One Cycling Route, Two Wooden Maps: Hel to Gdańsk, Poland

Every custom cycling map tells the story of a particular ride, but this project was a little different. For the first time, I was asked to create two wooden maps of exactly the same cycling route — one for each of two cyclists.

The ride began at Hel, at the very end of Poland's extraordinary Hel Peninsula, and continued along the Baltic coast towards Gdańsk. The finished ride was 115 km, completed on 9 August 2026 in 5:51:44.

A Cycling Route Shaped by the Baltic Coast

The geography was what first caught my attention when I started designing this map. Hel sits at the end of the long, narrow Hel Peninsula, also known as the Hel Spit, which stretches out into the Baltic Sea and separates the open sea from the Bay of Puck.

That distinctive shape immediately became one of the defining features of the design. The cycling route begins close to the tip of the peninsula before following the coastline back towards the mainland and eventually south towards Gdańsk.

Along this part of Poland's Baltic coast are places including Jurata, Jastarnia, Kuźnica, Chałupy, Władysławowo and Puck, followed by the coastal communities towards Gdynia, Sopot and Gdańsk.

One of My Bluest Wooden Maps

Water plays an unusually large part in this design. The Bay of Puck fills much of the map, with the Hel Peninsula forming a narrow strip of land around its northern edge.

This meant painting one of the largest expanses of water I have used on one of my wooden cycling maps. Rather than being simply a background, the blue becomes a major part of the finished artwork and makes the natural wood coastline and orange cycling route stand out particularly strongly.

A small wooden start pin marks Hel at the end of the peninsula. From there, the orange route follows the coastline across the layered wooden landscape.

Building the Route in Layers

The map was created as a series of laser-cut and engraved wooden layers. Natural wood forms the land, with engraved geographical details adding texture without overpowering the route. Grey roads provide another level of depth, while the cycling route itself is picked out in Strava-inspired orange.

The low angle particularly shows how the different wooden layers sit above the painted water and how much physical depth the finished map has.

Personalising the Ride

The bottom of each map is engraved with the route title, Hel to Gdańsk, Poland, together with the date, distance and finishing time. Each cyclist's name was also engraved into their own map.

The finish is marked with another small wooden pin near Gdańsk, bringing the orange route to its end beside the personalised ride details.

Two Maps from the Same Ride

Creating two maps of the same route was something new for me. Both were produced from exactly the same design files, with the only intentional difference being the name engraved for each cyclist.

But handmade wooden maps can never be completely identical. Wood is a natural material, so the grain and tone vary from one piece to another. The hand-painted water also develops subtle variations in colour and texture. Placed side by side, the maps clearly belong together, while each remains a unique handmade piece.

Watch the Finished Hel to Gdańsk Map

Turn Your Own Cycling Route into Wooden Map Art

A memorable ride does not need to be a famous race or organised event to become a map. I can create a personalised wooden cycling map from your own GPX or Strava route, including the places, ride statistics and personal details that matter to you.

Request a free custom map mock-up and send me your route to see how your own ride could look in wood.