Europe cycle touring trip - Turkey-Scotland, July 2011

 

When Niall and James first mentioned they planned to fly to Istanbul and cycle across Europe back to Edinburgh, I thought they were crazy and immediately dismissed the possibility of joining them. “I’m not a cyclist”, I thought. As I pondered my plans for the summer break before starting my first teaching post, I began to realise that cycle touring actually combined two of my loves: travelling and exercise. This could actually be ‘my cup of tea’ and I would be hard pushed finding two better travel buddies than Mr Shannon and Mr Couper. So I bit the bullet, we booked our flights and I splashed out on a lovely new Dawes Galaxy, the classic British built touring bike which I named Connie after Istanbul’s former name Constantinople! 

The countries

Our plan was to keep the route fairly unplanned, which led to some unexpected detours and surprises. One day we passed through 3 countries, using different currencies and languages to say hello and thank-you in each of them. This route avoided busy roads, so we excitedly spent an afternoon cycling through a small corner of Greece on the way from Turkey to Bulgaria. 

Turkey contained the friendliest people who frequently waved and honked at us, viewing us with curiosity and interest. As we took a breather beside one Turkish house, the friendly residents quickly contacted their friends and family who came to meet us from the nearby village. James entertained them with his juggling and we had to politely decline their offer to hang out for the afternoon. 

Romania was the most developing but fascinating country we passed through, with towns and roads bustling with people going about their daily lives. The farming styles are very traditional and the horse and cart remains a common mode of transport. By contrast Luxembourg’s towns were ghost-like with many businesses closed and people seemed to be away on holiday to grasses greener.

The Netherlands was the most cycle friendly country ever! Almost every road had a dedicated cycle lane, bicycles ruled the roost, and motorists always gave way to cyclists. Bavaria in Southern Germany contained some of the most beautiful scenery and we swam in a couple of stunning lakes. We eventually clocked up 12 countries en route from Istanbul to Amsterdam, with many ‘high fives’ and photographs at each new country.

The dangers

These included dogs, vehicles and each other. Most dog chases happened in Romania and it was usually a pack of them getting excited at the first sight of bicycles. Sometimes the front running dogs would try to intercept us, but we always put on the gas and out-sprinted them unscathed.  The danger during this rush of adrenaline was being so focused on swerving to avoid the saliva dripping jaws getting anywhere near our legs, and crashing into our cycle buddies doing likewise!

We all had a crash with most of them being comical incidents between each other, as we regularly cycled at very close proximity to make the most of the drafting effect. Niall probably had the lowest speed crash as I passed him my camera going up a hill. We touched bikes, he lost his balance and basically just sat down on the road! One amusing coming together happened at the Belgian border as I scrambled to get my camera for the obligatory photo and swerved into James’ path. His handlebar hooked on to my pannier bag strap, and as I dragged his bike along he somehow managed to hop off. The sight of James’ bike in tow and James standing flabbergasted on the road bikeless created many giggles afterwards! 

I had the highest speed crash when James accidentally veered off the kerb on to the verge and immediately steered back onto the road. In that split second he slowed down enough that I ploughed into the back of him before I had the time to brake. He managed to stay upright and I skidded off into the gravel. Thankfully other than a few cuts and bruises for which the first aid kit made a rare appearance, Connie (the bike) and I were grand.

Wild weather camping

One of the most exciting parts of our trip was finding a lovely spot to wild camp after a hard day’s cycling. Our sites included farmer’s fields, and land of every variety, in amongst deciduous woods and forests, and beside old farm buildings, lakes and castles, often as the sun was setting beautifully. 

We encountered a good few farmers who were surprisingly content with us setting up camp on their land, with one exception. In Belgium we were halfway through dinner after pitching our tents and we were relaxing to the max. That was until the tractors arrived to bail the hay field, a corner of which was our camp site. The farmer immediately gave us a disapproving wag of his finger and we knew we weren’t welcome! So we packed up all our gear again and limped a couple of minutes down the road where we found a secluded spot deep in some trees. Second time lucky and we were only bothered by the mossies!

The weather ranged from extreme heat throughout most of Eastern Europe where we had afternoon siestas and lay at night in our tents sweating profusely! By contrast in Austria we had 5 days of rain and wind in our faces, which tested my mood, i.e. I am not a happy chap when I’m cold and drenched! But you have got to have the challenging times to appreciate the good times, and all in all we were generally pretty lucky with the weather.  

Food miles

The great thing about cycling touring is you can and must eat loads of food to provide the energy to keep the legs turning. Running out of snacks was not a nice feeling, leading to lightheadedness and lack of leg drive.  We munched enough chocolate, cereal bars, sandwich biscuits, etc to last a lifetime! Pasta was our nightly feast, with different combinations of sauce, veg and cheese to spice things up. We ate better than the average student, with plenty of treats such as German apple strudel and almost daily lattes. 

As long as we were regularly well fed, the miles happily ticked by. For the stats lovers amongst you, from start (7 July) to finish (7 August) we covered 2400 miles in 32 days, which works out at an average of 75 miles daily. We only took two full days off in Budapest (splashing out and around in the fantastic outdoor Turkish baths) and Luxembourg (where we were happy to relax, play table-tennis and many a game of cards). We managed 450 miles over one four day period when on one epic day we cycled 128 miles!

Here and now

With one adventurous chapter closed upon our arrival in the Meadows Edinburgh, another has opened, as we commence our teaching careers in the 3 corners of Scotland. Hopefully Kelso in the Borders (Niall), Annan in Dumfries and Galloway (James) and Wick in the Highlands (me) will provide half the adventure and enjoyment of the past month.