Paris to Istanbul (Cycling) Tour 2015

Warning: This post is probably a bit dry compared to previous posts so if you are new to the blog don't start here - scroll down and start at the first post. The purpose of writing the blog was two-fold: During the ride the audience for the blog was interested others i.e. to have a taste of … Continue reading Paris to Istanbul: Random Post Script Reflections and Ramblings

Vize to Durusu (Day 49: Saturday 29 August 2015) Set out with Trond and Liz on the penultimate riding day for what turned out to be a good days ride of just under 100km. First 20km or so mainly down hill then up and down hills for most of the remainder. When we took a … Continue reading Vize-Subasi-Istanbul (Paris to Istanbul: Days Forty Nine to Fifty)

Veliko Târnovo to Kotel/Sliven (Day 44: Monday 24 August 2015) The start of our second last "Riding Week" couldn't have been better weather wise. It was a perfect day to begin with: cool but not cold, sunny with not a cloud in the sky. Our appreciation of the good weather had been heightened by the … Continue reading Veliko Târnovo-Kotel/Sliven-Sredets-Malko Târnovo-Vize (Days Forty Four to Forty Eight)

Bucharest to Ruse (Day 41: Friday 21 August 2015) Just before the start of the convoy out of Bucharest I noticed that one of the group did not have the strap of their bike helmet done up - this gave me the opportunity to say "Helmut, helmet!" 😀 (Helmut being the name of the person … Continue reading Bucharest-Ruse-Veliko Târnovo (Days Forty One to Forty Three)

Apologies for the delay in publishing this post. There is always a trade off and some tension between doing and writing about the doing. Of course if one did nothing then one would have lots of time to write about it - it being nothing (similar logic to the Yes Minister episode about the hospital … Continue reading Alba Iulia-Blajel-Carta-Balea Lake-Curtea de Arges-Târgoviste-Bucharest (Days Thirty Four to Forty)

Alba Iulia is in the heart of Transylvania. I never imagined that I'd visit Transylvania one day - so it's cool to spend a rest day here.       So what does one do after 5 days riding in temperatures of mid 30's? Why, do a 2 hour walking tour starting at 12:30pm in similar … Continue reading Alba Iulia (Day Thirty Three)

N.B. Just reminder that there are links to a map of the route taken (can zoom in and out) and information on distances covered etc. for each riding day in the light blue sub- headings for each day as per below. Budapest to Szolnok (Day 28: 8 August 2015)   Today we diverted away from … Continue reading Budapest-Szolnok-Gyula-Betuni-Brad-Alba Iulia (Days Twenty Eight to Thirty Two)

Vienna to Bratislava (Tuesday 4 August 2015) With the 10km convoy ride out of Vienna completed, Trond decided to test out his legs. After a short pretence of chasing him I eased back on the throttle and rode (at a more comfortable pace) with Liz for the day. No orange tape markers in use today … Continue reading Vienna-Bratislava-Komarom-Budapest (Days Twenty-Four to Twenty-Seven)

Regensburg to Straubing (Tuesday 28  July 2015 Day 17) This was a very short flat section ~53km and we were in camp by 10:30am Early on into the day's ride I told Trond that as it was a short easy day I might stop more often to take photographs (if warranted) and that he should just … Continue reading Regensberg-Straubing-Passau-Linz-Emmersdorf(Melk)-Vienna (Days Seventeen to Twenty Three)

"We Ride to Eat": one of the many pluses of riding a few hours each day (i.e. Ave 4 out of 5 days) is that you burn a few calories and thus can either lose some weight and or eat pastries and ice cream guilt free. Though the former does not give carte blanche for … Continue reading Ulm-Eggelstetten-Kipfenberg-Regensburg (Days Thirteen to Sixteen)