It’s finally Saturday. It’s the day when I’ll meet my fantastic girlfriend again! The only thing keeping her from me now is about 220Km through 3 countries and heavy rain.
Ready for the monster stage towards Gdansk
I woke up early today, I know that I have to reach the boat going to Krynica, which is in Poland. This means that I’ll have to cross the boarder to Russia and cycle through Kaliningrad, and then cross the boarder to Poland, this trip is about 160Km.
It’s too early for any shops to be open, so I deside to live on the small amounts that I have. Basically 3 bananas, 3 oreo chocolates and 2 red bull. This should be able to keep me going for 1-3 hours.
Entering Russia again
Crossing the boarder to Russia is easy. The boarder officers is nice and makes no trouble for me.
The roads in the Kaliningrad area is small, the cars in this part of Russia is much nicer to me than in main part of Russia. They keep a safe distance, and if it’s any cars coming towards me, they are waiting. I’m able to get a hold of some food at a small supermarket. It was about time, I was out of red bull and banana…In other words, I’m cycling on my reserves.
I was expecting bad weather today, windy and lots of rain. And you can always be sure that when the weather report says rain…. it will be so. My speed today is quite good, I’m getting closer to Kaliningrad. I follow the main road, since I don’t have any map over Russia. My GPS waypoints is wrong, but I knew this from the start, so I just follow the signs.
Getting closer to the polish boarder
Cycling through Kaliningrad was not difficult. My waypoints from this area and all the way to the Polish boarder is correct. It’s not much for me to see, since it’s raining so much and I’m focusing on the direction and about reaching Gdansk.
Suddenly I start bleeding from my nose. I’m about 6 km from the Russian/Polish boarder and I don’t want to be covered in blood while crossing!!! Obvious isn’t it?
I stop at a gas station and are able to stop the bleeding and wash the bicycle, clothes and bottles. I don’t know why, but leaving Russia always takes more time than entering the country. But after about 30 minutes they let me through.
You can see the difference immediately after crossing the boarder. It’s more laughter and smile in the streets, and to be honest, I feel more welcome. It’s not far to the boat. I believed that I have about 1.5 hours to wait when I arrive, but I decide to cycle down to the quay, just to see where the boat is leaving from. They tell me that the boat is leaving in about 15 minutes. I quickly find a bank and have 5 minutes left when I embark the boat. The trip over takes about 1.5 hours and I quickly fell asleep.
It’s only 60Km left when I arrive at the other side. I’m really focusing about Gdansk at this point. I’m tired, completely wet, not too cold, but then again…I need a rest.
Finally, I’ve been waiting for this moment for 3 weeks
Finally I arrive Gdansk. I’m just following the main road to the old town. I know that our hostel is just beside the Hilton Hotel, so that’s what I ask about when I need the direction.
I found the hostel and park the bicycle on the parking lot behind the building. While standing there, I hear a voice that I know. Is it really my girlfriend? I turn around and there she is! She didn’t care about how dirty and wet I was, so I got the best hug ever!!!
We rest a little bit after I had an amazing shower, then we go out to the city and eat some good pizza at an italian restaurant. Later in the evening we went to Sopot and met Sissel and Lars from Fitjar.
We had a few drinks, before we went back for a good night sleep. Tomorrow, the plan is to have a day of. We’ll meet some former colleagues from WΓ€rtsila and walk around in the old town. In the evening, we’ll watch the world cup final.
Pictures from today’s trip:
GPS Data from today’s trip:
Part 1:
Part 2:
Γ herlighet!
Fantastisk bra jobba Stian!
Tusen takk Aina! π Var en lang dag, men gikk greit. Var utrulig godt Γ₯ komme frem! π
HI Stian,
good to hear from you again – with 5 days without your news I was already on detox π But I can absolutely understand that meeting your girlfriend has a higher priority than satisfying the curiosoty of your blog readers – well done!
By the way: can you explain to all your non-norwegian followers, what Challange4you is! I think it’s not your own thing, because I saw Aina on some of your fotos with a c4y-T-Shirt as well, or was that just sympathy or solidarity?
Hi Tom,
Thank’s and the same to you. Hehe, you know, sometimes it’s difficult to get internet, and sometimes you are basically too tired. π We are trying to catch up about the blog writing now. we’re one day ahead of the blog.
I will explain it in on of the next blog posts. Challenge4you is mine, and this spring I designed some clothes and a lot of friends of me bought them. This is why Aina had the clothes! What challenge4you is, you will find out soon! π
Hope you are doing well!
Br Stian