Ever since returning from Iceland, I felt that while my body was back home, my head was still wandering somewhere far away. So when Monika suggested taking a short five-day getaway in early August, I didn’t hesitate for a second. With almost no prep time, ideas bounced from paddling the Åland Islands to driving down to warm Slovenia. Eventually, after changing our minds a dozen times, the decision settled on loaded bikes, a lightweight tent, and… the Polish coastline.

Picking the trail was quick and decisive: Velo Baltica (EuroVelo 10/13), the Polish section of the route circling the Baltic Sea. Two simple reasons sealed it. First, the route passes practically right under our front windows - lying in bed on weekend mornings, I would watch heavily loaded touring rigs roll past and think, “I really want to do that.” Second, outside of our usual home stretch between Gdańsk and Kąty Rybackie, we had not seen the open sea or the lively buzz of coastal towns in years.

Booking train tickets at peak season on a summer weekend proved almost impossible with two bikes. Rather than fighting the system, we adjusted our start line to Koszalin, turning the setback into an advantage: five full days for just over 320 kilometers. That left ample room to pedal slow, talk for hours, and spend the afternoons pitched up near the beach.

Sunday evening was a quick packing routine. Sleeping pads and quilts packed inside panniers, the tent lashed to the rear rack, clothes stuffed into backpacks. Since we didn’t manage to get a second set of panniers in time, I stepped into the role of full-time sherpa - my bike felt noticeably heavier than I was. A 90-minute train delay on Monday morning gave us just enough time on the platform to carve the journey into daily bites: 55 to 85 km stretches, always ending near a campsite by the sea.

Over five days, the trail carried us through Mielno, Dąbki, Darłowo, Jarosławiec, Ustka, Rowy, Łeba, Karwia, and Puck, before finally rolling back into Gdańsk. Because Velo Baltica weaves inland around coastal wetlands, we skirted lakes Gardno, Łebsko, and Sarbsko, and pushed loaded bikes through the deep sand of Słowiński National Park.

Yet it was not the coastal landscape that made this ride unforgettable - it was how personal the route turned out to be.

At the end of day one, our planned campsite in Darłowo was closed, forcing us to push a few extra kilometers to Darłówko. While paying at the desk, I noticed Monia scanning the campsite with a wide smile. She pointed across the field and realized it was the very same spot where she camped with her parents exactly 20 years ago - the week I gathered the courage to send her my first text message. The date of that message was August 9; our arrival was on August 5, just four days shy of the two-decade mark.

The nostalgic coincidences kept stacking up. On Thursday, we pitched our tent in Karwia at the exact same campground where we spent our very first coastal holiday together in 2007. By Friday, when we rolled right up to our doorstep in Gdańsk, the route tempted us to push further toward the border via the Vistula ferry. But exactly three years prior, on that exact spot at the river mouth, we completed our Kraków-to-Gdańsk kayak expedition on our wedding anniversary. With so many memories converging in one ride, home felt like the best place to stop.

The Trip by Numbers Link to heading

  • Total distance: 320.07 km (with 1,085 meters of elevation gain)
  • Saddle time: ~25 hours (including hike-a-bike through coastal dunes)
  • Mechanical failures: 0 (excluding helping fix a flat for another rider)
  • Campsites: 4 (Darłówko, Rowy, Łeba, and Karwia)
  • Longest day: 82 km on the final push - Monia’s personal single-day distance record.