412km, Ingolstadt

Things are going pretty darn well I must say, after 5 days riding (today being my 6th) I have come 412km. The weather has been fabulous, aside from a downpour lasting all of last night but now it is trying to rain but isn’t. Always a good thing. I am sitting in the town centre of Ingolstadt, pilfering the free city wifi.

I have just been accosted by an elderly German woman who has told me off for being without a man, she did however go on to say that it was very admirable and that I was super! Awwww. She is a fine example of the many people I have spoken to ready en route, I have also found a sort of cycling route buddy. Aitor is also cycling a long the Danube, we started on the same day and kept passing on another as we rose, we eventually camped at the same campsite and even rode out an afternoon together. Who knows how long our little trip will last as a double act, we set off independently and see one another as it occurs- good company for a beer yesterday too.

So of course as ever Germany is looking beautiful and the buildings are just as Bavarian as I remember. A particular highlight was a visit to the sorcery of the River Blau, a stunning bubbling spring. This little detour did mean a 101km day but dinner tastes better than ever that night!

Floodwater, as I am are many of you have seen on the news has been rather devastating and Passau is looking in a rather sorry state. I have had a few instances of very wet feet and some interesting rides through rather deep puddles, they resemble ponds and one even contained frogs- I kid you not. All in all, so far, I am managing to avoid any serious diversions.

So enough of my gibbering on, here are the snaps…

from Black Forest to Black Sea

Route map, Donaueschingen to Istanbul!

Today I shall set out once again from the port of Harwich to The Netherlands and off on my bicycle. I shall take a ferry from Hoek Van Holland all the way to the Black Forest in the south of Germany, a total of 30 hours travelling! It might be taking a bit of time but for under £100 (including a sleeper carriage) I am not complaining.

The plan as it stands is to follow The Danube River from source to mouth, the river flows through Germany, Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Croatia and Romania, I will then continue down through Bulgaria to Turkey and on to Istanbul. Of course I shall take each day as it comes and see how I am going at every stage, there is no rush and I shall stop if a place seems like a lovely spot or I shall power on through. I could be in Istanbul in 6-8 weeks it could be 3 months, who knows?! The summer weather (yes haha you say with the headline ‘Central Europe drowned’ as I type this) could play a factor in my pace and although I enjoy the sun I certainly don’t want to experience any freak heat whilst cycling. Steady as she goes.

So here it goes, I shall try to report as frequently as possible en route and well see you after 3000km or so!

Barra to Stornoway, The Outer Hebrides by pedal power

A rather delayed update of my travels in the UK is well needed on here, I haven’t yet written of the beauty and great silences I experienced up in The Outer Hebrides. The decision to head off for my 24th Birthday was exactly the gift I wanted, a little trip whilst dreaming/planning of future adventures.

Starting out on July 16th I boarded an early train from Edinburgh to Oban, changing at Glasgow Queen Street during rush hour. Fantastic planning as ever then. It felt good to have my bicycle packed with everything I needed to go it alone with just these wheels and panniers for company and so off I went.

Be it over three months or one week, I seem to take the same amount of gear…

It was a long journey from my home in Edinburgh out to the island of Barra, with only one glitch in the form of an announcement over the tannoy in Glasgow Station asking whomever had ‘abandoned their bicycle to return to it’. I most certainly had not abandoned my bicycle, it was propped up outside a shop, I had gone in to purchase the essential for travelling alone moleskin notebook for all my thoughts and musing. I explained this to a guard at the station who then proceeded to ask many questions and insisted on standing guard over my bicycle. In all my time travelling around Europe nobody had confronted me about such an act of ‘abandonment’ everyone seemed to be looking at me with a mixture of confusion and anger at my lack of concern. Never had I been more ready to get away from hubbub and the absurdities of city life, but it was all worth it for the instant quiet that comes with such a tiny island as Barra, I couldn’t quite understand where all the people and cars that I had travelled with for 5+ hours across the water with had disappeared to. I certainly wasn’t complaining!

Barra, just off the ferry, around 8.45pm

I set off across the island in search of a place to camp for the night, I ended up cycling a lot further than I had intended but there was the sense of freedom pumping through me and a huge smile on my face. I remember sort of chuckling to myself with glee at the thought of the week ahead.

Sunset on Barra, just before finding a lovely spot to spend the night.

I wont go through my day to day account in such detail by merely state that really this confirmed for me that future trip by bicycle were certainly on the cards. The people I met and the places I saw once again blew me away, the weather did this almost literally and I returned home with a real wind tan on just my face and hands (ever other part of me was protected from the whipping winds coming in from the sea). I camped wild, on campsites, at the back of a pub and outside the hugely welcoming Hebridean Hostels http://www.gatliff.org.uk/, quite the variety for a week away!

Simple things on any camping/cycling trip can make you smile, even if it is just making yourself breakfast in bed on your birthday…

A little gift to myself, porridge with jam and a strong cup of coffee!

But mostly the scenery is what I do it for…

Stunning beach on Harris, even in the wind and rain.

…and the wildlife, no matter how noisy!

Camping at the Hostel on Bernary

A birthday treat of a bonfire and bbq at Bernary Week

Totting up a total of 474km or 294miles in just 5 full days ofwas quite the wake up as my day tripping by bicycle had been a little scarce, quite satisfying to travel such a distance on land with interjected ferry rides between and see the rise and fall of the land a long coastal paths and right across Lewis to Callanish.

My overall route took me from Oban to Barra, across to Eriskay then onto the Uists, South and North with Benbecula in-between. Over the causeway to Bernary and then crossing the Sound of Harris to the island of Harris itself, where the real hills were! From Harris to Lewis and then finally back over to the mainland at Ullapool where I spent the night and indulged in local Loch Broom lobster before my final stint to the train station at Garve. Phew.

This trip also made me realise how much of Scotland I need to explore, the north is calling as is Lands End to John O’Groats- a good friend and fellow cyclist Katy has talked of this for a while and so here’s to a casual trip exploring the countryside of the UK from South to North, no want for time trials and record braking here.

Garry Beach Tolsta, the furthest point accessible by road on Harris. My resting place for the night, and the sun came out!

A self confessed foodie I couldn’t do this post without perhaps my biggest indulgence on any trip thus far, the aforementioned Loch Broom Lobster,

Simply delicious

The Hebridean Adventure

Excitedly I am planning my next trip away, not quite the grand attempt to cross multiple countries in order to get to an arts festival but I will be traversing several islands.

I have never been one for celebrating my birthday as such and with this years just around the corner I thought it best to keep to tradition and be away from home. A sort of celebration in itself. So I am off to The Outer Hebrides for a week. A little trip from Barra to Lewis by bicycle, the biggest challenge at present seems to be an early Monday morning train from Edinburgh to Glasgow, a fully loaded bicycle versus a whole bunch of city slick commuters!

Wild camping and beach exploration, just the ticket before all become chaos and noise in August at the Edinburgh Fringe. I have never been to the Outer Hebrides but from what I have heard/seen of them I think it will be a rather pleasant trip. Now wish me a few sunny spells so I don’t end up a super soggy Fran!

The very useful Cycle Scotland website has a route which outlines the journey I will be taking, and some rather encouragingly beautiful pictures (full of sunshine!)

From Barra to Lewis, about 129miles or 207km

Itchy feet, that didn’t take long

Now I thought that I would feel content for a little longer than this, but having been back less than a month I can’t stop contemplating my next journey. On my initial return I was certain I wanted to go back to Italy next summer for more WWOOFing, this is certainly true in many respects, however I also have the bicycle bug!

I am currently staying with friends in Edinburgh and am being kindly housed in a spare room come bike store cupboard (do not fear it is much larger than it sounds!), perhaps it was their mere presence and the absence of my own wheels that got my feet itching and planning cogs whirring…

I have got it into my head that I want to cycle a long the River Danube, I can’t tell you where this notion came from much like I cannot tell you where the idea to cycle to Italy began. Even so it is early days and being jobless certainly gives you time for such mildly ridiculous thoughts.So the Danube, starting in Germany it goes through countries I have never visited and seems like a natural choice. To Hungary it is 1260km but of course it doesn’t stop there, the river continues until the Danube Delta in Romania, a total of 2875km. Some friends of a friend did this trip- the whole way! They were riding for charity and documented their journey with some highly amusing writings and images http://3idiots3gears2875km.blogspot.com/ good work and if there was ever a huge spur of inspiration then they are it. Crazy folks on fixies!!

I will continue to contemplate, consider and cajole others, perhaps someone would like to join me this time, any takers?

There she flows...

washing day

Bologna, the city where I smell fresh and clean. Yesterday was washing day, fun fun. But with cuppa and some cake in the sunshine, glorious!

Arrival in Venice!

On Monday the 10th October I arrived in Venezia, exactly 5 weeks after disembarking the ferry at The Hook of Holland I had reached my destination.

An odd mix of feelings, largely due to the chaotic nature in which I arrived on the island. The area around Venice is not designed for cyclists, in any way, shape or form. At one point I honesly thought I was going to be cycling on a motorway, luckily I didn’t end up on the motorway and made it across the brdige to the city. You can probably imagine that Venice itself is also not the best  place to take a bicycle, tourist information is over a bridge- the bridge is not smooth and rolling but simply steps.I pushed my bike up and over to the other side, fully loaded. This was OK but I was then met by the least helpful Tourist Info Office I had encountered so far, all those tourists must make you grumpy! Eventually I found the location of my campsite and headed back out of Venice, pushing my bike for 1.5km a long the side of the dual carriageway as I couldn’t cross the continuous crash barrier with my still fully loaded bike. Yes I missed the opportunity to join the road but in all honesty I felt safer where I was, Italian driving is not cycle friendly!

So after setting up camp I returned to the city (by bus) and enjoyed a well deserved glass of wine. I couldn’t help but feel a little strange, I have the Biennale to occupy me whilst in Venice but haven’t organised a place to go next. No map, no destination. Italy is my oyster but I have no idea where to go!

more new faces

So my encounters continue and I have had the good fortune to meet some more cycle tourers in the past week. First came Gabriella and David in Donauwörth, where we spent a night at the Kanu Club Camping- I was glad I bumped into them else goodness knows when I would have found a campsite, the one I was headed to had closed for the season!

Gabriella and David from Australia, don't worry they didn't cycle all the way to Germany but were heading all over the place for hiking

Second came Jang Jae, a gem! We were both arriving alone to a campsite outside of Füssen and well the rest is history as they say. Dinner together and morning photo shoot. Jang Jae was heading to Oktoberfest, I hope he is behaving himself. I like that his route is being dictated my suggestions from people he meets. A true traveller.

Jang Jae from South Korea

And then came Micheal, the speediest cycler so far. We met just after the border into Italy and he is heading to the south of Italy to visit a friend, perhaps we shall meet again en route?! Who knows!

Michael from Poland

up and over and into Italy…

So crossing The Alps, it seems that my timing was rather good (intentional, obviously). Since I crossed the border into germany 3 weeks ago I haven’t had a single day of rain, yes I know I shouldn’t tempt fate. I hear that the UK is having a similar late summer, hope you’re all enjoying that back home! The weather here is meant to turn on Saturday, with a big temperature drop and the snow returning (there was a lot last week, down to 500m in some places!) I am a lucky individual, jammy as Ian might say.

I am now in Merano, which is a beautiful town in the north of Italy. I have far too much to say and to write to be able to post it all in one go so some ‘back-blogging’ might be in order.

But for now here are  some snaps of my alpine crossing, over the Reschenpass from Austria to Italy. With about half an hour in Switzerland. The road from Martina to Nauders is rather spectacular, 8km of hairpin bends wooo!

So I was just cycling a long and out of nowhere The Alps sort of appeared on the horizon

...a little closer

I got a little excited by this point

and as the mountains get closer I only get more excited...

On Forggensee, early morning

crossing the border from Austria to Switzerland

then back into Austria to cross the border into Italy, on the Reschenpass at 1455m

but its OK, after all that I found myself a comfy seat to relax in at The Gardens of Trauttmansdorff Castle

The romance is over

Made you look!

So I left the Romantic Road as soon as I could, it send you this way and that to see every lovely castle in the area, a bit much. Is it rude to say that I am all casteled out?

I joined the Via Claudia Augusta at this milestone.