Month: August 2025

Up early, I left the hostel by 7:30 am for my 12:45 pm flight from Warsaw to Paris. Once the Polish taxi driver figured out I could translate via Google Translate, he chattered away all the way to the airport.

I didn’t have any specific problems getting the bicycle checked, except my check-in was with Air France, and they charged me more for the bicycle then Delta (the airline I booked my trip with), a problem I can only straighten out from home.

As I waited for my flight, the flight board updated to show a half-hour delay for my flight to Paris. I only had an hour and a half layover in Paris. Linda went through that exact same process flying out of Oslo a week before, also on Air France. I immediately reached out to Delta, knowing I was going to miss that flight out of Paris. The representative assured me I would easily make the flight. I told them I didn’t believe them.

While I managed to be the first person through Customs disembarking in Paris, I missed my flight from Paris to Detroit by 10 minutes. I then had an extended adventure both rebooking the flight, and more significantly finding my way to the shuttle for the overnight stay. You can walk for miles in the Charles de Gaulle airport. For something fairly routine, navigation to the shuttle to the off-site hotel is extraordinarily complex, and not well marked or described.

The hotel only offered a morning shuttle back to the airport at 5:00 am or 7:00 am for my 8:45 am flight, so a very early morning. I spent the wait at the gate talking to Joyce, one of the other passengers with their flight disrupted. The flight from Paris to Detroit landed uneventfully. While poor for US tourism, I think every passenger had a section of seats for themselves, an extreme luxury for international travel.

Despite having passed multiple security checks since I left Warsaw, my sunscreen didn’t pass security in Detroit. My saddle chafing cream, the exact same size, passed.

In Detroit I needed to pass through US Customs, which normally means going to baggage claim, dragging my bicycle through Customs, and then rechecking it. After a long wait the bicycle didn’t show up. Checking the Delta app, while I arrived Detroit, my bicycle headed to Atlanta. That puts Air France at 3 for 3–Linda, I, and my bicycle didn’t fly as expected. My next itinerary will not be on Air France!

After a 4+ hour layover, my flight from Detroit to RDU departed and landed on time. Linda picked me up and we headed home. RDU luggage claim called the next day, and I drove to the airport to pick up my bicycle, none the worse for wear.

I’d decided on two things to do today. First, I walked to the center of the Old Town for the Free Walking Tour. After 15 minutes I’d had enough of the guide, disorganized and rambling, so I wandered off.

After some advice from the hostel about transportation, I boarded a bus to visit the Warsaw War Museum, serendipitously free on Thursdays. While a collection of WWII vehicles, I was reminded more of the junkyards of my youth.

Since I’d skipped the walking tour of 2.5 hours, I had more time left than I expected. Digging around on the Internet I wandered the city. I also visited the Madame Curie museum.

Then returned to the nearby hostel for a nap to wait out the heat. Temperature highs for the trip have consistently been in the low 60s, but a heatwave in Poland right now brought the temperature up today to 90 degrees.

I’ve enjoyed Warsaw a lot more than I had expected to. It’s hard to believe that WWII leveled the Old Town. Massive reconstruction efforts have seemingly returned it to its previous appearance.

Many evenings of this trip have been isolated in inexpensive accommodation in the middle of nowhere. I spent my last evening in Europe at the hostel, hanging out with fellow travelers (from Switzerland, Finland, Estonia, Romania, and Mexico), discussing travel, places, and politics–a great way to close out the trip.

Bicycle shops in Warsaw open at 11:00 am. The first bicycle shop sat 2 km away. I’d decided to walk to the first one, and then use e-scooters to check out the others. At about the 1 km mark I passed a bicycle shop that hadn’t responded to my email. Deciding I’d rather drag a bicycle box 1 km than 2 km, I waited until it opened. The mechanic didn’t speak English so I used Google Translate to convey what I was looking for. He gave me the seemingly universal “wait one moment” hand gesture, and walked away. Some crashing upstairs later and he came down dragging a bicycle box.

I usually use a box larger than the one he provided; I wasn’t sure whether the box would be big enough, but a box in the hand is worth two in a bicycle store. I walked back to the hostel and packed the bicycle in the box. Barely. I don’t usually have to remove the fender. Nonetheless, primary objective achieved.

From there I wandered the city for a while before tracking down the required store with tape. I returned to the hostel to finish packing the bicycle in the box with all of my gear.

Along the day I spent a long time talking to one of my hostel mates, a experienced traveler from Chile who is working on closing out visiting every country on the planet. He said one advantage of being a traveler from Chile is that many places have never heard of Chile before, so he avoids a lot of political discontent for some other countries. But he’s also struggling with a sensation I have had as well (at a much smaller scale!) that everything just starts to run together.

Over lunch I spent a while talking to a woman from Australia, who doesn’t head home until November.

Warsaw bustles with tourists. One surprising thing is the high police presence; there are a couple of police officers on almost every corner and I can usually see a police car somewhere nearby.

Despite how generally flat Warsaw is, there’s only a small number of cyclists. Bicycle lanes are a little inconsistent in the city, but overall the bicycle infrastructure looks good.

I woke early, but lounged about until mandatory check out time. The 14 km ride back to the train station was a lot more relaxing without the rain.

I had an almost a 3-hour wait for the train to arrive. I bundled up from wind in the cold and read until the train rolled in. I met a couple from Australia as they loaded their bicycles and gear, and we talked for the first part of the train ride. They had started in France (?) but has chosen to use rail to explore Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Like seemingly all Australians they’re on a multi-month adventure returning home only in November.

The train made an extended stop about halfway to Warsaw. I ventured forth from the train to get food from a nearby restaurant. The only calories I had left with me were peanut butter in a jar. Even without being jittery from the cold meds, leaving my bike and all of my gear on a train that could leave was nerve-racking, but at least I finally had a decent meal.

I lost an hour when we crossed into Poland. That meant that the 8:00 pm arrival was a 9:00 pm arrival from a daylight perspective – dark in Warsaw. However, there were decent bicycle lanes and decent lighting, and I arrived at the hostel without incident.

I’ve now heard from four different bike shops that they have a box available. They’re scattered all over Warsaw, hopefully the closest one will have a box and I can tell the others they’re off the hook.

I’m still jittery from the cold meds, but I’m settled into the hostel. The hostel has a place for the theoretical box, and for me to pack up the bicycle. Hopefully by mid-afternoon tomorrow I’ll have nothing left to do but explore.

Yesterday I accomplished getting dinner.

This morning I packed up. With intermittent rain, I left early to ride during a dry period, even thought it left me to wait at the far less comfortable than the hostel train station.

Despite the usual concerns of “am I on the right train”, I boarded successfully. I spent the train ride next to a very garrulous intoxicated Frenchman. There’s a tautology there somewhere.

I had hoped to head home without ever getting caught by the rain. I disembarked into the rain in Mockava. To nothing. A small train station and fields. A check of the GPS showed the train station is several kilometers from the small town of Mockava where I had planned to arrive. Even better, the OPPOSITE side of where my B&B was. Where the only remotely direct route was across an unplanned for 4 km of dirt track. Sigh.

I spent some time in the small shelter at the train station looking for a gap in the weather on the radar. I could wait 3 to 4 hours for the rain to end, or ride in a roughly 1 hour window relatively soon. The problem with waiting several hours was potentially running out of daylight. In Lithuania. On dirt track. I headed out into the break. I didn’t miss the rain.

The hostess for my booking waited in the yard for me. I have to give her credit. A bedraggled wet cyclist shows up, and she tried to upsell me on a larger room. I suspect this place is usually used for large crowds and weddings. Tonight it’s only me.

Given that my train tomorrow isn’t until 3:45 pm, I plan a very slow start.

I heard back from a second bike shop that will have a box for me on Wednesday. Good to have a backup box!

In other news, Linda flew home today from Oslo. Her flight out of Oslo was delayed long enough that she missed her connecting flight in Paris. She’s currently spending the night in a Paris hotel courtesy of Air France. Her updated flight is at 6:00 am tomorrow.

Except for waking once with uncontrollable coughs because my meds had worn off, and the light sleep from pseudoephed, I slept OK.

I took a slow start down to the bus station to take a train to Trakai and the castle there. Windy, rainy, and cold, with an anticipated 5 km hike to the castle and back. I’d exhausted myself just walking to the bus station (and by walk I covered part of the distance with an e-scooter). I came back to the hostel and went back to bed.

In the evening I met a Swiss cyclist. She had cycled roughly the same route I had, except she’d abandoned it earlier for a train. We commiserated about the roads, especially Latvia. She said Latvia was the only country in the EU to have not upgraded their roads.

I woke a few times last night. Once to nature’s call. Once to my phone chirping from a message (when I specifically had muted it!). Once to a scattering of rain falling on the tent. Once to a cat fight. I’d already decided I have a cold, and the pharmacy sold me pseudofed. So not a great night’s sleep.

As I sat in the common area this morning sending emails to Warsaw bicycle shops about a bicycle box, I ran into the guy from the Czech Republic (the electrical engineer) that I met in Riga! We caught each other up on our travels. Yesterday for him involved returning to a city and a Parcel Post box to pick up a package that had been delayed. Flashed back to my travel problem in Bulgaria!

Having emailed or messaged 11 bicycle shops, I headed out for the 2.5 hour “free” Vilnius City Tour. I put free in quotes because they expect a donation at the end. Which is fine, the free tours are typically good, and this was no exception. It’s a great way to discover a lot of the city you might miss otherwise. Another tour guide strongly empathizing with Ukraine. These countries are in direct line of future Russian aggression. And the Baltics have been there before.

We ended the walking tour next to the national museum, so I visited the natural museum and learned Lithuanian history. My takeaway? Lithuanian leaders get murdered.

From there I used to combination of walking and e-scooter to visit the two castles, and grabbed lunch.

Then back to the hostel to pack up the tent and move to my bed in the hostel. Not quite sure what I’ll do tomorrow. The day after I take a train to Mockava at 12:35 pm.

I’ve heard back from 4 of the 11 bicycle shops, with only one offering a box. I’d like to have at least two options.

The first part of the trip worked out far better than I expected, especially given how frustrated I was with the e-bike on the first day.

But this second half? I tried to pack too many things into too little time. I tend to think of most of my trips as three weeks, when typically they’re more like 24 days, and without so many “travel” days. If I’d been able to find a ferry from Stockholm to Tallinn with the bicycle, I would have skipped Finland. Maybe if I’d searched harder, but I distracted myself with Helsinki and the fortress Suomenlinna.

The Eurovelo distance calculations were just flat out wrong. The day Linda rode 110 km we’d only expected 80 km. Even with almost having pulled it off and cycling to Mockava, I rode well above the average distance every day, and cut corners. Five countries in five weeks is maintaining a backpacker’s speed, and it’s too fast.

I have spent too much time travelling when not on a bicycle. Not cycling to the city of my flight home adds a couple of travel days. My last seven nights aren’t cycling days.

Being sick hasn’t helped!

For the first 50 km I thought I was going to die. I don’t know what all of these dump trucks are doing in Lithuania. I rode in heavy traffic, with a collapsing shoulder, with many blind hills and corners.

I also had to deal with a new problem. I banged up my knee pretty good yesterday, and it ached all day today. My knee works fine for cycling but any type of side rotation hurts. I babied as much as I could today. It needs a couple of days to recover, and I don’t have a couple of days.

I already have a train ticket from Mockava to Warsaw on the 26th. Tonight I went to get a ticket from Vilnius to Mockava on the 26th, and found none available for me and the bicycle! So I purchased a ticket on the 25th from Vilnius to Mockava. I’d buy a ticket on the 25th from Mockava to Warsaw but those aren’t available anymore. I got really lucky here. Until a few days ago it never occurred to me that there could be a ticket shortage on that train (and midweek at that!). I found out only because I selected a day to see how much it was going to cost, and discovered no tickets available.

I arrived at the lovely downtown Forest Hostel & Camping. They hadn’t corrected the schedule from my previous error, which worked out perfectly. I’ll camp here the first night, and move into the hostel for the next couple of nights. Then I take the train to Mockava. The next day I have a train to Warsaw, and then a couple of days in Warsaw to find the box for the bicycle. Then my flight. That would be about it.

After I got everything set up at the hostel/campground, I wandered about for a while in the city. After seeing the e-scooters everywhere, tonight I used one to help explore the city. I also sent an road conditions update to the South Africans!

I think I have a cold.

Last night I had to decide how far to cycle today. Vilnius was 170 km away, and taking accommodation into consideration, I could either ride 70 or 100 km today. I chose to ride 100 km today, because it would mean a short ride into Vilnius tomorrow.

The known problem with that plan was that part of the route likely included unpaved roads. On the bright side, I had almost no traffic today except for the first few in last few kilometers. The scenery was lovely.

Several times today I passed local cyclists on old single-speed bicycles, pushing them up a hill. I’ll admit I felt smug as I rode them. Yesterday my average speed was 17.8 km/hr. Today my average speed was 14.3 km/hr, prompted primarily from the amount of time I spent walking up hills.

All told I rode about 20 km on unpaved road. Unpaved road that was often corrugated, with many spots of loose sand or gravel. With periodic 8% to 10% steep climbs.

While cycling on loose gravel and sand is difficult in the best of times, I can usually control the bicycle when it slides. But doing so requires a lot of power from my core and my knees. And my left knee, while it works fine to cycle normally, can’t handle that torque.

At one point I risked rerouting myself onto a small packed-earth road because it was better than the loose gravel roads I was on. It worked out, and decreased the amount of time I spent on the other road by about 4 km.

In the end I left two hours earlier today than yesterday, and finished and hour later than yesterday. I ache, with my knee being particularly twingy. I’m rerouting myself to larger roads tomorrow.

I’m also reaching the end of the trip. I have the hostel booked in Warsaw, and the train ticket to take me from Mockava to Warsaw. All trains from Lithuania to Poland go through Mockava. The rail gauges different between the two countries, and Mockava serves as the transition. And I have two days available to make the 170 km ride from Vilnius to Mockava. Unless I can’t find roads.

I woke up with the realization that I would likely arrive in Vilnius, of course, on a Saturday. I made a hostel reservation for Saturday and Sunday night.

That then, of course, leaves me one day short I think of riding to Mockava, the train transfer point between Lithuania and Poland. A problem for future Rick. I made a hostel reservation for tonight 100 km from Aizkrakov.

Rain this morning delayed my start. On the way out of Aizkrakov I ran into the two South African cyclists! We chatted briefly before they headed their way (previously also my way), and I headed more directly south.

According to the weather radar, I would be riding directly into the rain. But the rain itself moved east and north. With the right timing I would keep not quite catching rain.

At the 30 km mark I stopped at a lovely picnic area for lunch. Unfortunately, a swarm of mosquitoes also waited there for lunch. About the time I unpacked for lunch, I packed back up and headed on.

3 km later, I caught the rain. Should have stopped for lunch. But after a 10 minute wait, the rain stopped, and I didn’t encounter any more rain the rest of the day.

I changed my route to more directly head to Lithuania to get better roads (better quality roads, less traffic) which worked perfectly. I had a pleasant day of riding. Forests and fields similar to Sweden.

Cycling along one side of the military reservation probably decreased traffic as well.

Entering Lithuania, I almost immediately passed one of the EU road improvement signs. Along with actual associated road improvements.

I had concerns, because I had left late, that I would arrive at the hostel late. So while I didn’t push hard, I took non-leisurely rest stops. I ended up arriving at the hostel by 4:30 pm anyway.

This evening I realized I had done my math wrong, and would arrive in Vilnius on Friday. It took some back and forth but I got that changed.

Tomorrow looks like a long day, which includes a number of small roads, shooting for a balance of road quality and traffic.