024 Batumi to Kutaisi (14.8.2018 )

Posted on 2018-08-17 by Martin

I woke up at 6 or 5, depending on the time I use as reference point (inner watch maybe was still Bulgarian). When I was ready I tried to wake up the guy from the hostel who in the evening had said he would open the basement to get out the bike, but now it was different. Although he would have had to get up anyway because a guy wanted to check in at this time he was unfriendly to me.

Also unfriendly was my gps as it didn’t work properly. At least it showed a purple line, the route, and an arrow, me, and so I tried to keep the arrow on the purple line which was easy most of the time as there were not too many alternatives. But I hope I can fix that…

The way out of Batumi showed me that it was better to stay overnight, as the road seemed good in general but suddenly there where deep holes or pits or cracks. It was even hard by daylight to watch the route, the traffic and the tricky road. But outside Batumi, the first 40km were great! A big road with enough space and good surface in green and nice precincts.

Then it changed but in Romania I sometimes would have been more than happy with such a road. Only with Georgian drivers it turns to hell…

ah, where hell is, is heaven not far:

I like to compare cemeteries 🙂 And I like the last photo most. In my imagination the cool guy died in the streets because of coolness, driving too fast and too risky. And the family puts this picture of fatal coolness to his grave… (of course I know that also a man looking like this could have died under totally different conditions)

After 80km my knee started hurting and I had to make more and more breaks and the pain came back faster and faster and spreading down and up to the hip. But in the evening, I reached Kutaisi and went to a hostel that Tiko had reserved as she couldn’t host me because her house was under water.

In the evening I walked around bought some food and was happy to find open wafers…

…and other sweets that you could buy unpacked (except for the bag to put it in, but this is still less than a normal package. I sat down in Kutaisi “central park” and enjoyed the evening, the food, the park, the trip and life.

Posted in diary | Tagged | Leave a comment

Ferry Burgas – Batumi

Posted on 2018-08-15 by Martin

It took some research made by Athanas, a friend in Bulgaria, to find out that this ferry goes every Friday night and to find the contact.

www.burgas-ferry.bg

19 Industralna str, 8000 Burgas

Email: rivanov@portbulgariawest.com

The information was that “you check in at customs to our forwarders – receive boarding pass from there and proceed for embarkation. Payment on board cash to the captain” (135€ -2018-08)

I didn’t follow these instructions exactly, as I first wanted to take a look at the port. This is not too hard to find, because of signs showing the way.

There a guy gave me directions to a building and said that there I can buy the ticket. I wanted to buy the ticket in advance anyway and this encouraged me to try. The address is 3 Industralna str, so it is near, but I wouldn’t have found it by myself.

After showing my passport to security at the entrance and at the first floor I was guided to the office where the guy after taking my passport, asked me if I have a reservation and as it according to email information from this office had been impossible to get any I said no and he asked “why?!” but didn’t care for any answer, printed a paper that didn’t show much text but equalled a ticket and lead me to another room for payment. He told me that I should be there at 4pm or 5 but also 6 would be ok. Or 7. And with this precise information, a receipt (I paid in a mixture of € and Leva and showed my passport) and that paper I went off, curious whether or not I will be able to get on board.

On Friday I went to the port at 5:30, showed my passport, got a boarding pass and went on to the border control. This time my passport was examined thoroughly (failing to be recognized 4-5 times) and then the last stop before getting to the ship was customs control. The officer pointed at one of my bags and asked me to open it. He took 3 items out of it, touched the next below, put the things back and let me close the bag again.

And so I went up in the impressingly wide open mouth (hm, this opening is not at the head of the ship) wide enough for 3 trucks on each side and a way for them to get to the second level. A man told me to leave my bike at the side of the ship and go up the stairs to the reception.

It was impossible to take all the bags at once so I decided to leave the big white one with tent stuff down, hoping that there is no one to take it. The rest was heavy enough that I had to stop after every single steep stairs. In fact it was on the other side of the long ship and it was on level 3 (if you say entering is level 0) and once it even meant to go down again one level and up again. But as a good excuse for breaks I made a lot photos.

At the reception the lady was surprised that I already had paid, gave me the key to the cabin and some instructions and I went to my room. (People I met at this evening see at “People I met”)

Soon it was time for dinner, rabbit in a delicious soup, and then the long waiting time for leaving started. Everyone knew something about leaving time but only two things were sure: the cars and caravans would come in at the end (making their drivers a bit restless) and there were still more trucks coming in. Around 11pm they could get their cars up and everyone got a very small slot so space was filled very close. Even the ramp was filled up with trucks and then lifted and then the level 0 was completed.

This procedure was still going on at 1am when the last passengers gave up waiting for leaving. I was so frozen that I could not sleep and at 3 in the morning a truck driver came in to occupy the last bed.

Around 5 the sound of the enginge became louder and I got up to see and film the departure. This was a long manoeuvre of turning and finally standing in the same position like at the start only 100m or so more to the right. Then a pilot/navigator boat came to fetch a guy who had been on board. They accompanied us for another while and then the journey to the open sea began.

Posted in bike stuff, diary | Tagged | 1 Comment

021-023 On board of the ferry

Posted on 2018-08-14 by Martin

Life is structured by breakfast, lunch and dinner at 8, 12 and 18h. It reminds me on hospital where you also are not too busy and fill up the time from one meal to the next by little activity.

As I had found the book “Mitternachtskinder” I try to read a lot, but still, I will not manage to finish it. (Update: I did in the last night and afternoon, fighting with sleepiness. Now I gave it to Jerry from Switzerland, see: people I met). When I write on the PC I get a bit sick, so I must restrict that and even more editing video clips. But at least when I lay on bed it is getting better after a while. Then I fall asleep sometimes, also good.

And when I am on deck often there is someone to talk with.

It is really a strange situation, because even in Burgas I did more and never in Vienna, not during the year, not in weekends or holidays I do so little. It is nor really bad, but I get worried how it will be to restart biking, because I feel laziness defeating me. But as I have a plan and a schedule I most probably will overcome this. (update, 14.8.2018 I did 150km, so, yes. But I again had a problem, like on the very first day, this time starting with a knee, later hurting up and down of it, too)

Many people on board seem to deal with this idleness in a way or other, as they make jokes like “ok, lunch is done, let’s recover for dinner” or just say that they enjoy this time. The majority on board are truck drivers and for them it is a time of relaxation.

When it is eating time, it is “the truckers” and me who are there earliest. Some of them had beer as a foundation of every meal, including breakfast, and after dinner there are big bottles of vodka and the like on the tables and to make the picture complete, some indeed start singing, but all in all they are friendly elderly man, most of them at least 50, some looking like 70, most of them with impressing bellies and voices.

I just struggle with their habits of taking much more food from the buffet than the need, just to throw it away. Some take 5 slices of bread, 2 go untouched to the dustbin. Why take plums you don’t eat? Why fill a plastic cup with juice and not drink it?
I would not prefer those habits with rich people, but I would explain it to me as disdain for everything that is too cheap for them. By the way, the food is good, with a lot of fresh salad and fruits as dessert and a tasty soup as a starter.

I didnt want to take the packed yoghurt, not only because of plastic, no: it is made in Germany with milk from there, the Netherlands and Belgium! and on the plate you can see the Bulgarian yoghurt, so no need to get it from somewhere ~2000km away)

I liked the situation when all around us was just blue Black Sea!

…but the last photo “should” show some dolphins. Jerry made some pictures in the same diretion and you clearly could see them jumping so I tried it, but I think there are none.

On the last day, when we waited for disembarking, some truckers were fishing and in the evening those fish had been fried in the kitchen and they gave some for other guests.

(I wonder why some photos turn when uploaded….)

The cabin is also ok, I just have some problems with the bathroom, but I take it as a training for worse things to come.

As we go east the passenger’s deck has some shadow until noon and then the sun occupies it until evening.

13.8.2018, Day 23

According to initial information, we should have arrived today at 6a.m., as we started later I was prepared to arrive later, too. One guy from the crew told us in the morning that it could be 12 or 13. In fact, we saw the port and houses of Burgas in front of us at eleven. But, as he had explained, there was another ship there and we must wait until there is space at our “gate”. Later the lady at the reception told me, it could be late evening or night. I don’t need to ask or check as the passport control will be on board, so we will hear it on time. And in the afternoon, I got the brand new information of another night on board.

Last night, I – now needlessly – had been sleeping only until 2a.m. because I had been nervous: what to do when, what to pack first, what at last, when to change to bike dress, etc. My transformation by travelling is not completed yet…

In the end, it was 11p.m. when we finally left the ship. First the passengers, then the bikers, then the cars and finally the trucks. I went with Matthieu and Quentin and gave up my plan to do some kilometres in the late evening to reduce the 145km to Kutaissi and (see day 24) it was a good decision. We picked the first hostel and it was ok. Late at night I withdrew Georgian Lari (1€~3GeL), bought a Georgian SIM card and around 1a.m. I was in bed.

Posted in diary | Tagged | Leave a comment

016-020 My Burgas days

Posted on 2018-08-08 by Martin

Never sleeping too good or too long I started with going to the sea. Only few people are there at this time, the sun is rising, and it is peaceful. I took a swim which I partly enjoy but partly it is a kind of challenge as water where you cannot see deeper than maybe a meter and sometime something touches you.

At 9 in hostel Chi is breakfast.

After that I normally went out as long as it is not too hot. Then until afternoon it was a mixture of sleeping and writing/editing. In the later afternoon I dare to go outside again. At 8 Martina from the hostel offered a dinner. And then I made another walk to enjoy the cooler late evening.

This routine was varied by talking to other guests, reading in a book about cycling I found there (in German!) or little tasks like washing my clothes with my washing bag.

Not much!
I tried to find out what other people do, because from 11-16h I normally was the only one staying in the hostel, but they just are at the beach. I think doing nearly nothing is part of the game.

On the last days I want to take some pictures…

Posted in diary | Tagged | Leave a comment

Motivation

Posted on 2018-08-07 by Martin

can you feel the heat?

…has two meanings here:

Why do that?

And: How to help to go on when this first question becomes relevant?

 

The first, the “why?” starts with my last, similar journey. As my brother, Markus, is living in Sydney I no longer wanted to postpone visiting him and Martina. And if going so far, I planned to combine it with visiting Couchsurfing friends in Armenia, Thailand, Singapore, China, HK and Taiwan.

I never had been a keen traveller and still am NOT, – I have my place in Vienna and that is good and enough for this life – , but it was great to see where and how my friends and my brother live, to experience so different landscapes&cultures, smells and tastes.

The big weak point was that I needed to take 10 flights, a complete no-go, that overcompensates my desired lifestyle of sustainability for years.

So the way out for a repetition of this tour was to do it my way, that is by bike. This idea grew directly on that trip, in Taiwan, when I thought this could also be a place to stay.

As a teacher in Austria I could take a Sabbatical, a great idea that before this new born plan was not on my radar. But soon after coming back from this trip I applied for a Sabbatical and started planning the travel.

It is not necessary, but it helps to be a bit crazy for intending such a venture. At the same time I really tried to plan profoundly and responsible.

The second question only sometimes came up before leaving, but sometimes I got palpitation when the idea became tangible real. It is too big! Of course, there are some things that continuously made me nervous, like ferries and cargo ships or currencies and such technical things. But my small bike in this big world! Leaving home for a year! Being always somewhere and having to adopt to everything every time! The last days were a kind of count down like before being operated on. You know it will have to happen, no one here instead of you.

And then I left. It was in several steps. Leaving one son in Vienna, the other 40km later, then staying overnight with a friend and finally leaving Austria. And then it was like leaving the orbit.

On the first day I motivated me with arriving at a known place and started calculations like:
when I arrive I have down 0,5% of all cycling days and cycling kilometres. By that the big thing became a bit manageable.

Number games like that helped me whenever it was big or too big. When I have to cycle 100km then after 20km I not only have 20% it is 1/5. But only 5km later it is ¼ and again after 8km it is 1/3. And when I have done half, then I know that 3-4h later I will arrive. And when I had done those 100km everything more that I do today, is something less on the next day. It is for free ?.
Be it the whole trip or a long upward slope, I do it like Beppo the road sweeper (Michael Ende) and concentrate on a smaller part (a country, a day ride, the next village, the next curve, the next 20m).

And I have a structure for the day and for the hours:
at 8, 10 and 12 there are breaks for eating. At 10 I put on sun protection and I lubricate the chain. And to have a kind of highlight, but also to get to reasonable drinking habits (not waiting to long and then really being thirsty) every quarter of an hour I sip three times at my water bottle. That can bring anticipation and the word “Drink” gets a nice sound. I tell myself: “in 3min you get something to drink!” and when it is time to drink I normally do it while riding but wait for less traffic. That can bring another 1-2min of anticipation and during that time I am not concentrated on exhaustion.

The same goes to eating: if I cannot find a good place for eating at 8 then I go on until I find it. Or, after a while, when I am too hungry, I make a short stop and have the good feeling that I have some break time left for later.

A village ahead can promise a shop for a piece of cheese, a town can have a park with bench and shadow and both can give direct motivation, but it can also make possible some deals like cancelling a smaller break in favour of a longer and more pleasant one later.

Sometimes I just say something like “do what has to be done” to tell me that is better to be brave now and something is inevitable. I needed that sometimes in the morning in the tent, when I feel safe inside and it could be wet/hot/cold/dangerous outside.

After some days of cycling I got something new: “you can do it!” mixed with equanimity. As I normally set 100km as a day limit I know time is surveyable. But besides saying “1 done, 6 left” and later “2 done only 5 left”, I also know that after each climb you can go down again and whatever difficulties I meet, they are limited (at that day) and: I can do it. If the climb is exhausting, I can divide it into portions, I can reduce speed, but I can do it and it is limited. If the road is big and cars dangerous, I know I will get to another one sooner or later (or to my goal of that day) and I can profit from better surface and go faster. When the road is nearly unpassable because of holes I profit from the nature around and maybe it is quite calm and if I have to push my bike for a while, I can do it. No normal day (without extra problems!) can be 100% negative by that and that makes it easier.

For me one thing is the most important prerequisite: having enough to drink (not only for my motiviation games!) and to eat. Btw another source for motivation, when I can say I need 2liter/100km (and 2000cal), show me the car that can cope with that 😉

Posted in bike stuff | Tagged | 1 Comment

People I met on the way (of course to be updated pemanently)

Posted on 2018-08-06 by Martin

On the way to Kaisersdorf when I looked for protection from the rain I met a couple cycling from Bratislava to Crotia

In Hungary on a campsite were Laszlo and ? , two openminded Hungarians who enjoy that place nearly weekly and ? and Charlotte from Belgium who came there cycling from Vienna to Croatia.

In Romania it was Ruth and Gordon from Canada who do cycling trips in Europa nearly every year. I was sitting in a “pub” when they stopped to say hello. Gordon is already retired, and Ruth takes half a year off every 2,5 years. They also had been cycling in Thailand or Laos.

For a short while I drove along with 4 young Polish cyclists on their way to Odesssa.

In the hostel Chi Burgas, Bulgaria), of course, I met a lot of people, like the young couple from Freiburg, doing a bus trip and having had attended the Walddorfschule or the family from Taiwan that rushes through Europe and Julia wanted to pin her son on to me to make him active.

There was a Polish couple bike travelling to Turkey and then back to Odessa. With on Solar trailer and another for their dog. They were looking really professional and you at the same time could imagine them in normal jobs leading a inconspicuous life.

I was talking (no, more listening) to a Romanian guy, who gave up everything, including a good IT-job to go travelling, then, working in a hostel, fell in love to a Japanese traveller and now they go together to India or elsewhere, including a cat they found somewhere. He additionally is inspired by some new age esoterics….

There was the Finish guy who was eager to explain that he is from the Pentecostal church and for sure he would have talked a lot about Jesus and his father, but I was fast enough to make such a talk impossible…

Then Mattis from Riga talked to me about so many countries, like Cyprus, Turkey, Russia…

On Tuesday, a guy from Belgium came in. He quit his job as car mechanics, rent his apartment out to his sister and has the plan to reach China and/or Singapore or going around the globe, depending on how long his money will last

There is Sara(h) the 4y old daughter of the owners of Chi. She is a strange mixture of a tough, rough and spoiled girl, getting in contact with some of the guests in different ways, that can be talking in some English or also taking away things, beating or spitting.

On the ferry

Background Janine, Mathieu, then Jerry, front: the German couple

On board of the ferry Burgas-Batumi the first to meet were Jerry and Janine from Switzerland doing a road trip through Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan and the two French guys, Mathieu and Quentin, sharing the cabin, who also try to get to China by bike, but on a different route. They could combine travelling with work as they film with a drone of their company.

Jerry and Janine live in a common planned and organized living project, he is from IT and she is teaching music ? Jerry had been in China for a year and travelling a lot.

Then there is a German 70+ couple, also travelling to Georgia with a Caravan. They are from Erzgebirge where they mainly grow apples but also other fruits since they are “retired”.

And 2 guys from Belgium coming with a big car and a very special boat, because their job is to dive for mines and only a few people do that around the globe, so they are busy in many places.

When I left Batumi, after some kilometres a woman on a bike came from the opposite side. We stopped and lively began talking. Her name is Rocio, she is cycling since 5 years, had been even in countries like Pakistan and Myanmar and came from Oman, Dubai, Iran, Armenia to Georgia, taking the ferry from Batumi to Odessa and going back to Spain. Her appearance and her bike, everything was impressing. Later also Mathieu and Quentin saw her.

On the road to Tbilisi within 20min I met two bikers, a Russian girls doing a big round from Russia, Kaukasus, Georgia, Black sea-ferry, Ukraine -Russia and a guy from Romania apperently interested in high climbs around Georgia and Armenia, so both on their way to Batumi.

In Armenia, I saw no cyclist so far, but 3 days are left (3.9.2018)

But I met Davo (see post 044) and when I come back to Armenia (How could I not?), I hope we will also meet.

Then, there was the couple Kerstin and Rainer from Germany (see post 045) who are dedicated travellers who had been “everywhere”. In Berlin, they live a modest life to safe all available money for travelling.

Posted in About countries & people | Leave a comment

05 Bulgaria

Posted on 2018-08-05 by Martin

Bulgaria

Compared to Romania I saw much less villages. For better orientation, I have a printed list of all places I pass by, but in Bulgaria for most of them I just saw a sign saying “village X 2km to the left” or so (I did it in the same way, looking on the route drawn by komoot and writing down the names to see along those streets). My interpretation is that Bulgarians have adopted the “art” of “by-pass-roads” for their higher ranking road network, but of course only 240km can deceive my eye.

Another perception also can be an example of wrong extrapolation: Most Romanian villages had a lot of flowers or other arrangements to give them beauty, even when they were not looking rich, in Bulgaria I saw not a single nice village so far.

But while I saw only overcrowded garbage cans and a lot of waste around in Romania I even saw the garbage collection in Bulgaria 3 times. There where also other sign giving me the impression that Bulgaria wants to be more organized. E.g., on those big streets very often are parking areas (and not often the dustbins are overflown)

And I saw: nightclubs and sexshops in the cities. Along the big road I saw advertisements, that at first, I took for swimwear, but the saw something with “playmate” and that bunny. (it is hard to get meanings when most things are written in Cyrillic). An that’s why I also think that those 3 women I saw along the road from Russe to Rasgrad were sexworkers and not just looking similar.

Back to advertisements at the street:
Two times I could see the word “Pesticide” in big letters and also similar things, also from brands I only know as enemies for nature and as lobbyists in Bruxelles… I thought these are bad words and normally they have to be smarter and more indirect with their advertisement. (By the way, I also saw an advertisement for the supermarket BILLA and it was full of vegetables)

My impression of agriculture would fit:
fields (with sunflowers and corn) seem to be much bigger in average, and also in that few villages I didn’t see many signs of subsistence farming like those geese, goats or cows on or near the streets or people selling fruits and vegetables in small or very small (a box on a chair) scale.

In Burgas on many entrances I saw death notices. On a cemetery on my way I saw tomb stones in bright green but as I was too late to make a picture and didn’t pass by another cemetery I cannot say if this is unusual or not.

In general I wonder about many countries how people feel with products labeled only in German.

Posted in About countries & people | Tagged | Leave a comment

015 arriving in Burgas, 2 weeks done 4.8.2018

Posted on 2018-08-05 by Martin

Yesterday evening there was some event nearby and I became Bulgarian schmaltzy music for free for I don’t know how long. The morning was peaceful and even a bit cold, the more as my shirt was wet, because I let it “freshen” outside.

I waited for the sunrise and then started the last cycling day for more than a week. There was a lot of morning fog ahead and after some kilometres the street followed a big reservoir, the source of the fog.

On the way were some nice places, at least by concept, as people manage to make nice ugly by their behaviour.

(at the right side of the tap was a rag full of: shit. Did those who put it there on purpose to disgust others or is ignorance to this degree possible?

Something nice: delicious fruits just waiting that you make a stop to grab some 🙂

Finally, there came the big hill/small mountain I had seen on the map. It was just 300m but those were hard, partly because of the temperature, partly because the road went straight up without curves and pretty steep. The expectation to see the sea helped me but was disappointed. At least it went down on a good road with high tempo possible. (that is 48km/h, more I didn’t dare with the fully packed bike)

It went down to 84m over see level and went up again to 140. Sea to see? No! And when I finally, 5km before arrival, meant to see the sea, it could have been one of those three lakes around Burgas, I will check out. Those last 5km were so exhausting, because of highway conditions and heat from above and reflected by the asphalt, that I made a break on a bench + table + shadow only short before arrival.

This was good, because now came a kind of epilogue. I had planned the route to the Pension where I would stay with Athanas next week. I just remembered that Hostel Chi is not far but had not written down the address or planned the way. And my phone was nearly empty, so that I only got an idea where to go before it was dark. And then there was a guy who wanted to show me the way. He was dumb but at least pretended to hear. First, he brought me to a big Hotel and I wanted to give up when he wanted to try something else. But then I asked a woman if this would be the right direction and she said yes. My leader smiled triumphantly and wanted money. I said, wait until we are there. “There” was the train station. Then I terminated our contract, turned around and looked by myself. People I asked couldn’t help me, but meanwhile the powerbank had charged the phone enough to give me directions. And then I noticed that I had been 20m near to the right place, before I got that help! And some minutes later exactly this guy arrived at the gate and wanted his money! I didn’t want to pay for being lead half an hour in wrong directions in the heat of a Bulgarian summer day, so I gave him my last (oh so tasty!!) plum and some vegetables. I hope they are as worthy for him as they would have been for me.

I am not sure how much I will enjoy the stay in a 6-bed room with shared bath in lower Bulgarian standard, but at least it is cheap, and they offer free breakfast and dinner for 3,5€ (that later was cancelled). I made a walk to the port where the ferry should leave. This took me more than an hour, so big is it there. On the way I saw big trucks every few minutes bringing huge tubes from somewhere to the port, each only two of them and driving very slowly. Then the two tube parts were assembled to a long one, transferred to another extra long truck that drove even slower to a place where they were piled to thousands. This is one example that makes me wonder, how much energy and efforts man puts into destructive things like pipelines for a not so promising technology instead of solving the true problems like starving people, etc.

also:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACiHCBqzJIQ&feature=youtu.be
I found the port more and a guy there showed me the building somewhere for the paper work. I doubt that I would have found this on my own, even not with all those digital friends.

Later in the evening I made a shorter walk, to the beach. Between city and beach are nice parks and a lot of people. And as another challenge from my list I withdrew money with my “revolut” card from an ATM machine and it worked!

On the way you can find a lot of old houses like this, but the photo is owed to the giant smoke pipe coming outside left from the entrance.

When at 23:30 I stopped writing I was the only one in the room, but all over night it was a coming an going, as for example the Taiwanese family sometimes slept on the couch in the “Foyer”. The rest to make my sleep thinner and interrupted was done by mosquitos. But no problem, I don’t need too much sleep in general and I don’t have to stay fit for something important.

Posted in diary | Tagged | Leave a comment

013-014 on the way to Burgas 2.-3.8.2918

Posted on 2018-08-05 by Martin

I woke up after 5 hours rest, did this and that and then fulfilled another task: going to a normal shop in Russe to by nuts. Soon I found one where the owner fills up a bag from a drawer. I wanted to have a mixture of different nuts and so first I ordered peanuts and then some other that where dark red/brown. The owner gave me a strange look but was ok with selling what I ordered. Later I found out that the second choice indeed deserved this name, because it also was peanuts, just with their skin and I didn’t know this skin colour. But at home I really mixed those 2 variants of peanuts.

Then I left Russe, which meant nearly 10km to go until I finally was outside. At a gas station a friendly guy helped me to inflate my front wheel and then I had to go for further 25km only straight on that fast road that had begun in Russe. Only variation were 3 women, every ~10km one of them, waiting for “someone”. And after 37km in total there was a nice lake on the left. But as I had made a break shortly before I didn’t stop. 3km later was “my” first village after Russe, Tsar Kaloyan, and I tried my proven combination of cheese and bread, this time spiced up by a paprika that I had got for free.

The next shop stop was after the city Rasgrad, where I didn’t find a nice place, in the second village of that day, Ushintsi. All my bottles were near to empty and I wanted to do some wild camping, so I was happy about that shop, in fact the first, last and only for my purpose. My decision was to divide those 240km to Burgas in 3 parts and thus after km 80 I wanted to start looking for a place for the night. Exactly at km80 there was a little road leading to a hill with some forest. To my big surprise on foot of that hill was a water tap. After some exploration I decided to get my bike on top of the hill and set up the tent in the forest. It was hard work, but I was motivated by a nice place with shadow and near enough to the water.

I started with preparing the place for the tent as I saw a brown animal running, not sure if it was a deer and the I heard a dog barking. Fast I felt less comfortable with my place…. Later I brought nearly 10l of that delicious tap water to my new camp site, as I wanted to wash myself with all the equipment I had carried along for that purpose. One is a foldable bowl, originally for dogs. The rest is a cotton glove and soap. Clean and refreshed I went into the tent, feeling so much safer by that thin cloth, wrote this text and before 8 I was ready for sleep.

Friday, 3.8.2018

Not permanent, but good and long sleep, dreaming of being lost in a Chinese city and found by an Austrian pupil two times, what reminds me on Ruth & Gordon meeting in Russe, but is this the way (my) brain works at night? Slowly I prepared everything for leaving, had a little breakfast at the water tap, but even at 8 it was too hot for staying longer.

I filled up the camel pack with 3l tasty water and took it on my back so I could get a sip by the hose whenever I want, but after a kilometre I gave it back in my top bag, it was too uncomfortable. The route began as yesterday, a big road, no villages, only the quite big city Schumen after a while. But another 20km later the route turned off from the big road. At that point I met a Belgian family with their Bulgarian tour guide. They made little tours around that area. In Yankovo I bought the bread and cheese combination, this time spiced up with tomatoes and carrots from a farm. The village surprisingly opened to a big square where I set down in the shadow.

Three boys were at the playground and sometimes I heard words sounding German. The harder I tried to find out, the more words I could catch. So, I asked them why they are talking in German. They are living in different German cities since years and only in their holidays come back and one of them speaks only German and Turkish, the other German and Bulgarian. They were around 8-10, but their German was really poor. But we all found it funny to find other German speakers here. I should have some video of them, as they wanted to try my camera, maybe I will post a clip later – they asked me for my youtube channel 🙂 . When I was about to leave, the Belgian Family came. They already had had similar experiences but for the boys it was the next surprise as they also could speak German and off I went.

So far 77km had been done and I wanted to wait for 80km (2/3 of the complete way to Burgas). But the hilly area with woods looked promising and I could see that it was about to change, and the next mountain was a bit far and here an interesting path was going up at the left. So, I made a short exploration and decided to stay there, at only 2p.m.! But when I started to settle down I could see that this decision was right and only 5min after everything being done it started to rain and didn’t stop for 1,5 hours. It wouldn’t have been a problem to cycle on, but as for the night in the tent, it was far better so.

Posted in diary | Tagged | Leave a comment

011-012 – last Romanian Thunderstorm, entering Bulgaria

Posted on 2018-08-01 by Martin

2018-07-31

Today I did the slow ride and I am quite sure the following experiences are due to that. First, I decided to face the challenge of going to one of these places that are a mixture between minimarket and café. I bought bread and cheese and sat down to eat.

And soon after, a Canadian cycling couple around my age, Ruth and Gordon made a stop for a short talk and exchanging email addresses. We agreed to meet again in 2 days in Russe/Bulgaria. They had a different route due to a hotel they had found somewhere in-between, and I later continued a part of the longest route in one direction, 65km without other directions given. This road partly crossed villages and often kind of nowhere land. And on such a section there was some agriculture and people under an umbrella shouted at me. So I thought maybe it is Ruth&Gordon making a stop there for buying some vegetables and went there. But it was a group of women sorting strawberries in boxes and a young guy waiting with his car to bring the fruits to a supermarket. One of those women around 50 with 3 teeth left made jokes with/about me, by that making all the others laughing loud. It was something like they do not sell those strawberries but still she would need 5 Lew, because she and her friends need bread for the next day and I should pay attention to my bike, because some Romanians would come and steal it and so on. Finally, I got 500g strawberries and in exchange gave her some protein bars. I just fear they will not like them. Some of the strawberries I put in one of those boxes I so far had managed to empty from my special home-made high-energy dietary concentrate.

When I made a stop to make a photo of a cemetery with those extra thin gravestones, a boy on a bike waited for me. He then accompanied me, showing that he could go faster and freehand. But really impressed I was when he made a full brake, actually without having brakes. He just pressed his sandal on top of the back wheel. I am not sure if he knew how dangerous this is or if this was part of the show. Later this day, an elder guy (let’s say 60) on a noisy old bike caught up for a while and maybe both of us were relieved , when he had to go elsewhere.

Still I hadn’t found any nice place to eat a breakfast (and it was nearly 11!), eg. When I wanted to go to a bench aggressive dogs were around soon and off I went. Half an hour later I found a bus stop with roof providing shadow and sat down. I could see an old couple on a bench in front of the next house time and again glimpsing towards me. And when I was finished and about to go the man came and talked to me in Romanian. Apparently, he wanted to know where I am from and where I am going to and if I am alone. I showed him the bike cover with all the flags and told him that I go for one year. So he invited me to take an apple from his tree in front of the house and that will improve my dinner.

When half of the distance to Ruse/Russe was done I decided to look for a place for my tent. What I had seen so far was not encouraging as I even didn’t find a hidden place for toilet. But then on a hill after a village a dirt road branched off at a cornfield and I followed. After the corn it made a right-bend, so there was the street, the corn and then this path and then nature. I thought this is good and set up my tent.

Because of the sun I couldn’t stay inside and crouched in the small shadow at the side of the tent to pin the Bulgarian flag to the bike cover (as a correction to Moldavia and Ukraine).

And soon after, a car came! It was an old couple, passing me, answering my hello, going on for 100m, turning, coming back, answering another hello and off they went. But only 5min later came a guy with his bike, doing the same procedure, with the only difference that he talked to me in Romanian and when I asked “problem?” pointing on my tent he said no.

Later I ate up the strawberries that were near to cooking because of the direct sun and did the same round like the couple and the guy but there was nothing of any interest…

Meanwhile the sky is very dark, wind is coming up and thunder is rumbling. I hope the best and close my PC…

The night and 1st of August

It was a real thunderstorm, the storm tearing at my tent, the rain pouring down and making little creeks over my head and lightnings accompanied by crashing thunder illustrated how exposed I was. Needless to say, it was not easy to fall asleep and before 5, when the rain had stopped, I decided to leave. All around my tent was mud, I packed up fast and soon was on the road. It was the mixture of sometimes total silence and traffic hell like always. I have less problems with trucks than with cars:

19 out of 20 truck drivers keep a good distance when overtaking (still they are big, that’s true), but less then 9 out of 10 normal cars are respectful, especially if there is another car coming from the front, many drivers just pass by without reducing speed or increasing side distance. Whenever someone in such a situation waited, I made a gesture signalling “excuse me!/Thank you!”

Today I found one beautiful place for breakfast: a tree, a table, a bench arranged a bit off the road. But some dogs waiting there could not escape my trained eye. I even was too eager to get away to take a photo. But 2h later at a lake side there was again the same arrangement of tree+table+bench and I didn’t see the dogs. I had swallowed two bites when they came. They showed all signs of submissiveness and begged pleadingly. But the leftovers of an apple did not meet their interest.

In the last village before the border town Giurgiu I continued my new tradition of bread+cheese lunch and as there was a big open bag with dog food I bought some for the “feed the aggressive dog as a surprise”-experiment. While I was eating a dog was begging and the owner chased it away several times. When I got back to my bike I saw that she even had put some of the same food besides the door but the hope for some pieces of bread or cheese had been stronger (and the dog food also could be eaten later).

I came to the border and queued up between all those cars. But then came a local man on a bike an waved that I should simply go, as it was just something about road pricing and the border is later. In fact, I had to cross the (big!) Danube to get to Bulgaria, this time slipping by the cars, showed my passport and was in Russe.

And what a surprise to meet Ruth and Gordon here again! They had checked the way to their pension and to my hostel and went with me! On the way was a restaurant where we agreed to meet in the evening. Meanwhile I had time for business as usual: clean clothes and me, charge everything, download pics from the camera, write a blog post, load up.

 

Posted in diary | Tagged | Leave a comment