Author Topic: the leaving of Darlo  (Read 104980 times)

Re: the leaving of Darlo
« Reply #150 on: 09 October, 2011, 04:38:00 pm »
Evening, all. I`m in Belgrade, at a cheap n cheerful hostel which has let me take my bike into the dorm, as there aren`t any other guests.

Serbia is cool, a cheap country at last. I got myself very lost in Fruska Gora national park yesterday, but it was wonderful, as I was up high, way above the flat plains to the north, which I was beginning to find a bit tedious. I spent the night at a deserted summer camp, which had everything you need for camping (excepting running water, warm showers and a bar). I found my way back down the track in the morning, and I was amused to see that it was described as a Mountaineers` Shelter. I wouldn`t mind betting I was the first cycle tourist on many of those roads (a generous description for the muddy and gravelly tracks) which I rode along to get there. Also, the only road signs were in Cyrillic letters...

No photos yet, the connection here is a bit slow, and I`m using reception`s computer. I`m just waiting for mz laundry to dry, then I`ll have a wander out into the city.

Karla

  • car(e) free
    • Lost Byway - around the world by bike
Re: the leaving of Darlo
« Reply #151 on: 09 October, 2011, 04:45:16 pm »
I bet you wish you were on Gerry's Autumn Brevet today  ;)

Re: the leaving of Darlo
« Reply #152 on: 09 October, 2011, 05:26:37 pm »
OK, I've pummeled the computer into submission.

First photo with new camera. Beard since shaved off.



camping in the woods near the Isar.



Vincent and Carolyn, a French couple I rode with for a couple of days in Hungary. I had self-sufficiency envy: in the second photo, Vincent is preparing the woodburning stove that he made himself, and they were using trailers which they built themselves. They were dead good at living off the land. The last photo is fruit donated to the three of us by a Hungarian lady who saw us sitting on the green in her village.









clarion

  • Tyke
Re: the leaving of Darlo
« Reply #153 on: 09 October, 2011, 05:44:34 pm »
Good to hear from you.  Sounds like it's going very well.
Getting there...

Re: the leaving of Darlo
« Reply #154 on: 09 October, 2011, 05:51:21 pm »
Yes, it is! It's been a lot of fun, and I'm enjoying the freedom. Plus from here on, it only gets cheaper.

Re: the leaving of Darlo
« Reply #155 on: 09 October, 2011, 05:54:28 pm »
Durnstein.





The road I tried to follow in Serbia. Even my stubbornness gave up in the face of this:


Gill

Re: the leaving of Darlo
« Reply #156 on: 09 October, 2011, 06:05:54 pm »
Fantastic pics, glad you are enjoying your adventure. We have travel envy.  :)

gordon taylor

Re: the leaving of Darlo
« Reply #157 on: 09 October, 2011, 06:17:27 pm »
Great stuff, Dean.
Thanks for the posts.

mcshroom

  • Mushroom
Re: the leaving of Darlo
« Reply #158 on: 09 October, 2011, 06:21:00 pm »
Fantastic pics, glad you are enjoying your adventure. We have travel envy.  :)

Definitely envious. Great to see you are having such a good journey, and those landscape pics are gorgeous :D
Climbs like a sprinter, sprints like a climber!

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: the leaving of Darlo
« Reply #159 on: 09 October, 2011, 06:24:30 pm »
Ya quitter! ;D

Looks like a lovely place to ride (overgrown paths permitting ;) ).
Getting there...

jane

  • Mad pie-hating female
Re: the leaving of Darlo
« Reply #160 on: 09 October, 2011, 06:35:00 pm »

Oh wow. I am as green as a bowl of freshly podded peas.

interzen

  • Venture Altruist
  • Agent Orange
    • interzen.homeunix.org
Re: the leaving of Darlo
« Reply #161 on: 09 October, 2011, 06:47:07 pm »
Can't believe how shiny those grapes are. I know presentation is everything, but I don't know of many people who polish their fruit prior to photographing it (or eating it :) )

Nice to see what sunshine looks like, too ...

shyumu

  • Paying my TV license by cheque since 1993
    • Balancing on Two Wheels
Re: the leaving of Darlo
« Reply #162 on: 09 October, 2011, 08:46:27 pm »

Oh wow. I am as green as a bowl of freshly podded peas.

+1
a journal of bicycle rides I have enjoyed:

http://balancingontwowheels.blogspot.co.uk/

Re: the leaving of Darlo
« Reply #163 on: 09 October, 2011, 10:47:35 pm »
The problem with those views is, how do you leave them? I'd want to just stop and stay with them a while.
<i>Marmite slave</i>

interzen

  • Venture Altruist
  • Agent Orange
    • interzen.homeunix.org
Re: the leaving of Darlo
« Reply #164 on: 09 October, 2011, 11:10:27 pm »
The problem with those views is, how do you leave them? I'd want to just stop and stay with them a while.
Whereas I'd be wanting to see if there was something even better a few miles further on ...

Re: the leaving of Darlo
« Reply #165 on: 10 October, 2011, 09:00:02 am »
I was there for a fair while. It's quite a slog up to the castle at Durnstein, even without a bike. But the whole of Wachau was as beautiful.

Oscar's dad

  • aka Septimus Fitzwilliam Beauregard Partridge
Re: the leaving of Darlo
« Reply #166 on: 10 October, 2011, 09:54:52 am »
Fantastic!  A really gripping story!

thelazycyclist

  • where's crusty?
    • thelazycyclist
Re: the leaving of Darlo
« Reply #167 on: 12 October, 2011, 09:55:30 pm »
Hi Dean

Really great photos.  The one you took of your own head is brilliant.  You seem to have caught yourself unawares.

Thanks for the postcard from Budapest.  Even the miserable reluctant traveller that I am, I am feeling somewhat envious of your adventures.  Keep it up! 


crusty.
The friendly landlord helped us put our bikes into his very big shed.  Very carefully we did not fall into the acid bath which was there.

Re: the leaving of Darlo
« Reply #168 on: 13 October, 2011, 01:13:33 pm »
Great updates Dean. Love the photos. I now has travel lust envy :'(

Re: the leaving of Darlo
« Reply #169 on: 13 October, 2011, 04:55:13 pm »
When next on line Dean have a look at www.bicycletraveler.nl

It's an English language e newsletter aimed at world travellers.

They might like to see some of your photos or a 'ride report'.  ;D

Re: the leaving of Darlo
« Reply #170 on: 13 October, 2011, 09:37:23 pm »
I'm in Bulgaria! Staying at a delightful hostel called Hostel Mostel in Sofia, which was recommended to me by an Aussie in Budapest, but he said I'd never find it ;D  It's dead friendly and relaxed, within two minutes of arriving I had a beer in my hand and I was talking to a guy who's motorbiking across Asia.

Today was wet. Lots of rain,  but I quite enjoyed getting through it, and knowing that I could. Also, today was the first imperial century of he trip - having Sofia as a destination was a great spur, even if the dark riding through the semi-flooded streets was a bit iffy. I couldn't tell the pot from the hole. I may have slightly ridden along the motorway to get here, but it's hard to tell. It was like the trunk road in Boro, a dual carriageway with no central reservation and no hard shoulder. No one gave a shit though, least of all the police.

I really enjoyed Serbia, especially the mountains in the east. I had some spectacular camping spots the last couple of nights, but sadly this antique computer can't handle the photo uploads.

I've also had a bit more success with Warm Showers, so I should get some places to stay and people to meet in Turkey and Iran.

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: the leaving of Darlo
« Reply #171 on: 13 October, 2011, 09:39:07 pm »
Sofia?  You're making good progress there.  Hope you're getting lots of great photos.
Getting there...

Pedaldog.

  • Heedlessly impulsive, reckless, rash.
  • The Madcap!
Re: the leaving of Darlo
« Reply #172 on: 13 October, 2011, 10:36:02 pm »
Keep on Deano. Enjoying the thread and jealous in a BIG way!
You touch my Coffee and I'll slap you so hard, even Google won't be able to find you!

Re: the leaving of Darlo
« Reply #173 on: 14 October, 2011, 01:01:08 am »
Dean, so far you've been to practically everywhere that Jean and I went to on our motor-bike and side-car forty years ago!  There was a department store in Sofia that had Roman ruins in the basement.  If you can take the time (and the climb) to go to Rila (about 50 miles south, I think), there is the most amazing monastery, a world heritage site now.  When we were there, there were all these monks dressed like Archbishop Makarios of Cyprus and this incredible fiddle music escaping from opened doors.  There used to be a camp-site nearby but it was so long ago, so, so long ago!

We completely wore out the front tyre on what was for us the adverse camber of the highway between Zagreb and Belgrade, a hideous stretch of concrete slabs.  Did you go down through Nis to Bulgaria?  Loads of lorries from Greece on that road, I seem to remember.  In Sofia, a mechanic straightened a kink in the chain with his bare hands; it was an inch wide.  I said, "Thank you" and backed out carefully.

It's great to see your posts.  You are now travelling into my unknown!

All the best

Peter

Re: the leaving of Darlo
« Reply #174 on: 14 October, 2011, 06:52:57 am »
I was coming from Belgrade, so I didn't come through Nis: my route was this.

So I picked up the Nis road in Pirot. The dodgy wagoneers were mostly Turks, chasing down to the border.

Wild dogs are becoming an issue - I was chased by a pair in Eastern Serbia, and these weren't your farmyard yappers (though there are plenty of those as well!) - these were circling, snarling, feral beasties of the road. There was another one at the Bulgarian side of the border which made me a bit nervous, as it tried to take a bite out of the car that went through before me. Luckily, shouting FUCK OFF! very loudly made it back down.