Cycling from Greece to Sweden

The end of the 202020 Velomobile Challenge

The 202020 Velomobile Challenge consisted in cycling with a velomobile through as many countries, states or territories as possible during 2020. It was a personal challenge, not a competition. We were a few velonauts with different plans and my plan was to cycle through 20 countries during 2020. But the roads were closed because of the pandemic and I was only able to cycle through 17 countries. During my trip I first had to leave my velomobile in Poland and then on Crete in Greece, but I had managed to cycle from the northern most point on mainland Europe to the southernmost point of Europe on the island Gavdos in the Mediterranean sea.

My route home from Greece.

After almost ten month I returned to Crete where the nice owners of the camping in Agía Galíni had been looking after my velomobile (see previous blog entry Camping No Problem).

During these past ten months I had moved to a new house and started a new business. I was therefore not feeling as free to travel for a long period as I had been during 2020. Now I just wanted to get my velomobile home as soon as possible.

Prior to this trip I had participated in the Nordic Velomobile Tour from south of Sweden to Stockholm and the island of Gotland where I overworked my knees so much that I contracted inflammations. I had also had surgery after tearing my tendon a few months earlier, so I wanted to start this journey calmly. My plan was to ride no more than two days at a time and rest every third day. But stubborn as I am, I ended up having only two resting days plus the waiting time on the ferries. Total riding days ended up being 15 from Crete to my home in the south of Sweden, a total of 1880 km and a total of 14277 meters climbing.

I do have an electric assist for the uphills and a solar panel to charge the battery, but during this trip I only had one day with sunshine and had to charge the battery during the nights, the solar panel was most a drag that I had to cope with. My conclusion regarding the solar panel is that it is good to have in summertime when the sun is shining on it, but I should leave it at home during the winter. The e-assist is only a small help when the roads are tough and it doesn’t transform the velomobile into an electric car or moped, it is still a bicycle that requires a lot of strain to keep up the speed, the more speed I make, the less battery I use because the motor cuts of when going fast.

The photos in this entry are mainly just informative to give you an idea of how my trip was, I did take most of the photos with my mobile phone and in a rush not putting too much effort into the work. I hope you can enjoy them anyway.

Crete

I took the Quattrovelo for a spin to check that everything was okay.
I changed some wear parts and oil in the gearbox.
Lunch stop halfway between southern and northern Crete.
The campsite in Rethymno.
I had full camping equipment with me and also a tarp against the sun that I did not have to use now that it was a bit cooler. Always good with a cup of tea when you are thirsty after a ride.
I had my first day of rest in Rethymno.
On my way west, I passed the city of Chania.
Ferry rout between Crete and Peloponnese.
Tethered for seagoing on the ferry.

Peloponesse

I was in a hurry to catch a ferry between Greece and northern Italy, so I also charged the battery while eating lunch at a gas station.
By taking the ferry on the way home, I saved many days. I had already cycled along the Adriatic Sea when goin south.
The crossing to Venice took about a day and a half.
I was too stingy to book a cabin and spent most of my time on this couch. In any case, I had to rest my knees.

Italy

The back of Venice that you rarely see on postcards.
Already the first day in Italy I reached the Alps.

Ciclovia Alpe Adria – Radweg

An old railway embankment has been turned into a very good cycle path here.
I made the parachute ready to be used in the steep downhils.

Austria

Camping was closed but I was offered to camp for free if I was content with cold water in the shower.
Bicycle bridge with roof.
The whole of Austria was very hilly and as cold as in the Italian Alps.
I was the only guest on the campsites.
One of the higher passes. I was very happy to have a parachute that I could use to reduce the speed on downhills. My highest speed during the trip was 103 km/h.
River Danube.

Czech Republic

Rožmberk nad Vltavou
In this small village I stayed two nights and had my second real day of rest.
During my rest day I was able to dry my tent which was otherwise constantly wet due to condensation from the humid and cold air in the mountains.

Poland

Near the border between the Czech Republic and Poland.

At this point I was quite tired and took very few pictures in Poland. On the last day, I cycled almost 12 hours and 286.6 km with a total of 1244 m uphill. I cycled several kilometers without electric assist, which meant that I often did not make more than 3 km/h on steep uphills.

On the ferry to Sweden.
I arrived home early on October 20, tired but very happy. The body had withstood the effort. Now I just wanted to drink a lot of fluids and sleep for almost two days. 🙂

My latest reported position on MyMaps

Only updated when making long distance cycling with velomobile

This is how a velomobile works

Description made by Nina Paley.

Greetings to you all!!!

4 reaktioner till “Cycling from Greece to Sweden”

  1. Congratulations on completing your very long journey, Alve! Your photos are fascinating.

  2. Grattis Alve! Du är inspirationskälla för många av oss velonauter. Du visar vad som är möjligt att åstadkomma med våra underbara farkoster. Tack så mycket för de fina berätelser och fantastiska bilder. Hoppas vi ses där ute på vägarna!

Kommentarer är stängda.