Day 5 - Huja to Visea de Jus

Mileage from home: 1655
Short day today. Saw the Merry Cemetary in Sepanta - fantastic, how all cemetaries should be. Google it.
Got soaked again. My GPS has died but my SatNav is good so we know where we're going still. Roads are fun, driving standards poor though.
Got to the mountain railway where we have bought tickets for tomorrow's train. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to camp there until tomorrow but some old bloke called us over and now we're in his tiny back garden in our tents! It's madness and Dino isn't happy but at least we can safely leave all our crap here where it should be safe until we get back from the train ride early evening. Not staying here another night though!
Chain still terrible - gonna try and tighten it to see if that helps. Should have bought a new one in Poland.....
Ass-pain: 2/10
Beers: 24 + 2 rums + 2 cherry grappas
Mechanical problems: 1
Theft count: 0

 

Day 4 - Turany to Huja (Romania)

Mileage from home: 1585
Hurrah, made it to Romania after passing through the rest of Slovakia, through the corner of Hungary (after accidentally getting to the Ukranian border - don't just follow the sat-nav!).
Got soaked after early heat. Rode through a terrible storm - zero visibility, lightning, winds..... Amazing.
Liked Slovakia, especially the rural bits we went through. Think Dino has fallen for the lady running the hotel by the lake and wants to go back. Pretty similar to Polska really but arguably a little less developed. An awful lot of Ramany Gypsies in Slovakia, more than we've seen in Romania so far. Despite the accidental detour to Ukraine and taking just backroads, we made it into Hungary pretty quickly.
Didn't really see much of Hungary, literally due to the rain, but we should give it more time coming back. Certainly the women were stunning. Good ole Finnish heritage. Couldn't understand a word though. Slovakia was easy - they all speak perfect Polish. Passed quickly and next thing I know we're in Satu Mare in Romania - soaking wet. We copped-out and found another great rural (empty again) hotel in the mountains. £10/night with breakfast - why did we bring camping gear? Can't communicate here at all - German seems to work best!
Tomorrow I have promised Dino an easy day. Merry Cemetary and then camping near the mountain railway so that we can do the train the next morning. My chain is shagged but taking it stready so maybe it'll last. Roads here pretty bumpy but the bikes are built for this and the great mointain roads.
Ass-pain: 5/10
Beers: 18 + 2 rums + 2 cherry grappas
Mechanical problems: 1
Theft count: 0

Day 2 - Kassel to Nieradowice

Mileage: 1050
Mostly uneventful ride. Did some pretty bad roads to get to Nieradowice (can't be the best way to get there) but met my mate's uncle who gave us the keys to the house where we made ourselves comfy.
Thanks Sogi / pani Marysia / uncle Wladek.
Ass pain: 4/10
Mechanical issues: 0
Beers: 6 + 2 rums
Theft count: 0

Day 1 - Swindon to Kassel

Mileage: 530
Long and mostly boring ride. Dark, cold, wet, hot, wet, hot. All good though - nice to see another side of Germany.
Camped in a lovely spot right next to a river - got the place to ourselves. Lovely.
Ass pain: 4/10
Mechanical issues: 0
Beers: 6
Theft count: 0

Day 3 - Nieradowice to Turany (SK) Blogger problems...

Mileage: ~1350
In Turany (Slovakia) about 1350 miles from home. Chain started breaking up yesterday but managed to effect a repair in Poland - hopefully it'll hold out.....
Today - finishing the rest of Slovakia, cutting the corner of Hungary and into Romania....
Ass pain: 2/10
Mechanical issues: 1
Beers: 12 + 2 rums
Theft count: 0

Dover - Goodbye UK

A bit cold, a bit wet, but we made it to Dover on time. All good so far despite Dino over-sleeping!

The Route - Going Out

Here's what we have so far - the rest we will play by ear. In fact, we may not even stick to this: -

- Day 1 - Swindon > Kassel in Germany (~570 miles)
- Day 2 - Kassel > Nysa in Poland (~430 miles)
- Day 3 - Nysa > Nowy Sacz in Poland (~220 miles)
- Day 4 - Nowy Sacz > Sapanta (Merry Cemetary) Romania, via Slovakia and Hungary (~260 miles)

- Day 5/6 - Sapanta > Vişeu de Sus (Mountain Train) > Plopis (Visiting all wooden churches en-route) (145 miles)

- Day 7 - Plopis > Brasov (~250 miles)
- Day 8 - Brasov > Bran Castle (Dracula) > Fagaras > Cartisoara (~90 miles)

- Day 9 - 'Top-Gear Day' Cartisoara (Transfagaras Highway) > Vidraru Dam > Curtea de Arges > Bucharest (~175 miles)

- Day 10 - Bucharest > Buzau (Mud Volcanos) (~70 miles)
- Day 11 - Buzau > Constanta (Black Sea) (~150 miles)

- Day 12 - Bulgaria? Moldova? North-East Romania? Ukraine?


Bikes packed. Tyres pumped. Chains Lubed. It's D-Day!!!!