Dave and his Bike

Days 34, 35, 36 & 37. Day 34. Well, that didn’t turn out the way I thought it would. Ever since arriving in Sofia I’ve been worrying about the route out – basically busy dual carriageways and avoiding the motorway. I always worry about the next bit. Much discussion was had last night with Ivan…

Days 31, 32 & 33. Day 31 Today was a day I had been nervous about for a while. Mainly because I started the day at 200m above sea level, and now I am at 1240m. It was therefore going to be the most climbing so far, with the addition of my panniers which I…

Days 28, 29 & 30. Day 28. I woke up feeling quite positive this morning, after a good sleep. I then checked my overall mileage until I get to Istanbul, against the days I have to do it in and the days off I would like. I seem to have miscalculated somewhere, and Sofia to…

Days 25, 26 & 27. Day 25. Another sunny morning. Cool, but sunny all the same. Due to the predicted low mileage today, I had a very leisurely start after another good breakfast. The only real way out of town was on the main road. Traffic was busy, but considerate. It was gradually uphill (about…

Days 22, 23 & 24. Day 22. It’s been a full three weeks. That’s gone rather quickly. What feels more bizarre is that it’s already been four days on my own. I’m missing the company I must say. I slept quite well again. I wasn’t desperate to get going this morning, until I read a…

Days 19, 20 & 21. Day 19. Ljubljana to Blanca. I woke up at about 0400hrs to the sound of rain on the tent. It was not unexpected. By 0730 when we surfaced there were already quite a lot of big puddles around the campsite. Not a great start. The rain did ease off enough…

Day off in the city. Last night we had a brief conversation on the campsite with John and James (late arrivals), the Scottish gravel bike riders on the north west loop of Slovenia. Shame we won’t cross paths again – good luck gents! After a kit-check morning in preparation for tomorrow, a coffee in a…

Days 15, 16 & 17. Day 15 We woke up to a beautiful day. Sunny, warm and a light breeze. Once I had avoided the dual-carriageway past the airport I found a lovely route almost out to the coast at Jesolo where we met for coffee. Very quiet roads and flamingos on the lagoon made…

Days 12,13 & 14 Slight change of format. I’ve got more chance of remembering where I’ve been than what number day it is. It may also make it slightly less boring to read! I got away from our ‘tired’ accommodation in Cremona reasonably early, but my impatience to get going and hurrying Jane along came…