Day 10 - A lorry from Chelmsford at Piaskiwlk

Day 10 - Wow ! The roads are empty, and we pulled into a remote village for a break - and there was a lorry from Chelmsford ! Small village of Piaskiwlk, just after Gostyn, Poland

Day 09 - Bytom Odrzanski

Day 09 - Bytom Odrzanski, after morning coffee has revitalised us...and the names are becoming harder to pronounce !

Day 09 - in the forest near Lasocin, Poland

Lindsell's of Poland - each small town has a shop like this packed with stock, veg and meat laid out in boxes on the floor!

Day 9: Glogow

We have made it to Glogow in Poland having cycled 72miles. We crossed the German/Polish border early this morning and have been cycling through forests all day seeing hundreds of Swifts! Liz thought she spotted the first Polish stalk of the journey but it turned out to be plastic, very boring. We are all a bit shocked by the poverty of the small Polish towns compared to the affluence of Germany.

Oh and the hotel we are staying in has a dance on from 8p.m. until 3a.m, could be a late night!

Day 9: Poland!

The happy cyclists have entered Poland. Wow!

Day 08 - Coffee at Cottbus

Coffee in the AltMarkt (old market).

Day 08 - setting off

Setting off from Dessau - a shorter day, to finish at the East German border.

Day 7 - Dawn at Dessau

Jamie & Judy set off at 5:30am with only the sound of dawn dogs barking in the distance. |

Day 8

Well we continue East! Yesterday Jamie and I were up and away at 5 am because of the forecast of the dire heat - however it never materialised so we really had a very good 94 mile cycle ride - even the Germans get the forecast wrong sometimes! We are finding this area of east Germany very unique. We have met just one English person who is married to a lady from these parts. They now live in London and are just here visiting relatives. He told us that you can get here quite quickly form Stansted to Berlin then an hours train journey! Or ofcourse seven days of pedalling!

Today we have had a short journey just 40 miles so we decided to leave the roads and follow the forest tracks really fun.

I think one of the most remarkable things about this ride so far is that we have been on cycle tracks virtually from the Hook of Holland to here at Forst. So we will see how geared up Poland is for cyclists tomorrow!

Day 7: Dessau to Lubbenau

The intrepid cyclers continue their journey, this update is via text,

We set off at 5AM in order to avoid as much of the heat as possible as the forecast shows temperatures around 39degC. By 9.20AM we have done half the ride and Jamie is enjoying some cake.

They arrived in Lubbenau just after 2PM all safe and well so happy days and another 93 miles done.

Day 6

Hi Everyone,

Finally got internet access! Ruth has been kindly updating our progress via text message.
All is going well. We seem to have hit Europe during a heat wave!
We had a gruelling ride from the Hook of Holland to Arnhem on day one, it was about 36 degrees and we cycled 104 miles! Next day we crossed into Germany and were pleased to meet up with Garry and Liz so we could dump our luggage on them. They have been great ferrying water to us and feeding us!
So we have continued east into old East Germany we have cycled through some fabulous towns including a place called Einbeck, just stunning! Extraordinary how long these places were cut off from the West! Last night we stayed at Wernigerode in the middle of the Hartz Mountains again a gem of a place!
Today we have left the mountains and yes continued east flat plains, fun villages. We spent a while enjoying air conditioning in a supermarket! On our way a farmer was spreading muck on his field and he was surrounded by kites and storks quite a sight!
So tomorrow we head for Lubbenhau and understand from the locals that the temperature is expected to rise to 39 degrees so I think an early start 5.30 am as we have about 90 miles to cycle.

Day 6 - Stassfurt

Garry psych'ing himself up for the next 2.5 hr section

Day 5 - Abbenrode

Liz, sailing along (a few kilometers behind J&J) !

Day 5 - Handorf

Really motoring after those Munchy Seeds

Munchy Seeds !

Day 5 - LangelsHeim, lunch outside the church

Day 5 A quick stop at Langelsheim for lunch

This was a very long (over 100 miles) and very hot (35 degrees), and already more than half the journey is done, before a stop for lunch