1500km+ journey with R&M superdelite

eaphoto1988

New Member
Region
United Kingdom
Hi all, it has been a long time since my trip has finished, but did not have the time to share anything here. Plus, editing a month worth of photos and a video taken more time than expected.
Trip: Ferry from UK to Hook of Holland via Germany to Lithuania, Kedainiai. This was actually plan D because original one was to include Sweden after Germany, but me and my mom had some communication issues and one message with me making a typo, confused her and she took holidays for a different month (she was on strong medication after the surgery and had problems with memory so my call explaining which month I am coming went over her head). I found that out while taking a ferry from UK to Hook of Holland :D It may have even worked out better, since I spent only one week going to Lithuania and one week back giving me plenty of time with my family and friends. Plus, this was my first big trip.

Gear: Riese & Muller superdelite gt rohloff HS with Benpacker hiking trailer. Coupling had to be made custom by my engineering team at work because R&S ebikes are not designed to have a trailer (found that while trying to prepare for the trip in advance). They can have a light load and technically they do have parts, but everything can effect the back axel where the gears are, so all the red warning lights are too much while hearing what could or even had went wrong to other people. I have chosen my back rack as the most safe place to connect the trailer and it worked perfectly (kind of). One big issue was that with two wheels on the trailer and no stopping for the 360 degree spin, if I get into a bigger whole on one of the wheels, it would spin the trailer upside down. That happened about 4 times with some big damage to the weather sealing of my luggage. Apart from that and missing a ferry in Germany, had no big issues neither with the bike or trailer. ABS helped because if the trailer flipped, I never even felt being in danger because the bicycle would just carry on like nothing happened.

Main goal: plan as little as possible. I know it sounds crazy, but that was, is and always will be for my hiking, camping and any other type of trips. I Like the freedom that I lack in day to day life - at work everything is planned, daily routine is same after work, weekends mostly the same too. This is where my ecoflow delta came to help. Main reason for all the trouble having a trailer, was not just to have my tent, sleeping bag, camping gear etc. but to also have a portable charger. Because I was doing some camping and some hotels, not always had the pleasure having where to charge my ebike batteries. With the portable charger I was able to fully charge one of the batteries (625Wh) and still have enough juice to either charge the second (500Wh) half way or to charge my camera, gopro and phone. After about 3 days of cycling got into a good pace where I always had enough charge to do 100km+- and only had 2 times it did not work out fully. Once in Netherlands while trying to do 160km in one day (had 2% left after 120km and had to get a hotel that was closer) and while going through Hamburg trying to make the ferry to Lithuania. All of the days I always knew where I was going next and never planned more than 2 days in advance where I was staying. Before going to bed just do 100km radius in google maps with a halfway stop to charge (usually call in the morning of the day to ask would they allow me to charge) and do last minute changes on the fly if needed. Could call me lucky, but having 1 month holiday allowed me to make those risks and not booking anything a week ahead saved me some money (again, apart one ferry, where I had to get a hotel and buy a new ticket). Most of the places had last room and it was way cheaper booking this way. Also never had to do wild camping, because in Netherlands and Germany they would fine me up to 500 euros, but lucky for me May was not so busy with campers and had plenty of space in camp sites.

If anybody have any questions about the set up, prices, trailer, custom coupling etc. you can ask.

Here is the video if anybody is interested:
Here is the big album if anybody is interested:
 
Looks like a great adventure, thanks for sharing!

I especially like the infrastructure there for cycling as compared to here in the U.S.. I live along a very popular long distance cycling route and I feel for the folks that are doing it because it seems extremely dangerous as there are very few chances of separation from vehicle traffic a it seems a good part of your trip enjoyed.
 
Looks like a great adventure, thanks for sharing!

I especially like the infrastructure there for cycling as compared to here in the U.S.. I live along a very popular long distance cycling route and I feel for the folks that are doing it because it seems extremely dangerous as there are very few chances of separation from vehicle traffic a it seems a good part of your trip enjoyed.
Thank you for your comment. Netherlands in general was nice but expected. Everybody there were saying it won't be as good in Germany but to my surprise it was just as good just with more cycling paths deciding to end and you realise you had to cross the road since the path is now on the other side. My country on the other hand is maybe 5% cycling paths :D in bigger towns, sure. But town to town or city to city - maybe 500 meters and you are on your own with all types of cars. If this would be in all of the Europe, I would have skipped the trip all together probably. One thing that is annoying is mopeds on cycling paths... Not sure how they decided it's a good idea but they were the most dangerous thing after big lorries in my country
 
What country was it? Mopeds are legal on bike paths in Denmark only!
Both Netherlands and Germany. These were the 50CC but some of course went way faster because it was between towns areas. Also these paths were not part of the road. I knew of the scooters and mopeds when doing research about cycling in both countries.
 
It is a shocking information to me, Edgaras! It is possible that 25 km/h mopeds are allowed on some bike paths in Germany; as you know, it is very difficult to do anything illegal in Germany without getting caught and severely punished...

I'm sure it is not possible in Lithuania; it never happens in Poland, as there is no "25 km/h moped" here. (Of course, you can see yahoos on illegal e-bikes and e-scooters in Poland. My Lithuanian experience has been the police being sharp and restrictive there) :)

What was your breakdown of kilometres ridden in each country?
 
It is a shocking information to me, Edgaras! It is possible that 25 km/h mopeds are allowed on some bike paths in Germany; as you know, it is very difficult to do anything illegal in Germany without getting caught and severely punished...

I'm sure it is not possible in Lithuania; it never happens in Poland, as there is no "25 km/h moped" here. (Of course, you can see yahoos on illegal e-bikes and e-scooters in Poland. My Lithuanian experience has been the police being sharp and restrictive there) :)

What was your breakdown of kilometres ridden in each country?
I had a better tracking number but at some point I accidentally reset it. But going by Google without having exact km, this is what I ended up with:
Netherlands 240km
Germany 420km
Lithuania 250km

Both Germany and Netherlands x2 because I went both ways. Lithuania only one way since I had help transporting my stuff to the ferry by a family friend so I could save few days of cycling. Of course it does not count of times were I had to take different routes, backtrack and all the km I cycled without my gear back at home. Do remember being at Netherlands/Germany boarder and checking my distance it was a bit over 1500km. So it might have been around 1700km but I will never know because of my stupidity and sun being in my eyes - pressed reset default on my distance tracker :D
 
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