One family's European biking experience with two kids along for the ride, and tips for planning your own family bike excursion. Our family of four went on a five-week bicycle tour from Kiel, Germany to Sweden and Norway : Ulrich 1 , Bernhard 3 , Karin age not disclosed and myself. Handling luggage for four persons using only two bicycles is not so easy, but somehow we managed to store almost everything.
It contained a tent, cooking pots, dishes, rain coats and other stuff, while Karin had a waterproof Ortlieb bag holding four sleeping bags. On top of the front bags, we added some small, heavy packs as well, mostly food, cameras, and papers. In the children's trailer, we stored up to 7. For part of almost every cycling day, our children slept in the trailer. In the evening they were fit, while we were tired. But this improved with time. Even if they had slept in the trailer, the children would sleep about the same hours we did at night.
When we boarded the Stena Ferry 42 to cross to Gothenburg , no one complained that my bicycle with the three of us aboard weighed kg lbs! The sea trip was great. We slept until 6am, then Karin took her time feeding the children as I prepared the bikes for riding off the ferry. We cycled about 20 kms 32 mi from Gothenburg, leaving the city and its densest suburbs behind.
The road soon became a typical Swedish highway — the pavement was about 14 m 45'6" wide, two lanes one in each direction , with wide shoulders for cycling. Gladly, the Swedish traffic was much lighter than what we were used to on German highways.
Every campground in Sweden that we encountered had a kitchen and a washing machine and, of course, a mini golf course. Highway N led us through an almost unpopulated area, and past a few big lakes where we even drew water for drinking. The highway was quite hilly, and with my kgs weight it proved to be slow — kph mph was the usual speed. Again, we stayed for two nights. During the day they could bathe in the river and play near its bank, which was unusually wide because of the dry summer.
