Week 9 – (610km – 378 mile)

I noticed a crack on the sidewall of my front tyre, so rather than tempt fate I decided to replace it in Krakow. That now brings the number of tyre’s I have used on this tour to a grand total of 6.

Our last day in Poland as we proceeded towards the mountains of Slovakia was in the pouring rain. We stayed in a motel just before the border to dry out and even managed to catch the opening day at the Olympics.

We entered Slovakia on a fine day weather wise, which is perfect when in mountainous regions. Slovakia is my second favourite country, after Norway of course. Everything is green, the towns are all neat and tidy and they have mountains to rival those of Norway.

We found a campsite and surprisingly the people that ran it were nothing like the Slovakiansfrom the film Hostel. So we settled in and immediately went on a beer run. We also found some internet which seemed like the local hangout for kid’s, upon which they all decided to practice their English on us. It seemed they hadn’t learned anything other than “what is your name?” at school.

Our second day in Slovakia saw us leave the mountains behind, but only after a tough, tough climb that was gave views that were worth every drop of sweat. Instead of looking up at the mountains, we were now looking down into them. Awesome. Cue 20km’s of un-interrupted downhill, reaching a top speed of 64kmh.

Next stop Hungary, where I changed €15 at the border and got 3200 Hungarian back. Great. After a lot of rolling hills and Fanta breaks we neared Budapest, which was our target but with dusk approaching we decided to pull in at a campsite a stone’s throw away from the River Danube.

There were 3 main landmarks I wanted to see on this trip. 1. The Arctic Circle (although you can’t really see it) 2. The River Danube 3. The view of Asia from Istanbul. Finally got to number 2 as the sun was going down, I had to touch it to make sure it was real. I couldn’t believe how far I had come all under my own steam.

Showered for the first time in a week, dirt poured off of me.

 

Week 8 – (704km – 436 mile)

A mixed week of highs and lows, which has seen the end of the tailwinds and I’ve also been thinking of home a lot.

I seriously thought of flying home Warsaw or to keep a bit of dignity and pedal across Germany and Holland to catch a ferry bound for England. It wouldn’t be fair to Lee to quit now, so I battled with my mind and the winds hoping for a change of fortune come Warsaw.

We left behind Lithuania and entered Poland where we had views of some of the most beautiful countryside, which had a hint of Britishness about it’s beauty. We found a lakeside campsite, grabbed a couple of Tyskie beer’s each and rented a row boat. We spent a couple of hours swimming, drinking and generally relaxing and came away with a much needed morale boost.

30 degree heat and hills was the theme to Warsaw. We had two dog’s chase us up one of the hill’s. My immediate thought being to get in front of Lee, so he could take the bite that never came. Good fun.

Warsaw was a refreshing change from all the other Polish towns we had passed through and I booked a flight home from Istanbul for August 31st. No turning back now.

The road out of Warsaw was utter gridlock for about 10 miles, reason being an annual 250km pilgrimage consisting of up to 8000 walkers was taking place. Talk about timing. The same day saw my rear tyre split at the sidewall and I had no spare or way of fixing it.

This could of been bad. Before we even had time to consider our options, help arrived in the form of a Polish baker, who looked a little like Ned Flanders I might add. He has a friend who owns a bike shop and offers to drive me and my wheel there. I took about half an hour in total and on the drive back, he pulls into his driveway to fetch me 2 bottles of water and a huge bag of cakes.

He dropped me off back where he found me and after a chorus of thank yous from the both of us he left me to it. Just as I had got the wheel back on, he returns with another bag of cakes bigger than the first. Absolute legend.

People like him make a trip like this all the more worthwhile. It’s often the people you meet on the road you remember more than the places you go.