it’s difficult to leave a place like this. after our well-deserved R&R we start early again – today, we go back to our usual very small roads, driving from village to village, from farm to farm, taking in the sights as they come. we say goodbye to my family and with this TDB2015‘s last leg back to switzerland has begun. but first we have to get back to a road with tarmac! our route then takes us direction rohrbach and eventually ried im innkreis. the setting remains very rural and we are happy to report that in austria, even the […]
TDB2015 – Day7: r&r in bad leonfelden, austria
aaah. a day dedicated to relaxation and recreation. after catching-up on family affairs until 2am (and drinking lots of very good austrian wine), i get up about 8.30am and venture outside to take in the landscape. just a mere 2km off the czech border, this place is in midst of a plateau called mühlviertel in austria. as mentioned in earlier posts, part of my family comes from austria. as a child, i spent many summers in austria – most of which were either in close-by linz or, my favourite, here, in bad leonfelden. i have very fond memories of me […]
TDB2015 – Day6: a dash across cz
another day welcomes us with brilliant sunlight. still stunningly large, our rooms seem even bigger when bathed in sunlight. check out the third room of my already large suite: everything in this hotel is large – even the smaller windows in the lobby seem like they were sourced from a church. on checking out, i was asked if i had seen the minibar policy… no, was my answer, until it was pointed out to me. 🙂 we leave legnica and follow small roads towards the czech border. slowly hills move into view and we’re really looking forward to some less […]
TDB2015 – Day5: rural poland
we start out early again – the weather promises to be as perfect as yesterday. TW560 is fully charged and ready – even with a very complicated infrastructure. getting out of bydgoszcz is quite challenging – as the bridge leading over the river brda seems to suggest 🙂 our day is magical. after a few kms on busy roads, we leave everything behind us and cross super-rural poland on single lane roads. we slowly climb towards a plateau and from there onwards we drive from sleepy village to sleepy village. everyone seems happy and content here. unlike russians, polish people […]
TDB2015 – Day4: Poland, here we come!
it’s good to be back in the twike! we start out early and make our way out of kaliningrad city. on very, very bad and bumpy roads which only get better after we leave the city behind us. we drive along the coast and through some old villages which have both old german houses and newer russian additions. this gives the villages a haphazard look – very organic 😉 some last pictures from russian territory: about 30 kms later, we arrive at the smaller of two border crossings into poland. russian formailities (not counting pictures and questions about TW560) are […]
тдб2015 – день3: Калининград
join us discovering kaliningrad on our first drive-free day during TDB2015. those only interested hard-core TWIKE action: there is a parallel universe, where one can use one’s own legs to get around town :o) after sleeping just 3 hours, i get up quite refreshed and head down to have some breakfast. the situation in the breakfast room was thoroughly russian: dozens of people in a room devoid of any interior design, filled with small tables and worn down seats probably from the 80’s. when i finally make it to the buffet, there are no plates and no forks. half the […]
TDB2015 – Day2: pushing the limits of 15.75Ah
today, we shall be – without planning for it – pushing the limits of distances which can be covered with the battery capacity available to TW560 within one day. [spoiler alert: today, we’ll be driving a whopping 542kms.] everything starts out very normal: i get up early and put some finishing touches on an entry for TDB2015. the skylights in my – frankly awesome – hotel room i forgot to close freely let in all sunlight available after sunrise at about 0400. whilst checking-out i see the electrical installations of our hotel. only *real* men could feel safe with this […]
TDB2015 – Day1: Tallin to Riga
finally: our trans-european TDB2015-tour starts today! after getting back to villa poska around midnight we both sleep very well. helped by a sunrise around 0400 we get up around 0630 and are treated to home-cooked porridge. our goal for today is to reach riga. tallin looks grand, bathed in golden sunlight – morning traffic is heavy and it takes us about half an hour to cross the city centre. leaving tallin behind us, an important task is at hand: our traditional team picture for the tour, our ninth adventure together! we venture out into the countryside on small roads, as […]
TDB2015 – prologue, part 2
today, everything we planned for tdb2015 is coming together – literally! since jc and i spent the first part of the day separately, it might make sense to see what we were up to one by one. let’s start with JC’s story we left the action with jc on a ferry to helsinki with TW560 generating quite some interest and keeping jc busy explaining what a twike is all about. the ferry arrives on time and finland welcomes TW560 for the first time. we discovered just a few hours before that the ferry ports for finnlines and the one we […]
TDB2015 prologue: go!
First update for TDB2015: JC picked up TW560 Sunday afternoon and drove to Lörrach without any problems. Currently, both TW560 and JC are on a Finnline Ferry to Helsinki – a 29 hour trip. We will meet up on Wednesday evening around 1930 at Tallin Airport, with me arriving from Rome. GPS tracking will be active sometime tomorrow evening. (When it’s no longer tracking me in Italy) We are really looking forward to our newest TWIKE adventure!