Hungary (all)

After graduating from grad school, I decided it was finally time to do the trip that I had been thinking about for years--crossing europe via the EuroVelo 6. This journal is a light-hearted account of my trip. I try to include as much information as possible for other cyclists wishing to do the same trip, but I also try to make it entertaining. You can be the judge of that.

A four month cycle tour by tandem, starting April 2010. The plan, if you can call it that, is to have a good time, eat lots of food and visit some eco projects along the way. We also want to cover some miles in a clean, responsible, but ultimately enjoyable, cheap and stress-free manner. What better vehicle than the bicycle could we use to achieve this?

To me, the bike is the ultimate in human transport. Someone said that human progress should have stopped after the bicycle was invented. In my opinion, it did stop. The rest has been downhill. (I know that's not true, but I thought it sounded good.)

Anyway, this is the blog of our trip. We hope you enjoy the blog and we hope we enjoy the trip. That way, we're all happy.

This is my travel blog of several years on the road. It started life as a round-the-world trip, but before long I realised that A-to-B cycling isn't as interesting as getting off the beaten track and really exploring a place. So since I left home I've had as much time off the bike as on it, earnt more than I've spent, learnt a new language, met an amazing girl and got married to her! Eager to travel by bike as a couple, we're currently seeing where this new dimension takes us.

I prefer to write about the way the trip affects me psychologically and about the cultural, political and historical curiousities I encounter. It's an uncomfortably personal story at times, but I think it's more interesting than reading pages of distance measurements, road conditions and visa hassles.

My creative outlet comes through photography and video which I also share on the site - I carry 6kg of camera equipment and don't regret it for a second!

Meine erste grosse Radtour begann zu Hause und führte mich in Richtung Asien. Ich bin aber nicht der Typ, der für alles einen Plan hat. Ich lasse mich einfach dahintreiben, und finde Unterwegs immer wieder Ideen, wo ich gerade hin könnte. Häufig durch Jemanden, der gerade unterwegs ist, und mir von seinen Erlebnissen oder Plänen erzählt.

We don't just have our house on our bikes, we also have our two dogs, Jack and Paco, along for the ride. That's 60kg of furry luggage and another 50-60kg of non-furry luggage between the two of us! Needless to say we don't go fast but we do go everywhere, refusing to let our extra load stop us from tackling hills with grades of up to 18%. We have been on the road with our two dogs since July 2008. So far we have covered 17,000 kms and 18 countries in continental Europe.

One friend mired in med school, the other about to begin the rest of his life. Both wanted to go on an adventure. Both wanted to bike. Many arguments later, The Greatest Schlep was born. Keep track of us as we schlep from Prague to Athens.

``On a bicycle you are forced into intimate contact with your surroundings, the grass on the side of the road, the vehicles that drive past, the farmer in the field, that damn hill under your wells, the rain on your face, the smell of the wild flowers (or the broken sewerage pipe for that matter). This interaction gives a real sense of the place, the traffic tells you what kind of things are going on in the area, tourism, logging, farming, industry etc. The constant exposure to the weather gives an astute awareness of the day to day changes, or in the case of a strong head wind, any natural feature which will give some shelter . Hungry, thirsty and tired, a warm smile and a few words (or more often hand signals) is all it takes to find a place to pitch the tent for the night, on real ground with a newly gained sense of the place after a long day in the saddle''

With a focus on photography, this site will give the viewer a real sense of life on the road as a cycle tourist.

Dal Danubio alla Dalmazia attraversando Austria, Slovacchia, Ungheria, Bosnia Herzegovina e Croazia. Un viaggio dal cuore dell'Europa all'Adriatico attraverso i Balcani e la loro recente storia.

On my way to China from Switzerland, I left home on August 2008 and plan to arrive in China on September 2009. As biologist I try to meet other collegues and make some birdwatch on some famous bird's important areas. meeting people also take a good part of the trip.

www.velopourvous.com est le site de l'association ``Vélo pour nous, vélo pour vous'', qui à pour but de promouvoir la pratique du vélo.

Entre autres, il raconte les voyages en vélo de ses adhèrents, et pas seulement...

Une grande partie est dédié au voyage de Claudia et Thomas autour d'Europe. Leur but est de faire un inventaire de la culture du vélo en Europe. Des jolis photos et un impressionant carnet de bord vous attend à les découvrir...

Rodadas es un manual para aquellos que quieran iniciarse en el cicloturismo. En esta página encontrarás información sobre cómo elegir tu material, trucos para solucionar algunas de las situaciones con las que se enfrentan habitualmente los cicloviajeros e información sobre iniciativas cicloturistas en España y allende de los mares.

Además, te contamos nuestros viajes a través de Europa (en junio-octubre 2005), Escocia (2003) y Holanda (2002).

This is the exciting journal of my cycling adventures in the wild lands of Europe. Will my knees hold up? Will I simply be too lazy and return after a week? Will I make it to Istanbul in time to host a WILD party? Read on......

I'm at one of those grave intellectual impasses that have been known to bring even greater minds than my own to a standstill. I have an orphan sock. Trivia, you say. Ha! I think not.

The cause of this problem is surely the work of that Slovakian KGB Agent, foolishly disguised as a laundress in Svolen. She stole it, I'm sure. Probably for a DNA sample to impress her superiors in Bratislava. They've been following my every move since the kustoms agent in Warsaw asked me the purpose of my visit to Poland. When I answered ``vacation'' the disbelief on his face gave him away. What, doesn't anyone go to Poland on vacation?

But back to the real problem, the orphan sock. The purists among cycle tourists would say, ``Throw it away, it's excess baggage. And while you're at it, cut three inches off that over-long toothbrush handle.'' But the Calvinist in me says, ``Save it. It's a good sock, nearly new.'' I've already reduced the weight of my baggage by losing its mate. Maybe I'll lose another and be back to even and lighter still.

We are addicted. Our bike seats are still warm from our previous and first tour, three months of cycling from Stockholm to Rome, and already we are thinking of another tour. You would have thought we had enough, but no we don't want those seats to get cold. The only question was where?

Our first tour had been North to South so how about East to West. We had loved the two days that we had cycled along the Danube and wished we would have had more time following the river. Now we would make up for that.

We would start in Munich and follow the Isar River to the Danube. There we would join the super highway of bike touring, the Donauradweg, and follow it to Budapest. The return trip would be by train arriving back in Munich in time to enjoy Oktoberfest.

Il ciclismo è sofferenza. Il premio è la cima di una montagna o una città a 2000km da casa. Se questo premio vi sembra adeguato allora la domanda ``ma chi te lo fa fare ?'' ha già una risposta. Se non vi sembra abbastanza, semplicemente non potete capire chi pedala.

Cycling is suffering. The prize is the top of a mountain or a city 2000km far from home. If this prize seems you enough, then the question ``why do you do that ?'' already has an answer. If you don't find it enough, you just cannot understand cyclists.

A world tour on a rather odd bicycle.

This blog (still ongoing) describes our experiences, both good and bad, of cycle touring around Europe. It was a long planned trip - about 15 years before coming to fruition - and we decided that as we were between jobs and countries (from Dubai on the way back to NZ) we would explore some of the places we had always wanted to visit and get a culture fix too!

Read about my adventures by bicycle around the world,taking in Europe, the Near East, India, South East Asia, Australasia, and the USA on Route 66.

For something a little less ambitious, I have prepared details of a three-week tour of the beautiful landscapes of central Portugal.

Or if you prefer a central base and some day rides, read about my routes on the Spanish island of Mallorca - a cyclist's paradise, with warm weather, flat hinterland, stunning mountain climbs, and huge ice-creams!

We are performing a 2 years (theoretically) trip around Eurasia. During the trip, we are performing a photo documentation for ICOMOS, an expert organization of UNESCO about cultural heritage. The database created will be available on the website.

We wish with this project to perform some challenging cycling, linking with useful actions.

Our website relates our diary and we are putting plenty of photos and comments (and lots of other fields are going to come, such as advices, technical data...).

Welcome to the Wish Tour!

Below you will find the photos and journal from a two-year, 20,000-mile bicycle journey around the world.

Starting in July 2005, this journal will take readers across the United States, Europe, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Kyrgystan, China, Tibet, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Borneo, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand.

The journey began more than 20 years ago, as the seeds of a dream to circumnavigate the globe were cultivated from a deeply personal and painful experience.

[Absolutely stunning pictures.]

journal + a lot pictures

La mia bicicletta ha circa due mesi di vita: una city bike rossa, 21 rapporti, con la quale ho fatto circa 130 km, un po' sui colli bolognesi, un po' nei dintorni di Cereglio, e una quindicina su stupende, alte montagne marchigiane.

Through Eastern Europe, summer 2006

Summer 2006 we cycled Eastern Europe. We started in Bucharest Romania and went all the way to the Ukraine border into Hungary, Slovakia, Chzechoslovakia into Germany. On my windows webspace the route and the pictures tell the story. Enjoy!

A self-organised, seven-day tour for four through the countryside of Eastern Slovenia and Western Hungary. A total of 647km travelled.

Highlights included: romantic Ljubljana, the socialist-realist new town of Velenje, traversing the Pohorje Massif via the Rogla ski resort, crossing the border at Kobilje, sampling erratic Hungarian driving techniques, having to off-road frequently, 85km of flat along Lake Balaton, the old town of Szekesfehervar (when we found it), and entering Budapest the hard way via the Buda hills.

All that and sampling every beer we could find...

In March of 2006 we set out to cycle from the UK to Tibet. We didn't quite make it but had a great adventure cycling across Europe in one of the wettest winters on record and then through the wilds of Central Asia. The site includes lots of images from Tajikistan one of the really countries for cycling.

I can't really remember how we came up with the idea. It wasn't like, 'Hey, let's cycle from Europe to Asia.' It was an accumulation of small and different snippets of information via the Internet, certain other events and I suppose fate, that all slowly came together to give us our planned destination 'ISTANBUL'.

One thing was definite, the good old faithful Blue Danube River played it's usual important role in the idea, which was to safely guide us, not all of the way, but at least a part of it.

Ich kann mich nicht genau erinnern wie wir auf diese Idee gekommen sind. Wir haben nicht einfach gesagt ``warum radeln wir nicht von Europa nach Asien?''. Es war eher eine Ansammlung kleiner und unterschiedlicher Informationen aus dem Internet, verbunden mit anderen Ereignissen und wahrscheinlich auch Schicksal, was uns letztendlich unser Ziel Istanbul gegeben hat.

Eines war sicher, unsere altvertraute Blaue Donau spielte wie immer eine wichtige Rolle. Sie zeigte uns den Weg, und begleitete uns treu fast bis ans Ziel.

Cycling the Elbe and Danube cycle ways.

Two tours, one of the Danube cycle way from Germany to Budapest, then through Slovenia to Venice, and the Elbe cycle tour from Hook of Holland to Prague via Hamburg; passing through Germany and Dresden.

This website accompanies the book ``Why Don't You Fly?'' (ISBN 1-905203-25-X published by Pen Press).

How does it feel to trade comfort and security for life as a nomad and to pare one's life down to the bare necessities? What is it like to push at the frontiers of one's physical and mental endurance?

``Why Don't You Fly?'' is the account of an epic adventure in search of an elusive sense of identity in which triumph, disappointment, discomfort, exhaustion and exhilaration all trade positions against a backdrop of prodigious physical endeavour. During a gruelling 16,500-mile examination of physical and mental stamina the author ate and drank in roadside cafés in the company of inquisitive lorry drivers and shared dormitories in remote Chinese villages with fascinated farm hands and gleeful mosquitoes. Sceptical western existentialism met religious fatalism in the restaurants and teahouses of the Middle East and India in the course of a physical and spiritual journey that constantly raised questions about the attitudes and values that prevail in the West.

The Website includes a chapter-by-chapter synopsis of the book, a sample chapter and 93 photographs.

This webpage is intended to provide information for cycle tourists who may be considering tours in the countries I've visited. For more information, journals and pictures leave a message in my guestbook or send me an email.

`` Yes, it's hot. But we've seen worse haven't we my friend. There was that day east of Warnambol when the chip seal melted and the chips stuck to the tires. A few revolutions later we had flats front and rear. So we pushed for a mile seeking shade to repair the punctures. And the flies Ah! And there was that time in Zamorah. Ah! But not now.''

``The Great Heart Travelers'' promote the blood donation riding around the world. They made a Europe tour of 5400 km in 2004, and a tour in New Zealand in 2005. (Follow the archive link at the bottom of the page to go to the European tour.)

In 2001 vanuit Nederland vertrokken en nu okt 2005 meer dan 65.000 km en al meer dan 40 landen doorgefietst.

[On June 20 2003] I did a tour along the Moldavian painted monasteries [in Romania], starting with a not too difficult pass. Sucevita monastery was even more beautiful. From there I continued east to a bigger town, Radauti, to find a bank machine for a few millions of cash. Via Solca I reached Gura Humorului. Met a group of German cycle tourists. Near the Sucevita monastery I found a nice place to camp at a B&B farm. I insisted to pay for this and for the use of the sanitary facilities and the host accepted my offer of 5 euros, which is a crazy amount for a simple camping spot. For this amount he invited me to sleep in a bedroom inside, but I refused politely and opted for my tent with nice views on the village road. My host spoke good English, teaching American sailors in Brasov and staying at his parents farm during the holiday season. [The next day I took] a small detour to visit the Voronet monastery.

I did a tour along the Moldavian painted monasteries [in Romania], starting with a not too difficult pass. Sucevita monastery was even more beautiful. From there I continued east to a bigger town, Radauti, to find a bank machine for a few millions of cash. Via Solca I reached Gura Humorului. Met a group of German cycle tourists. Near the Sucevita monastery I found a nice place to camp at a B&B farm. I insisted to pay for this and for the use of the sanitary facilities and the host accepted my offer of 5 euros, which is a crazy amount for a simple camping spot. For this amount he invited me to sleep in a bedroom inside, but I refused politely and opted for my tent with nice views on the village road. My host spoke good English, teaching American sailors in Brasov and staying at his parents farm during the holiday season. [The next day I took] a small detour to visit the Voronet monastery.

Ja, hebben jullie het al gezien, we zijn meer dan 4 jaar onderweg. Wat een tijd en toch.... we genieten er nog elke dag van. Nu zijn we in Jujuy, noord Argentinië. Via Chili gaan we binnenkort naar Bolivia, waar we een tijdlang niet zullen kunnen internetten. We zullen op grote hoogte gaan fietsen, hoogtes waar we nog niet eerder waren. Of dat prettig is.. jullie zullen het later lezen.

Le strade sono in buone condizioni in Polonia, Slovacchia e Ungheria. Per quanto riguarda la Romania la situazione varia dall'importanza della strada che si sta percorrendo. Quelle indicate nella mappa del Touring col colore bianco sotto la dicitura di ``altra strade'' sono spesso con un fondo stradale dissestato con buche o rattoppi che rendono la strada molto irregolare. Tutto questo in un ottica automobilistica, ma in un contesto cicloturistico ciò non comporta grossi problemi. Unica avvertenza non andare sparati in discesa se volete evitare spiacevoli imprevisti.

Notevole è però l'impegno rumeno per migliorare lo stato delle cose; strada facendo abbiamo incontrato spesso lavori stradali di risistemazione o rifacimento del manto stradale, quindi la situazione è possibile che migliori di anno in anno. Il traffico è abbondante a Bucarest e in direzione nord fino a Brasov; la statale 1 o E60 che parte da Bucarest fino a Ploiesti è vietata al traffico ciclistico. Conviene evitare, come del resto abbiamo fatto salvo poche eccezioni, le strade rosse di grande comunicazione. Ricordatevi che in Romania non esistono praticamente autostrade, quindi tutto il traffico si scarica sulle statali. Posso aggiungere che nelle strade alternative scelte, percorse e qui descritte abbiamo trovato quasi sempre un traffico scarso o tollerabile. La viabilità alle biciclette è consentita su quasi tutte le strade percorse. Abbiamo trovato qualche limitazione in Ungheria, apparentemente immotivata, che abbiamo risolto o con percorsi alternativi o, in un solo caso, infischiandocene del divieto.

La pedalata è adatta ad un cicloturista allenato. La lunga distanza e i dislivelli da percorrere non devono fare però paura. Il paesaggio carpatico è simile all'appennino tosco-emiliano, montagne quasi mai aspre, passi intorno ai 1.000 - 1.500 s.l.m.; ma anche dolci colline e pianure.

A short tabular tour description.

My name is Louis Tousignant, a Canadian in his mid fifties, living in Nova Scotia on the Atlantic shore. Having cycled Copenhagen to Rome in 1998, and the U.K. in the mid 80's, it seemed a good idea to try Eastern Europe. As an eager amateur photographer, I particularly wanted to see Krakow, Prague and Budapest. Having had a grand time in Italy the year before, I also wanted to see Venice, a must... before one dies... Ergo this trip which I enjoyed tremendously.

This 52 day trip included 33 days of touring (3003 km for a 91 km/day average) and 19 days of travel and tourism. The load, minus water, was 20 kg, distributed in 4 saddle bags and one camera bag on the rear rack.