Danube cycling

29/07/2015

Our adventure has come to and end !

We have cycled our last kilometres and have been preparing for our trip home in Bucharest, the capital of Romania.

After a long search we found some big boxes to protect our bikes on the airplane. :)

29/07/2015

Our adventure has come to and end ! We have cycled our last kilometres and spent a few days enjoying Bucharest, the capital of Romania. We have been preparing our bikes for the trip home. After a long search we got our hands on some big boxes to protect our bikes on the airplane. :)

24/07/2015

We were looking for a campsite, and somehow ended up on an island resort... Guess we'll have to live with it.. :D. Black sea!

22/07/2015

We're staying in Tulcea today and went for a boat trip on the Danube Delta! Beautiful!

21/07/2015

Two days ago we entered Romania. Because we need to reach our destination on time we decided to take the train yesterday. Lets just say it was an interesting experience. There was only little time to get in when the train arrived. Before we realised, the train conductor blew his whistle and the train began to move. Dieter's bicycle was already inside, but his bags were still on the platform. I was still on the platform myself with a fully loaded bike! With the help of another train passenger I quickly lifted my heavy bike into the train, scraping off a piece of skin from my hand in the process. Dieter then got his bags and climbed back into the moving train. During the ride one of the doors remained open...
We needed to change trains in Bucharest. Although we had we supposed to have more than one hour for that we missed it because the first train arrived more than one and a half hour later...
Eventually we got back in the train and headed for Galati. The train was like a sauna and sweat just dripped from us for hours...
It was already dark when we arrived. Four big stray dogs gave chase through the streets but Dieter eventually roared them away. After a while we found a hotel where we enjoyed a good night of sleep after a long day.

19/07/2015

Last climb of the day selfie :)

19/07/2015

Update! We spent two nights and a full day in Belgrade. The city itself isn't that great. There are some things to see, but nothing in comparison to Vienna and Budapest for example. There are definitely lots of parties going on on river boats.

Before we knew it, we were back on the road again. Temperatures are in the 40°C and we constantly need to cool down in the river.
When we left Belgrade we had the worst day so far. Three flats, two broken spokes, a broken waterbottle, dogs chasing us and really bad roads. And that all whilst the sun keeps burning of course... Luckily some locals provided water and even a bit of watermelon!
It's on to Romania today!

15/07/2015

Whilst waiting for yet another bike repair... :D

15/07/2015

We have been cycling lots of kilometers the last few days. We entered Croatia and got a warm welcome by the owners of the campsite in the evening. After cycling more than a 100 km we were offered some home made liquor although we hadn't had a decent meal in five hours...

After a 'short' 165 km, we already left Croatia and entered Serbia!

We already had to go to a bike repair shop twice! The first time a spoke had broken which caused a bent wheel. We got it fixed, but when upon entering Serbia we had to stop again because I wasn't able to shift my gears anymore... The man from the workshop fixed the problem, but he wasn't satisfied with himself because the gears still weren't a 100% perfect. Because of that, he didn't charge any money! Today we will push on to Belgrade, the capital of Serbia :)

14/07/2015

:D

http://m.kw.knack.be/west-vlaanderen/nieuws/samenleving/west-vlamingen-fietsen-onder-hete-zomerzon-van-bron-donau-tot-zwarte-zee/article-normal-189799.html

Bert Vermeersch en Dieter De Dobbelaere hebben intussen ongetwijfeld flink uit de kluiten gewassen kuiten, want de twee trappen gestaag van aan de bron van de Donau tot aan de Zwarte Zee in Roemenië, goed voor 3.266 kilometer ontspanning én inspanning. Ze bezorgden ons een tussentijdse update van on…

12/07/2015

Finally found a decent wifi connection again! Time for an update.
Three nights ago we arrived in Budapest, the capital of Hungary, after another long cycling day of a 130 km. The weather had finally cooled down luckily. Before we were cycling in temperatures over 40°C ! The end of the heatwave was marked by a big downpour, which we escaped by spending a few hours in a thermal bath :)

We only arrived in Budapest at 9 in the evening... and went on a pub tour at 10 :) Budapest has quite a busy nightlife with lots of cool bars. The second night we went on a boat tour on the Danube. With pizza and unlimited beer :D
It's certainly a city worth coming back to!

We've really had to adjust after leaving Budapest. We're back in in our tent along the road and cyling all day long instead partying and sleeping in... Nevertheless, Budapest is already 200 km behind us!
We have also had our first flat, which is not bad after already more than 1100 km :)