To the pages for Europe, Sweden, Russia, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Denmark and Norway of the Trento Bike Pages

Around the Baltic Sea

Practical aspects

A longer descriptive report is in preparation.
Copyright 1996 Catherine McCammon (catherine.mccammon@uni-bayreuth.de)

Summary

I cycled around the Baltic Sea from mid-June to mid-July 1996, starting in Stockholm and going clockwise, finishing in Stockholm a month later. It was a great trip!

Route

Stockholm-(ferry)-Turku-Helsinki-(train)-St. Petersburg-Narva-Tartu- Riga-Siauliai-Sovetsk-Jurbarkas-Marijampole-Sulwalki-Ketrzyn-Elblag- Gdansk-(train)-Szczecin-Anklam-Rostock-(ferry)-Gedser-Copenhagen- Nykobing-(ferry)-Ebeltoft-Alborg-Hirtshals-(ferry)-Oslo-Kongsvinger- Fagersta-Uppsala-Stockholm

Statistics

It took 4641 km to circumnavigate the Baltic Sea - 3051 km by bicycle, 900 km by train and 690 km by ferry. From Stockholm back to Stockholm took one month, of which 21 days were spent cycling.

Maps

Finland: Karttakeskus VŠgkarta 1:200 000
Russia: BKF Avtodorozhnaya Karta 1:500 000
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania: GeoCenter Euro-Roadatlas 1:300 000
Poland: PPWK Mapa Krajoznamcza 1:300 000
Germany: Falk-Verlag Touristenkarte 1:150 000
Denmark: Dansk Cyklist Forbund Cykelferiekortet 1:500 000
Norway, Sweden: RV Verlag Euro-Regionalkarte 1:300 000

I purchased most maps in petrol stations or shops just after entering the country. Exceptions were the Russian map, which I purchased at a kiosk in St. Petersburg, and the Baltic States Atlas, which I purchased at a bookstore in Helsinki.

Accomodation

My tent provided accomodation most nights of the trip. In the Baltic States there was little alternative - I encountered few hotels, guest houses or even campgrounds along the route. Since cycling days ended late and started early I put the tent up in isolated forests away from the main road. In cities I stayed either in Youth Hostels (Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Riga), cheap hotels (Tartu, Sczczecin) or private accomodation (Gdansk). I rarely encountered anywhere that was full, even when I arrived late at night.

Visas

As a Canadian citizen I required a visa for Poland, Latvia and Russia. Polish and Latvian visas were straightforward, required no official invitation and could be obtained for a period up to three months. The Russian visa was more problematic. After a few false starts I applied for a double-entry business visa supported by an official invitation from the Russian Academy of Science (I was giving a scientific lecture there anyway). The St. Petersburg part went fine but I was refused entry to Kaliningrad, requiring a 500 km detour through the Lithuanian-Polish border but the chance to cycle through the stunning Masurian Lakes region of Poland. Even with hindsight it's hard to see how to have done it - a separate transit visa for Kaliningrad requires knowing exactly the 48 hour window that you will reach the area after cycling through the Baltic States for more than a week.

Food and Water

I generally carried food supplies for 2-3 days since places to buy food were not abundant in Russia or the Baltic States. Breakfast was always muesli and powdered milk, supplemented by fruit if I could get it. Lunch and dinner were bread (or dry biscuits), cheese and some veggies. I usually splashed out for a hot meal every few days with the exception of Latvia and Russia (where resturants were non-existent) and the Scandinavian countries (where restaurants were too expensive). I drank the local water everywhere but treated it in Russia, Poland and the Baltic States with iodine solution.

Money

My funds were in Deutschmarks which I carried in pockets sewn into the tongues of my cycling shoes. There was usually a place to change enough money at border crossings to get by with, and I used banks when more supplies were required. I also carried Eurocheques and two credit cards (VISA and Eurocard), although there was little opportunity to use these.

Languages

Already fluent in English and German, I studied Russian in the Volkshochschule for eight months before the trip to supplement my arsenal. Russian was invaluable in Russia, and surprisingly also in Latvia where nearly everyone I spoke with was Russian. Reading road signs in Russia and deciphering the maps would have been difficult not knowing the Cyrillic alphabet. With my Baltic States phrase book I could always start a conversation in the Baltic States in the appropriate language, even if we had to revert to Russian when things got too complex (nearly everyone still speaks Russian in the Baltic States, but they are understandably reluctant to use it). I rarely met anyone who spoke English or German in the Baltic States, even in the "tourist" areas that I passed through. German was useful in Poland, not because people still speak it from their childhood but because they learned it for the German tourists. The same applies to Jutland in Denmark where the most common language after Danish was German. English was widely understood in Finland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden. I learned the most important words in each language for every country that I passed through, which usually brought smiles to most faces.

Climate

The trip went from mid-June to mid-July, which is generally the wettest time of the year for most of the area around the Baltic Sea. Summer came late to Europe this year, so it was cooler than normal (the daily temperature was usually around 15 deg C). The weather patterns provided an exciting diversion from the otherwise flat and monotonous landscape, particularly in Poland and Denmark where several thunderstorms went through each day. The wind blew steadily from the southwest during the ride through Russia, the Baltic States, Poland and Germany, but changed to northwest when I turned the corner in Denmark, resulting in a headwind on 17 consecutive cycling days. This was compensated, however, by a strong west tailwind on the first day from Turku to Helsinki, and a strong north wind on the three days from Oslo to Stockholm.

Roads Used