In 2024 I took part in a race across Europe – a week spent travelling from London to Tirana via a series of mystery checkpoints, with only public transport (excluding aircraft) allowed. The whole event had been organised by Lupine Racing, and shortly after my return to the UK they announced that 2025’s follow-up would be from Tallinn to Barcelona. This ultimately proved too ambitious, so it was replaced with a pair of races each starting from London: The Marrakesh Express in May, and The Baltic Brutal in August. As you can guess from the title of this post, I opted for the latter – but this time I wouldn’t be alone.
My live coverage of The Albanian Connection had found a receptive audience over on flyertalk, so much so that a number of users had been inspired to sign up for the Morocco and Tallinn instalments. This means that my own reporting this year is part of a much larger thread, where you can track how multiple teams got on (for a similar treatment of the Marrakesh Express, see here).
I only met up with the flyertalkers at checkpoints, but joining me every step of the way was my girlfriend, Scarlett. She is arguably more suited to such adventures, having previously completed wild-camping hikes across the width and length of England. Fortunately I was able to convince her of the merits of my “first class trains by day, hotels by night” approach; you can find our full polarsteps trail here.