Heading to the Midnight Sun (53 | Part 3)

Heading to the Midnight Sun. A Velomobile Trip with Brigitte and Fritz.

Germany > Denmark > Norway > North Cape (Nordkapp) > Finland > Germany

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Discover HERE All the Days from "Heading to the Midnight Sun" Trip

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53. Part 3 | Helsinki - Ferry - Travemünde

In the morning, finally taking it easy until it starts to get too warm. Everything nicely wrapped up. At the campsite, a digger is already picking up the table-bench combinations and bringing them to the front. In Finland, the children have been going back to school for a few days. There is a primary school in our immediate neighbourhood. It looks like the main season is over. We set off on a good cycle path. Past the shopping centre in this suburban district. At the lovely LIDL, we get in the mood for the German assortment and buy some provisions for the waiting time at the ferry port. Then roll on to the ferry.

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Through the check-in. Corresponds to passport control and we get our boarding cards and the tickets for the various buffets, which will soon be our main occupation.

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Then we stand in the bike lane right next to the vehicles over 2.4m high. Talking a lot with others. Some want to know more about our vehicles. One would also like to sit inside. I let him and he finds it surprisingly comfortable. Maybe he'll make his way to Johann Hoy. And a participant from Turin - Nordkapp is also there from Hanover.

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Here the foremost was the participant of the long-distance trip Turin-Hanover. He travelled with the overnight option and pre-booked all the accommodation, which in retrospect he sometimes found to be a hindrance. He only started cycling on his mother's bike in the Corona era and later bought a road bike. Before his tour, all sorts of things broke down. And then he set off on the tour. If I remember correctly, 260 participants, 4,000 km, 400 € entry fee for the tracker and a cap and the welcome party, 160 to 140 should have arrived. And the guy didn't look slim like me. But he planned it quite well and then just rode. He chose robust tyres with marathons, for which he was laughed at first. But he didn't have a breakdown. The bikes were the last but one to come on board. We had to pass through the maze of the container port behind a safety car.

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On the ferry it was always very windy on deck. The view was quite nice at first. Later, it became overcast and there was not much to see.

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Apart from a bit of sunbathing in the lee, there was no great need to walk around. So we could concentrate fully on eating.

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One and a half days later arrival 21:00 h in Travemünde. Finally we can get off the ship. Then a little drama happened. Off we went. Flat tire. No, not now. Got out and pushed. Then a white van came racing up the ramp. Scolding the cyclists or just us? "That should be banned. Going on holiday with something like that."

I stopped behind his van.

He: "You have to pay a €100 fine for running around. You're not allowed to do that."

Me: "I have a flat tyre".

He: "How can that be? Why can something like that get a flat tyre?"

Me : "It's a bicycle and it just got a flat tyre. That's why I can't ride down here"

He : "We put it in here", and opens the flap, "and fold down the back seat".

Me: "No. I'll have that pumped up again in two minutes." Couldn't be a big hole, after all. I certainly wasn't going to let him throw my Alpha in there.

He: "OK, fine."

Helmet under, bike down, inflate, bike on and on we go. The campsite was only two kilometres away.

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2022 VELOMOBILE ROAD TRIP: 35 DAYS WITH BRIGITTE AND FRITZ (EN/DE/FR)