I had been planning another trip for May 2020, however the worldwide Corona Virus outbreak has scuppered my plans. So for the record, my intention was to fly to Helsinki (for my god daughters second birthday party – you need a trigger for any trip!) then take the ferry across the Baltic Sea (Gulf of Finland) to Tallinn in Estonia. The plan was then to cycle down through Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and then along the Curonian Spit, briefly into Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave. To get into Kaliningrad I was hoping to get my Irish passport (I applied after Brexit, but it has also been delayed, by the virus I expect). Using an EU (non UK) passport offers the benefit of a free five day E-Visa into Russia, while as a UK citizen I would need a full Visa (which I think is close to £100 and requires an “invitation”). I had a backup route to divert around Kaliningrad, but it seems like an interesting place it would have been a shame to miss it. From Kaliningrad I had planned to cycle down into Poland, initially into Masurian Lake District, which I understand is beautiful.

The trip would have coincided nicely for an extra excursion south to Warsaw, to see the Polish round of the Speedway Grand Prix (motorcycle speedway) which was conveniently being held halfway through my planned trip. Polish speedway fans are the most enthusiastic in the world, and to be in a stadium with 90,000 of them would have been amazing! I had managed to get a single ticket for the sold out event (one benefit of being a solo traveller) and think I would have got the train to Warswa, as the distances were a bit far to fit in. It is a shame to miss it, as would have been my first speedway meeting in Poland, the first GP of the season with Bartosz Zmarzlik as the 2019 World Champion (only the 3rd Pole ever). He also became Poland’s Sports Personality of the year, so it seems speedway is quite a big deal in Poland!

My planned route was to carry on into Germany and finish in Berlin, before flying home. I did a lot of planning of things to do/see on the way, so hope to take this route in the future. The speedway is provisionally re-scheduled for May 2021 and tickets are still valid, all the flights have been cancelled, and vouchers issued – hopefully BA stays afloat! However, the second birthday party will be missed forever.

Hopefully this trip will happen or at least I will find something to blog about in 2020…..[update – I didn’t :( ]