Friday 14 July 2017

Tough as old boots, Gold Award.

And finally, I would like to mention and pay tribute to this years winner of the coveted "Golden Tough as Old Boots " award.
Now I'm the first to admit that there was only a few worthy nominees, and the voter(s) a little thin on the ground, and possibly a tad biased, but nonetheless, my bird, Julia, aka Rodney, is the unanimous winner.
She pedalled in the cold, wet, windy, hot, minging hot, up hills, up long steep hills, down hills, smooth roads, rough roads, dirt roads and fell off a bit.
She camped anywhere, cooked anything anywhere, washed anywhere, peed anywhere, and above all put up with me.........all without complaining, unlike some of us.
Julia has made the trip possible, bearable, and enjoyable, and managed somehow to keep me sane and get to the end.
Thanks Rodders and here's to the next trip.


Monday 10 July 2017

Hair Care 5

Hello.
Its been 11 and a half weeks since my last hair wash.
I'm still not experiencing luscious locks, but the "sticky mat" feeling improved with less helmet wearing and more sea swimming.
I was sure I was going to treat my hair to The Grand Wash on our last day, but when the time came... I just couldn't do it.
Maybe once the cycle ride finished it was the last bit of the trip I could hold on to, (or maybe it was the fact we didn't have any shampoo and conditioner to hand).
Whatever it was, I have brought my manky head of hair home for inspection. It has been smelt and felt, and the reactions have been better than expected!
I WILL wash my hair sometime soon, but for now the bump back to earth is enough. A shiny, tangle free, sweet-smelling head of hair would just be too much to cope with...


Thursday 6 July 2017

Days 71-74

Our bodies survived this arduous ride
Our bikes have fared pretty well too,
But the biggest surprise of the whole of the trip
Is to find out The Black Sea is blue!


Shumen - The Black Sea (Varna, Bulgaria)

The heatwave gave way to a tremendous storm, clearing the air and making riding conditions, at last, extremely pleasant again. What a difference 10° makes!


I would like to tell you that our surroundings also improved - but they didn't. Tumbleweed still blew through most of the towns and villages (although a little damper now), and the condition of the roads were as they had always been, though perhaps a little quieter.


From the looks we were getting it would appear that we may possibly have been the first cyclists to use the StevieVelo route. Some folks seemed so shocked to see us they didn't know what to do so simply turned away and pretended we weren't there. Others thought it highly amusing and returned our smiles and waves.

I also have to mention here that Steve had 2 more punctures on consecutive days bringing his total on this trip to a grand 7. There are no photos of me attempting to change an inner tube because... I haven't had ANY punctures!


We passed through one gypsy village where horses and carts were parked in driveways instead of cars, and the dark, sinewy people went about their business as if we didn't exist at all. Although we would have liked to, we didn't feel comfortable asking for a photo of their transport, and didn't fancy our chances of cycling out alive if we were caught taking a sneaky picture, so you'll just have to imagine how it was.

The StevieVelo route was much hillier than we've been used to, and on one of the days the climb continued for almost an hour.
On the last day we met a fellow biker - the only other cyclist we've encountered in Bulgaria! Alberto, from Spain, joined us and it felt good to share our moment of arrival at The Black Sea with somebody else.


Foolishly he stayed with us, as the beach hut we had booked was only another 10kms south of Varna. The map didn't quite show the final descent to the beach, which was an extremely steep hill through the forest, with 58 steps to negotiate!
At times it took all of us to manhandle the bikes, but this only made our arrival (and the cold beer) even sweeter!




Now we are here in Galata, enjoying a few days rest, before negotiating the road back to Varna, which we are assured is almost as steep as the forest route!
From there we shall pack up the bikes for our flights back to UK.

It certainly doesn't feel like we've cycled over 4000kms to get here, and there is no sense of jubilation, just a little trepidation that we've nowhere left to cycle. We are definitely more sad than glad now it is all over, and are already talking about where the next trip will be...!

Monday 3 July 2017

Days 66-70

You have to be adaptable
As any traveller knows,
Sometimes the way you wish it was
Just ain't the way it goes...

 Negotin (Serbia) - Shumen (Bulgaria)




And so we made it to Bulgaria, another "hard" border-crossing, which we arrived at by 7am, and had to go looking for the border police as I don't think they expected anyone that early.
Things immediately felt more run-down; not a EuroVelo sign in sight, and all signposts were in Bulgarian with little or no translation of names, so it was a bit of a lottery to pick the right road. People were more than willing to point us in the right direction though, as if they didn't want us stopping in these depressing towns they lived in.
My first thought upon entering Bulgaria was, "how is this a country in the EU?" It seemed more 3rd world than some 3rd countries I've seen.


One image that has stayed with me is of a half finished, half falling down 3-storey brick building without windows or doors, and would-be balconies without railings, just straight drop offs.
Derelict, I thought, until a skinny dog came out and halfheartedly barked at us, and above, a level higher, through an opening appeared a very old, very bent, peasant woman. She hobbled to the edge of the balcony to see what the disturbance was.
(Obviously not much goes on here normally).
We raised our hands in greeting, unsure if she could even see properly, and hoping she knew where the edge of the balcony was. She raised her head, which was resting on her chest, to a jaunty angle, lifted a hand and gave us a toothless grin.
It was quite horrific to imagine her living there.

Nothing improved much over the next few days; the roads were bad, the towns continued to feel derelict and depressed, and the temperature was rising to a "red" weather warning. The hills didn't help matters either, but the traffic continued to amuse us...


We contemplated crossing the Danube to the Romanian side, where it was flatter, but there are very few places to cross, and the map showed there was even less infrastructure over there, making the chances of finding a room impossible. As we were finishing riding by about 10am, when temperatures were already reaching the high 30's, putting up the tent to shelter in was not an option for us.
Also, realising now we actually might make it to the Black Sea, it made more sense to head for Varna than Constanta because of the flight issues.
And so, we decided to head for Sofia, the capital, and fit in one more "Steve's City Bike Tours".

True to form, he got us around all the main sites; including the Alexander Nevsky cathedral and the beautifully decorated Russian church, all in very good time. Sofia is very small for a capital, and pleasantly calm and quiet.



And of course,there were lots more derelict buildings...




It was a great shame that during our stay it was like living in an oven. Most of the time was spent lying down, sweating, underneath the mini-fan we were forced to buy.
As it was impossible to do much we decided to hop on a train. This was no mean feat; a bone-shaking, hot and sticky ride with stern, grumpy conductors who told us where to put the bikes, then told us off later because we'd left them there. Luckily it was all in Bulgarian!



Steve was most impressed to learn from the driver that the engine, which is electric, was from 1972, and still going strong...


It was quite amazing we managed to get off at the right station, as there was no such thing as an announcement, and station names were often only in Bulgarian. Also we've noticed that the Bulgarians have the same habit as the Indians - they waggle their heads instead of nodding when they answer in the affirmative, making things a tad confusing...
We felt more exhausted than we had after any cycle day, and our headaches lasted well into the evening.

And so to the final stretch. We are the pioneering the "Stevie Velo 1" route, unchartered territory other than what we can decipher from the map.
At least the heatwave appears to be over...!