Sunday, July 6th. I had a good sleep and the tent got dry again. I had to change the brake pads due to terrain for the past 1000 km or so. The weather was very nice on this day: sunshine, 21 °C and little to no wind. The roads were great but also full of hills – had to push my bike quite few times uphill.
Serviving the bike, exchanging of the brake pads
I’ve visited Tønsberg and Sandefjord, both very nice places.
A Reeperbahn in Tønsberg!Steep hill – again….Awesome fountain in Sandefjord, it shows fishermen at whaling
My bike computer showed some life signs during sunshine (heats up, releases some moisture) but it was still rebooting intermittenly. I will try to dry it with a pocket oven. The pocket oven is filled with Zippo lighter gasoline and the gasoline is burnt slowly by a catalyst material over few hours. It releases enough heat to keep things like hands warm at cozy 40-50 °C.
Moisture inside of bike computerPocket oven used for drying 😅
Today’s shelter was hidden near Nevlungshaven. Amazing place near a bay where one could take a bath. I really liked this place and after having a dinner, I went to swim a bit. Perfect ending for a long day.
Tonight’s shelterPlace few meters away from the shelterPanorama view of the bay
The day started at 6am with some low-intensity rain which built up steadily. I packed my stuff inside of the tent and prepared myself for the rainy weather. As soon as I stepped outside, my rain clothes were fine and dealt with rain very well. However, the tent got wet and I had no chance to pack it in a dry place. I left the camp site at 9am and had to navigate to the cycling route while it was raining. Luckily it was mostly cycling downhill so I was able to be on route in about 30 min without difficulties.
My tent (Hilleberg Unna) has an antechamber where I can store my bags in case of raining weather conditions
The next 4 hours were “OK” for cycling – heavy rain but no wind and not to steep terrain. I couldn’t take photos becsuse everything would get wet in few seconds. At a certain point I was wet outside due to rain and also wet inside due to sweat. That’s no problem as long one stays warm. My feet are my weak point 😅 Once they are soaked and cold – game over. But luckily not this time.
Stopped here for a break and tried (unsuccessfully) to clean my tentA park in the city of Drammen where I set up and cleaned the tent
I visited the city of Drammen where I was able to set up the wet tent in a park and remove the water as best as possible. This is extremely important on bike tours – wet tents can be a showstopper. The moisture needs to be removed, otherwise the tent will get “moldy” 2-3 days later. Sleeping in a wet tent is also very uncomfortable. Every time you encounter this situation, stop at a dry place (under a bridge for example) and clean the tent.
The journey on Route 1 continued until it “ended” abrupt near Kjeldås. My way to the city of Horten was mostly via country roads and I had to use smartphone navigation a lot. The weather got better by the evening and I reached Horten without problems.
Incoming ferry from Moss in HortenBack on Route 1
I cycled about 12 km more to a hidden shelter just outside Åsgardstrand. It was located inside of a forest. The shelter place had a hut where I could stay alone for a night. I set up the tent once again, dried it and slept inside (to fend off pesky mosquitoes).
Shelter in a forest few kilometers outside of ÅsgardstrandNo bears attacked me (yet) 😅
My bike computer got wet and it stopped working. Probably some moisture got inside and messed up the electronics. It keeps “rebooting” so no accurate kilometer estimate is possible right now. RIP
Bike computer didn’t survive the rain and keeps rebooting
I cycled around 100 km according to the map measuring tool.
Friday, July 4th. Free day to hang out in Oslo. Weather was superb – sunshine, some 20ish °C, mild breeze. After leaving the camping place and swearing never to visit them again*, I looked for a quiet place in a park to choose some few places to visit. I was carrying a lot of stuff with me so climbing the hills of Oslo was not an option.
View on Oslo from Ekeberg
I’ve visited the central station, the opera house, the city hall, the parliament, the cathedral, the Royal Palace and the German embassy. Along the route, I’ve seen the harbor where ships commute between Oslo and Kiel.
Oslo SNaked people all over the placeBike posing in front of the Royal Palace
In the evening, I thought I’d give another camping site a try. After driving up the hills for 30 minutes, I arrived at another Top Camp site in Oslo. Oh, the horrors – not again… Anyways, paid 50 EUR and I was shocked by the construction site I saw behind the entrance 😅 Luckily, everything was fine: quiet place, well maintained service house – no problems whatsoever. They were very kind to charge my batteries over night.
Construction site behind the entrance of the camping site
I talked to nearby campers about my journey and they gave me some useful advices for my future travels to eastern/northern Norway! Great day with some rainy clouds on the horizon.
Not many kilometers today… 24.9 km, 7.8 km/h (mostly walking through the city and climbing the hills)
Thursday, July 3rd. Day started with pissing rain at 16 °C. I felt no hurry to rush things and had some coffee and snacks. The sleep in the shelter was excellent besides mosquitoes waking me up during the night.
“Morning chaos”
The tour started a bit late at 10:30am. It was raining on and off for an hour but the weather got better by noon. The first 10 km on the roads were nice and quiet until I approached larger cities where traffic noise dominated the background noise.
Some “gems” picked up along the way. I like this
Reaching Moss was pretty much straight-forward, however, I got slowed down significantly by construction sites spread over multiple towns. Some parts of the route were closed, so finding alternative routes cost me some additional time getting back on route. Navigating through cities in a zig-zag manner was hell. I lost the way many times and finding back on route was very time-consuming.
One of the construction sitesYep… My mindset on this day
Anyways, at a certain point I ignored everything around me and just wanted to get to Oslo as fast as possible in order to escape the “Göteborg fiasco” as described few days ago…
I approached Oslo around 8pm. I had a view from the hills descending towards Ljan. The evening sun was shining and it was beautiful. Every 100 meters I had to take new pictures because more details appeared.
View on Oslo
The descend showed some issues with Oslo: lots of traffic, little parking space, many private properties, small sidewalks (barely enough space for a pedestrian). I visited the central station Oslo S prior to moving to a camping site in Ekeberg.
There we are! Oslo Sentralstasion
I decided to stay at Top Camp in Ekeberg. The price tag was high for a cyclist with tent: I paid 600 NOK for one night stay (approx. 50 EUR) which is almost double the price from Swedish camps. The quality of the camp site service house was disappointing: jammed toilet doors, clogged drain, prepaid card charging machine out of service. I couldn’t charge up my batteries. However, the tent area was large and spacy and the views on the cityline from the hill were awesome. I would not camp there again except in an emergency case like this.
View from Ekeberg at Oslo Central. Very niceNoctilucent clouds during night time
I will stay tomorrow (Friday) in Oslo and do some sightseeing. I don’t like the traffic and high price tags. Staying there will deciminate my travel budget very quickly. Therefore, moving on by evening may be a possible conclusion of my short visit…
100.2 km, 7h57m, average speed 12.58 km/h, 42.91 km/h max.
Wednesday, July 2nd. Woke up early in the morning to get some extra kilometers done. I was 10-15 km too short according to my plans. I was on the road quickly and the weather was OK for cycling: 18 °C overcast, no wind, a bit of rain clouds.
The cycle route was mostly on the regular road. The car drivers in Sweden and Norway were very nice so far and really friendly! I had no trouble and felt always safe on the roads. Thank you car drivers!
Typical road on this day, weather was fine
The route was challenging but I had to walk rarely due to steep hills. The walks were short, just few tens of meters to maybe 300 meters. I could maintain a good speed and progressed without large dificulties. I listened to music to mitigate the loud sounds of bypassing traffic and to get some variety.
Entering Halden kommune
I reached Halden by noon and continued to Isebakke, just 3 km away from Swedish border. At this place, my old friend “Route 1” – The North Sea Cycling Route. From there, I continued cycling to Fredrikstad.
Sign pointing to Amundsen’s birthplaceAmundsen’s birthplace near FredrikstadRoald Amundsen statue in Fredrikstad
On my was to Fredrikstad I was close to the birthplace of Roald Amundsen, the famous Norwegian Explorer who reached the South Pole some 100 years ago. In Fredrikstad I took the ferry over the river and kept cycling 15 more kilometers. I found a very nice shelter near Elingård along the Route 1. Very unique and exciting day. Will hopefully reach Oslo tomorrow!
Shelter near Elingård
126.3 km, 9h10m, avg 13.78 km/h, max speed 51.84 km/h 😎
Tuesday, July 1st. After camping at Bengtsfors and charging up my batteries, the day started with sunshine and awesome weather forecast. I left the camp at 9:30am. The landscape changed to more forest and hills. My cycling route was mostly on the asphalt roads, which were great.
Nice weather and roads in Sweden
Cycling was challenging going uphill but I had to pull the bike just a couple of times. The gear range was sufficient for most hills. Racing downhill was the most fun part: fresh wind and high-speed feeling. This “up and down” repeated for the next 70 km or so until 11 km prior to Töcksfors.
I kept following the Route 4 but the terrain changed suddenly to gravel/forest walkpaths and steep terrain. The roads were rather made for mountainbikers than for regular travel bikes. I had to push my bike a lot and the mosquitoes started to bite me 😅
Walking this way instead of cycling
At some point and struggling ~1.5 hours, I reached Töcksfors. The morale was low so I had to eat something. I shopped some food before moving on to the border, which was only few kilometers away.
Gravel road near the border, me pushing my bike
Everything went well until some 2 km prior to the border. The route changed from regular road to the well-known steep forest gravel thingy. So I had to literally push my bike and hike to the border.
At this point, it was just annoying. Will I ever be able to ride my bike again? After 45 minutes of pushing uphill, I finally reached the Swedish/Nirwegian border. It was very rewarding and I was proud of achieving this.
Finally there! Swedish / Norwegian border
After walking a bit out of the forest and returning back to the regular roads, I cycled downhill to the next place called Ørje. I found a small camping spot at a local parking lot/rest area with toilets and set up my tent. There was another guy from France who also set up his tent. We talked a bit and got ready to get some sleep. The french guy told me he was hich-hiking from France to anywhere he wants and has already been in Vietnam… I was mind-blown by his story, bonne voyage!
“Emergency camping” in Ørje 😅
99.8 km, 8h19m, average speed 11.98 km/h, 51.7 km/h max.
It’s already Monday! 😅 I had a great night at the camping site. It was calm and no noise from pesky humans. After check-out at 9:30am, I headed north-east along the western coastline of Vänern.
The weather was very nice for cycling: sunshine with little wind and no clouds with temperatures ranging from 19…25 °C. I’ve visited the lighthouse close to Jakobsbyn and it was really beautiful there. The cycle route No. 6 continued towards Mellerud, a small nearby town.
The lightshouse near JakobsbynOne last view before leaving Vänern
I had to take a longer break in Mellerud because I got tired really bad. Coffee and chocolate bars from a local gas station revived me again for the 2nd half of the tour towards Bengtsfors.
I cycled few kilometers with a cyclist from France, but the conversation was a bit difficult because of the surrounding noises (cars, wind) and language-specific accent. We parted our ways some 30ish km before Bengtsfors.
The route to Bengtsfors was simply beautiful. Lake on one side, forest on the other side of the road. Hills were steep and there were first signs of challenging terrain. The regional communities put a lot of effort to make this tourist region attractive…
Cycking along Lelång Lake
Anyways, I’ve been able to pursue my daily goals and reached a local camping grounds in Bengtsfors at 8pm. It has a lot of space and it’s located directly at the lake Lelång.
Sunday. My motivation got much better after eating up all the chocolate bars I had in storage. I cycled slowly some 10 km until I reached the Göteborg Central Station. I successfully finished the Kattengattleden from Malmö to Göteborg in 3 days, which was a huge motivator and also initial test (fitness, camping equipment).
Göteborg harborVery impressive bridge in GöteborgKattegattleden completed! Success!
Unfortunately I realized that my planning had a flaw: there was no “Route 28” as suggested by OpenCycleMap and my waypoints didn’t match the town names on the direction signs. What a bummer! The backup plan was to use my smartphone to navigate – which increased the battery consumption significantly.
Nevertheless, I left Göteborg quickly and moved on. There wasn’t much to see on a Sunday morning around 5am (except the drunk party folks). Göteborg rather looked like a huge construction site than a city 😅 The toilet at the central station was out of order and I went to the gas station instead.
After a long phone call with mom, I stopped at a nearby gas station, bought a coffe and fuel and tried to dry my wet tent. There was enough sunshine and wind to blow it dry in like 20-30 minutes. This works great on asphalt since it absorbs some radiation from the sun and heats up the ground.
Drying my tent
I continued the bike ride at 11am and something amazing happened: for the next 70 km (!) or approx. 5 hours of riding time, I had a strong back wind which made the hills look like a piece of cake. I would have never thought this could happen. The back wind pushed my average speed up and I could reach Trollhättan and Venersborg between 4 pm and 6 pm respectively. The weather was perfect for cycling and the camping site at Vänern lake was amazing (except the price… 400 SEK or 35 EUR for one person with bike and tent). Unfortunatelly, the water was a bit too cold for my taste on this day 😅
This “TROLLYWOOD” imitation if the famous Hollywood sign in Trollhättan gave me a laughter!Vänern seen from the bridge……and from the camping site
Saturday started with heavy wind and rain. I packed the wet tent and started cycling around 9:30am towards Varberg and ultimately to Grimeton. One of my goals of this journey was to visit the Grimeton Radio Station, the home of the Alexanderson Long Wave Transmitter – SAQ. Bad weather couldn’t stop me! I was there and saw the huge antennas, the transmission lines, the booth and some little extras. Unfortunatelly, I lost a lot of time for sightseeing and photographs but as always: #worthit. SAQ will transmit on July 2nd and celebrate its 100th birthday!
My short visit at the Grimeton Radio StationIn background: The huge antenna towers of the Alexanderson Transmitter
I continued the bike tour and visited the cities of Varberg (12 km) and Kungsbacka (50+ km after Varberg). In Kungsbacka, there was a huge Pride Parade and after randomly ordering a hamburger, I met a cyclist from Austria who was trying to cycle to Nordkapp! He had to cancel his travel to Nordkapp due to a bike defect with his spokes. We had a 20 minute chat about cycling, very nice guy.
Kungsbacka celebrating the Pride Day
Cycling to Göteborg took much more time than expected. Even with shortcuts to save some time and favoring weather conditions, I was still some 15 km away from the city and wasn’t able to find any camping grounds. The clock showed 22:30 hours and I had troubles reaching the daily goal. This of course ended in a bad situation for me… didn’t find a stay over night and camping inside or around Göteborg was virtually impossible. Had to sleep on a bench. Awful!
Noctilucent clouds over Göteborg
I did get maybe 2 hours of sleep, I was freezing, everything hurt after a long cycling day and it took a lot of effort to stay motivated.
The previous night was rainy/windy. Luckily, as I woke up, the rain stopped and it was just windy. I packed my stuff and was en route a bit late at 9:30 am.
15 km till HalmstadSculpture in Halmstad
The rest of the day I was confronted with heavy headwinds. My average speed dropped from 16 km/h down to 13 km/h. Sounds not much but it’s significant. It usually means “double punishment”: cycle harder with less speed. I’ve visited Halmstad with quite some delay and cycled on towards Falkenberg. It was very exhausting but the weather got much better towards afternoon. The winds calmed down by evening hours around 6-7pm.
An unfinished “bridge” in Falkenberg
I couldn’t reach my daily goal Varberg, however, I camped in Björkäng, about 15 km away from Varberg. By luck, I met a wonderful traveller couple from Germany at the campsite in Björkäng who invited me for a coffee and travel-talk. They have been travelling in Sweden and Norway for the past 6 weeks by camping van and told me a lot about the special places they visited and I surely want to visit in the next couple of years. That was worth it… great experience!
A sun’s halo (rainbow patterns) spotted near Morup
Tomorrow I’ll continue my route to Varberg and head to Grimeton before finishing the Kattegatleden in Göteburg. Will try to keep 100 km/day as long as possible…
Very nice cycling day. The weather was perfect for cycling. First 30 km were very easy to master, however I started slacking and lost some time with shopping and breaks. The landscapes were beautiful and very pleasing.
Ängelholm center
My daily goal was to reach Halmstad, however, the weather report showed some incoming rain. I decided to camp in Laxvik just before the rain set in. That seemed to be the right decision because shortly after setting up the tent, it started raining.
Taking a break and drying wet clothes
There was lot of rain with changing duration and intensity, followed by strong winds. I was very tired and just slept without caring much about the noise…
My bike tour started today on Wednesday, 2025-06-25. I woke up early in the morning at 5:30, packed my stuff and had some great breakfast. The Copenhagen Central Station was some 300 meters away. The ticket price from Copenhagen to Malmö was a bit cheaper (99 DKK for ticket and 50 DKK for bike ticket, ca. 20 EUR total) than the other way around.
Crossing the Øresund Bridge by train
The weather was mixed and windy at 18 °C. The first half of the day was windy and raining. Later during the afternoon, the weather got much better – lots of sunshine and no clouds. It was windy along the coastline, less windy towards main land.
Sydkustleden – Cycle Route No. 3
From Malmö C, I followed the route No. 3 – Sydkustleden to Helsingborg. I have visited cities of Landskrona and Helsingborg. In Helsingborg, the route was continued on Kattegatleden Cycle Route No. 1 to Göteborg.
Flying saucer in LandskronaCannons and WW2 bunker near the Citadel in LandskronaHere we are in Helsingborg at the start of Kattegatleden Route No. 1 to GothenburgHelsingborg
I kept cycling until late in the evening until tiredness set in and I had to find a place to rest. After looking for a camp spot, I found a shelter few kilometers behind Brunnby where I slept over night. Great place, it was quiet and I really enjoyed it.
Shelter near Brunnby
Total distance: 123.7 km, Ride time: 8h40m, average: 14.3 km/h
Had a good night, slept very well. I missed the Øresund Bridge transit just by few minutes but was able to capture some awesome views shortly after the passage.
Just passed the Øresund Bridge
Breakfast was fine and going off-board went very smoothly – at least for me. Thanks again to the Finnlines crew!
Waiting for the sign to leave the ferry
The weather was very good (20 °C) and I checked out the central station, the old town and the promenade of Malmö. After few hours of walking and weather change to wind/rain, I moved on to the Malmö central station and grabbed a train ticket towards Copenhagen. It cost me 220ish DKK which is around 30 EUR (bike ticket included).
City Hall of MalmöKungsparken MalmöMalmöhus Museum
I arrived ~35 min later in Copenhagen. The view was spectacular when crossing the Øresund Bridge. Unfortunatelly, the train was full, couldn’t take any good photos. I checked in to my hostel where I will stay for the following two nights. The bike tour starts on Wednesday!
Arrival at Copenhagen Central StationMilestone in CopenhagenThe Danish Stock Exchange being rebuilt after its destruction by fire in 2024
This time I’m trying something new. I’m currently on vacation and I’m about on my way to ride my bike from Copenhagen, Denmark through Sweden to Bergen, Norway. I will try to write a travel blog on a daily basis via my smartphone through the next couple of weeks.
Basically, during past couple of days, I’ve been busy packing my stuff to travel via bike and tent. It took me three days to prepare everything (clean clothes and bike, repair equipment etc.). Packed the bags by sunday morning and hurried to the central train station.
vsf Fahrradmanufaktur TX-1200 packed
Catched the train on time and also arrived in Uelzen on time. However, the connection to Hamburg had a delay of approx. 40 min. Further delays forced me to change trains in Lüneburg in order to get to the city of Lübeck-Travemünde. I arrived about 1 hour late due to train delays but still had 3 hours left.
Arrival in Travemünde
I killed the time at the beach before moving to the harbor. The beach of Travemünde was crowded very well, temperature was around 27 °C.
Beach of Travemünde
At around 18:30h I moved to the port towards Skandinavienkiel. The check-in at the port was very easy and I met some nice cyclists along the way. We went together on board and had an exclusive place for our bikes in front of the ship (bow side).
Our bikes at the car deck
Departure was on time at 22h and the sights from the Observation/Sun Deck were amazing – the promenade, the beach and some lightning on the horizon!
Leaving Travemünde
The Finnlines personnel were friendly and very supportive, thanks alot to the crew!After having a dinner, I went to the cabin and passed out quickly due to a dense packed travel day. Awesome!
“It’s summer. Holidays. What are you going to do with your free time?” The answer to this question was quite easy: cycling! I’m still pursuing my long-term goal to cycle the North Sea cycle route R1, which is basically a 7000 km long route around the North Sea. I’ve already covered most parts of the German leg (Ostfriesland and Nordfriesland) in the years 2018 and 2019 but as we all know, COVID-19 happened in early 2020 and all travelling plans had to be cancelled and postponed.
Four years later, it was about time to continue the journey. My plan was to cycle Denmark by bike and tent. I’ve never been to Denmark before and I had no idea what to expect there. The concept of Nature Camping Sites and Shelters was very intriguing and I wanted to give it a try. Prepared a route with OpenCycleMap, packed my stuff and off I went to the island of Sylt where I ended my last bike tour in the summer of 2019.
Getting to Sylt by train…
Travelling to Sylt by train on weekend wasn’t the best idea. The route from Hamburg to Sylt was overwhelmed by tourists. The trains were mostly full, delayed and there was little to none space for cyclists. I had to skip a change in Elmshorn just because the train was hopelessly full and people were travelling like canned fish. After arriving in Sylt on the late afternoon, I had to discard my plans for the first day. I tried to find a camping site near the city of Kampen. I entered a camping site in Wenningstedt, set up my tent and after half an hour or so, I was approached by the security guy. He told me that the camping site was “full” and that I had to leave. So basically I was thrown out because I arrived too late and didn’t book my stay. I’ve never experienced this before, packed my stuff and left speechless. Since wild/stealth camping in Sylt is illegal and there is always a beach police, I was forced to sleep on a bench. This unintended situation gave me a huge pain in my back so I had to use painkillers for the next couple of days. I really disliked Sylt (even back in 2019) and just wanted to leave as quickly as possible. I won’t visit this island anymore. It’s just overcrowded, expensive (FCK KURTAXE) and you get treated like an animal. No thanks.
How to avoid Sylt’s “Kurtaxe”: just get kicked out of the camping site and sleep on a bench like a homeless person.
However, the next morning (Day 1), I cycled to the so-called Ellenbogen (“Sylt elbow”) and visited the List lighthouses and the northernmost location of Germany. The sunrise was really beautiful and rewarding. I cycled back to the List harbor and took the ferry to Havneby (Rømø, Denmark) at around 08:30. After leaving the island Rømø at around 10 o’clock, I started cycling the Route R1 on Jutland.
Welcome to the northernmost location of Germany!
Week 1 – West Coast Route R1 from Sylt/Rømø to Skagen
After leaving the island of Romo, the North Sea Cycle Route R1 starts.
Picture of the shelter Bjerregaard Havn.
Huge sculptures in Esbjerg: “Mennesket ved Havet”.
Another shelter on the beach, just outside of Fjaltring. I liked this one very much.
The cycle route leads to this section where you can cycle 3-4 km along the beach or jump into the water!
After reaching Skagen, the route leads to Grenen, the northern tip of Denmark.
360° view of the northern tip of Denmark.
This route was (officially) about 550 km long and it took me 7 days from Havneby to the northernmost location in Denmark. The west coast route was beautiful. Besides beautiful landscapes (dunes, forests, fjords, bays, sea) and mostly good to excellent cycling weather, the cycling roads were in a very good condition and also varying in quality: asphalt roads, gravel, sand/beach, forest paths, hills. I had little to no trouble with winds because the cycling routes were guarded by wind-stopping forests, dunes or dikes. 50% of the cycling time I had a weak wind, 25% back wind and 25% head wind. Day 3 was very rainy, the rain lasted for several hours but was gone in the afternoon. The route signs on the route were mostly visible, at some points they were either hidden, missing or inconclusive. This resulted in many extra kilometers because I lost track of the route. In the end, I cycled around 620 km.
Camping sites were in a good to very good condition although a bit expensive in the range from 160 to 230 DKK per night which corresponds to 23 to 32 EUR per night. It’s a bit much for cyclists with a tent if you compare it to Germany (price range from 12 EUR to 20 EUR per night). However, the shelters were free of charge so spending every second or third day on a camping site in order to get a shower and to charge up batteries was sufficient. Unfortunately, someone stole my fast charger and power bank during my stay in Ribe on Day 1. Luckily I carried a backup power bank and a charger – albeit much slower to charge – so I had to turn on the flight mode and save energy for the rest of the tour.
I met many other cyclists on route and it was an amazing experience. Everybody was friendly and supportive and we shared our cycling plans and stories. Two of those amazing cyclists were Tim from UK and Justin from Switzerland. We met on Day 3 (the rainy day) like two times on the road and later in the evening (by coincidence) in a shelter. We talked about our routes and we jokingly agreed “Our next shelter will be at X, so if you join us, it would be great to have you with us!”. The shelters were 80-100 km apart so it was quite a challenge to get there. So I cycled the next couple of days for 8 hours daily and I was able to meet them at the shelters we agreed upon. As I showed up, they couldn’t believe that I made it! Tim was very excited and sponsored me a beer on each evening. Unforgettable! We parted our ways after Day 6. Tim went on his tour to Norway and Justin continued his journey in Sweden.
Cycling from Hirtshals to Skagen was really amazing. I had about 3 hours of back wind, very good weather and great views. I took some pictures of the area although I didn’t take a walk to the Northern Beach. There were too many tourists present and I was afraid leaving my bike unattended. I noticed a high number of Tesla Electric Cars there but one car really blew my mind: I spotted a DMC DeLorean there (the car from the movie Back To The Future) which really blew my mind.
Week 2 – East Coast Route R1/R5 from Skagen to Kruså/Flensburg
Cycling on a very rainy day. This sculpture can be seen in the city of Hadsund.
You get wet. No escape from rain.
This picture was taken in Aarhus after ordering a beer in a small bar.
View on the island Funen (Fyn) and the bay.
Cycling on a very rainy day near Aabenraa.
This beer concluded the cycling route. Picture taken in Flensburg.
After reaching Skagen and the northernmost point of Denmark, I had to cycle back to Germany – a distance of approx. 620 km. Day 8 (Hulsig – Dokkedal) was a very good cycling day (111 km) with lots of interesting encounters. The following days (Day 9 and 10) were really difficult weather-wise. A bad weather zone called Hans was raging over Scandinavian countries and brought a lot of rain. The situation in Sweden and Norway was very dangerous because some local rainfalls were extreme and flushed away streets and railways. Day 9 (Dokkedal – Fjellerup) was raining the whole day. I was wet both inside and out. This was no problem because I had exchange clothes which stayed dry during the ride. Staying warm and dry during the night is much more important than during the daytime. On Day 10, the rain went away but there were strong winds at 60 km/h in combination with hills. This combination of winds and hills was very tiring and I wasn’t able to cycle large distances (55 to 65 km per day at best). Hans was almost gone on Day 11 (Balle – Aarhus) but I had to fight the terrain: hills after hills. While the West Coast Route was mostly flat and hills were an exception, the East Coast Route was dominated by hills. The hills weren’t very large (maybe 10 to 30 meters) but very frequent. I had to push my bike frequently because of my overweight and because I was carrying too much baggage with me. Nevertheless, I was able to achieve daily distances of somewhat 70 to 90 km per day which were inside of my comfort zone.
The landscape along the east coast route was dominated by cities with harbors, bays, smaller villages and agriculture. On sunny days, the landscapes were beautiful and very varied. The hills were quite a challenge which were a very nice addition to the overall cycling experience. During the last day of cycling from Fredericia to Kruså (Day 14), I was able to cycle another 109 km although the weather got really bad in the afternoon. I visited a camping site in Kruså which was about 10 km away from my destination: Flensburg.
The next day, I cycled across the Danish/German border to Flensburg, bought myself a Flensburger Pilsner beer and celebrated a successful bike tour. The travel back from Flensburg to Braunschweig by train took me another 7.5 hours.
Summary
The green marking highlights the (approximate) cycling route. I’ve cycled around 1250 km in 14 days.
I really enjoyed this adventure. My arrival day from Braunschweig to Sylt wasn’t going as planned. I had to sleep on a bench because I was thrown out from a camping site. My charger/power bank was stolen. My back/ass hurt all the time. I got lost many times and had to ride extra kilometers. I had to push my cycle and walk uphill many times… Nevertheless, a 40 year old guy weighing 120 kg (240 lbs) doing a 14 day cycling tour in a foreign country worked out pretty well! I’ve visited beautiful and interesting places and cities (Esbjerg, Hvide Sande, Hanstholm, Blokhus, Hirtshals, Skagen, Fredrikshavn, Fjellerup, Grenå, Aarhus, Juelsminde, Fredericia, Kolding, Hadersleben, Aabenraa), yet I haven’t seen them all. The holidays in Denmark were quite affordable (~500 EUR for 14 days including food and camping and 2 extra days of arrival and departure). I plan to return to Denmark maybe next year and cycle the remaining part from Fredericia via Odense to Kopenhagen.
I really love bicycle touring. My last bike tour was back in July 2019 and took like 16 days and approx. 1000 km. The past two years have been very difficult for travelling due to COVID-19 restrictions. The camping sites either closed or the COVID-19 rules were very restrictive and differed from site to site. Travelling in 2020 and 2021 was really difficult and risky. Luckily, the situation changed in 2022 and due to vaccinations, declining COVID-19 pandemic situation and reopening of the tourism and travelling sectors in Germany, it was possible to travel again.
I took the chance and organized a little bike tour during my vacation. My original plan was something like this: travel by bike and tent for 6 days from Hanau to Braunschweig, Germany. It was coupled with a visit to my relatives in Hanau – a mid-sized town near Frankfurt am Main in the state of Hesse. The daily tour distance should be something like 60-80 km and the total distance from Hanau to Braunschweig should be approx. 400 km. Planning the route by OpenCycleMap.org was pretty easy but I missed two important factors: the terrain and total weight of me and my bike. While the terrain in Lower Saxony is mostly flat and very easy to manage – this isn’t the case in the hills of Hesse, especially when one has a 40 kg packed travelling bike and approx. 120 kg of muscles fat riding the bike. So yeah… I kinda underestimated the effort which was punished later 😉
Map of the cycling route 2022 (Credit: opencyclemap.org)
Petroleum Jelly, an universal tool for cycling and “stuff” 😉
Bike and pannier bags in my car
However, I was preparing this tour for about a week. Riding approx. 30 km per day helped to build condition and to get used to sitting on a bike for 2+ hours.
Day 1: Hanau – Gelnhausen – Schlüchtern
Starting in Hanau, I took the bicycle Route R3 towards Gelnhausen
My bike during a small break. It’s a “vsf Fahrradmanufaktur TX-1200” model with Pinion drive. Excellent bike
Thanks, Google Maps, leading me into this! This road was closed due to tree felling work in Schlüchtern
The tour started on the hottest days of the month. This wasn’t planned at all. The temperatures were around 37-39 °C and there was not even one cloud from early morning until sunset. This was definitely not my cycling weather. Cycling the first 40 km was easy until the heat drained my powers. The last 20 km were exhausting but I managed to reach Schlüchtern. My first camping site was about 3 km outside of Schlüchtern – “piece of cake” I thought. The camping site was on a hill of approx 250 m height. My mistake was using the Google Maps guide. The suggested route was closed and I spent 2 hours in the woods and hills pushing my 40 kg bike at 12% upward slopes. I finally managed to reach the camping site Hutten-Heiligenborn at 8 pm and was wrecked. The camping site was very nice and I was welcomed by the site manager. Tent, shower, dinner, sleep, RIP.
Day 2: Schlüchtern – Fulda – Schlitz
So-called “Monte Kali”, a spoil tip from a salt mine near Fulda
Took this photo at the Fulda Central Station. “I <3 Fulda" in the background
After fighting the hill for like 2 hours and 150-200 meters of height at 35 °C, I was rewarded with a spectacular sight
The cycle route downhill was really nice! I was able to go at 40-50 km/h for about 7 km. 26 km later, I reached the city of Fulda. Fulda was very inviting due to very good cycling roads. I visited the central train station involuntarily because I got lost few times due to bad road signs. Nevertheless, the temperatures rose higher and higher up to 39 °C and my performance dropped steadily. In the village of Kämmerzell I got lost again but this was really bad. The route got me into a 7 km lasting agony of steep hills (remember? 12% upward slope at 39 °C and 160 kg of total mass?) which lasted for like 3 hours. Luckily, I was pushing my bike on forest roads where most places were in the shadows at 35ish °C but that’s it. This unintentional route killed my schedule and I was unable to reach my planned camping grounds. My provisions have been spoiled by the hot weather and I had to resuppy it on the next day. Luckily, there was a small camping site in the city of Schlitz (where I got lost again, thanks Google Maps). Later at night, there was a thunderstorm but this was no problem for my Hilleberg Unna tent!
Day 3: Schlitz – Bad Hersfeld – Melsungen
Schloss Hallenburg in the town of Schlitz
In order to cross the river, one had to turn the crank of this gondola. It was very funny
A high-speed train bridge. A masterpiece of engineering!
My trusty tent (Hilleberg Unna) on a camping site near Melsungen
I think this was the best cycling day I had in a long time. Due to the thunderstorm and colder weather, the temperatures dropped significantly from 39 °C to a cloudy 23 °C. This was like heaven for cycling – the heatwave was gone and the temperatures were ideal for cycling. My performance on this day was OK: my muscles and my butt didn’t hurt much and I was able to cycle 95 km total. I still wasn’t able to catch up to my schedule because I was like 40 km behind. When reaching the city of Melsungen at 7 pm, I thought I had enough power to make it the next 40 km but as soon as I saw the next camping site, I knew it was time to get some rest. Cycling at night in unknown terrain can be dangerous (you get lost very easily, bad sight during night). So I stopped on a small camping site near Melsungen and it wasn’t a bad decision at all.
Day 4: Melsungen – Kassel – Hann. Münden – Hemeln
I’ll call this a “Spooky Bridge” (the bridge in the background). The badge says that a woman drowned here about 100 years ago and her dead body was submerged and build into the bridge walls during its construction
Staustufe (weir with lock) in Kassel
Beautiful town of Hannoversch Münden
The “Weserstein” in Hannoversch Münden. At this point, the rivers Fulda and Werra flow into the river Weser
Some people will get this joke. 69.69 km… Nice!
Tent and bike at camping site Hemeln
Oh yeah, I overdid it on Day 3. The daily goal was set to 90-100 km but I managed to get only 78 km total. The weather was very good (cloudy, 25 °C) and I was progressing very well until I reached the city of Kassel. Here I got lost multiple times due to construction sites and spend like 2-3 hours cycling through Kassel. I stopped here and there to take photographs but wasn’t able to do a sightseeing tour. Kassel was very stressful because I had to take routes on busy roads for a while until I found the correct cycling route. This set me further back in my schedule. The route from Kassel to Hannoversch Münden was very nice and relaxing. I met another elder cyclist which cycled with me for about 12 km. Having company was nice because we were very fast and could talk about the usual stuff (small talk). Hann. Münden was a very nice city – this is the place where the rivers Fulda and Werra combine into the river Weser. I wish I could have stayed there longer. However, I left Hann. Münden at 2:30 pm and at about 3:30 pm, my performance started to decline due to muscle and rear pain. I didn’t want to ignore the pain signs and I visited a camping site in a village called Hemeln. Good decision (as usual). I needed some rest and as soon as my tent was up, I went inside and slept for like 2 hours. Then shower, dinner, sleep 8h.
Beautiful landscape, beautiful weather (photograph taken approx. 2 km past Hemeln)
World War I memorial for fallen soldiers.
My bike during the train voyage from Seesen to Braunschweig
“Ölper See” in Braunschweig
Final day cycling distance: 110.95 km
Unfortunately the final cycling day. I got up very early in the morning and left the camping site at about 8 am. All the muscle pain was gone and I was able to cycle at a fast pace again. The weather wasn’t very bad and this got me excited because I felt like I could do 100+ km on this day. My goal was Seesen, a small town near the Harz mountains. The distance was calculated at about 140 km. Since 100 km are no problem, an extra 40 km should be possible, too. Wrong! The first 60 km weren’t bad at all. My speed was OK but the temperatures started to rise again. By noon, the temperature was at 28-30 °C and my rear started to hurt every few kilometers. So I had to push the bike for a while until the pain went away but this set me back in my schedule. After visiting few cities such as Bad Karlshafen, Höxter and Holzminden, I left the Weser cycling route and set the route towards east (R1). At 80 km distance, I was really exhausted and had to take breaks every few kilometers. I reached a place called Stadtoldendorf at 4 pm and still had to cycle 50 km to Seesen. At 13 km/h, this would have taken 4 hours at least. I resupplied my water and food in Stadtoldendorf and I got lost again due to a major construction site. Unfortunately, Google Maps calculated a wrong route directing me into steep hills and I gave up.
I re-routed Google Maps to the next train station and started the adventure back home to Braunschweig by train. Luckily, I was able to travel with my 9-EUR-Ticket and the trains were not full at the time. After spending 3 hours in regional trains, I was able to reach home safely. My daily distance was 110.95 km, my new personal record (my highest was at 110.68 km in the year 2019). I must admit, I had to use Ibuprofen due to muscle pain.
Summary
It was a very interesting and adventurous cycling tour 2022 (as usual). I’ve seen many wonderful landscapes and places, cycled about 425 km total. The weather was good and bad and I got lost many times (as always). I learned a bit about planning routes and learned a lot about my cycling performance. Using petroleum jelly for skin lubrication was a winner. I packed the wrong stuff which I never used on tour (gas stove, blanket, accessories, food) but which added to the total weight. My provisions got spoiled by the hot weather so this is an important issue to consider for future routes. I hope to reduce my body weight by winter so I’ll be able to do another cycling tour at the North Sea. I’ve done this before and it was one of the best cycling tours I had so far.
I would recommend everyone to participate in such cycling tours. If you’re not a cyclist, go hiking instead! It’s a challenge to travel alone over the course of many days. For me it’s important to realize that travelling from A to B takes time and effort. Sure, one can drive into holidays or fly by airplane with little to none effort. This behavior has two negative effects: people just don’t realize how hard it is to move things from A to B and we take many modern things for granted. Cars and airplanes may be the foundation stone of our modern civilization but our civilization will have to change significantly in the next few decades or we’ll have really difficult times here on earth (climate *cough* change).