Sept. 2003 Route update--England to Poland

Bits and stories about World Bike for Breath. A Bulletin for sponsors. Volume 1, September, 2003
Paula Eber
September, 2003

Hi dear friends and sponsors,

Well we have successfully pedaled through most of Western Europe and are finally cycling into fall and the uncharted territory of Poland and the former Soviet bloc. After a much needed break from foreign language stress in England (plus, more importantly, the opportunity to buy books in English at a reasonable price) and a wonderful excursion to Saint Malo and the coast of Brittany in France, we took a boat from England to Hamburg in northern Germany. There we spent five hectic days at Lorenz's parents' house tuning up our bikes, replacing worn equipment and clothing and otherwise gearing up for our journey eastwards.

Our preparations were none too soon. One day of pedaling east from Lorenz's family into the former east German (Soviet) Republic, we discovered that the old borders still run deep: our trusty Blackberry donated by T-Mobile no longer could send or receive emails. After a week of cycling along the beautiful southern Swedish coast we are now in Poland--which does have email (figure that one out).

Alas, our days of telephone calls and emails from our cell phone while cooking dinner in a farmer's field are numbered. After this route update (and perhaps one newsletter from Poland), until we arrive in Australia, we will be mailing all of our newsletters by the trusty old fashioned method of the post office. Brett Thackray, World Bike for Breath's President, has kindly offered to type our updates and then email them. (If any of you Bainbridge Islanders would like to offer your typing skills occasionally, I am sure he would be most thankful: just write to bikeforbreath@hotmail.com). In any case there may be a two to three week time warp between our actual location and our newsletters. But that's just part of the adventure!

For those of you tracking our route exactly on your maps, here's the latest update:

• After pedaling south along the ancient Stone Age route from Oxford to the menhir circle of Stonehenge in England, we continued on to Salisbury (where we saw the cathedral and real magna carta) and Bournemouth on the coast.
• East along the English coast to the Isle of Wight and then Portsmouth
• Round trip excursion boat from Portsmouth, England to the ancient walled island Corsair town of Saint Malo, France. Pedaled along the misty rocky coast of Brittany to Saint Brieuc and back.
• Return by boat to Portsmouth and (since we had already pedaled this route once) train through London to Harwich again
• Boat from Harwich to Cuxhaven Germany and Hamburg near Lorenz's parents' home. 5 hectic days of bike tune up and preparation for the journey east to Russia
• Cycled from Bad Oldesloe to Ratzeburg and the former border between East and West Germany
• North along the old border road to Dassow (with views of former Communist watchtowers) and west along the Baltic Sea to Rostock
• Boat from Rostock to Trelleburg Sweden. Cycled along the southern coast of Sweden past idyllic fishing villages, spectacular sandy beaches and Viking graves and stone circles to Karlskrona. Sweden is Lorenz's favorite country so far
• Boat from Karlskroka to Gdynia, Poland. We are now heading east to the Mazuri Lakes and then Lithuania

Updated: February 18, 2004

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