London to Istanbul
Day 1: 4th May ’05
Distance: 84.68 miles
Total Distance: 84.68 miles
Route: Stoke Newington » Maldon » Harwich
Slightly nervous, slightly sad and most possibly mad. A shaky start to the trip, after a tearful and heartfelt farewell from Caroline. Although not too much time to dwell on parting’s sweet sorrow – as avoiding a crushing death on the A12 out of London had taken immediate priority. A hard day’s ride, with a strong headwind and awful traffic conditions.
Stopped to help an old codger blow up the tyre on his trailer, and ended up breaking my pump. Surely the cosmic balance is skewed in my favour from now on – or at the very least I’m ‘owed’ one. Stayed above a pub near Harwich docks, frequented by old soaks, asbos and sailors. Things can only get better.
Day 2: 5th May ’05
Distance: 16.49 miles
Route: 101.2 miles
Route: Harwich » Hook of Holland » Delft
Woke early to catch the lightning-fast twin-hulled ferry to Holland. Boat made entirely of Aluuu-min-um and powered with jet propulsion. Nice! There was a vintage car rally onboard; really beautiful classic cars nose-to-tail the length of the hold. Arrived into Hook of Holland and into cycling heaven. The cycle paths here are better than most UK roads!
Camping for the 1st time tonight in a very beautiful town called ‘Delft’, famous for it’s pottery. Parallels with my home town of Stoke-on-Trent which it too is famous for it’s ceramics, but also for Wrights Pies, Oatcakes, Saturday night fights and Sir Stanley Matthews. On the way back to the campsite in the evening, two very generous Dutch men (One smoking a pipe, the other eating a pancake), stop in their car and show me the adult film they had both been watching while driving along. How lovely!
Day 3: 6th May ’05
Distance: 53.51 miles
Total Distance: 154.7 miles
Route: Delft » Rotterdam » Roosendal
The horror! Didn’t manage a single winks sleep last night, after a very cold and uncomfortable night in the tent. I hadn’t packed a ground mat; thinking that it would take up too much volume, and that I would be tired enough from riding to just sleep on the tent’s groundsheet. How wrong could I have been!? I put on every item of clothing I had (including pants and socks) but was still shivering like crazy.
Went to buy an inflatable mat first thing from town – hopefully things will improve from now on. A fairly easy ride today thankfully, but boring with cycle path following closely to a motorway for most of the ride.
Day 4: 7th May ’05
Distance: 60.30 miles
Total Distance: 215.1 miles
Route: Roosendal » Antwerp » Brussels
Today’s ride was brought to you by the words ‘Industrial’ and ‘Sh*t’. The first day in Belgium, and unfortunately the cycle paths aren’t up to the Dutch standards. This is a surprise as the popularity of biking in Belgium is well known. Sad to report that the scenery was really ugly today, but I think the route I took was probably not the best. I had no map for the section from Antwerp to Brussels, and so was forced to navigate by compass, road signs and the largely inaccurate ramblings of Derek Achora’s spirit guide, Sam.
Brussels is a very attractive city, and I spend a few hours in the afternoon doing touristy things; the waffles and beer are out of this world. Wind was gale force at times today, but luckily they were nearly all as tailwinds. The cosmic balance is restored.
Day 5: 8th May ’05
Distance: 68.33 miles
Total Distance: 283.4 miles
Route: Brussels » Waterloo » Namur » Dinant
Started the day by getting locked in a toilet for 50 minutes; Haven’t managed to do that since a memorable night at the ‘Greyhound Inn’ some years back. Anyway, I eventually escape from my malodorous cell, and into a hard ride with very heavy rain. Would have been made much worse if not for the fantastically strong tail-winds.
I ride past the Lion’s Mound monument on the battlefields of Waterloo, and can’t resist singing a few bars from Abba’s famous song. I subsequently find out that Napoleon didn’t actually surrender at Waterloo, but decide the lyrics, “My My, At Rochefort near the Atlantic Coast Napoleon did surrender” are a little less easy to vocalise. Rear puncture in the afternoon (so much for Continental’s 1 year puncture guarantee). A welcome call from Caroline in the evening.
Day 6: 9th May ’05
Distance: 66.97 miles
Total Distance: 350.4 miles
Route: Dinant » Saint-Hubert » Wiltz
The first real climbs of the trip today. The biggest at 550 metres was hardly a climb by Alpine standards, but I have yet to get full fitness and found it tough going. Staying at Wiltz Youth Hostel; one of the nicest I’ve ever been to. Wiltz is an attractive place with a castle on the hill that looks very similar in style to the infamous Colditz Castle.
Day 7: 10th May ’05
Distance: 42.35 miles
Total Distance: 392.8 miles
Route: Wiltz » Echternach
Writing this a day late, as I was so p*ssed off at losing my cycle computer at the campsite in Echternach. Found the computer the next day though; it was on the desk at the reception. Not sure if I had just left it there when paying for the campsite, or some other happy camper had handed it in. Great result anyway.
I met a Dutch guy who is also travelling by bike to Turkey. He was carrying 40+ kilos (mentalist) and I’m not sure he was overly impressed with my style of travelling (me thinks he was a proper ‘old skooler’). We rode together for the day, and I think he was suspicious of my motives for cycling to Istanbul, asking me questions along the way like, “Do you know who the prime minister of Luxembourg is? What do you think about UK foreign policy? Would you like a smoke and a pancake?” Maybe he was a spy, or maybe just a bit weird. Maybe all people who cycle alone, across Europe heading for Turkey are a bit weird…?
We parted company at Echternach, but before doing so he persuaded me to head south to cross the Alps and has shown me a great route over the Splugenpass. An early finish to the day’s ride gives me chance to do some maintenance to the bike, and have that smoke and pancake.
Day 8: 11th May ’05
Distance: 64.58 miles
Total Distance: 457.4 miles
Route: Echternach » Luxembourg City » Saarlouis
Really frustrated at the language barrier today (German). I feel incompetent, ignorant and stupid – all things which I despise. I blame the UK schools system, the dominance of English as the lingua franca of international business, science, technology and aviation… and my own incompetence, ignorance and stupidity.
A nice ride today through some beautiful river valleys. A quick look around Luxembourg city, and then straight out the other side. Camping again tonight which I hope won’t be as cold as last night; which was as cold as a witches… heart.
Day 9: 12th May ’05
Distance: 65.46 miles
Total Distance: 522.9 miles
Route: Saarlouis » Niederbronn Les Bains
Very hard day today due to a strong headwind, which had me shouting and swearing like Mr. Tourette at a football match. 3rd night in a row camping tonight, and it’s getting much more comfortable and also quicker to set-up at night, and pack-away in the morning. Headed out for an expensive meal tonight (by my frugal standards), as I’m fed up with my usual diet of kebabs and supermarket food. At the restaurant, I drank a Belgian beer called ‘Printemps’, which was so unbelievably good that for a short duration my solid aetheist footings were shaken by an irrational belief that there was a god – and he just wanted me to be happy. After my reverie had worn off, I returned to the campsite and was straight to bed.
Happy that I was able to speak French today; the owner of the campsite even commented that I had very good French! I knew that all those hours learning the ‘Delboy’ language method would pay dividends. Bonnet de douche Rodders, Bonnet de douche…