A 4000km Journey by Bike Following the Great Rivers of Europe
The travel bug has definitely engrained itself in me and, it seems like it is here to stay for quite a while!… This blog is now no longer going to be used; why not check out my cycling the americas trip at the following link. It’s going to be bigger and better!…
www.allthewaytothebottom.wordpress.com
enjoy!!
…the ‘allthewaytothebottom’ team…
Limestone Arches on the first day of the Danube near Donaushingen, Germany
WOW! Can’t believe that all this time has passed since I returned from Europe with the trip already seeming like a lifetime ago. When I returned from the trip I began my Teacher Training (PGCE) at Newcastle University and have been hard at work ever since and it is only now that I have had the time to sit down with a bit of time to myself… This spare time however has proven to be a dangerous thing, allowing my mind to wander through a whole host of potential ideas for yet another adventure so keep your eyes peeled for what happens next!
Me doing what I do best!
I also decided to have a browse through some of the photos from the trip and realised that I don’t really have any up on the blog at all. I have therefore added a few of my favourites below! Please feel free to comment!
Gemma hanging with the locals at the source of the Danube
Finally I have also updated the ‘How to fit your whole life on a bike’ tab so any of you guys thinking about setting off on a tour can have a good think about the kinds of things you might want to take with you!
In the meantime please feel free to get in touch if you do fancy getting out on a trip…
Me Looking a little tired with our newly found American Friends
Our trusty wheels!
Another snack break on the Danube
A rare moment of us without waterproofs on in Germany!
This is how all cycle lanes should look - Traffic Free!!!
The Road is long!!
First day of Sunshine, Arnhem Holland
The Infamous Neuschwanstein castle tucked away in the foothills of the Alps, Bavaria, Germany
Lowest point of the trip - The old (Very Rusty!!) steel bridge taking you across the border from Giu Giu, Romania to Ruse, Bulgaria. If you ever get a chance to cycle over this bridge... DON'T!!!
More food - Actually, this was the day I managed to weld sausages to the sides of our cooking pot! Not good!
Holland really Knows how to cater for Bikes!
Wandering the Hills behind the organic farm where we worked in Chervern, Bulgaria
A sunny day on the bike in Bulgaria
Sunflowers Chervern, Bulgaria
View of Thassos Island from above... it was great to finally get a bit of sunshine!
Dont touch!! Some weird looking spider, Greece
Another picture of the fairytale castle! I might put in an offer..?
Gemma getting a a quick drink..!
Tasty snacks drying out... Thassos Island, Greece
Me feeling frustrated that the climbing rope was all the way back home with so much unclimbed rock right under my nose : (
Fully loaded somewhere in Holland
New friends, farewells, bad roads and organic vegetables..!
First of all, many apologies for being so rubbish at keeping the blog updated whilst I have been away. Internet access was not always easy to find!
As some of you already know, I am now back in the UK having been travelling around Europe for 9 weeks and I have to say – It feels so good to be back! So many things have happened since my last blog entry that it would be impossible for me to tell you everything without you getting very bored (as the length of the post would make War and Peace look like a bit of light bed-time reading!). Despite this however I will try to summarise some of the best bits to give you an idea of what we have been up to…
One of the things I always enjoyed about the prospect of travelling was the potential it held to meet new people and to learn about other cultures and ways of life. For this reason bumping into Russ and Melissa was one of the best things that happened to us on the trip. What at first we all thought was going to be a few days cycling with one another actually turned into over 3 weeks! We stayed with the Americans all the way along the Danube until we hit Vienna!
Bridge over Danube near Donaueshingen (the source)
There we all are above fully wrapped up for the lovely German weather! Interestingly this photo was taken by a Canadian couple who the night before, whilst wild camping in the forest, had experienced a very close encounter with a wild boar!
After parting ways with our new-found friends the trip began to head in a very different direction with the bikes playing more of a back stage role. This was also the point of the trip where we crossed over from Western Europe and into Eastern Europe.
Medieval trains
Having spent 5 weeks in Western Europe on traffic free cycle ways arrival into Budapest and cycling on some very busy roads came as a huge shock. Despite this however nothing could have prepared us for the shock that was soon to follow… Eastern European trains!!
We decided that it would be ‘fun‘ to travel down to Greece on a train to surprise Gemmas parents who were there on holiday. If I had known beforehand however that this was going to involve (return journey included) over 60 hours on a train with an average speed of 30mph then I might have reconsidered! Actually, that’s a big lie! The week we spent in Greece was truly fantastic and it was amazing to be able to spend a whole stress free week on some warm beaches and, the snorkelling was immense to say the least! I even enjoyed the train journey in a masochistic sort of way, in-particularly on the return journey where we watched one of the most impressive lightning storms I have ever seen!
Men fishing at dusk on Thassos Island Greece
After Greece came Eastern Europe!!
I strongly believe that the places we travelled through in Eastern Europe are perfect examples of how you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover! For this reason I am going to write a separate post regarding the time we spent in Romania and, in-particularly, Bulgaria where we spent some time working on an organic farm!
In summary! Its feels great to be back and looking forward to catching up with you all in the coming weeks! Stay tuned though to find out all out about out antics in Eastern Europe! More pics to come too!
Me enjoying a litre jug of beer and a huge pretzl in the Hofbrauhaus Germany
Hey everyone! Its was going to take ages to upload individual photos so here are a few pictures of the trip so far! I apologise that the majority of them appear to be of us laughing at silly German signs (we are so Mature!!)
Miles are starting to rack up with us passing the 700 mile mark this week! And, the rain seems to have taken a downturn… for now at least! highlight of the week; asking for the menu in German and being given a packet of cards and a strange abacus type device. apparently the words are very similar! At least I tried!
Before leaving on this trip I had images of cycling through vineyards in nothing but a pair of shorts soaking up the heat of the sun in the hope of getting a little bit of a tan! The reality of the trip so far has been very different as I have spent most of my time wearing everything I packed in an attempt to keep warm!!! On arrival in Nijmegan however our prayers were answered and out came the sun and, for the past four days I have complained about how hot it is. You can’t win!
We arrived in Donaueshingen in Southern Germany last Thursday and have been following the river Danube ever since. We have covered around 600km of cycling through some of Germanys finest countryside and will continue to follow the Danube all the way to Budapest (hopefully my German will have improved by then, luckily the german word for beer is pretty much the same!)
On arrival in Germany we bumped into two Americans, Russ and Melissa, and we have been cycling with them ever since. This has been great and has probably stopped me and Gemma killing one another ; )
Will try and get some more interesting posts and pictures up when I get more time as a bit rushed now. Thanks for all the comments!
tschuss!
So then, this is my first entry since arriving here in Europe (Gemma sneaked in the last one!). So far so good. We have cycled around 200km and are just about to cross over into Germany where we will follow the river Rhine as far South as the Black Forest.
A great number of things have happened since our arrival here and we have made quite a few new friends. The friendliness of the local people also knows no bounds. This was proven by Bert (a Dutch man we asked for directions) who cycled with us for about 5 miles taking us most of the way to our campsite. I was a little surprised however when he then started praying for our protection on the roadside just as we departed!
We have eventually sourced out some decent maps for the Rhine (a task which proved to be more than a little stressful!!) so tomorrow, hopefully, we can spend more time knowing where we actually are!
As gemma mentioned on the last post, the cycling here is fantastic and sometimes hard to believe, especially when the cars stop for you and wave you on!! England and the UK have a great deal to learn!!
Well there is still a long way to go and a slighlty angry looking lady has just kicked me off this computer so i had better head off! Hope you are all well. Miss you all (even you Andy despite the comments ; ) although thanks for the Yann Martel book – amazing!)
See you in Germany and we will hopefully have some good pictures up soon!
Hi,
Quick update, we’re in a hostel in Utrect where Dan is staying (hi Dan!) and it has free internetz. Trip good so far, cycling here is IMMENSE! Flat and I think we’ve only cycled on the road about 4 times (in cycle lanes) most of the bike paths, even in the city centres are separate from the roads and bikes have priority – everywhere! They even stop for bikes! It s amazing!
Anyway we’re off for a bier and have some chats before we head back to our campsite and see if our bikes are still there. (fingers crossed!) x
Hey everyone!
Not long until the departure day now! For once it would appear that I am actually organised (…ish) and seem to have everything I need for the trip pretty much sorted.
I am pretty new to this whole blogging thing too so I apologise if it starts off a bit rubbish! Since I will be writing this on the road I will be keeping updates fairly brief and will try to capture only the best parts of the trip. I Will also be adding a few bits and bobs before I leave next week (including a few photos) so keep your eyes peeled!
See you soon!
May 26, 2011
ianrobertmcfarlane
