Accross the bridge to Copenhagen, Denmark

From Goteborg, we caught the X2000 train, across a very long bridge between Malmo, in the south west of Sweden and Copenhagen in Denmark. Along the way, we passed an elegant windfarm of slender white windmills standing in the water. We arrived sometime in the afternoon, quickly found a cheap campground on the outskirts of the city, pitched our tent and headed back into the city for a quick look around.

For a capital city, Copenhagen is pretty small but it is very dense and exciting. It has countless cafes and restaurants, nice museums, parks scattered around, public pools in the harbour, lots of shopping if you feel so inclined and lovely streets leading to lively squares. What makes Copenhagen so remarkable though is the incredible network of cycle paths on more or less every single road in and out of the city. I have never felt so safe on a bike as here and it has made our experience really enjoyable, easy and hassle-free. One thing is certain, Sydney has a long way to go before it can claim to be a bike-friendly city.

Our time in Copenhagen could have been peaceful and lovely but of course, we had other ideas for our time here. Indeed, since boredom can be the mother of strange ideas, our time on the Trans-Mongolian was put to good use. Sitting in our cabin, thinking about the rest of our trip, we thought that it would be a bit sad to just catch a plane from Sweden back to Nice. Not feeling quite ready to be done, we wanted to savour the last moments and make them last. At the same time, we were both getting a bit sick of catching trains and buses and the result is what happens when you put two good but unstimulated brains together. We decided we would finish by bike...

Turning this idea into a reality is how we spent the last week. Riding crappy old bikes hired from the campground, we cycled around every inch of the city, going into as many bike stores as possible trying to find what would carry us home. It was quite an ordeal which required some patience and dedication but, today, one day before our grand departure, we are just about ready to go. We got ourselves some beautiful matching "His and Hers" bikes with a couple sets of Ortlieb panniers. A few other bits and pieces like shorts, gloves, helmets etc... In some respect, we are quite well set up and in others, we are improvising a little bit thinking that we can add things as we go and spread the cost a little bit.

In terms of itinerary, we have options but the idea is to follow the EuroVelo network from here to Nice through Germany, Switzerland, maybe Italy and France. Our exact route will change according to the progress we make, how we are feeling, what we want to see and so on. We are hoping that it will take somewhere between 6 weeks and 2 months, reaching Nice towards the end of September. We are really excited about seeing these countries the other way, experiencing the countryside as well as the cities and not relying on public transport. This has been a pretty incredible trip so far and this next chapter seems to us like a great way to finish, making the most of the next few weeks which will slip through our fingers like fine sand.

Wish us luck, we're going to need it! (well especially me trying to keep up with Chris...)