We've made it to Romania. This was one of the countries I was most looking forward to when I was planning to cycle this route. I had heard of great mountian chains, bears and dracula. It is so beautiful here and we are here in a heat wave, this part is not so good for cycling so we are rested up in Sighisoara, a beatuful UNESCO recognised medieval citadel and the bitrhplace of Dracula, aka Vlad the Impaler. We finally managed to leave L'viv after struggling to fit the new local tyre I had bought there. The road out of town was hot and the camp that night in a field was plagued with mosquitoes from hell . The Ukrainian Steppe is infested with the largest mosquitoes I have ever seen! We now understand why the ... read more

Well the bears didn't get us. In fact they heard me coming for miles and were nowhere to be seen, but perhaps it was not just me being characteristically chatty- it could have been the thousands of polish tourists who take the cable car to the polish -slovakian border everyday! Yes the Tatra National Park on the polish side was absolutely heaving with visitors. However we had a great tactic (not really intended mostly because of having a leisurely large breakfast) of starting quite late and therefore being on the mountains when most of the tourist were leaving. The weather was beautiful and it was a real balm to Robin and I to be high up again and away from the bikes for the first time. Zakopane had been a bit hectic, very touristy and tacky ... read more

Well We thought it was about time you all heard from me and some of my thoughts on the journey so far. The cycling has got a lot easier even though i will never catch up with Robin, he does stop quite a lot to look at birds and this gives me the chance to catch him. My legs have got much stronger and my calves will never look the same again. I think we are eating enough too which is great and we have really enjoyed German bakeries and chocolate, but unfortunately last night I bought some non chocolate from an all night shop in Prague. It beats even Chris´ choclate flavoured cake covering at only 10% cocoa it was horrible. That has been our biggest food folly so far. The cheese in the Czech ... read more

We got here! It seemed so far away on the map and we took 7 days to get here. I did not really believe that we could get there until we were crossing the Severn bridge towards Bristol, when finally Wiltshire seemed close. Robin was quite stressed with our progress or lack of it for the first couple of days after Kendal But it was hilly and we made up the time once we hit Staffordshire (my favourite county so far as it was downhill!) I now have a better idea of the geography of England-well the bits I cycled through! We went to Dent from Kendal and camped near Settle on the first night. I enjoyed the hills in the Dales, very long but not too steep and there were loads of other cyclists. Then ... read more

After years of saving, months of planning, weeks of researching and buying the bikes and various new equipment and gear Erika reckons we needed, then trying to sell/give away/store all of our personal possessions, finishing work and sorting out all the red tape that somehow seems to be involved with becoming an unemployed vagrant, we are finally ready to start our journey! Many thanks to my folks for generously donating a large part of their attic to all the stuff we really couldn’t throw away or convince anyone to buy from us, and for putting up with us in the final few stressful days of preparations. Finally everything was set for our departure on the morning of Monday 11th April - true to form we fail and manage to start cycling away at 1pm in the ... read more