24th Sept - Forest in Poland to Olsztyn

Today I was totally fed up with the rain and the headwinds crossing Europe in September. I have pretty much had a headwinds for the last 2 months!

I was up with the light at 6.30 and packed up and on my bike by 8. I knew that I had a long way to go to get to my next couch surfing place (160km). It was a lovely sunny morning but after only 1 hour on the bike the rain and wind arrived.

I was soaked and ready for a break at 11 and stopped for an early lunch at a lovely little pub and had wild boar goulash with potato pancakes. I warmed up and dried off and did a bit on my blog before setting off again. It had stopped raining but was still windy and gray and hard going.

Everything feels like it is falling to pieces today - including myself! It is one year exactly tomorrow that I left the UK and I really feel like it is time to get home now and so does Xena (my lovely bicycle). She started making a terrible noise at about midday and I could not see what the problem was.

In the last few days I have fallen off my bike and ripped my cycling trousers, had to retire my cycling shorts that I have worn for the last year as they had too many indecent holes in them, broken the lens of my Go-Pro camera falling off my bike, got my phone damp and now the wireless will not work and it will not properly charge, ripped my gloves, had to throw away my biking sandals as the cleats had fallen off the bottom of one of them and the soles had broken off and my top pannier bag zips have broken so that it will not shut and everything keeps falling out!


I was fed up will constantly moving on all the time and I was missing my closest friends and family. So far in Europe only about 10% of the time has been sunny. Mostly it has been raining or gray clouds.

Although it is interesting to see how the Eastern block countries are different to the UK they are not different enough to counteract the frustration I am feeling at the moment of being cold and wet and constantly battling headwinds (which it feels like I have been doing for 2 months solidly).

Having said all of that the roads were actually very nice today and I was biking through some lovely forests. Poland so far is much more hilly than the Baltic States.

As I knew that I had 160km to do today to get to my next CS place (I did not much feel like 2 days of putting my tent up and no company in a row) I really did not want to be fighting a very strong headwind and then to be stopping every hour or so to try and fix Xena.

I did not know what was wrong with her. If it was just a noise from the ball bearings in the back wheel then that was fine and I could safely continue biking until a bike shop but the cracking sound got louder and louder throughout the day and I was worried that the frame was cracked. I just did not want to be riding her if it was likely that she broke in the middle of me riding and caused an accident.

I knew that even if I pushed to get to Olsztyn that I would not get there in the light and I did not want to push on the extra 60km on a broken bike in the dark and so I was sensible this time and when I got to Mragowo I jumped on a bus. It meant that I would get to a big city tonight so that I can try and get Xena fixed and also meet a CS person and have some company tonight. Although I had stayed with some CS people the night before last they did not really talk to me or show any interest and so the last people I had spoken to were in Lithuania 3 days ago.



It took me about 30 mins to pack up my bike and find my way to hers from the bus station but I had a good look at the old town on my way. Fortunately, my phone battery lasted long enough for me to use the GPS to get there. It was so nice to turn up to a warm welcome, a warm flat, a hot shower and food at Malgozata's in Olsztyn. I was immediately in a better mood when I got through the door.

I ate loads of food and thoroughly enjoyed her company and nattering. She is a warm, kind person. She goes to bed early and I was very happy to do so as I was tired. I had only biked 115km but it had been hard in the strong wind, rain and constantly stopping to try and fix Xena.