The Bike Ride Continues into Germany

After we leave the Nordic Countries, our bike ride takes us into Germany. We have again used EuroVelo to map our route. The website is proving invaluable for planning our ride. What did people do before the internet? Proper maps are great, but we’d have to carry several detailed maps with us if it weren’t for modern technology.

It is so exciting to look at the route and all the wonderful places it will take us, that we can hardly wait until next August. We just hope that Covid-19 will be well and truly gone by then, so it won’t scrubber our plans. We’re sure everyone is hoping the same and being impatient to carry on with more normal lives. And being able to travel again without restrictions. Although, it will probably be a long time before travel returns to anything close to normal.

Another thing we need to look into is how will Brexit affect our ride. I still have a Finnish passport, so I’m fine, but we need to make sure Justin will be, too. We don’t think there will be any extra requirements like Visas needed to enter any countries, but Brexit might make crossing borders a bit slower for Justin. Hopefully, we will have some clearer information on how Brexit will change travel soon. Without digressing much further or diving too deep into politics, still hoping for a miracle reversal of the exit!

Our Bike Ride Enters Germany

The bike ride takes us to Rostock on German coast.
Rostock Photo by Andrea Anastasakis on Unsplash

Once we leave Denmark, we follow the Baltic Sea route along the German coastline all the way to Rostock.

Rostock is an old Hanseatic trading centre and it was granted city rights in the 13th century. Since then it has been an important location for trade, learning and shipbuilding on the Baltic Sea. We might stop here for an extra night to have more time to wander around the historic city.

From Rostock we change routes and pick up the Sun Route to Berlin. This adds some extra kilometers to our ride, but what are a few hundred kilometers in the grand scheme of things. It will be worth it to explore Berlin.

Berlin

Visiting Checkpoint Charlie on the bike ride
Checkpoint Charlie Photo by Tim Photoguy on Unsplash

Neither of us has been to Berlin, so we are definitely stopping there for a few nights. We are both keen to visit famous attractions and sights, including Checkpoint Charlie and East Side Gallery. For anyone planning to visit Berlin, the Official Website of Berlin is full of useful information.

Justin, being an old raver, is also keen to hit some dance clubs. He has heard there are some excellent clubs in Berlin where he can get his shuffle on. Not sure I will hit the dance floor. I might leave him to it and go and have a well-deserved rest myself.

Especially since we are thinking of staying in a hostel rather than our tent when we get to Berlin. We want to be in town for ease of getting around rather than at a campsite out of town. I bet we will both be looking forward to sleeping in a proper bed for a couple of nights by that point of the bike ride!

Going Off Piste

Riding alone the River Rhine
The Rhine River Photo by Sander Weeteling on Unsplash

When we leave Germany, we pick up the Capitals Route before going rogue and off the EuroVelo routes. We want to visit some friends in Colmar, France, and to do that we plan to ride along the River Rhine.

The Rhine, which begins in Switzerland and runs towards north into the North Sea, is about 1,230 kilometres long. Cycling the total length of it would be another cool bike ride, but we are only doing a fraction of it.

At some point, as we near Colmar, we will cross the border from Germany and into France. From there we are still debating a few options – either heading to Paris or straight down. Both options have their advantages. The trouble is deciding which is more appealing. But more of that in the next route instalment.

Until next time.

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