The Route
I began thinking about where I would like to go on my dream trip through Europe over a year ago. I started with a long list of places I would like to see, then tried to draw a line connecting them in the most logical way possible. Changes came when I discovered a new potential restriction/obstacle in the Schengen Agreement. Below are two maps that show the route(s) I am going to try to take. Google Maps, as helpful as it may be, does not have entirely reliable routing advice for traversing the European continent, so the exact route will likely be decided on hour by hour, day by day.
I discovered that Google Maps tops out at ten sets of destinations in each custom map, so I was forced to create a second map for the latter sections of my trip. This map shows six potential routes through the Baltics. Starting from Gdansk in mid-summer, I will work my way further north through Kaliningrad for the 2018 Fifa World Cup (provided I am able to get tickets) then through Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, then into Russia for a second time. Again, this is only going to happen if I am fortunate enough to score tickets to a few World Cup matches. If I am unable to get tickets, I will bypass Russia (not entirely worth the hassle to get a visa).I have tried to create three options for my route through Finland, Sweden and Norway, all dependent on how quickly I have to leave the Schengen Zone following my second entry.The route that lies furthest north would require me to pedal and average of ~70km per day for three months straight. This is a fair bit further than my estimated distance between Calais and Athens at the beginning of my trip (avg. ~50km per day).