Paris to Russia: Our Napoleon Cycling Adventure

Hello from Paris! Yes, you read that title right… we are about to attempt to cycle (bi- not motor-) from Paris to the Russian border.

We love cycling as one form of exercise and enjoying the great outdoors, but we could not exactly be called ‘cyclists’. Other than our Tour de France cycling tour in 2014 (an epic adventure to be sure), we have only had occasional periods of regular cycling in between our more consistent modes of movement: hiking and skiing. So it may seem a bit (okay a lot) crazy, but our next ride far exceeds anything we have ever attempted: cycling tour group Ride and Seek’s “Napoleon”, an epic 5-week journey across Europe on bicycle. I mean, to quote Monsieur Bonaparte, ‘Europe is a molehill,’ so how hard could it be, right?

In a few days, our group of 19 riders and 5 guides will embark on a ride of historical proportions as we cycle in the footsteps of Napoleon and his almost 700,000 strong Grande Armée all the way from Paris to Russian. We’ve had some physical setbacks in the past 6 weeks that have left us much less prepared than we would have liked to be for this attempt, but our plan is to take it day by day and make the very best of it, immersing ourselves in the landscape, history and culture of the places we visit as we ride this historic route.

The History

At the age of 27 Napoleon was made commander of the French army in Italy and his exploits vastly increased France’s territory at the start of the 19th century. After defeating Egypt he sets his sights on Europe. Germany became part of the French empire, the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved, Holland and Westphalia were created, and over the next five years, Napoleon’s relatives and loyalists were installed as leaders in Holland, Westphalia, Italy, Naples, Spain and Sweden.

Conflict with Russia became imminent after Tsar Alexander I of Russia famously proclaimed, “There is no room for the two of us in Europe, sooner or later, one of us will have to bow out.” In response Napoleon assembled his Grande Armée — 690,000 troops, the largest army the world had ever seen — and began that fateful march on Russia in the winter of 1812. By the time his defeat was complete, there would be only a few thousand troops remaining. A stunning, unprecedented and complete disaster.

For those interested in a little more of the history, here’s a well-done 3-minute Timelapse of How Napoleon Nearly Conquered All of Europe.

The Route

Over the course of five weeks we will be traveling 2,300 miles (with 1 day off/week, that’s an average of over 70 mi/day) through a total of seven countries, many of which we have never visited before. After beginning in one of our most-loved cities, Paris, we will bicycle our way across the Champagne region of France into the picturesque castle clad green hills of southern Germany. Our route then takes us through UNESCO protected medieval villages in Poland to the North Sea. Just these three countries alone will take a month as we cover nearly almost 1,600 miles on bicycle!

Continuing east across Europe we will leave the bigger climbs behind and head in favor of the much more level terrain of The Baltic states: Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. These are much smaller countries than the Big 3 that came before them. They are also much more flat, which will undoubtedly be a relief to our exhausted muscles 😉 As a result, we will only be spending 2-3 days in each country.

Our trip wraps up at the city of Narva, Estonia, at the Russian border. The rest of the group will bus the remaining 100 miles into St. Petersburg, Russia for the last day of the tour. Napoleon and his army never took this city, and thanks to Russia’s pain in the a$$ visa process and no time for us to stay in Russia for more than a day, we decided that we will not either — at least not this trip. Mark and I will return to Tallinn, the beautiful capital city of Estonia and fly home from there.

France, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia…but no Russia, so that’s only 6. Where is number 7? On the fifth day, after leaving France but prior to entering Germany, we will be spending a couple of hours in Luxembourg, a small but wealthy nation…. just to say we were there!

The Adventure Begins

Tomorrow, we’ll tour Napoleon’s tomb at Les Invalides in Paris with the trip historian, Ben Kane – check him out here also… he is a well-published historical fiction writer. What a treat to have such a history expert on our trip.

Fun Fact: Ben once walked Hadrian’s Wall in England in full Roman military dress, including hobnailed boots!

Next Up:   Day 1 in Paris