On to Stockholm

As the the morning rain came early and left before breakfast, I decided to cycle to Stockholm rather than take the train. I had read that the bike route was a up and down and all around route ( roughly 90 ks verses the signposted 56 k by car) and that turned out to be true even though I never got about 90 metres above sealevel.

However it did have it’s moments of pleasure, a number of ancient Rune stones just sitting beside the road as well as Lupine fields along the way.

But as I got closer to Stockholm the traffic started to build up and I took the suburban train for the last bit before navigating my way to the Youth Hostel where one more surprise awaited me. NO where to store/park my bike except the street. Once again S&S couplings proved their worth as I broke the bike into two and stuffed it into 2 large plastic bags and was allowed to put it in my room.

Welcome to the city!

Prelude to a Downpour

A favorite city

Having overcome the shock of the hustle and bustle a big city after being in quiet country places, I have come to the conclusion that Stockholm would have to be one of my favorite cities, above Paris even! Besides, it has the ABBA Museum! A place in indulge in reminiscing of the satins and pop of the 70s.

and, here’s a link to one of their best videos made in 2004 ABBA the Last Video – Ever!

As well as explore the many narrow streets

Or stop for a wine on a floating cafe

Initially my thoughts were to quickly cross Sweden in a few days, instead I’ll have spent 2 wonderful weeks here. Tomorrow I catch the overnight ferry to Estonia and more new experiences.

From one Ship to another

Pirates of the Caribbean eat your hearts out -this is the real thing

The Vasa from the 16 hundreds….

But now for something more modern and on to Estonia.

P.S. I love Sweden, thank you for the music, it’s been fun.

And on to where the sun doesn’t sleep

Turning back Time

The ferry from Stockholm was more of a cruise liner than a ferry (just with massive car and truck decks as well) it came complete with cabaret, disco ( open til 6am – I didn’t check) and quite a range of restaurants. I almost wanted the journey is be longer than 15 hours. But we arrived in Tallin by 10am and I loaded up the bike again and joined the exodus form the ferry.

As it turned out there 4 Cruise ships in town today so the old city was quite crowded with a considerable variety of languages spoken by the tour guide. I even hear Australian! Continue reading →

The different faces of Tallinn

Most people are aware of the World Heritage Tallinn and all tourist tours dutifully troop around it and give sound bites of information, probably forgotten by the time the visitors leave for the day.

Don’t get me wrong, it is a lovely place and worth a visit but it comes with the accoutrements of successful tourism, scores of cafes, restaurants, souvenir shops competing for business. As well as pay a euro to climb this tower, 5 euros for that one and so on.

However, wandering off the cobble stones and beyond the old town I came across old wooden houses, quiet and showing their age, but with the sound of families inside.

My biggest surprise was Linnahall.

Continue reading →

Time for another Ferry

I’m beginning to feel like I spend more time on ferries than the bike lately. This is my 6 long distance ferry (by that I mean a journey of at least 2 hours). Once again there was the small odd bunch – those who choose to cycle. This time there are once again 2 Germans, he is coming from St Petersburg and she is just finishing a one month tour of the Eastern Baltic States.

Not on the ferry was the American, Dan, on his way to Mongolia. Now, drum roll the doors of the ship are about to open on Helsinki!

But…… I seemed to have miss timed my arrival. Everything is closed, and I do mean everything. It’s the longest day of the year and on that day, Finland shuts down and goes on a long weekend.

The day that Helsinki stood still.

A Quiet Day in Helsinki

Well, despite the weather forecast, it turned out to be an overcast with on and off rain. So, what to do? Go bike of course and explore the surrounds, meet the locals.

and explore the bike routes.

Then enjoy a beer at the deserted waterfront and let the clothes dry out.

Change of Direction

Well, the weather up north is for about a month of rain, showers, some sun but basically a damp time. So I’m heading off south to Germany tonight. Where I hope there’ll also be some darkness at night. Being in eternal light for the past few weeks is messing with my head and sleep. Last night I stayed in a hostel that was an old converted steamship in Turku and I had an inside cabin – no porthole and therefore dark! Still woke up at 2am, damn it!

Oh well, tonight I will be on another ship, but this one moving and heading to Lubeck in Germany.

Bye Finland

A suitably grey and gloomy departure from Finland.

On reflection, if I was Dr Who and could travel thru time, I would skip Tallinn and Helsinki and go straight to Turku, oh well… Anyway tomorrow’s another day.

Heads or tails – which way to go?

Overcast, possible showers and strong winds was the forecast for Wednesday. So hang around in Lubeck or cycle? I opted for a cycle and ended up with my longest day in the saddle to date, but somehow it didn’t feel long – well sometimes it did.

In a totally preserve fashion my highlight of the day was getting across this 2k bridge between the mainland and Fehmarm.

Traffic restrictions were in place with a speed limit 50 kph and truck warnings. All because of the wind and I had to struggle to walk my bike across. I couldn’t even wear glasses as the wind simply took them off and at times I struggled to hold the bike. But boy, do you know you’re alive!

Germany is a very orderly place. There’s even coin operated meters so you can reserve these ‘shelters on the beach.

Maybe North was a wrong decision

After yesterday’s fun, the wind was very favorable for a northerly run so I took the ferry to Denmark and Lolland

and basically got blown north by north east across the island. Actually, after the excitement of yesterday’s bridge crossing, I wanted to do the next one. But this was a 4.2k bridge…

But it was an anti climax as the wind simply pushed me across to the extent I really didn’t need to pedal. C’est la vie.

Ultimately I jumped a train to Helsingor ( aka Hamlet’s Castle)

Only to find out that my ferry back to the UK had been cancelled and I now need to head south again – to Holland …..

Don’t know why the Little Mermaid feels lonely

Where’s Steven now?

Okay, I admit, Holland wasn’t on the agenda at all. But here I am in Cheese town, Gouda.

How did I get here? To recap. The DFDS ferry holed herself at Harwich and is out of service ( by the way, DFDS has a lot to learn about customer service ) so I had to change plans and get the ferry from Hook of Holland or Calais etc. took the night train to Utrecht – sharing a compartment with a talkative and interesting man from Croatia who lives in Norway but was on his way Prague and somewhere else. But I also met Timo who I hope will come to NZ as we need good ICT project managers and enjoyable people.

North to Haarlem

I couldn’t really decide where to go next – Delft or Haarlem? But finally settled on Haarlem as it allowed me to stretch my legs a bit (poor reason I know, but still a reason). So I spent most of the day following canals and waterways although at times I felt in the middle of a Tour de France training camp as teams in full team kit went roaring by. There were some wonderful transistion s such as this little ‘bike’ ferry.

It’s funny but the last few days of cycling, from Germany to Copenhagen then thru Holland have been wonderful. Very different from Sweden, more crowded but just as enjoyable. Of course sitting in a town square with a beer in hand helps.

Around and About

Amsterdam was only some 16 ks or so to the east so I thought I’d cycle there for a day of museums, culture etc. on the way there I met a girl, who spoke no english, asking for directions to the Ikea store in Haarlem and with much ado I found it on my GPS and we went on our own merry ways.

After ingesting the crowds, dope smoke and general noise of Amsterdam for all of 15 minutes, I decided – not for me and headed back past Haarlem to the beaches, all be it into a rather vicious headwind. Never having been to an Ikea store before, I stopped by the one in Haarlem. And immediately got lost, in a store that only sells household furniture and goods! Finally I found my way out and had a quick hot dog and, you guess it, met the girl I had given directions to some 3 hours before. Anyway I continued on to the beach.

Snippets

Any journey has moments of ups and downs, but also ordinary moments. Moments that stay in the mind. Today it was the Policeman on his bike who kindly told me I was cycling in a pedestrian only area. He didn’t rebuke me, issue a ticket but just showed me where I could cycle then asked where I was heading and pointed out the way.

And back to England

Well, there was one last ferry crossing, from the Hook of Holland back to Harwich. Glad to say it was on Stennaline who have the belief that a ferry crossing can be enjoyable and a good experience rather than simply a crossing.

England was exactly how I left it -cold, muggy and raining at 6:30 in the morning and it was a matter of choice whether to get wet (without the rain jacket) or have a sauna with the jacket on. But by midday the rain at least stopped.

Having gotten used to the smooth roads and bike paths of Europe, coming back to bumpy, rough and potholed roads of England was not a particularly welcome situation and soon the spokes on my rear wheel started to protest and break. But at least there was a good bike in Colchester and the mechanic had respoked the wheel so it would last to London. But I will need to get it rebuilt when I’m back in NZ.

So, while the roads and drivers were terrible, the countryside was quite lovely including this field of poppies.

Well the trips just about over, quite different from what I had planned but thoroughly enjoyable. Next one? Probably Germany and the Danube…….

Europe'13

Touring, Travels and Tall Tales