🗺️Travels

EuroVelo 9: 890h Km Day 17 Leaving Bydgoszcz with worsening knee pain. So today I keep expectations realistic. Route should be easier, mostly cycle paths, except one 7 km stretch of trucks both ways, no shoulder. I decide to gamble again. Instead of following official EuroVelo along the highway, I switch to a cycle.travel alternative. Supposed to be more scenic, more chill. So far, no regrets. Also noticing again, no folding bikes here. Last Brompton I saw was in Poznań. Feels like I’m riding a rare vintage car. Today’s conditions are perfect. Overcast but no wind. Best combo. And my motto: Always be moving. ABM. The alternative route goes through damp forest. Puddles everywhere, occasional cars, even a random paintball arena in the middle of nowhere. If I didn’t book tonight, I could push 120 km and reach Gdańsk in two days. Sounds tempting. Cycle.travel keeps delivering, long, quiet bike paths. Don’t understand why the official route sometimes sticks to highways when options like this exist. At one point I expect to ride along the river, seeing water. Instead, I’m stuck hugging a dyke the whole time. No water in sight. Bit boring, but still better than traffic. After 60 km I reconnect with the official route. Longer and mostly gravel. Classic. One important lesson: when riding north along a river, always choose the right side. Left side = no stops, just endless barriers. Around 6 p.m. I reach Grudziądz. Beautiful city by the river. Definitely worth at least one full day. I book a slightly more expensive hotel. Comfort is average, but breakfast should be worth it. At this stage of the trip, I’m okay splurging. Still plenty of daylight, so I take the Brompton out again. Old town, castle, viewpoints. At one platform I ask a group of kids to take a photo. Later they spot me talking to the camera and come over asking if I have TikTok or if I’m a famous YouTuber. I disappoint them on both counts. One insists I type my channel name into his phone anyway. Talking to a camera apparently works everywhere.

EuroVelo 9: 802h Km Day 16 Rolling out of the motel in Trzemeszno with the Brompton… and I notice one of my roller wheels is gone. Found it lying in the street. I consider it luck. If it happened during the ride, it’d be gone forever. And without it, no rolling into supermarkets. While I fix it, the receptionist comes out, checks the setup, gives me a thumbs up. Approval received. Today’s leg: expert mode. Long stretches on regional roads, no shoulder, trucks both ways. Not looking forward to it. At least breakfast was solid. Motels know how to feed you. At a train crossing I wait 20 minutes. Could probably sneak through, but I don’t dare. Today is a slow day. Then it gets better. Smooth paved forest path. Lakes. Bike stops. For a moment, I enjoy the ride again. Then I see the road ahead. Two-lane regional road. No shoulder. Endless trucks both directions. I freeze. Check maps. Zoom in, zoom out. No alternative. I have to join the traffic. I turn on tunnel vision. Breathe. Keep cadence. Cars overtaking with barely any space. Some close calls with dangerous overpass. Just a few kilometers until the next bike path. I almost shit my pants. Then finally off the road and back into forest. Thinking it’ll be calm. It is. But not rideable. Sand, hills, loose gravel. Perfect for mountain bikes. Not for 16-inch wheels. I meet another rider. Mountain bike. Even he’s pushing uphill. We compare distances. Both around 60 km today. I start losing hope. Its getting dark soon. I am not even riding anymore, just dragging the bike. Eventually I reach paved road again. I see cyclists coming the other way. Good sign. Always follow the crowd. That leads me into Bydgoszcz. First impression: looks like a Czech city. Communist blocks, no bike lanes. But with the weather forecast ahead, I decide to stay one night longer.

EuroVelo 9: 721h Km Day 15 On the road again I start seeing kids with lemonade stands along the villages. Classic countryside entrepreneurship. Too bad I don’t carry any złoty cash to support the local startup ecosystem. Soon the route dives into a forest. Completely infested with mosquitoes. I get eaten alive. But the bites somehow give my legs a second boost. I pedal slowly through the knee pain. Never thought I’d say this, but thanks, mosquitoes. Meanwhile my mind starts gambling again. I find a cheaper booking 20 km past Gniezno, right on the velo route. If I stop in Gniezno it’ll only be 6 p.m. and I’d waste two hours of daylight. So I take the gamble and keep riding. At 6 p.m. I roll into Gniezno… and immediately regret it. Beautiful city. Castle, historic buildings, great atmosphere. Exactly the kind of place worth staying overnight. I take a few quick photos and keep moving. My fault for being cheap. One of those small regrets that will probably stick with me from this trip. Just before dark I reach Trzemeszno, a small village with a motel. I check in right as a motorcycle gang arriving from the same direction decides to stop there too. Room has no air conditioning, but there’s a roof and a shower. That’s enough. Just one night. Rest and move on tomorrow.

EuroVelo 9: 649h Km Day 15 Two nights in Poznań wasn’t enough. Could’ve easily stayed longer. But the road north is waiting. Next stop: Gniezno. Today should be easy mode. Warm weather, sunny day. I’ll take heat over cold any time. Forecast says the next two days should be good, then two days of showers. I really don’t want to waste money booking rooms just because of rain, but we’ll see how it plays out. About 25 km into the ride I’m already on a dirty farm road. Wheels sliding here and there. Makes me wish I had Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires, something that grips better. But then the bike wouldn’t fold so compact anymore. Trade-offs. Knees are still wrecked. I can feel it with every push. So I slow down and start walking the bike when it gets bad. No rush today. Just steady progress north.

EuroVelo 9: 624h Km Day 12 Left early. Booked with breakfast, but I was almost alone and didn’t feel like eating under the watch of the receptionist sitting right next to the buffet. Morning was sunny. Good mood. Goal: reach Poznań today. Road out follows a big forest. Could’ve wild camped there, but then I see fallen trees everywhere. Midlands reminder, storms hit hard here too. Still thinking about the hotel automation yesterday. No receptionist. Door codes. Kettle. Free instant coffee. That’s how you get above competitors rating on Booking. Tiny details matter. Maybe one day I open a small automated hotel in Asia. Then the headwind starts. Brutal. Long straight roads. Nothing in between. It feels like a chore. Knee pain creeping back. Almost a week after the Wrocław speed run and still no full recovery. Lesson: after 35, never race trucks uphill or do over 100 km a day. Just 500 km more to Gdańsk. So close. Forecast next week shows rain. I’m pumped to get there fast. At one point a food truck drives by, blasting a crazy siren so locals come out and buy groceries. Rural mobile supermarket. Poland edition. Long stretches again. Drivers flying by. Headwind pushing me sideways. Dead animals flattened on the road like a gum. Reminds you how fast things move here. 2 p.m...still 40 km to go. You could skip this entire section and take a train from Wrocław. I bet most people do. Five hours riding and I feel like I’ve seen nothing like a hamster on a wheel. By 4 p.m., the worst is over. From here it should be cycle paths into Poznań. Plenty of buffer. And...first big-city sign: shopping parks. Biedronka and Lidl. I stop at Biedronka to resupply. A lady immediately asks me for money. As if I’m a walking Zloty cash ATM in the digital era. I relocate to Lidl parking, wealthier customers, safer vibe to park the Brompton. On the outskirts I get déjà vu, like cycling into Vienna. Long flat cycle paths. Parks. Greens. Funny to see “no alcohol signs everywhere in parks. Then I hear house music from a riverside café. I’m tempted. Really tempted. But it’s getting dark, and I booked something remote. Better keep moving.

EuroVelo 9: 536th Km Day 11 Leaving Trzebnica, I’m glad I took a booking instead of wild camping in that heavy rain. Goal today: cut as many kilometers toward Poznań as possible, still more than 180 km away. First obstacle: Milicz forest, 20 km ahead. Cold morning. Down-jacket kind of cold. Knees complaining, feels like lack of protein more than sleep. Even hotel beds don’t fix the damage from the Wrocław speed run. Yesterday I felt like a celebrity here. People constantly asking questions. Then I googled it, Polish people are just curious and stare at anything unusual. Makes sense. In Konowo I stop by a church at a bus station to eat breakfast. Choir singing inside. Nice moment. Then a cracking sound. Three seconds silence. A huge chunk of tree falls one meter next to me. Healthy tree. No wind. I take it as a sign to move on. At the entrance to Milicz forest: sand dunes. Loaded Brompton stuck every few meters. A local sees me suffering and suggests turning left, longer but rideable. I listen. Five kilometers later I still have to reconnect to the route… which goes back onto dirt anyway. So much for the shortcut. But I see the appeal, mountain bikers everywhere enjoying mud life. Then I start noticing horse poop. Everywhere. Like an organized event. Soon I see why: seven ladies on horses ahead. Mystery solved. Out of the forest, narrow roads, too tight for tractors and two-way traffic. And with brutal headwind, progress is painfully slow. 5 p.m., still 18 km to Gostyń where I booked a place. Two hours of daylight left. Knees want a break. I ignore them. I pass a small funfair. Pony taxi ride for kids. Funny but also sad. An overpriced grocery is open (Sunday miracle), so I resupply just in case. 8 p.m., I reach Gostyń right before dark. Naturally the route ends with a big hill and a church overlooking the town. Would’ve been a nice camping view, but you never know until too late. I roll into a self-service hotel with an elevator, perfect introvert accommodation, zero interaction. One last mission: burger place five minutes away closing in 15. I make it. Cannot image better ending: Hot shower and a burger.