​When I was still wandering around somewhere in Lapland in snowstorms at the beginning of May and could hardly brush my teeth in the morning because toothpaste, drinking bottle and pretty much everything was frozen, I had slowly had enough of winter! From Finland I came for obvious reasons not via St.Petersburg (Russia) to Estonia, but with the ferry directly from Helsinki to Tallinn. In the Baltic States I finally found spring. Since I was increasingly on highways and expressways on the road (the offer of alternatives was very sparse!) and the landscape was pot flat, I have in between also times more than 300km a day unwound. In Latvia I was only a few kilometers from the Russian border, but my biggest problem was another: dogs! Already in the first night in Latvia I was barked at and growled at by such a beast in my sleeping bag for over an hour. An absolute horror scenario, since dogs are pretty much my biggest concern on this trip anyway. And if you think that you get used to being chased by barking monsters 5-10 times a day - about every farm - you're wrong. This is just traumatizing! And so the 310 meters high national peak of Latvia was not so easy to reach... All in all, however, a dreamlike country, with many forests, endless meadows and a fairy-tale capital!
In Lithuania, the road conditions finally got better again, but not my ideas... The highest mountain of Lithuania - itself with 293 meters height actually no big deal - is only 2 kilometers away from the border to Belarus. And so I thought, if I am already here, then I can go and have a look at it, just the border of course. To keep the story short: I took a picture of the monstrous barbed wire fence there and promptly all the surveillance cameras turned on me. Who cares if they see me, I thought to myself...? Anyway, a short time later I was arrested and taken to a military station that looked like a movie from the Soviet Union! Since everyone spoke only Russian, I didn't quite know what was going on, but at least it had a power outlet, so I could even charge my cell phone there. After a few hours, I had to sign some foreign language documents, delete all the pictures, and then I was allowed to leave....
Maybe not the most glorious idea of my career as an adventurer, but if you can't find the adventures on the 300 meter high peaks of the country, then you have to look for them elsewhere 
In Poland I was surprised by the impressive contrasts, the ugly ghettos, the modern skyscrapers and the beautiful old town of Warsaw. And I also liked Berlin quite a bit. 
Now, for the first time since Stockholm 6 weeks ago, I took a rest day and switched to summer gear. Now I am definitely ready and motivated for the last 10'000 kilometers!

...away from home. At the highest mountain in Finland, I have reached the northernmost, most remote and farthest point of my journey. The last days and weeks through Lapland in the north of Scandinavia were hard, cold, wintry, windy, wild, lonely and at the same time just beautiful!
I had adventurous days in the highest mountains of Norway, Sweden and Finland, saw many trees and lakes (always interesting!) and was quite often invited by people! :)
But now I'm glad that my journey takes me back south and hopefully into the summer. In the next 7 weeks I'm driving all over Finland, then zigzagging through Eastern Europe down to Turkey and from there over to Greece and I'm looking forward to warmer days, new countries, foreign cultures and all the adventures, experiences and encounters that are waiting for me there...