We got vısas!

After much delay and toing and froing (which is none too easy when your on a bike I can tell you) we've just received our visas for Iran. Hoo RAAAAHHHHH!! If we hadn't gone through Iran it would have been a hell of a long, hard detour so three cheers for the Iranian embassy :-)

I have spent a significant amount of my time checking out scarf wearing styles to see if i can work out which will be the most aerodynamic and able to withstand fast downhills. I'm sure there will be more pictures to follow. So now we'll start to concern ourselves about acquiring one for Pakistan, tis a never ending quest.

Turkey has been amazing so far. People are incredibly kind going out of their way to help us, not only giving directions to where you want to go but actually walking you there so you don't get lost, which can be a bit of a mare when you actually already know what you're doing but hey de ho. People also have a complusion to feed us. In rural villages people who have been working in the fields run up to give us food, at one point we had 5 melons (we would have had more if we hadn't stopped the flow). To save us carrying them we ate the lot in one sitting resulting in us rolling around at the top of a hill with turkish melon belly. Its quıte pleasant.

We've been staying in Cappadocia for the last couple of weeks which has been stunning. The whole place looks like something from a star wars set (I think some of it actually was). All caves for scrambling around in and amazing valleys. This was all enhanced by our campsite having a swimming pool, great views AND hot showers.

The campsite itself seemed to have a gravitational pull for people on crazed round the world trips (and if you think we're hard core we met a Kiwi couple who have been cycling for 4 years). So we've had chance to get the lowdown on places we are going to and witness a blindfold nutella competion with surprising results. But enough frivolity we're back on the road tomorrow heading east to Mount Nemut Lake Van and Iran. Brıng it on baby.
x

Its all relative

Slovenia to Serbia the peaks and plains - thoughts in bullet points highlights and lowlıghts of post-yugo tours

Slovenıan heart attack cake
Originally uploaded by t wi an e

Slovenıa
Home of the heart attack cake. Sugar, cream, lard and pastry served in deadly slabs...approach with caution.
Very crumpled land, if you imagine the alps as rolling crushed velvet, Slovenia would be crumpled tissue paper, as soon as you climb you come back down again, steep and sharp.
Riding in really hot conditions for the first time, found a thermometer reading 31 degrees in the shade, combined with constant climbing its a bit of a do.
Postonja caves, huge, huge, huge, magnificent cave networks, you get on a little train to take you underground, a bit of a James Bond baddıes, underground lair/weapon stash transport affair, which as you can imagine thrilled me almost as much as the caves.
Pretty wreathes of wild herbs hanging on doors.
The Proteus - loved it so much i bought a sticker.
A very pretty place, lovely meadows, generous people gıvıng us salt and pepper just when we needed it though how they knew I'll never know.
Slovakian cycle tourists paying for a support team but supporting themselves as far as we could see.

Croatia
Happy, happy people loving their country, for all the right reasons.
Zagreb lively city, their tourism leaflet touts it as great for cycling.
NOT great for cycling! Crazy (and sometimes a little bit tipsy) drivers and potholes you'd need a specialist team to recover you from make for a teeth shattering, hairy ride. (Please, please rıde on the pavement if you ever go here, everyone else does.)
Beer on sale in petrol stations and a handy little bar to drink it in...how thoughtful!
Stork Village, highest concentration of storks per house in Europe. The houses are great little timbered affairs beautiful but probably a wee bit drafty in the winter. Usually occupied by traditionally dressed and scarfed little old ladies, stooped by years of labour in the fields of communism. (Never wanted to wear a freak tshirt more).
Bullet holes in walls and minefields on borders with Bosnia and Serbia. They're still there, they can still blow bits of people off. Quick to forget sometimes.

Bosnia
Only spent 2 days cyclıng along the northern border so not obvıously not a good overview but...
Stunning untouched wooded hills.
Sunflowers and corn in the breeze.
Cheaper than cheap.
However desolate streets blown up and overgrown. Eerie eerie place. I had no idea what went on in the conflicts and various wars of independance but it made me want to know. This really affected me, ethnic cleansing, dereliction, new homes being built next to the shattered ones. Made me want to hire a bulldozer just to give people something a bit less raw to look at each day.

Back to Croatia

Serbia
Instant change of vibe crossıng the border from Croatıa from happy happy we love our country to something a little more spiky. In fact we had to cycle about 30 miles more than we had planned as the road we had planned to cross at which was still on our map was removed after the war.
Plains with melons and corn as far as the eye can see................ f-a-r
Pastry and cheese - the national diet it would appear and cause of my weight gain.
Communities living on municipal dumps with their goats.
Serious staring - cycle tourists obviously quite unusual.
Coffee in cafes on our morning rides.
Eating melon, mmmmm.
Watching sunset on the Danube. Dining on the Danube. Dancing on the Danube. Watching sunrise on the Danube. Following the Danube.

Romanıa
DOGS! DOGS! DOGS!
People without exception smile and wave (if you do it first).
Children waving at us from wındows in derelict apartment blocks. No idea what they were living on. Nothing for even the goats to eat.
Horses and carts.
Undeveloped towns with open drains.
No food in the shops.
Horrific potholed roads with lorries hurtling past drive us back to Serbia.
But somehow great coffee!?
Would love to come back to bike through transylvanian alps but will prepare myself first (with a dog stick primarily).

Return to Serbıa
Eastern Serbia has much easier going attitude than plains to Belgrade, more homely and welcoming but perhaps that's cos we'd just returned from Romania. It is all relative.

Footnote to Eastern Europe
A lot of the time I was pretty stunned that I was in was Europe, I mean I went on a bit of a bike ride to get there. There are constant reminders of war all along the borders. People live in new houses whilst the old ones remain as a constant reminder, bullet holes and spray paint untouched. No food in shops. Open drains. People living on dumps (I like a good skip raid as much as the next greeny but this was serious shanty town stuff). Blah blah you might already be aware and I was the only one asleep but eyes wide open now baby. And damn it I want to know more about history, its what makes us who we are even if we don't know it. This may seem a bit dark and some of it was but there were also lots of beautiful ups and laughs (moslty at the slovakian cycle tourists, they were so cool) and simple pleasures are what keeps most of ticking along thankfully.

txx

How can you cycle 2,500 miles and put on weight...

...pastry