EV10: Day 18: Karwia to Władysławowo to Gdańsk

July 19, 2018 - 16 km

Instagram post:
#day18 my unlucky streak continues… 😉 I only made 2,5km before my bike carrier broke yesterday. The screw broke off in the middle, and half of the screw remains in the bike frame, to be more precise. This meant my back wheel was locked in place and I couldn’t continue.
I tried to do a first fix with zip-ties myself, the wheel was still blocked. 😑

However, as a true German I am well-insured and a member of the @adfc.de - think ADAC (Germany) or AAA (US) for bicycles.
I upgraded to a plus membership which gives me EU-wide coverage and they claim to send a bike technician or to collect you if something breaks.

So I called them and they told me to stay and DON’T MOVE so that the technician will find me. They later reconfirmed that a technician is on their way and will be with me shortly.
After 1,5h I got a phone call from a polish-speaking person… however as I only speak English, they just hung up. After 2h I called the insurance company again, and I am now told that nobody will be coming. Their Polish partner-company wasn’t able to find any bike shops and that I am now stuck on my own. That sucked big-time, #adfc #rolandassistance. 😑

So I used my McGuyver skills, re-opened the zip ties (the only ones I had left), to reuse them. This time I found a way to position them so that the wheel wasn’t locked anymore. I redistributed the weight to the other bags, and I was on my way again. Didn’t feel like a solid solution and the road was mainly cobble stone.
So after another 14km I made it to the Wladislawowo train station (the lady at the ticket booth just shrugged when I was trying to buy the ticket in English and then just closed the blinds so that I couldn’t talk to her anymore.) and finally made it to Gdansk. (You can buy tickets from the train conductor.)

I immediately fell in love with the city!! Lots and lots of old, beautiful buildings, great hostel (4-bed dorm for myself so far), great food, cool bars, and English-speaking Poles. 😊

Later at night I befriended some guys who were about to do some “urban exploring” at an abandoned shipyard, and they invited me to join.

So the day ended well and I was happy - though a little bit disappointed that I wasn’t able to cycle the last 62km to Gdansk.

#cycle2finland

I slept here.

Route