a lot of these towers. I suppose they are water towers. Suggestions welcome.

Also here, like in the other countries I have passed, most of the route goes through agricultural land.

Agriculture industry

After Vilkaviskis I followed road 138 to Kurdikos Naumiestis, a small town on the border with Kaliningrad.

Border with Russuia. Note the Russian border pole in the red ring.

Small river forming the border. Reminds me of "Grense Jakobselv" in Northern Norway

Continuing to Sakiai, and finally road 137 to Jurbarkas. This was the busiest road of the day, with lumber trucks passing rather close. 

Staying in a small hut in Camp Genys in Jurbarkas.

110 km in 8:15 hours, active time 6 hours.

Total 2070km.

Link to GPX track

27.05.25 Day 20 - Przewieźć-Wizajny. Approaching Lithuania after a resting day with friends

After a wonderful day with old friends in  Przewieźć and Bialystok, on the bike again today. Thanks, Bogdan and Goshka for your great hospitaly and care!

I'm now "back on track" on the Alternativ Route for Eurovelo13, see map.

Blue dot marks my position in Wizajny

The Alternative Route through Lihuania of Eurovelo13 goes right back to the Baltic Sea and joins the original route through Lihuania. However, from the east of Kaliningrad this is a long detour. So I intend to ride more directly north to Jurbarkas,Siauliai, Riga. If the weather is nice, I plan to join the Eurovelo 13 again there, following the coast to Tallinn.

Today, we drove back by car from Bialystok to Przewieźć. Here I first had a meeting, then lunch, starting at 13:30 towards Augustow and Suwalki, which turned out to be a bigger town than I expected. I followed road 662, which has no bike lane but a broad shoulder, which works fine. Quite some traffic though.

From Suwalki I followed the 655 due north to Wizajny, bike lane the first few km after Suwalki only. But there is not so much traffic, no problem to cycle there. Quite a bit up and down on the last part. In Wizajny there are several possiblilities to spend the night.

73km in 4:40 hours, 4:10 acive.

Total 1960km.

Intend to pass 2000 tomorrow, By now, this my longest bike trip ever, both in km and number of days. And counting,

25.05.25 - Day 19, Klewiny-Przewieźć.

On the first few km from the farm in Klewiny, the road was very bad, as I expected.

Where is the road?

However, this was only 1.6km. After that, it appeared to be lucky to end up here, because afterwards you have 15-20km of quiet, good roads in a beautiful rural  landscape. Only a few km bumpy asfast. After about one hour I arrived in Goldap, a small town, quiet on Sunday morning. From here following the 65 for a while, then taking to the left in Dziegiele. This is shorter and more quiet than following the 65 and 651, but it has 4km of rather bad unpaved road. Ok in dry conditions, with rain I'd rather take the road. After that, mainly following secondary roads to Augustow and a then a road with a good bike lane to Przewieź. Here I was met by our old friends Bogdan and Goshka, very happy to see them again after 44 years! I will spend the night at there house and use th opportunity for a resting day.

I am now in the far eastern part of Poland, close to the Russian border.

103km in 8 hours, active time 6 hours.

Total 1887km.

24.05.25 Day 18 - Bisztynek-Klewiny. Green velo and more storks.

A rather uneventful day. I'll describe the route in some more detail, as I think it is a good alternative to the Alternative on the Eurovelo 13 web page, which I believe to a larger extent follows the Green Velo route in Poland (and has longer stretches with unpaved road).

The Green Velo routes are great, but you do get some unpaved stretches. My route was based on OrganicMaps routing. So if you use that app, you should find the same route I assume.

From Bisztynek I took the road to Ledlawki, then Grzeda and Swedrowka. Here the road, while still paved, is very bad, lasting all the way to Kowalewo Duze. Onb the 592, turn right, then left when you come to the 590. In Glitajny, you meet the EV 13 Alternative track as well as the Green Velo. Keep following the 590 until you meet the 591, turn right. Follow until Barciany, where you turn left towards Pastwiska and continuing to Srokowo, taking left on the 650. After a while you come to the lake Rydzowka, where there is a nice picknick place - a great feature of the Green Velo routes. No other country I have cycled in has these facilities - great Poland!

Picknick place at lake Rydzowka

This is a lovely area with several lakes, quite popular in Poland by my understanding. Instead of staying here, I need some more km however.

After Wegorzewo, my route keeps following the 650, while the Green Velo and the EV 13 Alternative take a parallel track, which I assume has more unpaved roads.

Finally coming to Banie Mazurski, I'd liked to stay here (˜100km), but there were no facilities. So continuing to Klewiny 6km from the border with Kaliningrad. where I booked a room. A few hard km upward on an unpaved (but not too bad) road, and arriving in a sheep farm in the middle of nowhere, which rents out some rooms, Fun! Fortunately I was prepared to make my own dinner, because there was nothing else here.

And then those storks, cf. yesterday's blog. I said I saw a lot of them, look here.

You need a nest number to find the right one

Overpopulation of the nests?

Hilly today to, 550m of ascent.

106 km in 8:30 hours, active time 6:15.

Total 1775km.

Fun fact: Sun going down early here. One hour earlier than in Naarden, where I started. Interesting to think I cyled one hour of "earth timne". Indeed the Baltic countries, like Finland, are one hour ahead of CET.

23.05.25 Day 17 - Pasłęk-Bisztynek. Storks, firewood and an original camping

A beautiful day, seeing lots of storks and ending up on a special bu nice camping.

Planning the route with OrganicMaps works quite well. Mostly roads, all paved (my choice!) and little traffic. There is a "green velo rorouteln this area, but for me it would be quite a bit longer. 

I started with the 527 to Surowe. Then to the left on quiet roads to very small villages ending up in a slightly larger one, Godkowo.

Greek-othodox wooden church in Godkowo

Interesingling, the walls of the church are covered in the same way as Norwegian "stavkirker".

Moving on to Orneta for coffee+. On the way, there are numberless stork nests (picture above) with storks in it. But the Polish fertility rate is still among the lowest in Europe.

Then via Lubomino to Lidzbark Warminski, where I bought stuff for a camping dinner. From there, there was a very new road, still under construction but top pavement, with little traffic. There is also an almost ready bike lane, so this will remain a good cycling option.

Firewood is clearly poopular here

Riding towards the camping Bezstres close to Bisztynek I feviated from the "no unpaved roads option", 2km of (very) bad road is better than 12km more after all. You have to keep studying the map.

Camping is run by nice guy, Pavel

The camping is somewhat original, but perfect for my purpose. And very quiet, until a club of Germans with veteran lorries arrived 😀.

I'm now south of Kaliningrad

More hilly again, 500m ascent.

96km, 7 hours, active time 5:23.

Total 1669km

 

22.05.25 Day 16 - Sobieszewo-Pasłęk. Leaving Eurovelo 13.

My present plan is to visit Bogdan in Przewięź.  Bogdan worked at the farm of Anbjørg's father in 1980/81. We have kept contact since then, but not met. Looking forward to it. 

Przewięź is slightly south of Suwalki, know for the "Suwalki corridor", the area between Kaliningrad and Russia. Therefore, my route goes a bit more south than originally planned. I'm now in Pasłęk, a small town with good facilities.  On the map you can see my present position.

Red dot in norhtern Poland shows my position today.

I'm now planning my route using OrganicMaps, which works fine. It suggested a more direct route then Eurovelo 13 for the first part today, and I chose that option because I'm a bit fed up of the gravel roads. The first 15km were very nice, quiet road and bike path. After that, following the S7/E27, the highway to Warszawa, relatively closely. Nice roads, but you hear the traffic noise. 

Passing Elblag, a relatively large city. Soon afterwards, the EV13 moves north, and I leave it. Slightly wistful after 10 days. Now I need to find my own way. Maybe I'll rejoin it in Estland.

Note that the EV13 crosses through Kaliningrad (Russia), which is presently not accessible. You need to ride around somehow. Alternative GPX routes are available here.

Crossing the Vistula river. I misunderstood and thought that the road on the left was the highway, and started walking this very narrow path. Stupid. Fortunately I found out after 30m, and had to ride back my bicycle. No room to turn around 😊

In Nowa Pilona, the route leaves the S7, and you get a combination of paved and upaved roads. It goes a bit slower, but nice surroundings and no noise. I discovered there is an option in OrganicMaps to avoid unpaved roads, I'll try that tomorrow.

In Pasłęk I checked the possibilities for the night. Many here, but then nothing for the next 30km or so. It was either 80km or 110, so I went for Pasłęk. I'm moving into a less touristic area with less options.

81km in 6:45 hours, active time 4:50. 

Total 1563km

21.05.25 Day 15 - Puck-Sobieszewo. Meeting, Gdynia and Gdansk

I had a work meeting from 9-10, but made a few km before that and had the meeting on a bench beside the road. 

Nice ride from Puck, with some good bicycle lanes but also reasonably good forest tracks. And a few very steep ascents, one I just could manage. Not long, maybe 10-15m up. Still hard enough. Of course walking is the last thing you do 😀.

Solar power plant near Rzucwewo

Right here I had my meeting. I have seen several of these small plants, but little rooftop solar. Less subsidies than in e..g Germany and the Netherlands I suppose.

Further following a mix of tracks, cycle paths and roads with cycle lanes. As already mentioned, the cycle lanes and paths are excellent, among the best I've seen, but some parts of the tracks are among the worst I have cycled. But the general impression is surprisingly good.

I just passed through Gdynia. Oserved trolley busses. Not so many places that still have these. Arnhem in the Netherlands among them.

Trolley bus in Gdynia

The EV track leads you partly through town and partly alon a beach boulevard towards Gdansk. I passed a small Vietnames/Thai restaurant and bought lunch for a variation. Everything in Polish, but I recognized Pad Thai, which is usually good. Also here.

I did not want to take time to look around in Gdansk, but I wanted to see Lening wharf, which is now called Gdansk wharf. This had historical importance because here started the Solidarinosc movement in 1980. Not that there is anything to see, but just wanted to have been there. I came in from the west and wanted to ride through, but that was not possible, so I had to retun. Possibly the south side is more interesting.

Gdanbs wharf, parts of wind turbine towers visible

There is still some ship building and they also make parts for wind turbines. Picture was taken from the entry, where there was an old guard that pretty angry told me that I could not go in. I indicated I just wanted to take a picture. That seemed not to be allowed either. Funny how you sometimes can understand people. I took a picture anyway and left, he yelling after me. I can't see any reason why one should not take a picture here - guess he just want demonstrate his power. No one was coming after me at least.

I also passed Gdansk combined heat and power coal plant. Large pipes distributing heat all around.

Not renewable

Now the trail crosses the old town of Gdansk, which looked very nice. Then leaving Gdansk and moving on 10-12 more km to Sobieszewo, where I found Sobie camping. Very primitive, Nepali hot (=cold) shower, but fair enough for one night.

Some words about navigation. Maps would be nice, but I could not in any way bring all the maps I would need on this trip. Overview maps are not good enough. On the first days, I used "Knooppunten" and Google.

Then came the EV trails, that are marked. Quite well in Poland actually. But still there are places without marks, or you miss them somehow. I do regularly. I have also downloaded the EV13 trail. Then you need an app to show it on your phone. There are several options. I use OrganicMaps, which uses OpenStreetMap and is free. Not so many features, but enough for me. The nice thing is that you can show the GPS track all the time, so you know where to go. A child's game to cross a city that way. This GPS trail does not always coincide with the marking, you need to check what you prefer. The GPS trail largely is the best option in my experience.

82km in 9:00 hours, 6:00 hours active cycling. Total 1462km.

20.05.25 Day 14 - Łeba-Puck. Nice meeting, blue sky and fantstic bike parh.

Planned a shorter ride and started shortly after nine. Sunshine from a clear sky and western wind for the first time in two weeks. Starting on non-paved forest tracks and ending between fields with a strong tailwind. What a day!

From the last part of today's trip. Green fields, yellow oilseed, blue sky

Here there appear to be two variants of the EV10/13. One along the coast towards the Hel peninsula, the other more inland towards Gdynia. I took the latter. Of the first 40km, 80% was on forest tracks. Not too bad, with a few exceptions, but still: on a bumpy gravel road, you use typically 2 clicks less on your gear. That indicates the effort. However, I had a nice meeting wth this Canadian lady with Polish roots, cycling around to get a better understanding of the country.

Nice meeting on the gravel road

Still, I got fed up with the bumping and in Bilogora I took off towards a road. Without a bike lane, yes, but with little traffic. On asfalt and with a tailwind, cycling became a child's game. You would almost think you do it for fun. After a while the EV 10/13 reappeared in Slawoszyno. From there, or shortly afterwards, there was a FANTASTIC bike path through the fields. And tailwind. A bit like the bike paths in Flevopolder. But much nicer, because the terrain is more hilly and you have views. 

Even good resting places

Close to Puck, my goal for today, some strange stuff along the road.

MIG-23 according to Google

Nice and easy day, with some time ro relax in Puck. Tomorrow my goal is Gdansk, or slightly beyond.

79km, total time 6:15, active time 5:00.

Total 1380km.

Fun fact: eating in restaurant, only Polish menu 😬🤔. Using camera and translate - not perfect, but you know what it is. Hadn't tried that before, impressive!

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19.05.25 Day 13 - Darłówko-Łeba. Coast, fields and villages.

While yesterday was better than expected, today it was the opposite. Starting with rain which continued quite a while, wind from the north and still cold,10 degrees. It became a long ride, because after Ustka, there are not many options for the night before Łeba.

But first one more thing about Darłówko. There is "shove bridge" for pedestrians, see picture. The two sides are shoved back to each side. Have not seen that patent before, anyone?

"Shove bridge" in Darłówko

The first part of today's ride was along the seashore on a pretty bumpy track. Coming to Jaroslawiec I intended to find a supermarket, but I only found small shops with little choice. "Supermarket" can be anything for Google.

In my collection of intesting traffic signs. Hadn't seen this one before, makes sense, they take a lot of space

From here the EV 10/13 moves inland and follows partly bad, bumpy tracks. The strategy seems to be to avoid roads without bike lanes at (almost) any cost. This is not necessary, some roads really have not much traffic, and cycling is no problem. E,g. between Kollino and Zaleskie it is much better to follow the road.

Like Norway, Poland sticks to the steam engines. Cf. my post some days ago in Germany.

So to Ustka, where I finally found a supermarket and bought food for dinner. Not that I love supermarkets, but they are much easier to handle in a foreign country where you don't understand the language.

Less impressed by the Polish bread, only found white bread. Tastes well, but I need more

After Ustka I left the EV 10/13. Here the guidebook has formulations like "some section that are not bike friendly" and "some very sandy spots where you have to push". My advice: stay away from those, at least with a bike+luggage of 40+ kg. 

So I took a road option, Wytowmo-Ojazde-Gabino-Gardna Mala-Smoldzino-Glowczyce. I still managed to mess it up a bit and had a bumpy gravel road, but not too bad. Problem is it is hard to know from the map is a white road is paved or not.

Here are also many wind turbines. Poland has been lagging behind here in a European context, but now they are also building a lot.

See how the blades are bended backward by the wind. See my post from 09.05 with standing turbines

Coming to Glowczyce, it was 16:00 and I had done 90km. The nearest option was a camping in Ibizca, but I did not feel much like that, and worse, than I had to do a "deep sand path". Not sure what it means, but it doesn't sound good. The other option was Łeba, 30km away. Or 25, via the "deep sand path". So I ended up following the 30km road. The last 12km along the 214 actually had a bike lane.

After dinner, the sky finally cleared, the wind vanished and I made a walk to the beach, taking with me a beautiful sunset. 

Sunset in Łeba

Tomorrow there are also some tricky choices to come to Gdansk - I'll keep you informed.

123km in 9:45 hours, active time 7:35-

Total 1301km.