Gwilym's Adventure Blog

Another European bike adventure started today. I am aiming to fill in the gap on my pannier with all the flag stickers of the European countries I have not yet been to. I am currently near Ghent in Belgium having covered over 500km from home. The time in the saddle was interspersed with the "club lounge" on the ferry. £12 upgrade fee for quiet lounge with comfy sofas, no screaming kids and complimentary coffee/biscuits. Well that was a no brainer. Off the ferry, switch GPS into kilometres and "no motorways" and it was straight into French countryside towards Dunkerque. At some point along the route I passed into Belgium but the problem with "frictionless borders" is I often don't know what country I am. Anyway, I am now chilling here at a nice little (and cheapish) campsite looking at my options for tomorrow, I have to get across Germany (or at least most of it) tomorrow to fit in with my master plan - I will be honest, the first ti...

After and early start to catch the 7:45 ferry from Calais to Dover I was home by 1pm. The bike and all my clothes have been washed and sorted ready for my next adventure Some trip statistics 4757 miles / 7655 kilometres - The original estimate for the trip was 8000km so not far off 99 hrs and 59 mins riding - Should have one round the block to get the perfect score 56.3 mpg / 20km per litre - Best I have ever had must be the tyres Average Speed = 37.5mph / 60.3 kph5 mph - There were some very slow roads at times All the countries with stars are new ones I had not been to before. I have recommended a location/road for some of the countries France Belgium Luxembourg Germany Austria Hungary * Serbia * Romainia * - 67C (Transalpina) Bulgaria * North Macedonia *  Greece North Macedonia -  Road between the two lakes and CampRino Albania * = SH23 - This is not to be taken lightly Kosovo * Montenegro * - Durmitor National Park Bosni...

Very hot here in Serbia and fortunately the campsite has wifi so I can blog and bore you all. 7am start was not early enough. It hit 33 degrees at some point today. I had a ferry across the Danube River before filling the tank and drinking lots of (crap) coffee before the Serbian border to use up my Hungarian Forint. The border crossing was almost disappointingly easy. Passport and V5 to get out of Hungary and Passport to get into Serbia. They had no interest in my bike's paperwork which I had all in order and was ready to impress them with. As the heat cranked up I realised that Serbia (or at least the north part) was missing any features. It was hours and hours of straight flat roads through farmland interspersed with some towns and cities. There were very few bends and those there were, had rail tracks accross them and bloody great pot holes. After a few hours (and with a maximum speed limit of 80kph) I realised that I was stuck to my k...

Long day in the saddle today though only 450km but all on back road. Some amazing Austrian valleys and passes to start the day in a more than ameniable 16 to 18 degrees.  After a morning coffee just before Hungary once over the border the heat started cranking up to around 33 degrees. A visit to Decathlon and a new sleeping mat means I should finally get a good night's sleep tonight. The problem with these frictionless borders if you forget that not all countries take Euros. My first fuel bill of 5764 f made me panic as I had no idea what that was. I now know about £16 so cheapest fuel so far. Thought I had better get some money so stopped to change €20 into local stuff at a exchange place only to arrive at the campsite being run by a Dutch guy who charges in Euros. Don't want to get stuck with it so will have to fill up using cash tomorrow. Campsite tonight is pretty cheap aswell. I like Hungary so far. Tomorrow is probably going to be a jaunt...

Early start planned before it gets too hot and to avoid the scheduled afternoon thunderstorms in Austria. 05.30 Wake up (for the third time - more on that shortly). Trapped in tent until 6.45 by torrential rain squalls and thunder/lightening but spend the time programming the GPS for no motorways and some of the roads I intend to ride in Romania. On the road by 7.15 already a long way behind the plan. However, I also now have a scheduled detour (20km) to a Decathlon store as my self inflating mat has reversed and is now self deflating hence the 3 wake ups to re inflate during the night. Decathlon closed. What. Should open at 9.30 and now 9.35. Waited until 9.50 then gave up. Tried to go and get coffee. Nowhere open.?  Is it a Sunday? No. A quick Google reveals Thursday 20th June is Corpus Christi, a Bavariam Bank Holiday. Arrrgh. Back on the road by 10.10 and heading for Austria who also have a bank holiday meaning a lack of coffee shops so fuel sta...