Thursday, June 28, 2007

Sofia Bulgaria

I remember when I was planning this trip, looking at Google maps and seeing that there was virtually no info on them.  I went scouring the web for maps and found a ripper of sofia.   But it seemed soooo... far away.  Both in distance, time and culture.   But here I am , in Sofia,  trying to learn that alphabet..
 
There's new pics uploaded and the post Hungary photos have now been moved to their correct location of a new sub album.
 
Wow, towards Turkey after this  (How hot is that going to be if its high 30's here).   I've never had a planned route for Turkey until today.  I met a couple of truckies that didnt know English, and my Turkish is as good as my Serbian (and Croation and Hungarian...)  But we communicated heaps for about an hour and shared Chi, a good drink this hot weather.
 
I stopped to buy a mellon.  He refued money and kept insisting I took 2.   I told him i didnt have room for 2.   (I took two.)  Serbian Hospitality 1, free food, and he wouldnt let me go with 1
 
The family Bozickovic, local farmers, growing .... mellons.  I stayed for a couple of hours sharing their hospitality, shade, sparkling water (because I dont drink beer) and the local delicacy Shunka.   Katerina (in Blue and Pink) is co-author of ISBN 978-86-85709-05-0.  And I have a signed copy.  Serbian Hospitality 2, I didn't need to cook that night
Oops,  Can I give you guys a hand to lift that trailer around ready to reload   Aussie Hospitality, Maybe I can help them..
 
Sometimes clothes need repair, and finding someone with a machine that does Zig Zag can be a bit difficult.  but if yo happen to be near Mladenovac in Serbia dont despair.  If you look hard enough and ask the right people...  and gratis :-)  Serbian Hospitality 3, clothing repairs, gratis
 
You ask if they have a chain stretch testing jig and they service the bike - Gratis.     Bratislav from Planetbike in Nis cleaning the chain.    www.planetbike.co.yu  Serbian Hospitality 4, bike service, gratis
 
Specky  The road above Nis
 
Two turkish truckies - Ismet and Jamal - on the Istanbul to London run.  We had no common language but exchanged a heap of info in our time together - beside the road a few km into Bulgaria.   I now have my Turkish route sorted.  Turkish truckies and route planners, Ismet and Jamal
 



Saturday, June 23, 2007

Serbia, Belgrade

I've finally moved on and am now in Belgrade after about a week in Budapest waiting for my old knees to feel normal again.  Yes, after 3 months and 6000km I finally had a recurrance of some of my old knee issues but am back on the road and feeling good again.   I had always been aware and prepared for some times that I may need to stay put for a week for my knees, and that was one of the things that meant a long trip might be possible where a short trip during annual leave would not.  My stay in Budapest was 6 days in 3 locations, 2 days in an inner city hostel, 2 days in a rather dodgy student accomodation place - but i had a room of my own, as long as i didnt mind having no door on the shower or toilet.  the final 2 days was in the home of a local, Ferenc, hopefully the power is back on again now... 

Ferencs Place in Budapest

It was nice to have a place to call home even if needed to use my torch as in the tent - and candles.  Being summer light isn't really a problem anyway.

I'm glad I did a bit of a detour to the National Park near the Hungary/Crotia border as it meant that I went from Hungary to Croatia then Serbia, instead of what I'd originally planned crossing direct from Hungary to Serbia.  It was worth it to see the difference a border can make.  Croatia being the better-off cousin of Serbia.

I feel for the Serbs that I've met,  they have been wonderful people, sharing with me or giving away what they had.  And asking, "What do they say in Australia about Serbs"  or "What they say on the BBC isn't true" 

Serb friends

and the mellon salesman

From Belgrade I'll be heading south east towards Nis.  I'm hoping my Serbia map is more accurate than it has been so far.  Quite a few of the roads I had planned to take (to go close  to the motorway on small roads to get to Belgrade didn't exist, which meant that I either did large detours or went on horrid farm tracks for many km between towns.  (and I cant check on Google maps because google maps has no roads in Serbia at all - and with no roads to reference the satelite photos are not that much use.)    I took a dive on one of the tracks the other day. The bike has quite a bit of momentum when loaded, so once i got myself into trouble it kept going. (that's two for those that are counting) No real damage to me or essential gear, but I did find today that one of my 2 SD flash cards for the camera doesnt work, and it was the one that was in the pocket of the camera case on my belt - and took the landing (the camera and the card that was in it are OK though, thanks Canon) (images already cut to disk.. Phew)

I'm not sure when the next update will be as I normally do them from major centres at internet cafes, the next major places are Nis in only a few days then Sofia in Bulgaria (?)

Thats it for now

Jeff

Sorry for the links rather than HTML thimbs, only lowsy browser for composing.
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www.whereonearthisjeff.com


Sunday, June 10, 2007

If you cant see past dresden on the map.

June 10th 2007 -

If when opening the google map the path only shows as far as Dresden - or seems to stop prematurely. Scroll to the bottom of the list in the left hand column of items and you should see that there is are additional pages. Select the subsequent page to show the next part of my trip.

JJ
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http://www.whereonearthisjeff.com/

Saturday, June 9, 2007

Arrived in Budapest

Well a few more countries down..Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia - for a quick overnight stay in Bratislava before heading into Hungary.

Current location Budapest

I promised myself that I'd go through my journal and pick out interesting bits to put into the next email, but here i am in a net cafe, thinking that I need to send an update and I don't have the journals with me. Doh! (Hey, I just realised I have typed all of the above without thinking - It's a US keyboard on a PC with English as a Locale.. Yippee)

Please check the map from http://www.whereonearthisjeff.com/ for where I've been. I continued along the Elbe/Labe River to just above Prague then followed the cycle route down into Prague. Staying in a Hostel in Prague was a nice change from picking off Ticks in the tent, then leaving Prague on my birthday travelled east toward Brno to pick up a bit more of the Czech experience before heading down into the Vienna corner of Austria. Again a couple of days in Vienna in the luxury of a Hostel room before a just in time arrival into central Bratislava (Slovakia capital) As I approached Bratislava the sky ahead turned black and when I got to the river bank opposite the city centre I needed to find shelter fast. (From the previous week I knew the pattern, very overcast and wettish in the morning, stinking hot in the afternoon then the thunder & lightening wind and downpours starting between 5 & 6pm and continue into the early evening before the really strong wind and rain disappear until the same time tomorrow.) There was the UFO bridge that I could have stood under, but it would take hours to clear (as long as it followed the pattern) and then I'd have to find a home. Fortunately for me, just past this area the river bank turns into a once loved but no longer loved type of river bank, and there is bush that just sits there waiting for travellers like me to make a home in. So once again i camped 1.5km from the main city centre in bushland with nobody knowing I was there. The first drops came as I pushed in the last pegs and in the next 15 minutes I collected almost a litre of emergency water (in my billy and into a cup off the door of the tent fly (as I'd not had time to find fresh stocks). I didn't have to use this water and tipped it out the next day, but it was nice to know it was available if I needed it, and it was a good measure of the intensity of the rain

From Bratislava the path continues along the Danube (which I'd basically followed from Vienna, and will continue to follow when I leave Budapest) and I left the bike path just before the Hungarian border and headed for the varied scenery of the road and villages instead of the view of the top of a levy bank with trees either side. The Hungarian border crossing was an unofficial one - much nicer than the official one between Czech & Austria (that's another story), and I've stayed largely on roads, some of which have been the official cycle route along the Danube and others which have not (yet another story).

The border crossing to exit Czech Republic is one I'll remember. It was manned by an official that unfortunately for travellers, has nothing better to do. She was dressed for the part too. Very official, never the crack of a smile. and typed in perfect civil service manner, one button at a time using her pen the press the keys (after studying the keyboard to locate the right letter). She copied manually all the information from the first info page of my passport and finally let me through. As soon as I started riding I found I had my first ever flat tyre. Checking the tyre there was no visible puncture item, so I opened it up to find the tube had a pair of cuts from the rim, where I had hit an extremely sharp edge on a gutter to get over from the cycle path onto the roadway to where the gestapo woman was. I thought the tyres were rock hard , but obviously not quite as the rim contacted the tube and pinched holes in it on this extremely sharp edge. I big patch over the two holes fixed it and it hasn't been a problem since. So the reputation of the Schwalbe Marathon XR tyres lives on, they haven't let me down yet, no punctures through them. The entry into Austria a kilometre down the road was a complete contrast. The officer there saw the BCN stamp in the passport and asked if I'd come from Berlin. I said that the stamp in the passport should say BCN for Barcelona as that's where I entered the EU. He asked where I'd been and then couldn't stop saying Super, Super.

The other story i mentioned above was about Hungarians roads. They have this official route that follows the Danube from way back before Vienna where I joined it, all the way to the black sea (through many countries). All other roads within cooee (in hungary) get a sign banning bikes. Which I, like any locals that need to travel there ignore. Fortunately the motorists too are aware that there is no alternative road to Highway 1 (except the motorway) and so they never bother tooting or getting impatient that you shouldn't be on the road. I even went through a police road block without a comment from them - on a road marked as no bikes (or tractors or horse drawn carts). Such a contrast to BeNeLux were if you so much as look at a road the motorists will blow you away with there horns.

Well I should be out exploring Budapest - having arrived this morning after a leisurely 30km ride fro a place called Dunabogdany. (Gotta luv the name)

Here for a couple of days at least.

jeff
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http://www.whereonearthisjeff.com/