Hey there, I'm planning on riding from Prague to Stockholm this June. It's about 1600km, which I plan on riding in the span of about 2-3 weeks. The route I have planned is 99% road, so I chose to go with 32mm road tyres on a Cannondale Topstone.
Since the ride will be mainly on the road and I'm riding through inhabited parts of Europe for most parts, I wanted to keep the packing to a minimum. Right now I have a 15l saddle bag, a 5l frame bag, and I'm waiting for two 7l fork bags.
My main concern is sleeping. I wanted to do a combination of Airbnb, camps, and wild camping under a tarp. Do you guys think a tarp will be sufficient for the trip, or should I somehow try to fit a small tent? I'm pretty used to camping in the wild while hiking, and I wanted to take just the tarp due to the laws regarding sleeping in a tent in the Czech Republic and in Germany (as far as I know, tarping is theoretically not considered camping, at least in Czechia). Also, does anyone have experience with mosquitoes along the sea or in inland Sweden?
I'm also open to any suggestions regarding the setup or any places I shouldn't miss during the trip 🙂
by luki99998
6 Comments
Mozzies are the main reason I haul a tent around in Germany. On warm summer nights it makes more sense to use nothing but a bivouac sack, this way you are not violating any laws in Germany. But then you get eaten alive.
Will you be riding along the Elbe river for large stretches of the way? I would recommend doing that, bc this way you don’t get killed on the road, but it would also mean a constant source of mozzies.
Do you enjoy the company of mosquitoes? If not, bring a tent.
Sweden has marvelous policies for camping, you can camp anywhere that is not in site of a house or garden. There are wind sheltersat nature reservesand parks.Often there are picnic tables and potable water, sometimes there are toilets. The wind shelters are free to use, but you are expected to share the space. Naturkarten.se has the shelters and will show what facilities are available. PM me if you want tips about Stockholm/ Södertälje / Nynasham area. Durning Covid I did a lot of camping in the area.
Okay about Airbnb in Stockholm , you can make your own decision. Stockholm has a horrible housing shortage. With the advent of Airbnb people that would normally rent out a room long term are opting for Airbnb. So just like Barcelona the short term rental scheme is causing problems.
Learn how to pack your seatbag right, when packend like in the pic you will have constant problems with it!
You will get a lot of mosquitos and midges in Sweden, but if you want to use a tarp, you could get a separate mozzy net to hang up over the head end of your sleeping bag.
For any kind of net (on tent, bivvy bag etc), make sure it is a midge or no-see-um netting. Nothing more nightmare-enducing than lying in a bivvy bag and seeing the midges crawl in through the mozzy net up close…
Hi. Are you Czech?