Plans, Schemes...

I wrote an overly poetic plan for our route. It's so hammy it could go in a brochure (my day job is as a copywriter...you'd never have guessed...), but it also serves as a rough outline of what the route entails.

From the vast legacy of the Soviet Union to the gothic architectures of the Hansa, from the sleepy countryside of Poland to the bustling old entrepôts of the Netherlands, from the vibrant cities of the Baltic coast to the teeming metropolises of western Europe, from the lakes and wild woods of Estonia to the neat agriculture and straight canals of Holland, this is a journey which in its two thousand mile route takes in the history, culture and landscapes that have shaped Northern Europe.

Touching down in Tallinn we will begin our journey relaxing amongst the beautiful gothic heap of the medieval old town and the bars and cafes of this most easterly outpost of the Hansa and capital of Estonia. After ensuring we’re properly outfitted with maps, supplies and the bikes are in top fighting condition, we’ll head out to the rural hinterland and wild woods of Estonia.

Tallinn: beautiful gothic heap.

We’ll race along the flat Baltic coast, camping where we can on the sandy beaches or amongst the vast woods. From there to the seaside town of Parnu we’ll coast down to Riga hugging the shore, stopping to enjoy the famous beaches should we get too hot.

Re-supplying and resting in Riga we’ll enjoy the sights, sounds and culture of the beautiful and vibrant capital city of Latvia, before we plunge inland to heartland of Lithuania and its fine capital of Vilnuis. This fine old city nestled amongst Lithuania’s southern uplands will make an interesting change from the flat plains of the coast. With its young population, large university and bustling cafes and bars this is a city brimming life and energy. Going from here to Drushkinai we’ll be moving through the heart of one of Europe’s biggest and wildest forests.

Crossing the border into Poland we’ll waft through the lazy countryside of the country's fertile northeast. Either camping in quiet forest locations by the region’s many lakes or on obliging farmland we’ll rest wherever is best and buy our supplies from the small market towns. Meandering down quiet country lanes we’ll skirt Poland’s border with the relic of the USSR that is Russian Kaliningrad and work our way back to the coast via Teutonic castles and haunting concentration camps and Nazi bunkers, before finally reaching the rich old port of Gdansk for some much deserved rest and relaxation for a few days.

Gdansk

After properly provisioning ourselves we’ll be back to flat lands of the Baltic coast and flying amongst the sand dunes and quiet towns of the coast of Pomerania. Camping on the beaches or on the farms we’ll try to make the most of the last of the relatively sparsely populated northern coast of Poland and its wild camping opportunities.

The beaches of Pomerania

From here we move into Germany and the stunning national parks of Mecklenburg, from campsite to campsite we will work our way up to Lubeck, the one time jewel in the crown of the Hansa. Recuperating in Lubeck we can see all the sights of this charming old town, which once upon a time was one of the world’s most influential and grandest cities. Here we leave the Baltic behind for good and go west for a day’s ride to Hamburg.

The great port city of Hamburg has always been Germany’s gateway to the world; this thriving metropolis is one of Europe’s great cities with its lively nightlife and busy urban culture. If we feel the need we shall stay here for two days, if we’re feeling fresh we shall press on into lower Saxony hugging the coast and flying on the spirit-level flat northern planes past the north sea.

As we leave Germany we enter the Netherlands and will head for the relaxed university city of Groningen. We can rest here for a few days before saddling up and heading round the north coast of Holland down to Amsterdam. After days of hard riding we’ll be wanting a well deserved rest in this beautiful city famous for its laidback attitude and world renowned architecture.

Heading south to Bruges we’ll finish up our journey by the canals, islands and windmills of the hook of Holland through to the picturesque market towns of northern Belgium. After the fairytale town of Bruges it’s but a day or two ride to Dunkirk and the end of the adventure by the famous beaches which loom so large in the British story of world war two. Hopefully* like the British army of 1940, from here we’ll be evacuated back to blighty and home comforts.

I hope there will be less death and destruction with our evacuation.

*(The ferries do not allow foot/bike passengers from Dunkirk, so failing another 'miracle' we can spend another day riding onto Calais where the ferries allow foot/bike passengers).

N.B. obviously having not left yet/not painted the famous picture of Dunkirk in World War 2 none of these pictures belong to me..I nabbed them from a google image search (their URLs should be in there somewhere...).

Going Places.

There was once a plan in my head . Well no, not so much a plan as a dream. It was a simple dream, it was a dream to go very far under my own power.

It was a dream to see the world, or well as much of the world as it would be possible to see. I wanted to go slowly and under my own power because I feel something is lost if you don't move through landscapes at human speeds. You lose a sense of place, a sense of perspective, a sense of where you actually are.

So it is to gain a real sense of where I am on this planet of ours that I wish to go very far under my own power.

Where I was going to go, I didn't know. Why I was going to go there, I didn't have a clue. All I knew is I wanted to go there, more than anything in the world.

The above sentiments are of course, guff. Nonsense, hot air and loose words. The marvellous mumblings of a monger of mooncalfery.

However, it is hot air and loose words that are the seeds of real deeds. No man of action ever began any action of any merit without a bit hot air and lot of dreams.Naturally though, to make these into actions we need the pithy business of detail and logistics. So let's have some below

So where am I to begin transforming my hot air into actions?

• With the cities of the Hanseatic League. 

Why the Hanseatic cities?

•  I have wanted to see them ever since I was informed of their existence to them by an excellent documentary (see below). Now, there are a lot of things on this earth I have always wanted to see, the stars from the Atacama, a heavy storm in the depths of the atlantic, the ever marching dunes of the Gobi, Timbuktu, the dazzling lights of New York (the list goes on, so I won't bore you with it's absurd length)... but the cities of the Hansa are relatively near to where I live and are as such cheap to get to. I am not yet a rich man so the world shall have to wait and this seems as good a place as any to begin.

• The Hanseatic cities are beautiful medieval cities that were the cradle of northern European gothicism and mercantile might, and are as such simply very nice places to look at.
• They lie in a logical sequence on an east west axis along the coast of Northern Europe between the UK and Russia, which facilitates a "journey" rather than a mere "trip" or if you will "holiday".
• They lie almost entirely within the EU, and as an EU citizen this is safe and easy territory for me to travel in and a great place to begin my adventures, which will in years to come become increasingly dangerous and exotic.  

How am I going to do this?

• I am going to fly to Tallinn, capital of Estonia and the furthest east of the Hanseatic cities with my bike, some camping gear and hopefully an equally well-equipped friend.
• We would, quite simply, just cycle back to the UK, a distance of some 2000ish miles. Seeing as much as we can, soaking in the landscapes, cultures and peoples on the way.

There are of course many other messy details about organising and logistics that need to be seen to...and they will be seen to in some subsequent less poetical posts that will explain for any interested in doing such a thing how they themselves might go about it.

But for now all I will offer are mad dreams, ideas and a desire to go places. A desire that is etched into the human soul, a desire to go over that hill, round the river bend and chase the distant horizon. This is no epic or dangerous journey that will ever compare to the tales of those brave navigators of bygone days, but it is some small way a good place to begin.