Frogs and Thunderstorms

It took me a little while to begin to like Istanbul after arriving in the tourist area of Sultanhamet. After a stay of around nine days it was a shame to leave. The road I stayed on was much like any other backpacker centre that I have been to before, but had redeemed itself with great views of the Bosphorus, Blue Mosque and Aya Sofia. After seeing more of the city while chasing visas I began to like the place, particularly the area close to the Bosphorus.

Visas for central Asia proved fairly straight forward to obtain once I had sussed out where all the embassys were and was really a matter of hanging around drinking cay while details were processed. I managed to obtain an Uzbek, Kyrg, Azeri and Tajik visas. All I need now is a Kazak and Chinese visa that I should hopefully be able to get in Baku. The trickiest part was trying to judge when I will arrive in all the countries as most of the visas have fixed entry and exit dates. So hopefully I will not be too rushed trying to jump from one country to the next. Cost added up with Kryg being the most expensive at 120 dollars. Considering I only need two days in the country, this is rather pricey. I asked for a transit visa but they couldn't be persuaded to drop the price. Maybe I can stay longer and get my moneys worth.

The Rivers and sea front in Istanbul is extremely busy with fishermen. Most guys were catching small fish on hokkai lures but many other species are about including bass, albacore, bluefish and an array of others. Theres even a good lot of spear fishermen around the golden horn who seem to have some success.

I couldn't leave the city without having a quick dangle. Ivor the crazy Serbian guy from the hostel and I headed down to the sea front one evening and bagged around 15 small fish that we later ate. I tried livebaiting but with no luck. It was a really busy area right in the centre of town so the next day we tried a little further down the coast and again had goodluck. Unfortunately while we were both fishing an alley cat raided our bag of fish and took at least half of our catch. We still ended up with around 30 fish which we had cooked later. I managed to catch 5 on one cast but this was no match for the old boys who I saw catch up to 11 on one chuck.

Istanbul was also a good stop off as there are many other cyclists coming through the city. I met 5 or 6 other guys and ended up leaving with Kurt, an american guy and Mirjam, a dutch girl. Kurt has been touring Europe and north africa for the last 8 months and Mirjam is also on her way to Australia from Holland.

We headed up the Bosphorus to the black sea coast which we followed for the first few days. We climbed some of the steepest hills so far on the trip and had some of the best camping. We stayed a few nights on beaches and fished and snorkeled. I was pleased my leg seems to have healed and apart from a little pain seems to be ok now. For the first few days we cycled through beautiful forests and countryside full of walnut, apricot, cherry, hazelnut and mulberry trees. We saw many tortoises and meadows full of a great variety of flowers and insects.

The landscape gradully became drier and the tempertaure incresed as we headed inland towards Ankara. One road was melting badly and proved to be slow going, it was as if we were cycling in glue. The forest gave way to dry rolling mountains which meant many hills to climb but also some great downhills.

Kurt and I split from Mirjam and headed into Ankara to look for my Tajik visa and get a mozzy net. We planned to meet again in Cappadocia, south of Ankara in a few days. We managed to get into the city around lunch time and high tailed it out the next morning around 9.30 so it went pretty smoothly all in all. We even managed to find a great camping spot in the centre of the city in a small valley that hasn't been built on yet. It was an incredible view of the city at night and was very special when the call to prayer came from all the mosques across the city. A sight I think not many tourist will get to see.

The turkish people have been incredibly friendly and have plyed us with free tea and food whereever we have stopped. The guys at one petrol station gave us fruit juice, tea, biscuits, ice cream etc and even air freshners for our tents and bike cleaning towels. Mirjam even got a rose!
In Ankara we planned to cook but we left the supermarket so full we could hardly eat the turkish pizza given to us by the kebab guys up the road. We had to start refusing tea offers as we could easily end up only cycling 10km per day.

We left Ankara and got chased to Cappadocia by big thunderstorms that we somehow dodged for the two and a half days that it took us to arrive here. One day we cycled through a swarm of aphids that left our arms and clothes coated. A little later the road was covered in thousands of small frogs. There were so many that some inevitably ended up squashed under our wheels. After the frogs the storm caught us and sent us scurrying into a storm drain under the road. We brewed tea and ate biscuits before we both agreed that the storm had passed. At that moment we both nearly died of shock as a lighting bolt touched down just outside our shelter. The blast up the drain left us with ringing ears and stupid grins on our faces!

Again later we were chased by a storm and had to cross an unmade piece of road that was unbelievably muddy. After a km we both had lovely coatings of mud all over our legs and bikes. A truck driver pulled up beside us and offered us a lift to the next town. We refused and he seemed to think we were crazy and kept asking us to jump in the back but we pushed on to the hill on the far side of the mud bath. Passing cars and buses kindly splashed us with mud if we cycled too close. I managed to cycle up the hill in record time as the thunder rumbled behind me reminding me of the quickly approaching storm. We stopped in the town for cay and a small 3ft tall menace bothered us until a turkish guy chased him away for the 10th time. Of couse the storm turned and missed us so all that effort was for nothing.

We made it to Cappadocia in two and a bit days from Ankara, with one day being a new record distance for me of 152km. We passed through some beautiful mountains made up of layers of rock of many different colours including lovely pinks and greens. Cappadocia is really as nice as everyone keeps chirping on about and is full of caves, perfect for sleeping in. The area was once covered in volcanic ash that has now weathered to leave many crazy shaped landforms. Its a great place for a holiday if you have a a few weeks to spare and like walking.

We met Kokoro a Japanese cyclist in the hostel in Cappadocia who had just arrived from Japan. 23.000 km. well done!! Its been great talking to him as he has come on the same route that I'm taking. From here I will head east, possibly to Nemrut Dagi and then on to Central Asia. I'm very excited but also a little nervous!

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Bucharest to Istanbul

After a very relaxing stay at the Butterfly Villa in Bucharest we headed towards Istanbul on the 15th of May. Thanks to all the girls at Butterfly for being so kind during our stay, it really was very enjoyable. I was still feeling a bit ropey from a few days with a cold so the first day was hard going. Lack of sleep caused by drunken Austrian skateboarders also added to my sore head. Huw's parents arrived on the 20th of May in Istanbul so we planned to arrive by the morning of the 21st.

Reeds used for thatching stacked to dry in the early summer sun.

The first day we covered 140km and left Romania by ferry across the Danube to Bulgaria. It was a nice ride through some beautiful arable land full of poppies and other wild flowers. Obviously spraying the fields with herbicides isn't such a popular pastime as it is in other European countries. Farming practices changed quickly upon entering Bulgaria with hardly any flowers and less insects as most farms seem to have been combined and make use of modern machinery. Much of the farm land in Romania is still tilled by hand and horse carts are common. The Black sea coast is seeing a building boom and there's obviously a fair bit of money being made. The Bulgarians also seemed less friendly than the Romanians but so far the Turks we have met are the friendliest of the lot.

Fantastic meadows of wildflowers grow through Romania and in some parts of Bulgaria. Something that has  more or less been lost in England apart from in a few nature reserves. Traditional farming techniques and lack of herbicides allow spectacular views like this to survive.

The next three days we covered 100km+ but started to think the target of reaching Istanbul by the 21st might be a bit unrealistic. After the third day my left leg became very painful and I had to resort to operating it with my left arm which resulted in painful arms as well as a painful leg. We entered Turkey on the 19th and camped not far over the border after a celebratory beer. We only covered 70km on this day leaving around 260km to get to Istanbul in a day and a half.

Quite camping in the forests of south east Europe.   Inland  Bulgaria was certainly more pleasant than the black sea coast that was and probably still is experiencing a building boom.

Huw decided to take the Bus the next day from Kirkareli and I decided to ride the rest as it would be a shame to catch a bus for the last short stretch. I covered 140km+ on the 20th and then tried to get up early on the 21 st but after a night of hard rain that continued in the morning this proved difficult to do. I did get on the road fairly early but it proved to be one of the hardest days yet with stiff head winds and plenty of rain in my face. My leg was still pretty painful but after a few hours the pain eased up and the km count slowly crept up. I got into Istanbul around 2.30 pm so was only a few hours late of the planned arrival time.

Huw fixes the first puncture of the trip which of course had to happen in the middle of town!

It was good to have a beer and a shower and consider how far we have come in the last few months. I think the km count is around 5400 now with around 65 days on the bike. I have now just to sort out the visas for central asia and then I can scoot eastwards and will hopefully be in India for September if things go well!! I can't wait to get there and get to the beach and Cauvery for some serious fishing!

Stag beetle investigates my lens cap; a sight rarely seen back home these days.

Morning fritillary

Unfortunately Huw has decided to pull out of going the rest of the way as planned so I will go on alone, possibly meeting up with other cyclists along the way. I met Enric, a spanish cyclist here who was planning to go to China but unfortunately had to go back to Catalonia at short notice. Hope alls well at home mate! So possibly by the middle of next week I will have a handful of visas, a lot less dollars and will be able to get back on the bike and make tracks with a healed leg!

Common storks feeding on the meadows in Southern Romania.  Many electricity poles through the towns sported a shabby collection of sticks put together by one of these fellows to raise its young on!

First tree frog;  Bulgaria

Part way up a rather long and winding hill which took a  good hour or two to conquer! Beautiful beech and hornbeam with fresh new leaves covered the surrounding mountainsides.

Rouzbeth and Maria from the Butterfly Hostel, Bucharest. Highly reccomended place to stay.

The long road to Istanbul.  Huw had taken the bus to Istanbul, worried he would be late to miss the arrival of his parents. I cycled on alone and managed to arrive only  a few hours after the planned time. For a few days my my leg had been hurting badly from some unseen injury.  It usually loosened up after a few hours of cycling but still sometimes I needed to help it with a free hand when the pain got bad.  I hoped with some time spent in Istanbul collecting visas would give it enough time to heal. The morning after this photo I sheltered in my tent as a big electrical storm passed by above seemingly devoid of rain. Of course that wasn't the case and soon heavy drops started to fall which kept me leaving for a fair while.

Mirjam, Kurt, Huw and Johhny in Istanbul. Mirjam was on her way to Australia, Kurt had been cycling around Europe and Morocco for the last year or so, and Johnny was had also headed down from Netherlands. From what I had read before i started on my trip the ride into Istanbul was one of the most dangerous parts of my journey. Many cyclists would simply take the train or a bus to avoid the busy roads and some had been knocked down and even killed. Maybe I was lucky for I passed through remarkably easy. The only incident came from an impatient taxi driver who thought driving into the back of my bike would make the traffic move faster but all that happened was him getting some abuse.

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Budapest to Bucharest..Crossing the Carpathian Mountains

We left Budapest on the 19th of April and headed east out of the city towards the border town of Debrecen where we planned to cross into Romania. A cycle path took us to Cinoka and apart from lots of twists and turns it made leaving Budapest relatively easy. Unfortunately after 30-40km Huw's pedal decided to strip the thread inside the crank arm and fall off. So we back- tracked a bit and camped before hobbling back into the city in the morning for repairs. After the epoxy resin gave up, Huw tied the pedal to his foot and carried on, managing to only fall off once. It was hard work and he didn't look too happy by the time we reached BikeBase. We stayed with Imre and Gyorti and left again the next morning with a repaired bike.

Leaving Hungary behind we entered Romania from the border town of Debrecen and passed on to Oradea. The  ride across Hungary hadn't been too eventful. Hightlights had included passing around Lake Tisza and through Hortobagyi national park and wetlands.  Interesting areas with big potential for fishing and bird watching.

Things went more smoothly this time and we made good progress towards Romania. The countryside was flat with some very interesting wetlands full of many species of birds and heaving with frogs. Cranes nested on electricity poles in the middle of towns unconcerned by us pointing our cameras at them.

Overlooking  Tau lake early on in Romania and maybe getting near the time for a haircut now the days were become warmer!

We reached the border after a few days of easy riding and passed through easily after the guards had questioned us about how far we had ridden. Luckily I persuaded the bank that was closed, to change some money for us before we headed east. The first few towns were a great change to what we had seen in Hungary. As the great cyclist Hamada said, they looked like they were straight out of Robin Hood. Chickens were everywhere, along with many mangy dogs, pigs, goats and bored looking villagers. Each house had a big cage outside, full of the seasons maize harvest. We found a lovely mixed hornbeam and oak forest to camp in and had a fire and cooked roasted vegetables and sausages. Just after dark a huge bunch of wild boar came for a sniff around the tents making much noise as they foraged about.

Romania offered some beautiful camping spots.  Here in a Hornbeam forest Huw saw a lynx walk past in the early evening.  It was a beautiful area that needed more time to explore properly. Wild boar were also around and quite possibly the occasional bear.

We headed east and left the larger roads for the mountains where the cycling was harder but much more rewarding. It was beautiful scenery with lovely streams and valleys and very light traffic. Camping proved a little more tricky to find than where we had passed through before, but the spots were usually much more like we had imagined when sitting in England planning the trip.

Tired out from a long day of cycling, Huw rests in the evening sun in  a forest in northern Romania.

We wanted to climb one of the passes in the southern Carpathians but were unsure which to go for. After asking a few people it seemed that the road to Moldoveanu was closed due to rock falls or snow, so we chose to take the 67c from Sebes to the 7a where we could then carry on to Bucharest. The first day was spent slowly climbing up the mountain road. We met a Romanian couple who told us the pass was blocked by one and a half metres of snow and that we must turn back as there was no chance of getting through. We carried on for a while before camping by the Sebes River. In the moring two fly fishermen came by and we chatted for a while. One had caught a 22cm brown trout but said it was pretty hard going. Apparently Slovenia is the place to go for big trout!

Climbing through the mountains in central  Romania spectacular scenery  unfolded  around every corner. Beautiful  streams,  surrounded by woodland flowers cascaded down from the steep and heavily wooded mountain sides.  Finding drinking water was never a problem in these parts.

We carried on the next morning intending to find out how bad the road was and whether it was possible to continue over the pass. We met Mark the hydroelectric technician at Tau Lake, who in his drunken state, gave us the latest report of the road conditions. Apparently the snow covered 20km of the top of the pass..hmm!! He also told us that three motorcylists had turned back that day. We had seen five more motorcyclists ascending that morning and hoped not to see them returning later on. That afternoon they came back much to our dismay. Later we met a Romanian couple, Sylvia and his wife at Vidra lake who had turned around as the road had become too rough for their car. Sylvia kindly gave us each a 2lt bottle of schwepps which proved to be a great help later. Thanks mate..

As We neared the highest part of the mountain pass, deep snow blocked the way for  anyone that had come before us.   Most vehicles had turned back judging from tyre tracks at the the snowline and from people we had spoken to. It was easy to back track in a motorised vehicle but less so for us, for it was a lengthy detour to find an alternative route through the mountains to reach Bucharest.

So we decided to push on over the snowy pass. It was a hard decision as we had  no real idea of how far  the snow continued. It might be 2km or maybe 20km. We had enough food for a couple of days so figured as long as the snow didn't get very deep we should be able to make a good distance and hopefully make it over to the other side. We could always turn back if things started looking doubtful.

The road quickly deteriorated into a muddy and pot-holed mess but not as bad as Mark the welshman had said (he claimed it would be the worst road we had seen in our lives). The snow came in patches at first but soon the whole road was covered in a layer a foot deep. We started to push and after 3 km I walked a further km to see if things got any better, which it didn't. I returned and went to look for Huw who was nowhere to be seen. I found him 500m down the hill and helped him by carrying his bags up to my bike. We then walked 4km up the road and although the snow became deeper, we seemed to have reached the top of the mountain. We returned and set up camp in the middle of the road, completely exhausted. We hoped if it was the top we had found, then the distance down to the end of the snow wasn't too far beyond.

It wasn't all that easy to move a fully loaded  bike through  the snow.  In places it was a couple of feet deep and  clogged the wheels but at least it wasn't mud!  One of my hammock ropes rigged as a sling helped me pull the bike through..

Camping in the middle of the road proved to be a cold  affair but a very pleasant and quiet experience. 

The next morning, everything was frozen solid after a very cold night on the snow. It was the quietest place I have ever been, that is apart from the noisy flapping jays flying past at five in the morning. I couldn't get my shoes on as they were frozen solid and my socks were frozen to the ground. Luckily the coleman camp oven came to the rescue and soon my shoes were nice and snug. Huw had a new pair he had bought in Budapest for a special occasion and this was that occasion!

It wasn't just the snow that slowed our progress.  A few times we encountered fallen  trees that blocked the road.  To get past this one we managed to easily snap the brittle branches and clear a path. Others we had to unload and carry our gear over.

We set off and the going was slightly easier as the snow was still frozen from the previous night. We ended up pushing and hauling the bikes for 11km through snow and over fallen trees until we emerged on the far side of the pass to be greeted by some very fresh bear tracks in the mud by the side of the road. Luckily it was all down hill from here so I scooted off and waited for Huw lower down the hill. After a few cups of tea and a snooze Huw arrived and we carried on down towards Lake Vitra. Some of the locals seemed pretty surprised to see us coming down from the pass. We stopped for a beer to celebrate getting through and not having to return and go the long way round. It was a fine moment indeed!

'No pollution'

Over the next days headed in the direction of Bucharest and after one day in a little campsite, where we became trapped thanks to the owner plying us with local spirits to celebrate our arrival, we arrived today on the 6th of May. We are staying at the Butterfly Hostel after a bit of a mission around the city looking for a room. Nice place and now I'm going to test the bed!

'No fishing?'

It has been to brought to my attention that the signs above mean something along the lines of "too much fishing harms your health" (I bet it does with a dirty great bear about to eat you) and "don't pollute the environment". I thought they were kind warnings to us about the wild animals that we may encounter in the carpathians but i was very much mistaken.

Huw crossing the river! Although there was no need to get across it was hard to resist having a go!

Mountain stream, Carpathians

Spectacular scenery in Romania.  It was a shame  that we didn't have more time to  stop and explore the surrounding forests

Camping next to a stream that ran into a large lake. I fished and spotted some perch  which  of course were decidedly  uninterested in my spinners. Still a lovely spot with a great view. Cycling in Romania was great as it felt for the first time that we were in proper wilderness.  Like it had been in England once, bears, lynx, wolves and boar still roamed the forests.

Beautiful views and good weather through Romania

The Romanian countryside

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Budapest

We arrived in Budapest two days before Angela after an easy ride through Austria and Slovakia, along the Danube Cycle Way. The weather had improved vastly since I last wrote on here and the snow was a distant memory.

In southern Germany we had five days of cold conditions with fresh snow every morning. This made for unpleasant riding conditions on the slushy roads, with a couple of days where not too many km's were clocked. After the snow we had some rain but once in Austria the weather improved and has been on our side since. The last two weeks there hasn't been a cloud in the sky and spring has come on very quickly, all the leaves are out and the woodlands around Budapest are carpeted with flowers.

The riding has been fairly easy going with around 90km covered each day without particularly early starts.
The day after we stopped for beers in the hunting cabin we rode just ahead of a dark black sky for a few hours pleased that the snow couldn't catch us. Unfortunately after a rest I realised I had dropped my woolly hat and so back tracked for a few kilometres only to find that the hat was sat on my back panniers all along. With the clouds now threatening to catch us we sped down a big hill and cruised away pleased with ourselves only then to realise that Huw's rear rack was missing a bolt. So the snow came and we sheltered at the local supermarket and drank tea and ate lots of cakes while all the shoppers gave us funny looks!

Cycling through Europe has made me realise how impoverished the UK is in regards to it's natural history. I've seen many plant and animal species that are either extinct or very rare in the UK. I saw my first Camberwell Beauty flitting along the banks of the Danube in Austria and in Slovakia saw 15 Common Swallow Tails in a few hours. Fritillaries are everywhere and the commomer Nymphalids are around in very large numbers. Every valley in the German hills has its resident pair of Buzzards and kestrels are everywhere along with Red kites. Its been a pleasure to see Red Squirrels, wild Boar and Red Deer. There seems to be plenty of Beech martens but unfortunately the only one we saw had lost a fight with a car.

In Germany we saw the first signs of beavers and couldn't believe it first that they were so far north in Europe in such numbers and that they could chew down such large trees. Following the Danube they are present even in the large cities such as Wien and Linz. They were introduced in the 1960's and now there are 250,000 compared to the four in the UK. I didn't actually see any in the flesh until I was fishing in a big pool on the River Traisen. Two young beavers, perhaps just a couple of months old popped up only ten feet from my feet and played before climbing onto the bank, oblivious to my presence . They wrestled for a minute and then dived back in and disappeared under the bank from where they had come.

The fishing hasn't been great, actually its been abysmal! I have tried maybe ten times along the way in various rivers, mainly with lures and have had no success which isn't surprising as its been very cold. One night I had a lovely run at two o'clock in the morning using a big piece of salami as bait. By the time I had extracted myself from my cosy cocoon and got to my rod the fish was probably a few kilometres up the river. You've got to try though! Hopefully now with the better weather the water will be warmer and the fishies will be in a mood for feeding!

During the last two weeks of cycling I decided that my frame was a little small as I had been getting neck pain after around 40-50km each day. I checked a few shops in Germany for a larger one but none kept anything in stock so my father very kindly arranged for a Thorn frame to be sent to Budapest from the UK. Andras at O G Bike Shop received and held the frame until I arrived. Thanks very much mate, its much appreciated. (n.b if you need a bmx come see Andras as he's the man to talk to). I planned to build up the new bike in a park but when we were renting a bike for Angela we met the delightful Imre and Györgyi at BikeBase (www.bikebase.hu) who offered me the use of their workshop.

 This was a great help and made things much easier. (if you need to rent a bike or flat in Budapest come see these guys). We also rented a flat from them and had a very comfortable stay. Thanks guys, you have been very kind and I hope I can repay the favour one day. Thank you also to Attila from Bringavilág Sportközpont bike shop for suppling new bike bits and generally being very helpful.


The new frame feels very much better and with other minor adjustments gained from the experience over the last two months, it should make everything a bit more comfortable for the ride down to Turkey, through Romania and Bulgaria. The best bit though is that I now have a ferret sitting on my handle-bars to show us the way as we keep getting lost!

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