Across Romania

I crossed the Great Plain of Hungary and eneterd the rural north of Romania from Guyla. After spending two days cycling through nothing but villages that looked like they had come straight out of a Robin Hood film thought that Romaia was set firmly in the feudal age, then all of a sudden the quiet mountain road drops you out onto a main highway and there is a sign saying McDonalds 3km.

The trickiest part about cycling in Romania is picking the best route. Roads marked as main highways on the map can be nothing but mashed up tarmac covered in mud, while roads marked as footpaths can be smooth tarmac and easy traffic free cruising all the way. The best thing to do is ask the locals, they will understand if you ask "asphalt total?" The Plain of Hungary extends into Romania a fair way until you reach the Carpathian mountains and thats where the fun begins.

This picture is of a road that was marked yellow on my map and was the route I took to get over the mountains and avoid the main roads. The tarmac ran out after 10km and I was left with a 70km climb up a dirt track cut through the forest. By the time I realised what lay ahead it was too late to turn back and the beware of bear signs painted onto the rock walls made sure I kept a good pace. After a full day slog up this track I finally made the pass and 10 km later and was back on sweet asphalt, and awesome views all the way down the other side. Romania was getting better and better. You never know whats gonna happen next, it's an outrageous place. That night camped in woods a herd of something, and i've no idea what, came stampeding through my campsite. I thought I was dreaming at first until they started to knock into the tent.

If anyone wants to try this route head south out of Sebes down the 67c. The tarmac soon dissappears, and after about 70km you make the pass through the forest at about 1700m. Then its 10km downhill, down the same dirt track until you reach tarmac and the 7A. I headed east after that towards Voineasa over another big pass. My map showed an even higher pass, 2300m, further south towards Novaci but by the time I had reached the tarmac I had run out of food and I could only imagine the state of the track further south. There is also the Moldoveanu pass further east. I think the road is linked by a tunnel through the highest point but I couldn't get any firm details on whether the tunnel is open all year and if you can cycle it.

Sunrise over the pass.

Morning view from the bedroom window.

Later on my bottom bracket seized up. I managed to hitch back to the nearest town where I met John who drove me and the bike all round town looking for spare parts. We never did find any spares but we did find a mechanic who managed to bodge a temporary fix. 70km later it finally gave up as I was passing through a small village. While I was tinkering with the bike at the side of the road, a young man came out of the local shop and asked me in perfect English where I was from and what the was the matter. "No problem" he said, "you can stay with my grandparents and tommorrow we will drive to the next city and fix the bike."!! It seems everyone I met in Romaia couldn't do enough to help. In the end the city bike shops could do nothing for my bike, but we found Illia, an aged village bike mechanic who got me back on the road. Many people warned me be to be careful in Romania and it seems to have a very bad reputation but all that is completely undeserved.

Danny and Illia, repairing the bike Romanian style.

Danny's grand parents, Yon and Maria, who fed and cared for me while the bike was being repaired.

Budafest!!

After 19 days on the bike and about 2000km (I don't have a cycle computer so i'm guessing) I arrive in Budapest on the 25th August. First impressions of Hungary, bad roads and alot of rubbish thrown around the place. I suppose my impressions were tainted abit by the fact it was a grey, wet day. Hopefully the south we be nicer. Looking foward to a couple of days rest.
Budapest is a big, big city and not very friendly if you're on a bike. Again i'm thinking, why did I leave Bratislava? But...it's also the weekend of the Budapest Parade.






















































Sod sightseeing and looking at gothic eastern architecture. This is much better. I hope all of Hungary is like this.

Down the Danube

There is a traffic free bike lane that runs the length of the Danube river from Passau, Germany all the way into Hungary. Alot of people rave on about it. It certainly is pretty in parts ,but not everywhere. It passes through all kinds of annoying diversions, through a nudist area east of Wien and even skirts an oil refinery. Anybody can try it at any level, any daily distance. I passed old ladies, little kids and entire families as I cycled down and some of the old ladies were even as fast as me. Love it or hate it I'm glad it exists. As a quick, easy and safe way to cover distance you can't beat it but after 4 days stroking the pedals down flat, endless bike path I was glad to get off. At least you can garuntee a wash every night.





















































Slovak at last. I wasn't plannng on stopping in Bratislava but after seeing it from the border with Austria I was intrigued.
I was glad I did stop there. It's a great little city. You can cycle right off the Danube into the centre without facing any traffic..in how many capital cities is that possible? Historic, beautiful, colourful, not too busy and nice people. If you haven't been yet.....go there.





































The Slovak half of the Danube bike path is alot different from the Austrian side. Gone are all the tourists. Infact everything is gone. You will not see car or person for hours at a time. The occasional boat goes down the river. The view up the canal is endless and after 6 hrs of cycling out of Bratislava I could still see the city on the horizon behind me. At this point I'm thinking, why am am leaving Bratislava if it's so good? I guess its an obessive need to cover distance.

Germany

Germany was an unexpected highlight. The countryside was beautiful and good camp spots always easy to find. It took 6 days of glorious unwashed squalor to cross. I never thought it, but Germany will take some beating.


























Look at the size of the bike lane on this road! This was normal for Germany.





















This workers hut on a vineyard was an ideal camp spot.
Heres the view from the hut. The perfect camsite?















My rear rack broke after only 1000km. This boot lace fix seems to have worked well so far.
























Tent walour.



Some good luck for the trip from Thailand.

Calais to Luxembourg

France.


Geared up for one of many wet days through France.














The French countryside is lovely but every so often they build some huge monstrosity in middle of it.


These Belgium bikers are performing much better since I gave them a few pointers.


My tent, it's crap, but then a scouse friend gave it to me. Cheers Kingey!


Heavy metal man!














Luxembourg and the first proper bed of the trip. I was lucky to meet this german bike mechanic. Here he is giving the bike a quick tune up. Thanks Patrick.

Kiddi to France

Giving the bike the once over the day before departure.


















Man and bike ready for the off.














The not so nice road to Redditch.














A much nicer road through Oxfordshire.













The quickest way to Dover is straight across London. Don't bother trying to plan some complicated route around London, just go straight through it. There are plenty of bike lanes, it's flat and the best way to experience the sights, sounds, smells and noises of London are on a bike.



Getting very hot and sweaty battling through London rush hour.










Queing up with the trucks to get on the ferry.









Calais: Why the French allow it to exist is beyond me. I spent hours trying to get out of this hell hole but kept coming up against the motorway. Then the sun started to set and it started to rain. I had no other choice but to pitch the tent in a clump of trees about 5 meters from the motorway. The worst campsite ever? This was view from my tent in the morning.
The only way I found to escape was to pound 5 km down this motorway in the early morning.

Making my Way

After years spent thinking about it, dreaming about it and reading about other people doing it, its time to try and do it myself. This blog is about a bicycle ride from my home town, Kidderminster in England, to somewhere east of here. Route and even destination are unplanned, I've called this blog Kidderminster to the Caspian because I have some idea to get to Baku, Azerbaijan but where i'll end up and how I get there I don't really know. Winter is coming and the world seems to be falling apart so who knows.
To answer some questions I always get asked. I will be travelling alone, cycling about 120km a day and mostly sleeping in my tent.
Istanbul was always going to be my first destination. This map shows the general idea. Day dreaming will only get you so far, I can say that after 3 weeks on the road the hardest thing i've had to do was to actually leave.