Cycling to Warsaw - advice on route and ferries

[iorek]

Hi,

it has recently become apparent that I may be able to cycle to visit family in Warsaw in the summer of 2025. I live in West Yorkshire, so, even more excitingly, I could do a door-to-door route, as I am only about 150 km from the Hull ferry terminal.

I use cycle.travel regularly and trust it, and so it set this route for me: https://cycle.travel/map/journey/670990. The idea is to do this in 10 days in mid/end of July. Bike with panniers (Tour de Fer), sleeping on campsites, some cooking for myself. I do not care about sightseeing, or stops in nice places, I want to see if I can do it, covering about 150 km per day. If it turns out that this is too much, I can always take the train to catch up on distance.

Could you please comment on the route? Is there something/somewhere I should avoid, or is there a better part of the route?

I also have a question about ferries (I did read the very recent thread about Hull vs Newcastle). I was thinking I would take an overnight ferry from Hull (I could cycle to it from home) and start once it arrives in Rotterdam. I somewhat naively thought it would be cheaper (current price for mid-July is close to £200 - I could fly to Manchester to Warsaw with my bike for less!) but then taking a cheaper ferry from Newcastle would require train travel there, minimising the price advantage. So I may stick to Hull - but the question is: are there any periods during the year where the prices are cheaper? Should I book the place now?

Any comments would be appreciated
IO

[Galactic]

I use cycle.travel regularly and trust it, and so it set this route for me: https://cycle.travel/map/journey/670990. The idea is to do this in 10 days in mid/end of July. Bike with panniers (Tour de Fer), sleeping on campsites, some cooking for myself. I do not care about sightseeing, or stops in nice places, I want to see if I can do it, covering about 150 km per day. If it turns out that this is too much, I can always take the train to catch up on distance.

Could you please comment on the route? Is there something/somewhere I should avoid, or is there a better part of the route?

As you say, cycle.travel is pretty trustworthy, and the suggested route looks fine to me.

Since you ask for comments, here's a few:

• This to me looks like quite a punishing route: 10 days averaging over 150km/day? I hope you've done something like this before.

• As far as I recall the Hull ferry docks at Europoort, not Hoek. Minor difference, but does change the start of your route

• The suggested route avoids big cities, which to my mind is a good thing if you just want to whiz along and not get distracted by all the wonderful things cities can offer. I think a big time saver is the way the route avoids Berlin. Berlin is a fine place to cycle through, but the stop start and accommodating other traffic (motorised or not) really eats into your average speed.

• This is certainly a bit of a boring route. Once you hit the River Elbe it's a bit more attractive, but by the time you reach Warsaw you'll be sick of pine forests (but, to be fair, there's no avoiding that whatever route you take).

• It's also a very flat route. That might be good in terms of speed, but if you fancy some low hills to break the monotony you might want to adjust the line a bit further south in west Germany.

• Presumably you're navigating by GPS? Your route pretty much ignores themed and signposted cycle routes so you'll have to rely on your own / your GPS device's navigation skills. If you did decide to follow a themed route, I'd look at the R1 which will take you from the Dutch ports most of the way to Warsaw. https://www.r1-radweginfo.de/en/

• What kind of bike are you on? It looks like you'll be hitting rough cobbles and lots of sandy tracks, perfect for a gravel bike or a tourer with fairly fat tyres (wider than 35mm would be my preference).

I also have a question about ferries (I did read the very recent thread about Hull vs Newcastle). I was thinking I would take an overnight ferry from Hull (I could cycle to it from home) and start once it arrives in Rotterdam. I somewhat naively thought it would be cheaper (current price for mid-July is close to £200 - I could fly to Manchester to Warsaw with my bike for less!) but then taking a cheaper ferry from Newcastle would require train travel there, minimising the price advantage. So I may stick to Hull - but the question is: are there any periods during the year where the prices are cheaper? Should I book the place now?

I think in your position I'd take another look at Newcastle. That ferry comes in at Ijmuiden (further up the NL coast), which saves you a few km which you can put towards the greater distance from your place to Newcastle. Also the Newcastle ferry is cheaper, and P&O (the Hull ferry) are proving themselves, once again to be not very nice: after sacking all their staff with no notice a few years ago, their parent company is now striking deals with the Russian government.

As far as times of the year goes, avoiding school holidays is always a good rule of thumb when it comes to ferry prices. Just try a few trial bookings on the website to see how prices change according to day of the week and month of the year.

You could do this route any time between March and October with relative comfort (particularly if you're staying in accommodation rather than camping), but if you don't want to cycle those distances in 30+ degree heat then I'd avoid August, but you can get those temperatures in east Germany and central Poland any time between June and September.

How are you thinking of getting back?

[iorek]

Thanks so much @Galactic, these are all very astute comments

I will be riding Genesis Tour de Fer on 38 mm tyres. I can fit into two back panniers, tent + handlebar bag, but I am not a weight weenie so I am not bothered by an extra 2 kg or so. The daily distance is the real problem and is very likely unrealistic - while I have done imperial centuries before, it was maximum over two consecutive days, with less luggage. But I will either overcome it by application of pure mental strength , or with a "take it easy" attitude when I take a train from the Polish border to Warsaw after 10 days . Or I will see if I can extend the trip to 14 days, which would be much, much easier physically.

Like you, I recognise the boringness of some parts of the route, and avoidance of cities - both are a feature, not a bug; I hope it will make me a bit faster. Heat can be a real issue in mid-July, so pine forests are very welcome, as long as the forest track is not a sandy slog... I will be navigating by GPS, I am comfortable with my Edge Explorer. Battery life will be an issue but I hope to stay each day on a proper campsite and recharge the batteries.

Thank you for the suggestion of the Newcastle ferry. I was not aware of the P&O dealings with the Russians, this immediately eliminates them from any business with me. R1 looks like a very nice route, but not for this trip - it seems all sightseeing, all the time .

Getting back is easy - I will fly back, either directly with my bike, or the bike will travel separately by road (I've done this before).

Thanks a lot again.

[simonthread]

A word from a cycling infrastructure fan writing from Poland ;)

You should know that you’ll hardly see any dedicated cycling paths on this route in Poland - about 99% of it will be public roads.

Only the very beginning will be enjoyable - as much as it can be ;) You’ll ride along the old railway cycling route (Western Lakelands Route) and cross the Oder river on a beauuuuuutiful (my favorite!) old railway bridge, which has been transformed into a cycling bridge. You can even spend the night there, just like I did! ;)





The two and only more comfortable ways of traveling east, thanks to better cycling paths, are here:



(don’t mind the arrows, they show something else - a long loop on cycling infrastructure)

Velo Baltica and the Western Lakelands Route (see the description) are the only two horizontally running cycle routes in this part of Poland. But if you choose them, you’ll need to move your entire route slightly to the north.

However, that wouldn’t be a bad idea - EuroVelo 10 in Germany is also a great route, and from Gdańsk, you could continue along the quiet roads following the Vistula River.

This first Polish region - West Pomerania - has a quite informative official website about their routes (in English) - maps, cyclist friendly places, etc:

https://rowery.wzp.pl/en

S.