Pedal for Charity's Blog
jonny: day 49 - 18 august 2008
Really good to see Oliver and Sara again after quite a long time. Just chilled in the morning then went to Strasbourg, which was ok apart from an awfully long wait for some pitiful food in a cafe. Anyway, the day was ended well with some beefy burgers and films. 3,763 km.
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jonny: day 50 - 19 august 2008
Whole day in the train again back towards Prague, cycling across the city to find the hotel, nice evening spent watching some Olympics on TV. Were hoping for some good weather, terrain and distance covered for the next few weeks through for the next step of our journey. 3,770 km.
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jonny: day 48 - 17 august 2008
Spend the day in the train towards Germany, just relaxing the whole way. 3,763 km.
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jonny: day 47 - 16 august 2008
Continued our tour through pouring rain and against strong winds. Just a terrible day to be honest and the cities didnt really improve our spirits. Please note that the view expressed about the Czech republic, which I though was absolutely rubbish, are completely affected by the weather in that country as well as the friendliness of its people. Made it back to our hostel in Prague in the end. 3,757 km.
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jonny: day 46 - 15 august 2008
Did our little tour of the Czech cities which were recommended by the tourism office, and im afraid to say the small towns just didnt really have anything to offer to the east of Prague. Also it seemed to be pouring down with rain all day. Anyway, we just followed our plan and completed the distance, staying in a camping site for the night. 3,658 km.
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jonny: day 45 - 14 august 2008
Into Prague and stopped in another cheap hostel close tot eh city centre. We were finding information about bike paths and a nice place to go for two days, before Andy´s family arrived in Prague for a few days. Prague, in the small area that we looked at it, did not impress me at all, I was expecting a lot more, although some of the areas were quite nice. There just seemed to be too many people in the city itself, all walking around aimlessly. Bought a train ticket to go and see two friends from school Oliver and Sara in Karlsruhe, Germany, whilst Andy visited Prague with his family. Anyway, Czechs seem to believe shouting at you exactly the same thing they just said in Czech language will help with my understanding of their language. It didn´t. 3,538 km.
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jonny: day 44 - 13 august 2008
Followed to about 20 km from Prague, staying a cheap hostel with good value and pretty bar stewardess. People here seem to be grumpy though when we try and talk to them. 3,498 km.
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jonny: day 43 - 12 august 2008
Dresden is actually pretty dirty and dilapidated I thought, of course we only saw a small part of it so it may just be that area, apart from one palace building. The day ended quite nicely though with a path oalong the Elbe river, crossing into the Czech republic (CR) in the evening and staying ina cheap hostel for the night. 3,392 km.
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jonny: day 42 - 11 august 2008
Leipzig was a lot more exciting than Berlin, easier to get in and out of as well. Ended up in a small town where the friendly people let us use their shower, useful as we had been lacking in the personal hygiene area for about 5 days now. 3,258 km.
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jonny: day 41 - 10 august 2008
Phase day, between berlin and Leipzig and good distance covered. The major interesting point of the day was getting some very good bread rolls from our hosts in the evening, which had just come out of the oven, amazing. 3,134 km.
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jonny: day 40 - 9 august 2008
Went through Berlin rather quickly, spending about three or four hours there. Nice city although just reminds me of all the other we are going throuhg. I think I need to start seeing some more nature soon. Berlin seems to be a city, where the flags are fighting for possession of the best locations in town. Of course, the British embassy has a good position close to the main square. German road signs for bicycles are pretty awful and it took us ages to get out of the main city area of Berlin. 3,012 km.
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jonny: day 39 - 8 august 2008
Absolutely huge day of cycling, with the wind behind us and relatively flat land, completing 164 km!!!! Ended up in a small town where a friedly couple gave us drinks and food in the evening and morning. 2,909 km.
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jonny: day 38 - 7 august 2008
Luneberg is a very nice city, with lots of beautiful architectural buildings. Some erdingen beer and McDonalds kept us going throughout the day and brought us back for another BBQ meal. Thank you very much for all the meat and beer, as well as a place to stay and shower. Cheers. 2,745 km.
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jonny: day 37 - 6 august 2008
Made it to gustav and Paula´s house in Rohenzengen, with good distance behind us. Had a BBQ when we did arrive, which was absolutely brilliant. We decide to stay for two nights and have a day of cycling to Luneberg without the panniers on the bikes, for additional speed and distance. 2,657 km.
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jonny: day 36 - 5 august 2008
bikes sorted out in the morning, new tyres and new brake pads for both of us on the back wheels. Leaving later on in the day, we still managed a long distance day of cycling. Against headwind, with that. 2,550 km.
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jonny: day 35 - 4 august 2008
not much done, gale force winds outside. Spent some time in the gym, having a sauna and a jacuzzi, easy life relaxing the muscles before the ride begins again. Once we reached Rostock, it took us quite a while to find somewhere to stay. Once we did, it was pitch black and located next to a railroad shed. Perfect. 2,444 km.
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jonny: day 34 - 3 august 2008
walking around Helsinki, doing our usual rapid and efficient sightseeing tour, also buying a spare tyre on the way. Ate some reindeer meatballs on the port, with some jam on it, strange but satisfying. Got the ferry to Rostock for 85 euros each after some smooth talking by Andy to the young ferry steward. Beers late in the night and films on the TV, which we basically chose all the time. 2,444 km
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jonny: day 33 - 2 august 2008
Hectic day, with a good start of 80 km completed before lunch but another puncture in the afternoon caused us to stop, finding out that the spare inner tube that Andy has was also punctured. At the end of the day, we decided to take a bus to Helsinki, only having to do about 30 km in the bus. Annoying to take the bus as it would have been a big day distance wise, but I suppose there was nothing we could do here. We found a place at the Olympic stadium (from 1952) hostel, staying in a comfortable room. Ferry in the evening tomorrow to Rostock. 2,444 km.
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Jonny: day 32 - August 1 2008
All day ferry to Turku, 15 hours of it just spedning all our time up on deck, chilling in the sun. Andy got a flat tyre on the ferry somehow. Anyway, so we have to change it once we arrive in Turku and find somewhere to stay before it gets too late although darkness only falls about 11 here. I blame Andy´s bike company (Dawe´s) completely and enjoy decathlon even more for giving me such a reliable bike. Completed about 20 km once we got to Turku (where some punk festival was going on) and ended camping on some mossy ground in a forest... comfortable. 2,331 km.
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jonny: day 31 - 31 july 2008
Sorted out our ferry from Helsinki to Rostock so we don´t have to worry about that anymore. Today was just a purely sightseeing day, and Stockholm proved to be the most beautiful city so far (in my opinion), obviously the sun improved my opinion of it. Skansen, this funny medieval park thing with some animals inside was overrated, although seeing some mousse up close was enjoyable. The whole night was spent in the Tudor Rose, wonderin g(loudly) about where we were going to spedn the night as all the hostels were full, until a friendly lady offered us a place in her flat for the night, as we were leaving very early to get the ferry to Turku. 2,310 km.
