As with most trips i embark upon they always start in a pub-" i fancy riding to asia" i beleive was the start of it and it sort of gained momentum after that.
And so it was that two of us left Leicestershire ( a lush county in the middle of england for those of you not not living anywhere near me.) and headed south down the M1 the two hundred miles to East Sussex to camp up at a mates house to catch the ferry in the morning. And then we were four.
The weather- British as normal- was damp for the hour or so it took to get to Dover, but spirits were high as we were off to countries unknown, new food and beer and language problems. For me a trip is not proper if communication is easy. And so it was on a friday morning that we landed in Calaiis France with torrential rain beating the windows on the front of the lounge on the boat. Waterproofs so early!
For the benefit of those of you living far away the first part of Europe is a necessary evil to get anywhere and must be viewed as long boring day crunching miles. I have done the Northern France, Belgium, Holland and then into Germany route quite a few times and it holds few pleasures for me any more, especially when it rains all day. However we take this route to avoid paying any tolls to the french on the autoroutes.
The plan for the first proper day riding was to a town in Germany called Bamberg- a world heritage site and more importantly brewers of a beer of good repute. Needless to say with the rain we called it a day when the light started fading at a town called Wurzburg and i am ashamed to say took the easy option of an Ibis hotel (45euro each), a pizzeria and a few beers saw us calling it a night fairly early. So nothing good to say about Wurzburg but only because we completely missed the old town and i have no doubt we will be that way again soon enough.
The plan for day two was much more exciting and involved baling out of Germany and heading for Austria, specifically a village called Heiliglenbut, which marks the start of the Grossglockner pass and having ridden that to press on to Vienna(Wein). At least that was the plan.
Austria- what a place to ride a bike-usual stuff like fabulous mountain scenery, quick curvy A roads, tunnels, the occasional speed camera- i reckon there are at least five pictures of me with time location and speed somewhere but currently with no cross border enforcement it matters not. Regardless, we found the start of the Grossglockner and it started raining again. Not a major problem to intrepid travellers except that at the toll booth we were informed that it was 18 euro to do the route and that we might get to Heiliglenbut but it was not a good idea as it was snowing at the top and could be closed. So we did the sort of thing anyone would do in that situation and went to St Johann- a very expensive ski resort in winter-and bought a hotel after a short search and drank beer and ate good solid Austrian fayre. As you can see plans are just plans and get modified whenever we choose.
Day three and the plan was in tatters, the idea was to get to Hungary, so we gave Vienna the swerve and pressed on down fabulous roads in the general direction of west. And so it was that in the afternnon we found ourselves crossing the border into hungary in the rain. We are no longer in the euro zone so new money is needed and we duly bought some at the border and a carnet for using their roads. The transition from Austria to Hungary is marked but not terrible as the architecture is similar just grubbier. We studied the lonely planet guide book and ended up in Gyor which is the first major town from the border and found the Hotel Corvin which accomodated us in their pension round the corner. Apprrently there is a drinking festival on that night and we are lucky to get a room at all.
Gyor is like most ex communist block towns in that it can be compared to an oyster. Pretty rough on the outside of town with a pearl in the middle. And yes they are having a party with young ladies and gents all dressed up in olde worlde finery[b]. Needless to say we found the drinking area in the middle of town with many stalls selling Palinka- a spirit of sorts, a bit like grappa, clear and in many flavours which to me tasted all really rather similar. Never mind because they have laid on a concert as well and i can tell you that Hungarian folk music is quite jolly and involves violins,guitars,a bass and what looks like a zither,accompanied by at least one singer. All this just in sight of the restaurant where we ate more substantial food and solid red wine.
It is in Gyor that the old bike had its first bit of attention. The exhaust heat shield had to be left there after the welds holding the captive nuts gave up. Only four holes in the exhaust now. It is also here that we said goodbye to two of our company who were heading north to somesort of bike gathering on Bratislava. That left two of us to travel through the rest of Hungary aiming for Romania. Again it rained on us which did nothing for the rather bland landscape that Hungary is. Lots and lots of food being grown, Tesco warehouses! and apparently a national park- we missed it because it all looked the same. It is not a country i will remember for scenery apart from unfeasably attractive young women.
And eventually we arrive at the border with Romania- now this is where it starts to get interesting for me as this is uncharted territory and we have preconceptions about Romania which i will explain.
1) It is poor.
2)We will feel fabulously wealthy here.
3)The roads will be rubbish.
4)food will be of a low standard.
5)people will be wearing tracksuits everywhere.
Arad is the first major town after the border,which we crossed with no problem at all. Gypsy types in scruffy jumpers try to sell us money but we already have some courtesy of a lady in a box on the passport control. The roads seem straight and as usual they are growing sunflowers everywhere. The houses are small but neat that is until you get to the bit where they are building palaces with neo georgian pillars and no taste at all. these are some of the most garish displays of wealth i have ever seen and set next to peasant dwellings. Very odd.
Never mind we press on into Arad which has the oyster look about it. Dreary tennements,washing hanging on the balcony, scruffy kids- who are the first to show some sort of excitment about seeing motorcycles. The sat nav(more about these cursed devices later) tells us we are in the centre of town. A green strip of grass runs down the centre of the boulevard and a Lamborgini Murcialago overtakes us. Preconception one and two blown out of the water then. We do the decent thing and buy a beer to discuss where we will stay. Security for the bikes is important and thus we end up in a best western hotel with security man in a box,wi-fi and breakfast. We beat the man on the desk down to sixty euro's for the night and have a pleasant room with good shower. We head of into town to experience the night life. The theatre bar seems like a good place to start and disappointingly sells all too common european beer. Wi-fi though. The town itself is a splendid display of old money in the architecture and churches and is clean with very cosmopolitan inhabitants. We are recommended a posh restaurant just down the road and arrive an hour before closing. We are the only ones in.
A meal for roughly ten pounds inc the drink is considered good value given the surroundings, but there is room for another hundred people here- perhaps they eat earlier.
We are sort of back on track regarding the plan. Today we go to Brasov- a town recommended in the guide book. The road there takes a little longer than we thought. We are good boys and are sticking to the speed limit but this seems to be holding everyone up. Plan B is adopted and this involves following a car which is happy zipping along. If there is a speed trap he can take the rap. There are no motorways here so it is ordinary roads all day. Plan B works a treat and an Audi takes the hit from the police and we carry on. Arrive Brasov around four o clock in the sunshine- it has not rained today.
We find a pension eventually with no help from the satnav but lots of help from booking dot com. A useful app that helps out no end when you have no clue where you are. Marital bed is the only option we have though- best get a drink then. It is as the book says and is another good find, ski slopes in winter overlook the town as does the hollywoodesque sign on the hill. There are bars aplenty and we aim to sample some Romanian food and obviously end up with italian as you do but with a good local red wine. Tomorrow is a big day.
Today we are going to do the Transfaragan pass(made notable by the boys on top gear) and have to backtrack sixty km or so to find it.
We only just found it as it is not signposted very well. It is however an absolute belter of a road with gentle sweepers to start with building to some serious hairpins as you go further up the hill. This road goes on for sixty km or so through stunning scenery and next to no traffic. We did do this on a monday and they say the world and his wife goes up there at the weekend. At the top there is a tunnel which is a bit of a suprise as it is so dark that you are convinced that you headlamp has failed and is probably the worst moment of the whole road.
That is until you get to the end of the reasonable tarmac and start riding on the patchwork quilt on the other side. It goes on for about a hundred km and if we had come this way up as top gear did we would not have ridden with such vigour on the good bit. In fact i am not convinced that top gear drove the supercars up there as it would have been crippling. I reckon they trailered them up there. We did this road in glorious sunshine and it was quite special-recommended in fact.
By now we have been in the heart of transylvania for a while and Dracula referrences are becoming quite common. The villages are picturesque and the occassional castle sits atop a hill. We must press on though if we are to get to Asia so next stop is Bulgaria. We make good progress ignoring speed limits( however i have so much tyre gloop in my tyres that anything above 100mph is not possible as the front starts bouncing. We keep it to 80mph and get the added bonus of nearly 200 miles between fill ups- petrol is not cheap anywhere anymore.)
Bulgaria turns up about four o'clock and the border is a river crossed by an attractive bridge with lamp posts all the way across with passport control the other side. No charge for motorbikes on the roads here. There are no motorways again but this does not stop progress as the roads are wide enough and no traffic to talk about. Coppers with speed traps lurk at cross roads but helpful locals flash warnings so all is well. We decide Varna on the black sea is possible so go for it.
Arriving at night is always fun and this town is not short of a bob or two as there are Mercedes,Porsche and Audi dealerships on the way in. Looks like we are not going to be rich here either. Best Western hotel again and beat the man down on price again. Wi-fi and a private police force to look after the bikes on the pavement outside. Italian food again! and some beers in the town. That was a good day and a fair distance covered.
We have estimated that we would need to do approx 350 miles per day to make the trip feasable. Through europe we did a lot more but now we can slow down a bit. Turkey tomorrow.
We leave Varna after breakfast and choose to follow the black sea coast down to Turkey. Some of the roads are outstanding and one of them springs to mind in that it would have been great if i did not have to drive like a nun for most of it trying to eek out the fuel in the tank as the petrol stations seem to have stopped. One minute they are every five miles and then nothing for fifty. Giving it too much gas sends the fuel to the back of the tank and starves the pump as i am sure you are all aware. Not great in the middle of nowhere. However all is well in the end. The seaside towns on the coast are reminiscent of Skegness in the UK but with sunshine, fairground rides,waterparks english pubs and generally unpleasant places to burn yourself to a crisp for two weeks.
Around about now myself and my mate have a sat nav moment.! The decision to program one of them to go to Istanbul was maybe not the best plan. On the map it looked simple- just follow the coast. Satnav says the quickest way is inland. And so it was. Boring.
The southern bit of Bulgaria near turkey is like the unloved child.It gets noticably poorer and the road is not the best kept. In fact bloody awful on an LT. Lucky i have a spare shocker in my topbox. My mate is on a F800GS and laughing like a drain. There are potholes you can bury people in and so it goes for hours. The temperature is now in the thirties-not a lot to some, but for British lads clad in full suits a bit bloody hot.
Eventually Turkey turns up. The border being the hardest work to get through. Documents at least four times, tourist visa purchased, a couple of stamps in the passport and an hour or so faffing about. We have had enough and decide to go to the nearest town--bit of a pattern developing here? It is Edirne and normally bypassed by most which is a shame as it is again delightful. Hotel bought using a smattering of german as we dont do turkish and a secure car park. It turns out to have the worst coffee for breakfast and very runny jam. Ah well the rest of the town was good with pleasant bars and fantastic kebabs. To enormous mosques as well, fifty yards apart so not sure why that was, but the night time atmosphere was of fun. Worth going if you are down that way. It is only 250km to Istanbul from here so the next day should not be arduous.
The sun is out again and we try to get to Istanbul before it gets too hot. The motorway--yes they are back, is dull but surprisingly devoid of traffic especially trucks which is unusual for a trade route. And deep joy there is a toll at the end with a man standing in the middle of the road willing to let motorcycle through the electric barrier for a fee. With hindsight i think we were robbed but we got through all the same. A man we met the next day paid alot less than we did but these things happen. Istanbul is spread before us and it is massive,one of the biggest cities in the world and traffic levels start to become overbearing. We have a hotel booked and are following the satnav which takes us through some rather interesting streets and it seems more like a trial section than anything else with us having to mount curbs to get round abandoned delivery vehicles in the narrow streets. We do reach the Turkoman hotel though only to discover it is two hundred yards from the blue mosque--so the best position you could ask for. We are in the right town but have not completed our task as yet and we can see the other side of the Bosphorous. But fist things first a beer or two in the roof top bar and a day and a half off the bike.
I will post this section now and continue another day- i have had enough of typing. i will try and work out where the photos are,they seem to have gone missing from this post
Istanbul anyone? Sun Aug 29, 2010 5:38 am
