I stayed a day more in Berlin as I haven’t seen much from Berlin and also I just felt I need to stay one more day.
I slept almost at 2:30 am on Tuesday while I was planning to start cycling that day, so it was the reason I snoozed the alarm a couple of times, anyway it was raining and needs a lot of courage to sit on bike after 5 days. Finally I woke up at 9. While I had breakfast with Nassim I was asking her couple of times “ does it still raining?” but still it was !
No way…I should leave anyway today either it rains or not ! always it is the same while I look at something from outside, I see it hard or difficult and sometimes scary but I just need some courage to step in and as soon as I get into the situation I see it not that hard. I have some other point of view of this kind of situations. For me it means that nature is scaring me to see how strong I am or how determined, the nature does not allow weak people to enjoy and touch it, so if I am going to live in the nature and touch it, then I should be enough strong and courage. Always when I find enough courage and I put the first step, then nature changes its manner and becomes more soft and kind as it looks first.
It was 11am and I was cycling through the Berlin streets to find my way out of the city. I already knew that I wont have many cities along the way as I was going to take a small road a bit farther north from the highway to escape traffic.
It was great, so more traffic and not many cities means there is no need to go through the bicycle paths. I was on the road, the real one which I could see white lines passing under my wheels; I was feeling like a nomad again roaming the roads. I was free like a bird, like an animal in the nature free of everything but himself.
Road was quiet and smooth, so cycling there is like a meditation and I could easily concentrate on my thoughts and feeling.
my target was around 100km and in these short days it is hard to make specially in that day which I started at 11 and I already lost some hours of daytime.
While I am cycling I try to satisfy my desires of doing sport, pushing myself and hard working, so sometimes I just kill myself and it gave me such a nice feeling after I finish that hard work.
I make a target each day and I need to push myself, at the end of the day I can be proud that I did what I wanted. It is a small sample of success and this is a way I can experience success each day, a little one but still it gives me the feeling of pure success. During the time when I reach my target everyday and I feel being succeed everyday it will be a part of my personality and I get used to succeed, so there is no way to fail in any decision I make as I am used to get into the last point in whichever direction I go ! this is the training part of the journey for me and I consider it as a way to improve my abilities and strength my mind as well.
It was almost evening and still I was cycling, I still had few km to reach 100 but it was already dark.
I needed to reach a place I could buy some food and I had to reach to the first Polish city which was Kostrzyn.
I went to a gas station to buy food but everything was so expensive, even more expensive than Germany!! I was surprised. I bought some food and I paid exactly the price with some coins, but the girl gave me back almost all I gave!!! I supposed I should pay something like 5 EUR but she took just one!! Then I realized n Poland they don’t use EUR and I should also pay by ZT which is almost 5 times cheaper than EUR.
I left the city and I just could see a sign board showing direction of road no 22 which was the one I had to take.
It was the time to find a place for camping and honestly it is not easy to find a nice place when it is that dark! I just followed my senses and turned into a walking path into the bush. It was muddy and I had to push my bike to get enough away from the main road to do not hear sounds of trucks and also be bit hidden from the public. In that dark I couldn’t see anything and still my headlamp was off which I heard a sound of Chloppppp!! Something jumped into the water..!! I turned my headlamp on and I saw there is a lagoon on my right side. I walked farther where the reeds finished a big lake appeared. Later on I found out the sound of Chlopppp was from a beaver that jumped into water.
I was so happy and light. Now it was the time to choose where to camp and I had lots of choices and no hurry, so I was looking for a perfect spot which was a point with an overview to the lake and a bench facing into the lake.
I camped and I came outside gazing at the lake, few swans where passing and floating in the water and I could see the lines of waves after them.
I was going to have an amazing night and it became perfect after full moon raised. I usually pitch my tent face to the east, so I can see sun rise and moon rise when I unzip my tent.
sky was totally clear and moon was double, one in the sky the other into the lake but the lake one was breaking sometimes whenever a beaver swam from one side to the other. A magic scenery. I could stay there for whole night but I was tired and need some rest. Her I should admit that in this kind of situations I would be happier if there is someone to share that feeling and enjoy it together.
sound of gooses who were flying around that lagoon woke me up and it was the time to get back to the road no 22.
very soon I found it is not a nice idea to ride my bike in such a road as it does have no shoulder and so many trucks. I decided to move to a smaller road with less traffic. So as soon as I found a way to escape I cycled toward north into a little road. Of course in total I might have 30km more to cycle but it worth my life too!! ( now I understand the value of German cycling path !!!)
I was cycling whole day but still I couldn’t cover more than 100km as it was a bit windy and my body also was not working quite well. I felt a bit of tiredness and cramp on my legs which was quite normal. Always second day of cycling is not that pleasant!!
again it was almost dark which I start searching for a place to camp and again I followed a walking path into the forest. It was dark and I could just see a little while line on the ground and I followed it for about 500m. then I saw a place with an open space and I moved toward it. It was fine enough to camp there.
The good thing of cycling in winter in Europe is to be able to camp everywhere. Days are too short and cold, so no anyone comes out for a walk in the forest or ..etc. so I can sleep wherever I want and no one bothers me.
The third day was not pleasant at all. It was a very hard day as I had a strong head wind combining with rain and low temperature. I was feeling so cold then.
I resisted till 3pm but no longer could I continue. I had pain on my fingers. All my clothes were quite fine but I think my gloves are still not that good even I have 3 pairs of gloves for different situations but still I had pain.
I gave up at 3 after cycling 75km and I decided to stay somewhere. I needed a shelter but I didn’t find any and at last I asked an old man if I am allowed to pitch my tent in his yard? He just moved his head meaning YES!! And I camped. After I changed my clothes he came over just to see what I am doing, he had just a look and left as we had no common word to communicate.  I made a coffee in my tent which I saw a light lightening my tent, I heard someone walking toward my tent. First I thought there might be someone visiting them and it is interesting for them to see who I am what I am doing in that little house under rain.
but the guy just opened the tent himself!!! I also opened the inner tent and I saw 2 cubs outside!!! OK …the old man had called police and I had 2 cubs standing in front of me!!  The first thing the cub said was” you should go !!!” and I replied “ I already asked for permission and the old man said no problem I can stay here” but the answer was the same” NO …you should go, you are not allowed to stay here tonight” I said “ OK ..fine, I go just I need to pack” and he said “ YES ..you should do that”
He asked me to show my documents and I replied” you mean my passport?”  He got my passport to look, the first thing he said was “ Iran!!! Al-Qaida?” of course he was kidding but I felt a deep pain in my heart to see how mass media are manipulating peoples mind to show my country this way, while we have nothing to do with Al-Qaida!! I know my people, I know who I am and from where I came but honestly it is not easy to see that, the very first thing comes to people’s mind from Iran is Al-Qaida!! And this is what just media are doing for the political ambitions and people don’t think themselves. Anyway  I just smiled and I told him “I have some other documents if you are interested to see, also I have some polish documents” he said “ Polish?” he was so interested to see Polish documents which shows how people are sensitive about their country, their nationality and their language, so it was my right too to be have that pain.  I am co-operating with a Polish NGO since 2007 and I write them some articles about environment in their magazine. So I had a copy of them, I handed him those documents and he walked into the house.
I saw them from the window looking at my papers and talking.  After few minutes he came out and he said” no problem, you can stay here”
Everything suddenly changed positively into a very friendly atmosphere. The old man and a lady were standing by the door, and lady yelled “ tea? Want tea?” I smiled and said yes happily.
The cub was telling them about my journey and the km I have done or ..he gave me back the passport and he gone and I went into my house to prepare dinner.
in a short while the lady came and when I opened my tent I saw her with a plate of 4 buttered bread and a half meter hotdog!! She said” please eat !!” so kind of them. It was all the matter of trust and now we had that trust, so we could get along easily as there was no fear left for them.
I brought back the plate which she came out again with a bottle of mineral water and a blanket!! She said” it is cold” I accepted the water but no blanket as I have a nice sleeping bag and also I should use it every night because the weather is quite wet and moister, so it gets almost wet every night and I need it to use the next day as well to dry it.
the same story also in the morning and I had my breakfast there and even she gave me some sandwiches for my way.
She asked me to wait 10minutes for her husband to come as he could speak English and he wants to meet me! It was about 9am and after 30min chat with his husbands I should start again for the forth day.
It was a pleasant day, dry and a bit warm and the most pleasure was the tail wind I had. So it was easy to make 120km that day.
But again evening and searching for a place to sleep. Exactly where my bicycle computer showed 120 , there was a hotel. I was thinking it would be nice to have a warm and comfortable room to refresh myself. I went into hotel and asked for the price and she said 120zt.
I came out and continued to find a place to camp but after 2km I said to myself” hey guy..you deserve a nice night, no matter the price as you are receiving money as you need, so now you need a place to have a good rest and refresh. Otherwise you will get tired and it will be hard to keep your courage when you are tired “ I said ok if she give me the room for 25 EUR then I will go! And I returned. I told her how much it is by EUR as I don’t have zt? It was 26!! OK..I stay here tonight.
I am always surprised when something comes to my mind and I just follow it and it happens.
I am trying to learn either it is my mind to create those things or those things are already created and my mind just finds them out? There are 2 ways of confronting with this kind of thinking, if I am the one who create things in my mind, then I should be careful what to think and what to wish as they may happen and if they are already created, then I should purify my heart more to see and feel them better and quicker. So I won’t lose the time and I can go farther in my life. I should be clever.
I had internet and I could call my mum and chat a bit with friends, read emails…so nice having internet after few days.
next day started with rain but very soon it stopped and day changed to a sunny and warm day with a tail wind again. 120km cycling that day was so pleasant and I had just one more night before Warsaw.
I was cycling that day in a beautiful place, in a forest and I had a nice weather. It was the time I so light and I had a pure joy in my heart, a feeling of tenderness, lightening and cheerfully. I began to cry because of the joy I had in my heart. But the feeling does not last forever and I have to learn it…
I passed a city called Pitok and I went to a supermarket to buy some foods. I had a big desire to have some eggs!! I really wanted to have fried eggs that night with lots of butter and spices.
I passed another city and I moved into a forest but I ended to a housing complex nearby. I sneaked to bushes and pitched my tent. I didn’t want to attract any attention, so I wont scare people and I would be more comfortable myself. Because it is hard for people to trust, when they see a stranger at night around their house. It is funny that after having my coffee and dinner it was still 6pm and I had nothing to do!! I lied and I was playing Sudoku a bit and studying my map. Finally I slept at 8 and I had 10 hours to sleep.
all night long was raining and it was beautiful to hear sounds of rain on my tent. I was fine inside and the weather was not that cold, so I could just enjoy the rain and also my tent was on very dense grasses, so I was quite sure the water wont flow around the tent and it wont come under my tent as grasses will keep the water and drain it into ground.
8am and still raining. I already was ready but rain didn’t stop. No way…again I should go into it and I loaded my bicycle and began to ride under rain. Very soon rain stopped and I also took a very small road with no traffic at all. At was really cool that day and after mid day sun appeared.

It was about 3pm which I was in Warsaw cycling along the river waiting for Marcin to come and pick me.
now I am staying with Rose and Marcin. I met them first 2008 in Australia and I stayed with them for about 2 weeks. Almost 2 years later they came to my city and they were our guests for some days and again here in Warsaw I am their guest.

5 November 2012