This wasn't in 2012 but is applicable: I rode Berlin-Copenhagen. It's about 600km, took me 5 days. Credit card touring, but I still used panniers for clothes and such. Rode an undersized MTB on 26" Big Apples. It was a blast, other than catching the tail end of some hurricane. The route was very well marked and I only got lost once or twice in the cities. Absolutely no climbs to speak of, just some small rolling hills now and then. Lots of lakes, lots of forests, 80% of it was a bike path, 20% low-traffic roads. In Denmark I just wanted to get to CPH so I did 170km on the last day, getting off the paths and onto some roads, saving myself some 40km.