Iron Curtain route

[IDMark2]

Was just browsing and found this article, thought it might of interest to this part of the forum.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/22/iron-curtain-cycle-route-europe

 

[CopperBrompton]

Cool idea

 

[welsh dragon]

That looks like a great idea. I bet a lot of cyclists will want to do it.

 

[IDMark2]

Yes, I'd imagine it would get cooler as you travelled West to East as well.

 

[Ticktockmy]

I had looked at doing it, Starting in Northern Norway at Kirknes, but the thought of having to cycle down through Finland with its miles of undulating straight roads passing through featureless scenery having cycled in parts of finland before, put me off.

 

[Brains]

there is a bike line esterbauer book in English for the entire German section, I looked at the route and decided against it as it avoids all the interesting places and the track follows the barbed wire fence so is pretty rough

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

We cycled it down from the Barent's Sea until we fell out with it somewhere in southern Finland. Some of the Finnish gravel roads were getting to me. They are completely ungraded and follow the contours litterally and the drops and climbs were so short and steep that you only ever spent your time cycling up hill with about 5 seconds off for a downhill before the next steep uphill...

When the author did the route, he rode it south to north (we met his son & some friends cycling it) and the book was then written North to South. A lot of the directions did not work and there was no signage when we did the Finnish section 3 years ago. I have to confess that some of those straight undulating roads were 'interesting'...

Some of the more interesting ones in the far north of Finland, on the Iron Curtain Trail.

The museum at the Winter War Memorial was very definitely worth going to btw. Each stone/rock represents a soldier who died there.

 

[steveindenmark]

It looks good if you like tree spotting.

Steve

 

[robjh]

View attachment 51268

View attachment 51271

View attachment 51272

The museum at the Winter War Memorial was very definitely worth going to btw. Each stone/rock represents a soldier who died there.

View attachment 51270

Those Finnish road pictures look soooooo familiar. We did it in a camper van, but still seemed to be driving through the same forest for three days.

Agree that the Winter War museum was worth a visit. Also liked the Oulanka national park with its walking trails (through more forest) around the ravine of the Kitkajoki river, with waterfalls and cliffs and quiet pools.