Rund Baltische See – Bikepacking mit dem Rennrad um die Ostsee [Teaser]

21 Tage Bikepacking – Reisen und Leben auf dem Rad & in der Natur – 3400 km – 19.000 Höhenmeter – 9 Länder
Mit dem Rennrad um die baltische See (Round Baltic Sea) durch
Dänemark
Norwegen
Schweden
Finnland
Estland
Lettland
Litauen
Polen
und zurück in die Heimat ins schöne Schleswig-Holstein

Here Guido is the cyclist. As a teaser, here are a few shots from my tour around the Baltic Sea. She’s always planned this. So I can ride my bike around my home waters where I also like sailing . Yes – somehow it never really worked out

Because – when I looked at the weather map, there was often rainy weather and rain is not my thing. I like to ride without much rain gear. You also like to sleep outside directly under the starry sky. And when it rains, that’s not really possible with my material.

Anyway, at some point I set off. Then get out of Germany. That happened pretty quickly. I come from Kiel. So Denmark was reached quickly. I’ve also seen the border and Denmark a few times. So I got through it relatively quickly. I wanted to go up to Hirtshals.

Then two days later I looked at Denmark. Is flat – quiet – beautiful. It was also midsummer, at least up to that point. Unfortunately, things will change. You can even ride here… This is also a bike path. Part of it leads directly to the beach.

And Denmark has so many “shelters”, but in the summer in the middle of summer… You can book them – the places – these huts. So when you get there, sometimes you don’t get a free hut. That’s the crossing to Norway. It’s quite expensive by car. It’s quite affordable to ride a bike.

And then I looked at Norway for four days. Then I went to Oslo and through a forest somewhere then towards Sweden. From there things got a little hairy. So I really, really liked Norway. Especially since it was really midsummer at the beginning.

Yes it has a lot of climbs and descents. It was exhausting though. Especially since I spent a lot of time on gravel roads. It wasn’t always just left on the tar. They really live wonderfully there. So there are a lot of bodies of water. So you have to take a lot of ferries.

And now there will be a change in the weather. That means I saw… It’s going to rain at night. And then I… I usually look for something where I can put my tent underneath, that I can set up dry or take down dry when it rains and that everything isn’t always wet.

Because then I have difficulty drying it during the day. And – yes – you can already see that the rain is coming… And I don’t have any “waterproof” at all… That’s why I pack…

I always have a few garbage bags with me or get garbage bags on the way and that I wrap everything up. So I have an extender (aerobars) on the handlebars at the front. Then I strap my tent and sleeping pad on

And then just pack a bag over it – so that it’s waterproof. And the saddle bag at the back – it’s rainproof and the sleeping bag is in there. I always have to protect it so that it stays dry. This is the entrance to Oslo.

I looked at Oslo for a few hours. I went to the opera house once. Taken souvenir photo. From above you still have a nice overview of Oslo. I would like to say that it is an interesting city architecturally. And then I went out again and knew…

Okay – it’s going to rain again and my batteries were empty too. Then in the settlement… I found this. Something like that – what do you call it – where something can be celebrated in the evening… On a stage… and I slept on this stage and then asked local residents

If they could charge my battery overnight. That’s such a big battery. It has to last 8 hours… it needs to be on my charger. This is Sweden now. Then I’m over such a mini limit. It was just a cheap beam – somewhere in the forest and yes, I’m through Sweden. I actually wanted

To get to Vetternsee in the direction of “Vettern-Rund”. That’s a bit further south. That was actually the first plan. I rejected that – because only rain was forecast. And then I didn’t want to… So I said, maybe I’ll be able to escape the rain by just making sure I keep going…

And maybe it wasn’t the best idea. I’m on this main road a lot… So there’s a lot of traffic between Oslo and Sweden. You can see it here. And then I had to because there were no bike paths (so I had to ride on this main road), which wasn’t pleasant.

And then also with a lot of rain. Some trucks really honked terribly. They probably thought, “What a weirdo,” driving on this street in the rain. Well – then I looked at a few cities again – there. And then I continued towards Stockholm.

Luckily there were always dry phases. So that I could then dry my stuff. The bike always looked like a Christmas tree. So I have safety pins and some little ropes… And then I tie everything to the back. Looks funny and then, yes and then that was so typical

Here… It was a kind of castle or manor. Right on such a beautiful lake. And yes – then I just… lay down on the meadow. Jumped into the lake in the morning. As you could see, I could hardly open my eyes. And it went on… Direction – yes – that is Stockholm now.

The bridge to Stockholm and luckily I was able to experience Stockholm again in midsummer weather. I stayed there for a day and a half. So now the afternoon and then… I spent the next entire day looking at Stockholm.

And I really liked the city a lot. So you can definitely stay there for a week – in Stockholm. It’s terribly expensive! There’s this northern part of Stockholm. That’s the expensive part. That was also the part where I was then. Here I am – I thought: How can you stay overnight in Stockholm?

It’s big! You can’t go out to spend the night. And then there were a few bridges that lead out of Stockholm. Coming straight from Stockholm and there was a little marina, I just sat on the pier or the pier head… There’s grass there. I put the tent there.

Then go there again the next night. And the advantage was that this bridge was right next to the ferry pier. And on the third day I had to get on the ferry very early. I think 5:00 am or so – I had to be there. Yes, that’s the tourist corner in Stockholm.

So terribly expensive prices. I don’t think I bought anything there. I just did Togoodtogo. Was at the Nobel Museum or this Nobel House. And then I had a great ferry ride over to Finland. Through the archipelago. As a sailor and as a canoeist that I am…

It was always a dream to sail in the archipelago or go there by canoe… But I’ve never managed to go there by car. And then the archipelago – so those To see it and

To sail so slowly through it so high up on such a big ship… Yes, those… those who live there – must be a dream. If it wasn’t dark there so much or for so long… So if you’re always in the dark for nine months of the year…

Or it’s mostly dark, that – I don’t know… It would get on my nerves. And then I’m in Finland! Land of saunas! I’m a big sauna goer. I was there right away… when I arrived [Turku], I think that means… I looked for a “warm shower” again and got it.

There I learned interesting things about saunas [they pay one to two cents/KWh for electricity!]. So everyone really has a sauna! There is hardly anyone who doesn’t have access to a sauna. Yes – something broke sometimes… You always have to repair a little somehow… And have enough tools with you

To always keep your bike ready to ride. Or here – as you saw. Then I put on my cycling shorts. I have 2 cycling shorts so that I don’t have to ride in wet cycling shorts. You can’t get them dry again so quickly either.

And I pulled it over the front so that it dried. That was my main meal – on a baguette or somehow bought a piece of bread – two or three bananas and I ate some banana bread. That keeps you full for a long time. And yes – and also

Looked for some gravel routes away from the pistes and then rode them. Right through the forest… yes, the circuit failed at some point here. Then the battery was empty. All you have to do is switch the sprocket set at the back.

And then I saw – ohhh – there’s a castle – I’ll go there – then charge my bike there because it takes a little time until the battery is full enough again I passed the time a bit and then I made a southern arc towards

Uhhh??? what is that in Finland? Is uhhh Helsinki! Went straight to Helsinki. It was also very, very nice. The weather was dry again. And so we went to Helsinki. So I wouldn’t be so touristy – I don’t know – I would be there for a week – if I had to be there

I would be bored. But I just took a look at Helsinki for one day. The onward ferry journey was also organized again. Checked which cheapest ferry you can get there. You can easily go to the neighboring ferry sites by bike.

Where you can get there for (I don’t know) €20. And then I looked around the city a bit. And then we slowly went back towards the ferry. Yes – there is somehow (I don’t know what the thing is called) a piss man,

A huge thing. He was on his way to this ferry dock. Yes, we had a great ferry ride. It was a really big storm as you can see here. So they…some of them flew back when the door opened and they wanted to get out.

Because it was really such a strong wind. I really had fun. And then we went through the Baltics Estonia – Latvia – Lithuania. It actually took me a day per country to drive through.

That’s Tallin now. So this is a beautiful city again. It has its charm. It’s the capital up there in Estonia. Yes – it was – I spent the day mainly on the ferry.

Then I spent the rest of the evening looking at Tallin a bit. So I didn’t do a lot of kilometers on the bike. And in the evening… “are you heading south?” and then thought

“no, that’s hardly worth it and then I looked again on maps, where could there be grass – around Tallin and then there was a headland here…” I then drove there. Well, a little green is always enough for me.

Found something there. Was able to look at Tallin in the evening. I also received a lot of visitors – namely from mosquitoes. But luckily I had this fly screen on the tent, so I was left unmolested. The next morning everything was quickly packed up again. “I don’t know”, it takes me 10 minutes,

Then I have a tent, a sleeping mat and then I always have a foil with me so that I can protect the floor of the tent a little bit. Yes – and you can see rain clouds everywhere. Everything full!

I felt more like a Pacman now. Every now and then you turned on your cell phone and then you saw… You really saw the dark clouds further away and knew: So let’s see how long I can stay dry?

And when will I somehow get my little one again (that’s just a little mini rain cover I have there), and put the bags back up. It went like this the whole time… It was really heavy – there were downpours – so it was pelting, so yes…

And so it was always a change of “rain protection on”, “rain protection off” It just went through these three countries . Yes Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Also two days. At the border I park my bike somewhere briefly and then take a souvenir photo. And I tried to get to the Baltic Sea again

. That I would spend the night there with a view of the Baltic Sea. A bit always out of the cities or the villages. It actually always worked well. Yes – that’s my little travel mouse. It really shouldn’t be missing. She always comes with me. Little lucky charm.

Then again a typical city in – that’s exactly Latvia – still with these older trams. Look at the navigation system again to see where we’re going and how they live there… The houses… I’m happy to stop and take a photo. It’s partly different how the houses look there…

I looked here again in the evening – where can you sleep. Here at a lake. And then I put my tent there again. On the side of the path. The next morning everything was packed up again. Then back on the main route. And that was actually a picture all the way to Poland…

Similar to the one on the Elbe. There are tons of storks. So sometimes in the villages where the lighting is, there is a stork sitting on top of each lighting, or sometimes two. And nests. Everything is full of storks. You could take a photo and there were 10 storks on it.

This is the border with Poland. It’s just a little sign. And then things got tough for racing cyclists! I would say. So now the eastern part of Poland, I would say, there is also a poor divide there. To the east it gets poorer, you can see it in the buildings

And the street was pure horror for me. It wasn’t a road, it was more like pothole after pothole. So you couldn’t drive fast there either. That really got on my nerves afterwards – that stuff. Then you added the rain and all the mud. It all looked like shit.

And the rain clouds are approaching again! Well – then the bag comes up a bit – a hair tie around and then that’s my rain cover for my cell phone. And then we went on streets like this. So that was a non-stop mud fight!

And it’s all on the chain! So that was crunching – the brakes. It was exhausting and even annoying. This isn’t exactly how you imagine your summer vacation to be. That was all dirty! So everything was sandy and dirty – crunchy and then again in the evening I was

Looking for some body of water like that – ran on maps – set up a tent – then a guy came up and said: this is private property. But he said: “Yes, no problem – you can stay overnight.”

You couldn’t even push the pegs in there. It was such a tall grass or reed – I somehow felt like I was on 30 cm of grass. I had problems pushing the pegs down to the ground.

But of course I slept super softly there. It’s not straight – you’re sleeping on some kind of crooked surface – but it’s soft. And then it continued in Poland. Always along the Baltic Sea.

So I could go to the beach at any time. You then drove a few meters next to the Baltic Sea. Through beautiful forests. Or here: I can’t necessarily always read signs. And that was a military… Well, there are a lot of military exclusion zones and it said:

“Strictly forbidden here…”. So I had to take huge detours – then drive back again. This is now the “Germany-Poland” border. And then we’re slowly heading back home. And there were again very nice cycle paths – through forests… And then when evening came I thought

It was on such a hill – such a cliff edge down to the Baltic Sea – fantastically beautiful up there . There was just such a small path that was there Actually hardly anyone is. A lovely night spent with the great view.

Yes and then the last few meters in Germany. Everything with headwinds – that is, since Poland. So I basically only had a headwind. That’s exactly what I think was last night… Yes, I think that was last night. Again on such a body of water.

Yes, and those are the last few meters towards Kiel – towards home. Exactly: here we are in Kiel! Last photo of the trip. And that was it. The whole film in its entirety – soon here on the channel! See you!