Day 59, 29th July. Maryupol - Novoazovs’k - Taganrog (RUSSIA) This morning the sun rose red over the cornfields behind my tent. We all woke, but it took three hours to get on the road - too much arsing about, e.g, in the time it took me to pack my tent it took Toby more time to put his neckchains on! Anyway, we were on the road for 8, stopped at a village to get water and head for the Russian border. It was a hot day again and we approached the border at 10am. No problems we hoped, so we [View Full Entry]

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Day 54, 24th July. Odesa - Kobleve - Mykolajiv Today we left the city at 9am and after 10 miles of suburbs the rolling countryside began. We had a good tailwind but it was hot and we discovered something about Ukraine that may probably remain the same throughout our journey through the country. When you leave the cities, that’s basically it regarding services; food and water. The open spaces are immense with fields stretching far beyond the horizon. The dry heat was demanding too with a need for us to constantly drink. We found a cheap and friendly roadside café where [View Full Entry]

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Day 39, 9th July. Budapest (Budaors) - Jaszbereny After a lovely breakfast supplied by our hosts we left for the city centre where the guys went to do their shopping business and I headed off alone to Jaszbereny. The suburbs were huge, cobbled, and choked with traffic. The truck driver were idiotic along with other stupid drivers who used their cars as weapons - why do they do this and what right do they have to inflict serious injury upon persons unknown? (rant) At the city limits, fields instantly appeared and the roads became quieter. The wind was behind again and [View Full Entry]

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Day 41, 11th July. Püspokladány - Oradea (ROMANIA) - Tileagd I was up early enough to see the sunrise this morning with Scott, the other two were suffering from a bit of lethargy and it was 3 hours later before we eventually hit the road for the Romanian border. The weather had been too good to us and gave a very dry heat. Our road all the way was as straight as an arrow, but with one problem. That stupid Hungarian idea that bikes were banned on it along with horses and carts and tractors! We didn’t bother about this and [View Full Entry]

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Day 42, 12th July. Tileagd - Cicea - Vinátori As we set out, larger hills loomed into view and the climbing was soon to begin. Toby wasn’t feeling too well so we stopped at a small shop where the friendly owner let us eat at a table in the shop, cut bread for us, and gave us free bottled-water. As we carried on we had strange looks from all the people in villages. But friendly looks, smiles, and people waving to us from fields and horses and carts. At one hilltop stop we had beer, lunch and met a couple with [View Full Entry]

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Day 44, 14th July. Călanu - Reghin - Brâncoveneşti The Italian guys name was Alesso, and his friend and security guard was called Tibor. We all thought Tibor was a bit thick cos of the stories Alesso told us about him and the well! Alesso made us some cappuccino for breakfast with fresh cow’s milk and we set off. Scott wasn’t feeling too well today, but Toby was better. The road continued through rurul and less hilly landscapes over a few quite hard hills. The heat was terrible from the hot road surfaces when going up them. We rested in one [View Full Entry]

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Day 48, 18th July. Târgu Frumos - Iaşi - Sculeni (MOLDOVA) - Urgheni -Bahmut I had a good sleep in the cabin called ‘Alice’ despite Rory’s tremendous snoring, do I also sound like this? I had a cold shower and a shave, then we hit the road… and what a road it was, perfectly smooth with no potholes and a bit busier than we were used to. The flat plains seemed to bring a kind of affluence to the people in this region. Iasi was a big university town with some grand buildings, and trams. We cooked up food in the [View Full Entry]

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Day 50, 20th July. Sângera - Benderi (TRANSDNIESTRA) - Tiraspol - Stepova (UKRAINE) Andrew swam across the lake early to wish us well on our way, and we carried on east along the road in hot weather again. The roads were different than we were used to. Virtually empty of people, no horses and carts, no workers in the fields. Just before Benderi the landscape became wild and completely unused; then, a checkpoint with a Russian tank guarding it, we were waved through. Then the border control of the self-proclaimed Trandniestran Moldovan Republic. It was a time-capsule of the Soviet Un [View Full Entry]

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Day 51, 21st July. Stepova - Kamjalka - Odesa We sat tight in the tent because the mozzies were waiting en-mass outside hungry for our blood! At about 10am, when it had warmed up somewhat, we packed up quickly but still got bitten quite a lot before getting onto the open road. There was a horrendous headwind and the temperature registered 42 Celsius on Rory’s cycle-computer! Scott was in a bad way again and needed to rest very often in the shade. It was a hard 40 miles before we were negotiating the outer suburbs of Odesa. Just before the centre, [View Full Entry]

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Day 32, 2nd July. Prague - Kolīn - Pardubice - Sezemice At last! We are on the road again, I was going a little crazy staying in one place for so long. I said farewell to Klara and we headed off for our rendezvous at thr Russian Embassy. It was quick and easy to pick up our visas, they were all in order except Scott’s which was just a direct copy of his original one! The staff assured me that it could be extended once we were in Chelyabinsk*. So, we headed off into the centre of town, Scott picked up [View Full Entry]

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