Sorry, a bit of a cop-out here but since it is too much trouble to upload all pics to different websites (there is no excess space on the Eee P.C) I am going to put links to my facebook albums until i think of a better idea!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=129064&id=522102164&l=789c09079e
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=148199&id=522102164&l=95b86f34c6
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=149813&id=522102164&l=8d2bfb341d
Saturday, 22 August 2009
Tuesday, 11 August 2009
Istanbul
Right, so its about time I did an update. I am sat on the roof of the Hostel while I right this with a fantastic view of Hagia Sophia and the Sultan Ahmed and the Bosporus. Have just had the evening call to prayer which still makes me look up and sends shivers down my spine. It really is an amazing place, even if a bit more European than I would like.
So i had better go back to the start and please be warned this may be a long post as I have been away for two weeks.
So Sunday the 26th, D-day. Went to Guernsey and picked up the bikes from the Full Boar clubhouse, they had been good enough to look after them and it was in town. We had lunch with Mum, Dad, Mara and Ray before getting final stuff (and a last minute panic for me when my sidestand broke just before we had to go to the boat - luckily Jim saved me by finding some spare bolts at M and G) Then leaving, I was sad to be leaving but I know I will be back and I am focusing on the present and the immediate future at the moment.
For our night in St Malo we rode about 20 min out to find a small restaurant that Ray knew,but no luck on that, fortunately we bumped into one of the girls from Victor Hugos that me and George knew and she and her friends found us a restaurant that was still serving and we had a really enjoyable night.
The first day riding was pretty uninteresting, just motorway across France, although Ray's GPS did throw in some good small roads in the evening and we found a decent place to camp in some woods near at town called Avallon south east of Paris and had a few drinks and a good meal.
Tuesday we headed out early onto the motorway and blasted towards the alps, which started with just foothills and then suddenly the mountains I had been dreaming about! I cant explain how fantastic it is to ride a bike in the Alps, they have to be about the best roads in the world! We made good time and ended up at Balmers in Interlaken, which is stunningly beautiful - summed up by the road in, twisting around the lake, embedded in the cliff - with mountains on one side and the incredible Sapphire lake on the other, surrounded by snowcapped mountains. It really was breathtaking and the road was great and no cars! amazing!
Me and George went down to the Bar/Club at Balmers, but were shattered and supprisingly there was not too much going on. Met a few american girls and chatted for a bit, but thats about it.
The next day (Wednesday I think) I spent the morning fiddiling with the bike and went for an explore in the mountains, which turned out great as i found a little dirt track that went up...and up...and up! I passed some loggers and stopped to see if it was ok to continue (I had ridden past a few gates by now) and one gestured to continue. It took about 30 minutes to get up as high as the path went and it finished on a little flat part with a fire pit about 3 quarters of the way up the muntain with a beautiful view of the city below and accross the surrounding mountains - I would have loved to sleep there but was looking forward to seeing Tunji who was coming up on the train that afternoon, so I reluctantly went back down and managed to oveheat my breaks which was a suprise to say the least when they suddenly didnt work!!
Had a great night with Tunji and Duncan and Oli came and stayed aswell, unfortunalty I crashed out and went to sleep early so missed out on alot of the night!
Thursday up quite early and said goodbye to everyone, Tunji went to catch the train home and me George, Ray, Duncan and Oli left to head east over some passes.
The first one was the Furka pass which going up was thick cloud and we could not see even 20feet infront of us, but once we reached the other side it cleared and it was amazing! the road was just Kilometer after Kilometer of hairpins down into a vally and then all the way up the other side - just astounding and really enjoyed it, even though I was not that good and the bike was not properly set up, so I got left behind the others (got some photos though). The other side (Grimsal pass) was once again in the clouds and we stopped for lunch at the bottom.
We rode the next pass (the Oberalp) and I was a bit quicker but still left behind! sods! after that we setteled in for a long streight and stupidly I was riding with my visor up, God quickly reminded me that was a bad idea by sending a bee at my face which got stuck under my glasses and stung me just on my nose next to my eye. The little bugger stayed in until I stopped, got my helmet and glasses off and got its sting out, by that time i had a huge headache and we pulled into a field next to a stream, where the little lump turned into a bump and then after twenty mintes my eye was swollen shut and I couldnt see! well that meant I couldnt ride so Ray and Duncan went looking for a place to camp nearby and George and Oli went to buy some food in the next town.
The next day it was even worse so I went to the hospital to see if they could do anything -A long shot- of course they couldnt by gave me some ice and some pills to stop the swelling.
Duncan and Oli were on a schedule and so they left to continue to Italy. Me, Ray and George went to find a proper campsite to spend the next few days in until i could see properly again.
It turned out the ice did the trick and by the next day I could see enough to ride even though my face was till swollen. We rode some wicked valleys and passes into Italy to see Robin and his Fiance and her family. Had a great evening with a proper Itialian family, food and wine!
The next day we split up. Ray and me headed to the Dolomites and George headed to libjuana, slovenia to meet some friends (Grega, Iztoc, Christina and Barbra). Unfortunaltly for me and Ray it rained pretty much as soon as we got to the mountains and after a day in the pelting rain I called it at 4 pm as i was not feeling safe on the roads, there was nowhere really cheap but we found what I think was the least expenive hotel in the area (still 40 Euros each) and we had a couple of pints and watched the rain in the cafe next door.
The following day it was better so we made a bee line to George and the sun! I didnt even realise we were in Austria until we were almost out! oops! still, it was nice fast A roads and we got onto the motorway and got into Libjuana about lunchtime where, happily, it was sunny! but by the time George dragged himself out of bed and met us in the center square the rain was coming in. We were spending that night at Grega's house about 30k out of the city, we were completly soaked by the time we arrived but the rain started letting up and Grega got a BBQ going and produced some beers so we had a good evening in the end.
Up late next day and did some work on the bikes (well George did, the rest of us drank coffee and offered suggestions)
Not much to say about the next 3 days as we just rode through the rest of Slovenia, Croatia and into Serbia (where we camped in a very poor town by the river in as far as I was concerned a frankly stupid spot! but as it turned out we had no problems and all was ok, took a bit of riding a 2 foot wide embankment with solid bushes on one side and a drop down a concrete bank into the river on the other (and of course we all rode one after the other with no chance of turning or even helping each other - it had been a long day)
We had planned on staying at (or near) a monastry near Sophia where they have taken an oath of silence but the road took longer than expected and we had to stop for me to replace my rear sprocket. So as night fell we stopped at a small restaurant for the most salty food I have ever and hope to ever eat! then camped by the motorway and next to a train track where it of course rained in the morning and we split for the last tim, George and me heading to Turkey and Istanbul and Ray going south to Greece and then by boat to Italy and up back to Austria. I wish him all the best and it has been great to have him riding with us (including the 2 hour shortcut that put us 20k back the way we had come!! - was a nice ride though).
We had a long day to the border of Turkey and fortunatly only about 20 minutes at the border so double quick time! next was 250k of stupidly windy motorway that we did as fast as we could but when we stopped it felt like I had been in the ring with a boxer!
Istanbul started about 40k out of the city, this place really is Massive! Had to stop a couple of times in the rush hour traffic due to my bike overheating and the driving is really getting bad now.
Anyway this has been a long and mostly boring post due to us rushing through Europe, but I know I will do it again some day and so look forward to that. We will likely be in the city until the weekend and i will try and get a post up before we leave
Now (hopefully) some pics
So i had better go back to the start and please be warned this may be a long post as I have been away for two weeks.
So Sunday the 26th, D-day. Went to Guernsey and picked up the bikes from the Full Boar clubhouse, they had been good enough to look after them and it was in town. We had lunch with Mum, Dad, Mara and Ray before getting final stuff (and a last minute panic for me when my sidestand broke just before we had to go to the boat - luckily Jim saved me by finding some spare bolts at M and G) Then leaving, I was sad to be leaving but I know I will be back and I am focusing on the present and the immediate future at the moment.
For our night in St Malo we rode about 20 min out to find a small restaurant that Ray knew,but no luck on that, fortunately we bumped into one of the girls from Victor Hugos that me and George knew and she and her friends found us a restaurant that was still serving and we had a really enjoyable night.
The first day riding was pretty uninteresting, just motorway across France, although Ray's GPS did throw in some good small roads in the evening and we found a decent place to camp in some woods near at town called Avallon south east of Paris and had a few drinks and a good meal.
Tuesday we headed out early onto the motorway and blasted towards the alps, which started with just foothills and then suddenly the mountains I had been dreaming about! I cant explain how fantastic it is to ride a bike in the Alps, they have to be about the best roads in the world! We made good time and ended up at Balmers in Interlaken, which is stunningly beautiful - summed up by the road in, twisting around the lake, embedded in the cliff - with mountains on one side and the incredible Sapphire lake on the other, surrounded by snowcapped mountains. It really was breathtaking and the road was great and no cars! amazing!
Me and George went down to the Bar/Club at Balmers, but were shattered and supprisingly there was not too much going on. Met a few american girls and chatted for a bit, but thats about it.
The next day (Wednesday I think) I spent the morning fiddiling with the bike and went for an explore in the mountains, which turned out great as i found a little dirt track that went up...and up...and up! I passed some loggers and stopped to see if it was ok to continue (I had ridden past a few gates by now) and one gestured to continue. It took about 30 minutes to get up as high as the path went and it finished on a little flat part with a fire pit about 3 quarters of the way up the muntain with a beautiful view of the city below and accross the surrounding mountains - I would have loved to sleep there but was looking forward to seeing Tunji who was coming up on the train that afternoon, so I reluctantly went back down and managed to oveheat my breaks which was a suprise to say the least when they suddenly didnt work!!
Had a great night with Tunji and Duncan and Oli came and stayed aswell, unfortunalty I crashed out and went to sleep early so missed out on alot of the night!
Thursday up quite early and said goodbye to everyone, Tunji went to catch the train home and me George, Ray, Duncan and Oli left to head east over some passes.
The first one was the Furka pass which going up was thick cloud and we could not see even 20feet infront of us, but once we reached the other side it cleared and it was amazing! the road was just Kilometer after Kilometer of hairpins down into a vally and then all the way up the other side - just astounding and really enjoyed it, even though I was not that good and the bike was not properly set up, so I got left behind the others (got some photos though). The other side (Grimsal pass) was once again in the clouds and we stopped for lunch at the bottom.
We rode the next pass (the Oberalp) and I was a bit quicker but still left behind! sods! after that we setteled in for a long streight and stupidly I was riding with my visor up, God quickly reminded me that was a bad idea by sending a bee at my face which got stuck under my glasses and stung me just on my nose next to my eye. The little bugger stayed in until I stopped, got my helmet and glasses off and got its sting out, by that time i had a huge headache and we pulled into a field next to a stream, where the little lump turned into a bump and then after twenty mintes my eye was swollen shut and I couldnt see! well that meant I couldnt ride so Ray and Duncan went looking for a place to camp nearby and George and Oli went to buy some food in the next town.
The next day it was even worse so I went to the hospital to see if they could do anything -A long shot- of course they couldnt by gave me some ice and some pills to stop the swelling.
Duncan and Oli were on a schedule and so they left to continue to Italy. Me, Ray and George went to find a proper campsite to spend the next few days in until i could see properly again.
It turned out the ice did the trick and by the next day I could see enough to ride even though my face was till swollen. We rode some wicked valleys and passes into Italy to see Robin and his Fiance and her family. Had a great evening with a proper Itialian family, food and wine!
The next day we split up. Ray and me headed to the Dolomites and George headed to libjuana, slovenia to meet some friends (Grega, Iztoc, Christina and Barbra). Unfortunaltly for me and Ray it rained pretty much as soon as we got to the mountains and after a day in the pelting rain I called it at 4 pm as i was not feeling safe on the roads, there was nowhere really cheap but we found what I think was the least expenive hotel in the area (still 40 Euros each) and we had a couple of pints and watched the rain in the cafe next door.
The following day it was better so we made a bee line to George and the sun! I didnt even realise we were in Austria until we were almost out! oops! still, it was nice fast A roads and we got onto the motorway and got into Libjuana about lunchtime where, happily, it was sunny! but by the time George dragged himself out of bed and met us in the center square the rain was coming in. We were spending that night at Grega's house about 30k out of the city, we were completly soaked by the time we arrived but the rain started letting up and Grega got a BBQ going and produced some beers so we had a good evening in the end.
Up late next day and did some work on the bikes (well George did, the rest of us drank coffee and offered suggestions)
Not much to say about the next 3 days as we just rode through the rest of Slovenia, Croatia and into Serbia (where we camped in a very poor town by the river in as far as I was concerned a frankly stupid spot! but as it turned out we had no problems and all was ok, took a bit of riding a 2 foot wide embankment with solid bushes on one side and a drop down a concrete bank into the river on the other (and of course we all rode one after the other with no chance of turning or even helping each other - it had been a long day)
We had planned on staying at (or near) a monastry near Sophia where they have taken an oath of silence but the road took longer than expected and we had to stop for me to replace my rear sprocket. So as night fell we stopped at a small restaurant for the most salty food I have ever and hope to ever eat! then camped by the motorway and next to a train track where it of course rained in the morning and we split for the last tim, George and me heading to Turkey and Istanbul and Ray going south to Greece and then by boat to Italy and up back to Austria. I wish him all the best and it has been great to have him riding with us (including the 2 hour shortcut that put us 20k back the way we had come!! - was a nice ride though).
We had a long day to the border of Turkey and fortunatly only about 20 minutes at the border so double quick time! next was 250k of stupidly windy motorway that we did as fast as we could but when we stopped it felt like I had been in the ring with a boxer!
Istanbul started about 40k out of the city, this place really is Massive! Had to stop a couple of times in the rush hour traffic due to my bike overheating and the driving is really getting bad now.
Anyway this has been a long and mostly boring post due to us rushing through Europe, but I know I will do it again some day and so look forward to that. We will likely be in the city until the weekend and i will try and get a post up before we leave
Now (hopefully) some pics
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