Radtour Eiserner Vorhang Tour, Teil 3 Gdingen-Asch

Five weeks of single-handed cycling holiday with accommodation in my tent and with cooking equipment, 36 days: two transport days, 26 cycle stages and eight rest days. The rest days are planned in Ustka, Świnoujście, Travemuende Priwall, Eckertal, Wahlhausen, Eisenach, Kronach and Aš. Contains four ferry crossings: Gdynia-Hel (19 km), Peenemuende-Freest (2 km) as well as the harbour crossings at Świnoujście and Warnemünde. Besides there's an opportunity to shorten the route by 17 km by taking a boat from Ludwigsburg to Greifswald. 

I'll find my accommodation mostly in my tent at campsites. On five places (in Eisenach (two nights), in Stralsund, in Wismar, in Kronach (two nights) and on the last two nights in Aš (Czech Republic) i plan to sleep at hotels, and on one place (at Eckertal, two nights, camping in nature.

I plan to cycle the trip in May/June 2023., 8th May to 12th June.

The first week in Poland I will cycle through many seaside resorts along the Polish Baltic sea coast with good holiday service in many towns and villages, but also wild nature in spacious coniferous forests and large lakes behind narrow spits towards the sea. One of them is the long peninsula of Hel, to which I go by boat from Gdynia, the only Polish city I pass through. It has one of Poland's biggest ports. Larger towns are Ustka, Kołobrzeg and the border town of Świnoujście.

The last four weeks take place in Germany, of which the first week leads along the former GDR's Baltic Sea coast. Here many holiday resorts with associated "disturbance" of nature are commonplace, but I can also mention old military installations (theme!) e.g. in Peenemünde and beautiful old Hanseatic cities such as Greifswald, Stralsund and Wismar. Nevertheless, I'll also pass through large nature reserves and national parks such as "Insel Usedom" and "Vorpommersche Boddenlandschaft". Here my route follows the well-designed and well-signposted German Baltic Sea cycle route. Parts of it runs in a low-lying and partially swampy coastal landscape with lakes and fjords, large forests and dunes. Where the route follows the Baltic Sea coast itself, the beach is mostly a fine sandy beach with dunes behind it. Large coastal forests, where the trees grow all the way onto the beach, are not rare either. Elsewhere, there are high cliffs with fine views of the Baltic Sea, unless it is foggy. But in many places I have to negotiate elongated towns and villages with seafront promenades and large hotels. Germany's coastline is relatively short for the 86 million Germans, quite a few of whom like to spend their holiday along it. That is why the nature reserves are very important. I leave out the island of Ruegen, just as I left out the Estonian islands on part 1 of the Iron Curtain route.

The last three weeks of the cycling holiday are devoted to "the inner German border". This part of the iron curtain was especially noticeable and absurd, as it cut a country in two halves. Therefore, the border course is marked in many places with memories from and about that time. It can be remnants of border fortifications such as fences and watchtowers, museums (of which I at least visit one in Schifflersgrund on the rest day in Wahlhausen) commemorative plaques and signs and even military hardware and art. I make sure to cross the border line countless times, and thus hopefully have many "border-crossing" experiences. In a few places I cycle on the original "Kolonnenweg" (patrol road), which consists of concrete slabs with holes in them. Not easy to pass with a big pack, but the border isn't felt more authentic than on these stretches.

The terrain also becomes quite challenging, especially in ridges such as the Harz and Rhön, which were cut in halves by the border with all its fortifications and means of security.  I intend to climb the eminence of the Brocken on the rest day from Eckteral, so it will be without pack. But also on the last stretch between Thuringia and Bavaria, where the main direction of the route is east, but with many large bends to the north and south, there are many hills and low mountains to climb like the Thuringia Forest and the Frankenwald, which  probably will make me sweat a lot. On the other hand, much nature with large forests and grasslands has been preserved. Towns and villages are often neat with many old houses that are looked after and cared for. Ordnung muss sein in Germany. Luckily so. In some places, I'll pass villages that were cut apart by the border, which after all divided not only Germany, but the West from the East. With capital letters. Examples are Böckwitz/Zicherie between Saxony-Anhalt and Lower Saxony and Mödlareuth between Thuringia and Bavaria.

As a matter of fact, I omit the most absurd and completely grotesque border stretch in Berlin along the "Wall". There is a cycle route here as well, which I must do as an Iron Carpet Route "Special edition" sometime.

Otherwise, I finish part 3 (after part 1 Klaidpeda-Grense Jakobselv and part 2 Klaipeda-Gdynia) shortly after the inner German border ends and the German-Czech border begins in the Czech town of Aš.

Part 4, which will run from Aš to Szeged in Hungary, close to the border with Romania, is already in the pipeline. And, God willing, I will continue one day, or rather many days, all the way to the place where the Bulgarian/Turkish border meets the Black Sea.

OUTBOUND: Train transport from Odense to Karlskrona (Sweden) with an interchange at Copenhagen central station. Short bike trip from Karlskrona central st. to the ferry port. Ferry crossing with Stena Line to Gdynia.

HOMEBOUND: Train transport from Aš 8.08 am with three interchanges at Hof Hbf, Bamberg and Hamburg Hbf. Arrival in Odense 8.18 pm