IT'S A BLOG

It was such a huge relief to finally be in Poland. Words just aren’t enough to describe how I felt. No sooner had I crossed the border, I found myself cycling through rolling countryside, which although obviously a lot more difficult, does make for a much more interesting day. All around me lay huge swathes of forest and pretty little villages and my spirits were lifted straight away. This was why I used a bicycle to travel. The whole landscape reminded me of France and I cou

After the border, the day started out quite promisingly, apart from the fact that the first 5 km’s were spent on gravel. The roads weren’t in a great condition either but at least they were quiet. The slight breeze blowing across helped me cope with the intense heat. I never realised just how bloody hot it gets here in the summer! I passed a small village soon after the gravel ended and it looked like a place time had forgotten; the pavements were cracked and weary looking, a

After crossing the border, I stopped at the first village I came to and got all of five euros out of a cash machine. I really am trying to stick to a strict budget! I spent more than I had intended to in Tallinn thus I was trying to make up for it now. Besides, I had enough food to last three days thus I only needed about 50 cents for some petrol. I’m loving the prices here! The sun was scorching throughout the day and I could feel my arms burning too. This was not good and I

Well I’ve finally left Tallinn! Bloody hell, I didn’t think I’d ever get going again. I’ve arranged some rather juicy plans for the future but I’ll get to that in due course. It’s enough to say that Istanbul has even more significance to me now than it did before. It’s nearly 1000 km’s to Warsaw and I think I’ll try to do that in ten days with a bit of luck. I don’t think it will be too difficult as the road all the way there seems to be predominantly flat, and if the wind ho

I’m finding it a little difficult to write this post after spending so long in the same place. I was supposed to stay here just ten days. This rolled over into two weeks which in turn rolled over into three weeks. Oops! I usually find myself in one place for two or perhaps three days where I might have to look back on what’s happened in the previous week to be able to gather my thoughts and produce something, legible, interesting and thoughtful to read. I'll give it a go anyw

I managed to find my hostel with relative ease once I was in the centre as I had taken precautions before I had arrived; I had images saved on my kindle from google maps. Sometimes it's best to help yourself out as I don't know how much more hair I can remove from my head in moments of stress. Anyway, I had found my hostel and however hard it had been to actually get into the city, however wet I was and however much I and my bags were caked in mud, I had found my hostel and t

Cycle touring through Sweden - part 2 I set off bright and early the following morning as I knew I had a mammoth day ahead of me. I at least wanted to make it past Norrkoping and this meant cycling another one hundred km’s. I took the main highway all the way to Mjolby which meant smooth wide roads and yet, oddly enough, hardly any traffic at all which was great. A short look around the town produced no signs of anywhere where I could hook up to the internet. It just seemed d