We had a nasty headwind slowing our progress all day, our average speed was down at 10.7 mph, we were shattered so we had more breaks than usual. We were enjoying being able to chat to people in Romania, and were starting to feel reasonably confident in our lingistic ability when we had breakfast with a lovely old chap in a village bar, he was asking where we were planning to sleep tonight and offered us a beer, we thought he was saying that his wife had died, quite embarassing. Saw Gypsy convoys, less cheery than in children's books, a horse and cart made 2 storey with 2x2 and tarpaulin, still amazing that we were passing whole communities in a few meters of road.
Trudged on painfully slowly to the ferry crossing to Bulgaria, it took all afternoon to cross a stretch of water 200m across (we were waiting for Bulgarian teenagers on a Romanian shopping spree). We had a beer in the afternoon and remembered why we are usually so austere on the tour, legs turned to jelly after a 1/2 pint, we wobbled around something terrible for 1/2 an hour. When we finally got to Bulgaria a bored customs official decided to scan our passports, he drove 300m in his merc while we were marched along by a very friendly man with a big truncheon. This also took an age so we were glad of wedding folk band were playing just down the road. Also heard folk fiddlers practising in one of the villages we passed. I pinched dad' s I-pod to get through the last 35 miles and was glad of it, it was a real grind (still had the headwind + lots of hills). Ten mins after entering the outskirts of Sinistra we had accomodation, a beer and match of the day! so it all worked out well in the end (until we realised that Villa lost 2-0 to wigan).
kirsty
Saturday, 15 August 2009
Friday, 14 August 2009
Day 28 Friday - Turno Magurele to Giurgiu - 76 Miles
More like a holiday today! We left the hotel before 6am to beat the exhausting heat. More villages along the Danube but some with grandiose houses. Pastures filled with horses, geese, goats and sheep looked like a scen from the TV adaptation of Tess of the D'Urbavilles. We arrived in Giurgiu at 1pm already starting to wobble from the heat. Had a great meal and we have booked into a classy hotel. Things are looking up!
It has taken me a few days to get used to Romania. The early days seemed a bit scary and almosy ghoulish. Now we are focussed more on the warmth, liveliness and friendliness. Even the stray dogs seem like kindred spirits - forever wandering down long roads.
Barry
It has taken me a few days to get used to Romania. The early days seemed a bit scary and almosy ghoulish. Now we are focussed more on the warmth, liveliness and friendliness. Even the stray dogs seem like kindred spirits - forever wandering down long roads.
Barry
Days 26 and 27 - Cetate to Turnu Magurele (124 and 20 miles)
We left the hoel to lovely rain and clouds. Unfortunately, Kirsty got the first puncture of the tour - not surprising given the state of our well worn tyres.
All day we passed through villages strung out along the Danube. We were cheered along by lots of locals as we went. Children ran into the roaqd to give us high-fives as we passed. The young folk look lik trendy western Europeans. The old folk look as they probably did generations ago. We were wondering if today's younger generation will end up with the same weather beaten look. There were as many horses as cars, some left outside bars like in a western, some ridden by young lads standing up while holding the reins circus style. Many of the carts were piled up with water melons. We also saw a few gypsy caravans. The fields in between the villages were mostly growing maize and sunflowers.
Each village has a local shop and a bar, but without cooking facilities, we were unable to get away from sugar snack food which eventually results in low blood sugar when you are riding all day.
There were no hotels or lodgings in any of the villages except for one grotty exception. Rather than risk moree flea bites which have plagued Gill and Kirsty for the last few days, we pressed on and covered another 30 miles ending up in Corabia just before midnight. One hotel was locked up for the night and we couldn't find the other so we went to a nightclun until 1 am and then tried to rest on a park bench for a while to the sound of stray dogs howling and barking.
One local (a bit drunk) went to extraordinary lengths to try and get us a place to stay. We spoke in Spanish. I found it difficult to accept his unconditiional hospitality without a degree of suspicion.
This night we have seen both a big red moon and then a red sun rise in the sky - a clear sign of too many miles at night, We cycled on at 5 am to Turnu Magurele and booked in early to a hotel so that we can rest, recover and eat well before the final push to the Black Sea.
We have decided to cycle to Varna and try and take a ferry to Istanbul. Everyone has advised us not to try and cycle into Istanbul and our recent memory of cycling into Budapest has inclined us to agree. This trip has ranged from holiday to challenge to ordeal at different times. We are now trying to make decisions that will swing the end of the tour more into holiday mode.We have covered the same distance as Land's End to John O' Groats and back again. We haave roughly the saame distance as Land's End to Cheltenham still to travel.
Barry
All day we passed through villages strung out along the Danube. We were cheered along by lots of locals as we went. Children ran into the roaqd to give us high-fives as we passed. The young folk look lik trendy western Europeans. The old folk look as they probably did generations ago. We were wondering if today's younger generation will end up with the same weather beaten look. There were as many horses as cars, some left outside bars like in a western, some ridden by young lads standing up while holding the reins circus style. Many of the carts were piled up with water melons. We also saw a few gypsy caravans. The fields in between the villages were mostly growing maize and sunflowers.
Each village has a local shop and a bar, but without cooking facilities, we were unable to get away from sugar snack food which eventually results in low blood sugar when you are riding all day.
There were no hotels or lodgings in any of the villages except for one grotty exception. Rather than risk moree flea bites which have plagued Gill and Kirsty for the last few days, we pressed on and covered another 30 miles ending up in Corabia just before midnight. One hotel was locked up for the night and we couldn't find the other so we went to a nightclun until 1 am and then tried to rest on a park bench for a while to the sound of stray dogs howling and barking.
One local (a bit drunk) went to extraordinary lengths to try and get us a place to stay. We spoke in Spanish. I found it difficult to accept his unconditiional hospitality without a degree of suspicion.
This night we have seen both a big red moon and then a red sun rise in the sky - a clear sign of too many miles at night, We cycled on at 5 am to Turnu Magurele and booked in early to a hotel so that we can rest, recover and eat well before the final push to the Black Sea.
We have decided to cycle to Varna and try and take a ferry to Istanbul. Everyone has advised us not to try and cycle into Istanbul and our recent memory of cycling into Budapest has inclined us to agree. This trip has ranged from holiday to challenge to ordeal at different times. We are now trying to make decisions that will swing the end of the tour more into holiday mode.We have covered the same distance as Land's End to John O' Groats and back again. We haave roughly the saame distance as Land's End to Cheltenham still to travel.
Barry
Day 25 - Barazca to Cetate 120 miles.
We started the day on the kind of road they use in car adverts - hugging cream/gold cliffs with mountains in the background as we moved along the Danube. Drowsy, we hardly noticed how lovely it was until a good dog chase woke us up a bit. Unfortunately, we realised after a couple of miles that this wonderful road was only half built. It would degenerate into a pot-holed dirt track for a couple of miles every couple of miles. After 33 miles, we slightly desperately begged a pension owner for a cup of coffee. We ate all our turkish delight emergengy sugar ration and buzzed into Orsova totally wired. I came off my bicycle going over tram lines on a busy A road into Turno Severin and got off very lightly with grazes, bruises and a broken mudguard.
At lunch we met a French couple who were cycling towards the Black Sea. Fed up with cycling in Romania, they had decided to get the train. At that point we were almost tempted. The mad driving, poor roads, stray dogs, heat and insects have done us in a bit. Dad keeps quoting John Cooper Clarke's Health Fanatic, starting to think we may come home addicted to 'enjoying ourselves the hard way'.
We left Turno Severin after lunch expecting to do ten miles and find a bed. When we got to the town where we thought we could stay, we were told that there was nothing till Caliphat - another 60 km down the road. We psyched ourselves up for all-night riding, thinking that, by the time we got to Caliphat, everything would be long shut. Cycling into the evening darkness was brilliant. We were on the first good road we had come across in Romania. Whole villages were out on the streets. We stopped to drink cofffee in local bars and were treated like minor celebrities. We watched a man win an epic imaginary kickboxing match against the T.V. Everyone sat at the front of their houses and waved and cheered us on. Boys were racing us out of town on their bikes (they invaribly won). Shepherds on the midnight shift stopped us to chat. All in all we got a much more favourable impeseeion of Romania by night than by day.
About 25 km from Caliphat we spotted a hotel. It felt like an oasis in the desert. 120 miles in a day is quite enough and the joys of midnight riding would probably have worn thin after having to sleep in some Causescu bunker.
Kirsty
At lunch we met a French couple who were cycling towards the Black Sea. Fed up with cycling in Romania, they had decided to get the train. At that point we were almost tempted. The mad driving, poor roads, stray dogs, heat and insects have done us in a bit. Dad keeps quoting John Cooper Clarke's Health Fanatic, starting to think we may come home addicted to 'enjoying ourselves the hard way'.
We left Turno Severin after lunch expecting to do ten miles and find a bed. When we got to the town where we thought we could stay, we were told that there was nothing till Caliphat - another 60 km down the road. We psyched ourselves up for all-night riding, thinking that, by the time we got to Caliphat, everything would be long shut. Cycling into the evening darkness was brilliant. We were on the first good road we had come across in Romania. Whole villages were out on the streets. We stopped to drink cofffee in local bars and were treated like minor celebrities. We watched a man win an epic imaginary kickboxing match against the T.V. Everyone sat at the front of their houses and waved and cheered us on. Boys were racing us out of town on their bikes (they invaribly won). Shepherds on the midnight shift stopped us to chat. All in all we got a much more favourable impeseeion of Romania by night than by day.
About 25 km from Caliphat we spotted a hotel. It felt like an oasis in the desert. 120 miles in a day is quite enough and the joys of midnight riding would probably have worn thin after having to sleep in some Causescu bunker.
Kirsty
Day 24 - Risiti to Barazca
Woke up at 0330 itching madly. We were all bitten by fleas in the hotel room to the extent that Kirsty looks like a spotty adolescent.
Left the hotel at 0600a nd climbed steeply for a couple of miles to the sound of cocks crowing and dogs barking. By the time we had covered 3 miles at the outskirts of the town we had seen about 30 stray dogs, some of which decided to chase us. We had several more canine attacks as we passed through villages along our route. Beside dodging dogs, we were dodging potholes. In some places there was as much pothole as road. We also saw a dead horse lying beside the road.
After a few hours we reached the border with Serbia and then climbed for about 6 miles before decending to meet the Danube with Serbia on the opposite bank.
As we stopped for a drink in a roadside cafe, a funeral procession went by. There were about 50 mourners wearing mostly black, singing a hymn as they followed the funeral car. It was not a hearse but a black estate car decked in flowers. Strangely, for us, the coffin was open with the lid wedged alongside.
We are slipping behind our swchedule for the first time and we will have to work hard to make up the deficit over the next couple of days.
In France and Germany, we saw dozens and dozens of lycra-clad sports cyclists and lots of touring cyclists. In Romania, so far we have seen only simple bikes used for functional purposes.
Barry.
Left the hotel at 0600a nd climbed steeply for a couple of miles to the sound of cocks crowing and dogs barking. By the time we had covered 3 miles at the outskirts of the town we had seen about 30 stray dogs, some of which decided to chase us. We had several more canine attacks as we passed through villages along our route. Beside dodging dogs, we were dodging potholes. In some places there was as much pothole as road. We also saw a dead horse lying beside the road.
After a few hours we reached the border with Serbia and then climbed for about 6 miles before decending to meet the Danube with Serbia on the opposite bank.
As we stopped for a drink in a roadside cafe, a funeral procession went by. There were about 50 mourners wearing mostly black, singing a hymn as they followed the funeral car. It was not a hearse but a black estate car decked in flowers. Strangely, for us, the coffin was open with the lid wedged alongside.
We are slipping behind our swchedule for the first time and we will have to work hard to make up the deficit over the next couple of days.
In France and Germany, we saw dozens and dozens of lycra-clad sports cyclists and lots of touring cyclists. In Romania, so far we have seen only simple bikes used for functional purposes.
Barry.
Day 23 Timisoara to Resita 105 miles
Hi guys - were back in action after three very eventful days!!
What a day we have had - started off in the best hotel of the tour, chic and elegant, and then it all went downhill and descended into our worst day yet. A good title for today would be 'dogs and detours'.
By lunchtime we had cycled 70 miles and ended up in a place that should have been 35 miles. We had made a conscious decision to stay off the main roads after the stress of the previous day. There seem to be alot of Italian number plates here and mixed with the bonkers Romanian drivers makes for a lethal combination. Its scary seeing the countless elaborate memorials to perished loved ones that there are along the highways. We were actually making good time at first down the smaller roads until the road disappeared into a dirt track. Two villages and 6 miles later we were completely lost.
Added to the frustration of getting lost we had our first encounter with stray dogs - spent the rest of the day paranoid that dogs were laying in wait at every bush.
After regrouping at lunch and reassessing the situation we set off in a better frame of mind. We left the plains behind us and the countryside got alot prettier. We had reached the hills again and all the drama that they bring. The villages made quite an impression on us today. We were passing through thinking they looked abit rundown and not as stylist as the French villages but the atmosphere was brillant. The whole community seemed to be outside enjoying the cool of the evening. We are finding the Romanians hilarious and full of fun, we are getting lots of shouts of encouragement, waves and toots.
Have ended the day in an eastern block style hotel with all the glamour that this conjures up.
Gill.
What a day we have had - started off in the best hotel of the tour, chic and elegant, and then it all went downhill and descended into our worst day yet. A good title for today would be 'dogs and detours'.
By lunchtime we had cycled 70 miles and ended up in a place that should have been 35 miles. We had made a conscious decision to stay off the main roads after the stress of the previous day. There seem to be alot of Italian number plates here and mixed with the bonkers Romanian drivers makes for a lethal combination. Its scary seeing the countless elaborate memorials to perished loved ones that there are along the highways. We were actually making good time at first down the smaller roads until the road disappeared into a dirt track. Two villages and 6 miles later we were completely lost.
Added to the frustration of getting lost we had our first encounter with stray dogs - spent the rest of the day paranoid that dogs were laying in wait at every bush.
After regrouping at lunch and reassessing the situation we set off in a better frame of mind. We left the plains behind us and the countryside got alot prettier. We had reached the hills again and all the drama that they bring. The villages made quite an impression on us today. We were passing through thinking they looked abit rundown and not as stylist as the French villages but the atmosphere was brillant. The whole community seemed to be outside enjoying the cool of the evening. We are finding the Romanians hilarious and full of fun, we are getting lots of shouts of encouragement, waves and toots.
Have ended the day in an eastern block style hotel with all the glamour that this conjures up.
Gill.
Saturday, 8 August 2009
Mako to Timosoara 60 miles
Have been reading too many adventure stories on this tour, Don Quixote and Moby Dick have scrambled my brains. I don't feel at all ready to leave the saddle in 9 days time and have spent the day scheming about possible bike tour extensions. I quite fancy a mini pilgrimage to the Tempio Malatestiano in Rimini but it all looks a bit more logistically difficult than I thought in my bicycle daydream haze. Should probably burn adventure novels, get back to Scotland fast and pretend to do something useful for a while.
The riding was easy today, the road long, straight and dangerous, we are going to spend a few days avidly avoiding more of that sort. Timosoara is elegant, it has a famous orthodox cathedral and ornate building facades, lots of tiles, the whole town sparkles in the bright sunshine. We arrived at lunchtime so can appreciate it a bit more than some of the other lovely places we have passed through. It is baking hot now, too hot to eat or walk or do anything useful, luckilly the cafes here have sprinkler systems to drench you whilst you drink.
kirsty
The riding was easy today, the road long, straight and dangerous, we are going to spend a few days avidly avoiding more of that sort. Timosoara is elegant, it has a famous orthodox cathedral and ornate building facades, lots of tiles, the whole town sparkles in the bright sunshine. We arrived at lunchtime so can appreciate it a bit more than some of the other lovely places we have passed through. It is baking hot now, too hot to eat or walk or do anything useful, luckilly the cafes here have sprinkler systems to drench you whilst you drink.
kirsty
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