The route

After cycling 210km from Hamburg to Flensburg alongside the west coast of Schleswig-Holstein and 320km across Denmark from Copenhagen also to Flensburg in 2016, I was seeking for another cycling milestone. Coming up with a new milestone was quite easy. 1.000km!

The question is: Where would I start such a trip? And where should it end?

Through my previous cycling challenges, I experienced that it is most motivating if the final destination is home. There is no better place than home and is for sure everyone’s comfort zone. In my opinion it also provides the best answer if someone is asking you where you are going while tripping. I’m going home.

Now I had to find a starting point that is 1.000km away from home. After a quick look on a map I had an idea. Why not just cycle the length of entire Germany? That is about 1.000km and there are so many places in my home country that I have never seen in my whole life. Born and raised in Flensburg, Germany in the very north of Germany, I have visited many places in the north but just a few in the southern part of my home country. So the idea was born.

I am not a big planner when it comes to traveling. I prefer just to go to a place and figure everything out when I am there. That approach makes me feel more independent and alive in any sense. It is one hundred percent of uncertainty and pure adventure. Traveling on a shoestring budget means that I have to come out of my comfort zone. There are no expectations about the place itself or the hotel I want to stay in. Questions about the hotels comfort, location, food or if it is going to be clean are irrelevant because I will spend the night in my tent anyways. Maybe I will be lucky and someone will offer me his couch for a night. But anyways, what will be my starting point?

There are not many places more up north in Germany than my hometown Flensburg. So why not start from the most southern point of this country which is Oberstdorf in Bavaria. It is also part of the so called Zipfelbund. The Zipfelbund is a covenant of the most northern, southern, eastern and western communities in Germany. According to Google Maps the distance between Oberstdorf and Flensburg is a little bit more than 1.000km. This is perfect! Oberstdorf will be my starting point. The route leads through the states Bavaria, Thuringia, Hesse, Lower Saxony, Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein. There are no restrictions on that route, I will just pedal direction north. A detour at every single crossroad is possible. If I will feel the need to turn left or right, I will do so.

Maybe I will take a ride with the Nebelhornbahn in Oberstdorf to the top of the mountain Nebelhorn and then just use the push from up there and roll down the entire way to the flat lands in the north to Flensburg. That sounds pretty convenient and doable. Doesn’t it?