Nothing to Fear: The Iron Curtain Today is a Just a Bike Trail

"From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent."  These were the words of Sir Winston Churchill in a speech delivered to a crowd in the very small town of Fulton, Missouri, USA in 1946.  He foresaw the coming Cold War.  For a generation the world was separated by the “curtain” that marked the boundary lines between the free West and the Soviet-dominated East.  The curtain crumbled in 1989 literally with fall of the Berlin Wall in a chain of somewhat peaceful revolutions throughout the former Eastern Bloc. 

Today it is possible to explore the Iron Curtain by bike.  Twenty nations, many formerly part of the Soviet system, have created a bike trail that stretches an incredible 4,225 miles from Finland down to the Black Sea in Turkey.  

The trail begins in northern Finland off the Barents Sea and follows the border with Russia.  Riders must be alert, a fence still separates the two countries and much of the Russian side remains dangerous with landmines that people should assume are still live.  The trail then moves into Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania hugging the coastline the entire way.  Before dipping down into Poland the trail passes through Kaliningrad (formerly Königsberg, the city was leveled by the Soviets during World War II and rebuilt and repopulated with Russian citizens).

The trail leaves Poland and crosses the Oder River into Northern Germany in the Saxony region and then travels south into Bavaria.  This section, in the former East Germany (“GDR”) follows a “kolonnenweg” (“service military road”) for almost the entire length.  Built by the Soviets at the height of the Cold War the road would serve as the first line of defense should the West attack.  At almost 800 miles in length the road has been neglected for decades and presents challenges to riders in the forms of potholes and uneven surfaces.  It is not a trail for the skinny road tires, have some thick rubber ready for this ride.  

Along most of the route reminders of the Cold War are everywhere from long abandoned watch towers to vacant tanks and armored vehicles.  The watchtowers were first built in 1953 and construction continued well into the 1980s.  At many points the NATO-built west side towers and the Soviet-built east side towers are only 70 yards apart.  Barbed wire is still in place throughout as are concrete barricades.   The trail laves Germany, passes through the dense forest of Bohemia and into Moravia and the Czech Republic.  The Czech section of the trail is especially neglected with much of it overgrown.  Riders continue into the Slovak capital city of Bratislava crossing the Danube into Austria.  Along the way the trail comes close to Sopron, Hungary and it is here that a monument was constructed highlighting the first cut in the miles of barbed wire separating East from West symbolizing the end of the Cold War.  Much of what riders see today just off the trail are cow pastures and farm fields on both sides of the old divide.   

The trail splits along the Austro-Hungary border.  The shorter Winston Churchill Route takes riders to Trieste while the eastern trail passes through Romania, Serbia, the northern tip of Greece, and into Turkey.  

The Trail passes through and around a number of National Parks while pleasing and challenging the rider with a wide variety of flora, fauna and elevations.  Preservation projects are underway to make repairs to the trail and monuments and historical markers are unveiled routinely.  One such marker in eastern Germany reads: “Good Day, Dear Guest: You Are Standing Exactly on the Border of What Was, Until 1990, Divided Germany.”

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Here is the Trail’s official website: http://www.ironcurtaintrail.eu.