The English club I went to, after meeting Stepan, in Kolomiya!
Thursday 30 April 2009
Sunday 19 April 2009
Dobry Dyen! I am now in the Ukraine. I find myself in Rachiv, really as result of an unwanted momentum – sparked by a dangerous Hungarian breakfast in Budapest. Bread, jam, cheese, ham, pancakes, with sugar and chocolate, as well as a huge kind of bread-like cake with custard. It was the stuff of heart attacks! The accompanying three cups of coffee and a manic 22 mile dash from one side of the city to the other led to a day of unsettled anxiety. A feeling of hurtling towards something unknown at a speed exceeding my comfort zone. The speed, incidentally, was about 12 miles per hour, so probably just a lesson to cut back on strong coffee!
Traveling into the east of Hungary, I started to draw more and more attention from the villages I would pass through. So often, as I rode down streets, with people sitting outside their houses or drinking at cafes, I felt a Mexican wave of stares following my path. If I stopped in village, I did not have to wait long before I was surrounded by children, counting to ten in English, asking ‘What is your name?’ over and over again, and laughing hysterically at my reply. It is the kind of reception I think I may have to get used to.
Arriving in Tokaj, two days later, I found the fourth campsite I had tried in the town to be closed. There were a few guys there, getting ready for its opening in May. I explained that I didn’t need water or showers and that I could pay. “Okay – zero Forints”.
After which Norbi brought me drinks from their bar, and Benjamin, Jobi, Tamas and Matyi helped put up my tent. Benjamin spoke English and it was good to talk about my trip as well as experiencing such an amazing welcome. In the morning the Romanian owner, whose name I didn’t learn, helped me pack and said goodbye. Well actually he said ‘hallo, hallo!’, but that seems to mean goodbye there.
After a couple of nights of wild camping, and several nights without a shower, I am very happy to be sat in a guesthouse, in the Carpathians, where I will rest tomorrow…
Traveling into the east of Hungary, I started to draw more and more attention from the villages I would pass through. So often, as I rode down streets, with people sitting outside their houses or drinking at cafes, I felt a Mexican wave of stares following my path. If I stopped in village, I did not have to wait long before I was surrounded by children, counting to ten in English, asking ‘What is your name?’ over and over again, and laughing hysterically at my reply. It is the kind of reception I think I may have to get used to.
Arriving in Tokaj, two days later, I found the fourth campsite I had tried in the town to be closed. There were a few guys there, getting ready for its opening in May. I explained that I didn’t need water or showers and that I could pay. “Okay – zero Forints”.
After which Norbi brought me drinks from their bar, and Benjamin, Jobi, Tamas and Matyi helped put up my tent. Benjamin spoke English and it was good to talk about my trip as well as experiencing such an amazing welcome. In the morning the Romanian owner, whose name I didn’t learn, helped me pack and said goodbye. Well actually he said ‘hallo, hallo!’, but that seems to mean goodbye there.
After a couple of nights of wild camping, and several nights without a shower, I am very happy to be sat in a guesthouse, in the Carpathians, where I will rest tomorrow…
Tuesday 14 April 2009
Budapest
Well, I was going to put an exclamation mark after Budapest - to make it seem really exciting - but this keyboard is really, really Hungarian and I can't find one.
Since I last wrote I have cycled a lot along the Danube. I met a very nice man, riding into Vienna, who made the last few miles more interesting than they would have been otherwise. He told me about the 20km long artificial island in the middle of the Danube and informed me that the ships harboured by the banks were not really ships, but schools. Built because land in the city is too expensive.
From Vienna the route to Budapest has been very flat. Lots of green fields, but not a lot else. The people I have met have all been friendly. I think that it is easier to meet people when it looks like you're carrying a house around on your bike. You immediately have something to talk about. Even if neither of you can understand the other...
I am currently sheltering from quite an impressive thunderstorm. It is the only real rain I have seen for almost three and a half weeks so I have been very lucky.
Budapest is okay. There were some quite emotional demonstrations taking place earlier today - lots of national flags, speeches and people shouting. I tried to find out what it was about, but as yet have not managed to. I think, if you want to fall immediately in love with a city, you should probably take a train and arrive in the centre. On a bicycle you have to go through so much rubbish - sprawling industrial estates, busy roads and building sites - that by the time you arrive in the historic centre, there is already too much you have to forgive the place for.
I think I will head north east tomorrow, towards the Ukrainian border and the Carpathian mountains.
Oh, miles so far - 1742.
Since I last wrote I have cycled a lot along the Danube. I met a very nice man, riding into Vienna, who made the last few miles more interesting than they would have been otherwise. He told me about the 20km long artificial island in the middle of the Danube and informed me that the ships harboured by the banks were not really ships, but schools. Built because land in the city is too expensive.
From Vienna the route to Budapest has been very flat. Lots of green fields, but not a lot else. The people I have met have all been friendly. I think that it is easier to meet people when it looks like you're carrying a house around on your bike. You immediately have something to talk about. Even if neither of you can understand the other...
I am currently sheltering from quite an impressive thunderstorm. It is the only real rain I have seen for almost three and a half weeks so I have been very lucky.
Budapest is okay. There were some quite emotional demonstrations taking place earlier today - lots of national flags, speeches and people shouting. I tried to find out what it was about, but as yet have not managed to. I think, if you want to fall immediately in love with a city, you should probably take a train and arrive in the centre. On a bicycle you have to go through so much rubbish - sprawling industrial estates, busy roads and building sites - that by the time you arrive in the historic centre, there is already too much you have to forgive the place for.
I think I will head north east tomorrow, towards the Ukrainian border and the Carpathian mountains.
Oh, miles so far - 1742.
Saturday 11 April 2009
Monday 6 April 2009
1233 miles (and a half)...
Hallo! That's what they say here - so easy, but somehow I continuously say it the wrong way! I'm in Prien - a bit further east than Munich.
Since Vesoul (don't ever go there - unless you love car factories and industrial estates) I have enjoyed some really brilliant cycling. The pass at Ballon d'Alsace, where the snow stood at six foot by the sides of the road and the mountainous regions around Freiburg in south-west Germany were both highlights.
A word of advice though: when confronted with mountains don't just go east. I spent an entire morning carrying my bike and gear in four stages up to the top of a mountain, because the cycle path was thick with snow and ice, only to find that the route was circular. I arrived in Elzach, where I had begun at 8.30am, a couple of hours after lunch. It was such a beautiful mountain, however that it was easy to see the funny side.
There are plenty of opportunities to camp in the wild in Germany. The forest are not marked with intimidating 'Private Property' signs, as they are in France, and I have enjoyed several nights camping under trees. It is nice to fall asleep as the birds fall silent and to wake as they begin to sing. This does not extend to the cockerals - who will disturb your sleep at 3,4 and 5 o'clock in the morning!
Southern Germany was mercifully quite flat so I have made good progress and find myself at the foot of some staggeringly high-looking mountains. Perhaps Ausria tomorrow, but then again - looking south east toward sheer white cliffs reaching high into the sky - perhaps Austria the day after...
Since Vesoul (don't ever go there - unless you love car factories and industrial estates) I have enjoyed some really brilliant cycling. The pass at Ballon d'Alsace, where the snow stood at six foot by the sides of the road and the mountainous regions around Freiburg in south-west Germany were both highlights.
A word of advice though: when confronted with mountains don't just go east. I spent an entire morning carrying my bike and gear in four stages up to the top of a mountain, because the cycle path was thick with snow and ice, only to find that the route was circular. I arrived in Elzach, where I had begun at 8.30am, a couple of hours after lunch. It was such a beautiful mountain, however that it was easy to see the funny side.
There are plenty of opportunities to camp in the wild in Germany. The forest are not marked with intimidating 'Private Property' signs, as they are in France, and I have enjoyed several nights camping under trees. It is nice to fall asleep as the birds fall silent and to wake as they begin to sing. This does not extend to the cockerals - who will disturb your sleep at 3,4 and 5 o'clock in the morning!
Southern Germany was mercifully quite flat so I have made good progress and find myself at the foot of some staggeringly high-looking mountains. Perhaps Ausria tomorrow, but then again - looking south east toward sheer white cliffs reaching high into the sky - perhaps Austria the day after...
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