Day 22 - 27 Calafat to Bela Crkva (Serbia). 319km (total 1206km)

Ahoy!
Thats what I always say.  They keyboard is Serbian, so advance apologies for this taking me so long. Not that you'll notice, obviously.  Its john this time, by the way, after a long time off the keys.  I lost the mojo for writing them, so lets see how this goes.

Romanian traffic was a nightmare. ROADHOGS!

As i told you, (via a clue), we are now sat in Serbia! That's exciting.  We've covered a lot of Km's since the last post, at least it feels that way.  We're working things out, working out our pace and meeting people with more information about roads ahead.  Its been physically harder than id thought (my age???? I hope not), due to the heat, which is way over 30 every day, and near the 40 mark sometimes. This puts the pressures on the body, but also mentally challenging.  So we've had our ups and downs, but its all part of the game isnt it.  Laura has been a right powerhouse, and handling things really well.  I put on a brave face and weep inside instead.

So we hugged the south and western Romanian border with Serbia, following the Danube.  Capitalizing on the beautiful flat and notching up the distance nicely.  Camping and accommodation has been trickier than I'd thought.  Wild/free camping is actually legal in Romania, its just a case of hiding from nosey's and the omnipresent barking dogs.  I've had enough of dogs.  Although as laura says it could have been worse, it was still annoying.  They are fast and make a lot of noise and want our food.  So we've been 'pushed' into some pretty swanky hotels for lack of choice.  Having said that, once you're checked in and showered, the pool and air-con are a welcome change to the furnace that is being outside on the tarmac. 

The scenery from Orsova and along the river, with Serbia on the other side is stunning.    Its been a beautiful ride, with mysterious Serbia keeping watch.  All the little villages we pass through continued to be friendly and welcoming, our waving arms getting almost as tired as our legs.  I did see a sign of foul play though, in this depressing crime scene...

Someone's robbed the no doubt sweet rims off this Lada

We've been meeting other cyclists, (all but one going the other way to us- did we do our research??) from all over the place.  Its great to meet people doing the same things and feeling the same pain.  Though we've been a bit privately embarrassed at the daily distances that some people manage.  We've settled at about 70-90km a day, and our latest rest-day strategy is a short 25 or 30km ride and then stop.  I feel better to get some distance done, although I know that the rush is not important.

Nice spot

Bad spot. Truck stop camping! Concrete surface, which had been nicely  heated by the roasting
sun.  The tent was like sleeping in a pizza oven.  We worked out the reason 2 days later.

We had an AWFUL nights camp the other day, leading to zero sleep and some stress to boot, which gave us an early morning start.  End result was an unintentional 80km ride on no sleep, not being able to find camping or a hotel in Romania, and opting to reluctantly push over the border into Serbia and stop where we are resting up now.  Its not ideal to go into a country on a bike, having not slept for about 36 hours, with no money, no language, and no knowledge of where to sleep.  Luckily the border guard was nice and spoke english OK, and here we are.  However! all this camping bashing is not fair, as we do like camping.  Just yet to find that 'killer spot', un-aided.   It has led to some funny nights drinking cheaper than water beer with a fine cross section of people that don't speak a single word of English, and you cant beat those kind of nights, no sir-ree!

The food is boring, as we sort of expected.  Vegetarian for Laura translates as "you will only eat salad and bread", again..  

Another drive-by mulberry raid gets messy

If our van Roo was a Romanian builder, this would be her.  NICE! I want one.

Beautiful people who took is in from a thunder and lightning rain storm and fed us coffee and
home brew prune liqueur while we dried off.  Nice!
Just catch those chickens quick!!  They had 70 rabbits too..

Post coca cola'd laura ready to jump back into the frying pan again and get moving

We are only 2 days away from Belgrade, and from there, only 6 days ish from Budapest -  Halfway point!!  Feels great.  

John

Day 15 - 21 Veliko Tarnovo to Calafat (Romania). 340km (total 887km)

Greetings from Romania!  Laura again unfortunately - John's busy sorting maps for the next section of our journey.  After a couple more rest days at a campsite near Veliko we were on our way again, this time with the Danube in mind & the border crossing to Romania.  And boy were we glad when we got there!  The hills of Bulgaria had taken their toll and I think the general down-beat nature of pretty much everyone we met had begun to rub off and we were both feeling a little depressed...

Yet all it took was a 15 minute boat trip across the Danube - once on the Romanian side everything changed and we had smiles on our faces once more.  We met 8 other bike tourers on the first day alone which was very motivating & useful for sharing route tips etc.  The pace of life in the villages we pass is slow, with horse & cart the most common form of transport, but the people are happy & love to say hello as we pass.  The (very) flat roads are amazing too, its great to be cruising along & finally notching up 80 or 90km a day.  That said, we've just met a guy from Glasgow who's doing virtually the same route as us in 3 weeks....must be all the deep fried mars bars or something.

Pictures next time, ciao for now!x    

Day 5 to 14 - Vize to Veliko Tarnovo (Bulgaria). 357km (Total - 547km)

What a difference a border crossing makes!  It definitely feels like we're back in Europe now - the mosques have been replaced with churches, the European Union flag is pretty much everywhere and tea drinking on the street seems to have been replaced by a 9am beer o clock - by the locals that is, not us. :-) 

Enjoying a LARGE bottle of Bulgarian beer

We've been in Bulgaria just over a week now and unfortunately the hospitality we experienced in Turkey seems to be a thing of the past - as we pass through the small hamlets and villages en route, we are met more with suspicious glares than friendly greetings.  That said, we had a wonderful couple of days with our friend Simon's in-laws, Keith & Sue, who moved from Lancaster to the small town of Granitovo, just north of the Turkish border, a few years back.  Having tried unsuccessfully to master Bulgarian, it was wonderful to be amongst English speakers again & felt like we'd known them for years.

Arriving in Granitovo for a well needed rest

Apart from the odd busy stretch, the route has been pretty great & taken us through lots of countryside & rolling hills.  The last 60km crossed a mountain range & thanks to a tip-off from Keith we managed to follow the river and therefore avoid the steepest routes.  That said, we still felt the strain & the reality of getting on the bike & cycling every day has really kicked in.  We're now resting up in the peaceful city of Veliko Tarnovo - a beautiful old city that apparently was once the capital of Bulgaria.

There are many horse and carts along the way

Beautiful wild flowers en-route

We've tried unsuccessfully to camp along the way - there's been no camp site so far & when we ask locals about pitching up on their land their reluctant faces tell us its best to move on.  Luckily the hotels here are very cheap, but we can't wait to get the tent up, especially after carrying it up all those hills!

One of our road-side supporters

First 500km on the clock, yay!

Next stop Romania, possibly in 3 or 4 days time, depending on where we decide to cross the Danube.  Big thanks to everyone who's sponsored us so far, the folk at New Life Foundation are in touch regularly and very grateful for all contributions :-)  www.simplygiving.com/istanbultoamsterdam 

      

Week 1 in Pics...

Day 1...leaving Istanbul at 6.30am

One of many roadside chai's along the way

Hiding from the rain

One of our host family's along the way

Cycling through the Turkish countryside

Lots of beautiful mosques

Arriving in Bulgaria

Day 1 to 4 - Istanbul to Vize (Turkey). 190km

The bicycle tour has begun, and what a start.  Leaving Istanbul at 6.30am on Tuesday with our saddle bags packed , we began our long ride home and it's been a great first few days.   It's been a loooooong time (over a year!) since either of us have done any exercise so we've been easing in gently with about 50km a day.  I'd convinced myself we'd somehow manage to avoid hills along the way but unfortunately was proven wrong - thank goodness for gears.  That said, we've enjoyed every minute & it's been beautiful scenery the whole way.

Everyone's taken great interest in our trip - whether it be beeps from passing cars to people waving us down to stop for a cup of tea.  We've been overwhelmed by the kindness of the Turkish people we've met & have barely spent any money in the past few days - cups of tea, beer, meals & even accomodation has been plentiful.  We've stayed with a farmer, his brothers and herd of water buffalo in the town of Islikar, camped in a picnic area near Alakan & stayed with Atim & his family in the village of Safaalan.  None of Atim's family spoke a word of English but we still managed to get our own room, 2 hearty meals, a tour of the village, the local Mosque opened up especially for us so we could look round, introductions to all of the neighbours & an endless supply of tea.  What more could you ask for?!  Last night we 'couchsurfed' in Vize, despite the fact that our host has gone away for the weekend - he just left us his keys & told us to make ourselves at home. 

The route has been great so far, despite the hills, one torrential downpour & our map being slightly out of date.  Today we're heading onto the town of Kirklareli and in 2 or 3 days expect to be in Bulgaria. Sorry about the lack of photos, I'm just about ready to throw this computer out of the window so better sign out before that happens.  Until next time... 






  

   

England Here We Come!

The time has finally come.....bikes have been bought, panniers packed, camping equipment assembled & our things have been reduced to 1/3.  After a wonderful couple of weeks with family, friends & strangers we're ready to set off on our next adventure.  At dawn tomorrow we'll leave the centre of Istanbul & head westward towards Bulgaria, beginning the long journey home.

The Blue Mosque, Istanbul

We're so excited to finally be heading off on the bike trip - something we've been planning & looking forward to for a very long time.  It finally became real when we bought the bikes - there's no turning back now. :-)  Lots of people have shown great interest in our trip & we must say a HUGE thanks to everyone who has visited our fundraising page so far & made a donation to New Life Foundation.  It's been a great motivation and we've been overwhelmed by the support that's been shown.

Tasty Turkish Treats

The past couple of weeks have been really wonderful & we've had such a great time seeing family & meeting new friends.  It's fair to say we've been spoilt rotten - first by John's cousin & family in Hong Kong, then by our various couchsurfing hosts and this weekend by John's folks in Istanbul.  We've also been pretty astounded by the kindness of strangers - Istanbul has no shortage of friendly people wanting to say hello and help where they can.  Yesterday on a stroll through the park, we noticed an amazing coal-fired water heater being used to heat a kettle - I asked if I could take a picture & the next thing we knew we had 4 cups of tea in our hands & a large family stood around smiling & chatting away in Turkish.  Even though neither of us could speak the other's language, it really didn't matter - we were all happy to have met the other & somehow managed to establish who was who.

Our new couchsurfing friends

Like Father Like Son

It's been a great week in Istanbul - a wonderful city rich in history with a west/middle eastern blend & plenty to see & do.  It's been great to see John's parents & although we're still loving the travels has made us excited about getting home & seeing everyone again.  First things first though - we must saddle up & be on our way.  Wish us luck!x

Goodbye Istanbul, it's been fun!

Kicking Back in Southern China...

Paddle boats in Green Lake Park, Kunming

For those eager fans who've been desperate for our next instalment we must apologise about the wait – unfortunately China doesn't seem to like our blog, or a number of other websites for that matter... I'll try not to ramble on too much, but after 3 and half wonderful weeks in one of our favourite places so far, there's a lot to share.

Lots & lots of beautiful flowers

After weeks of city hopping, the lure of rural China was great and came at just the right time... we decided to split our jaunt between 2 provinces – Yunnan and Guangxi. If anyone has seen the BBC documentary 'Wild China' (I highly recommend it to everyone) you'll understand why we were so drawn to the country, & Yunnan in particular. Home to a large percentage of ethnic minority groups, it is an area rich in diversity yet one of the poorest regions in China. The scenery is spectacular and despite the hordes of (mainly Chinese) tourists in parts, it's still easy to feel like you're in the middle of nowhere.

To our amazement, even the cities of Southern China felt laid back & peaceful compared to the frantic streets of Hanoi. Large villages with a mere 1 million people compared to the mega cities of Bejing & Shanghai, we felt at ease straight away. The only problem we had was the language barrier – a significant issue when 'dog' is dish of the day on many a restaurant menu. Our attempts at Mandarin greatly bemused many passers by, shop keepers & ticket sellers, at which point we usually resorted in pointing to the Chinese characters instead.

Even the signs in English managed to confuse us...

Definitely one of the highlights of our whole trip was the 4 days we spent hiking in Yunnan through the magnificent Tiger Leaping Gorge. Broken up by good food & cheap guest houses along the way, our days were spent hiking the mountain trails & enjoying the stunning scenery all around.

Our final week before coming to Hong Kong was spent in Guangxi province, staying at an English School in the town of Yangshuo. Using the great website Couchsurfing, we managed to bagsy ourselves free accommodation, food & drinks by leading 2hr 'English Corner' sessions with Chinese students. Somehow we managed to stay 7 days yet only do 2 English Corner classes, but still spent a lot of time hanging out with our students outside of class. We were taken on a bike ride into the beautiful countryside & to our first Asian karaoke experience at the local KTV. Lets just say John was reluctant to give up the mike once he got started...

Us & the other volunteers

We had a great time & felt really privileged to get to know the other volunteers and the students, all of whom went out of their way to make us feel comfortable & enjoy our time in Yangshuo. It was the perfect end to our time in China.

China is an incredible place & I'd definitely recommend you pay it a visit.  We only saw a small area in our short time but managed to get a good feel for the country & met some of the friendliest people we've come across on our trip.  Now in Hong Kong, with less than a week left in Asia, the focus is on our return to Europe & the bicycle tour!  We head to Istanbul on Monday where we'll be meeting John's folks and hopefully purchasing lean, mean cycling machines at a bargain price.  Fingers crossed...