Eighth
travelogue update - Carta to Madara (Bulgaria)
Day 51 Carta - Brasov
Mon 11/09/06
 Well,
what a day! Its quite hard to describe the sheer pain
of it all, now that the immediate memory has faded, and a good job too!
I knew from the beginning that it was going to be a hard days cycling,
as it was a very cold night, and I'm not really geared up for extremes
of cold. This meant that sleep was more difficult, despite the two
pairs of socks and full set of clothes I was wearing in the sleeping
bag. Also, when I woke up, I was actually in a cloud. Breakfast wasn't
much, basically things I could pilfer from what was growing
around the campsite - 1 bunch of grapes (not ready for wine making
quite yet!), one mouldy apple, and six walnuts I found in a basket
somewhere. (I had to crack them with my bicycle spanner). It was hills
straight from the start as I cycled off from Carta. I stopped off at a
small
village shop to buy some chocolate, and soon after, I left the realm of
hills and entered the domain of mountains. After that, it was basically
just bloody hard work all day. I rode through to Brasov, and found a
motel and after a meal, collapsed for the night!
Day
52 Brasov - Campuling Tuesday 12/09/06
Well, if i thought yesterday was hard, this was even
harder! Again, more climbing for the entire 80kms from Brasov
to Campuling (minus the last 5kms downhill!). I was looking forwards to
seeing Bran Castle along the way, but I have to say, I thought it was
rubbish. The general views were spectacular though, and more than made
up for it. However, I was very tired at the end of the day, and because
it made my brain ache as much as my legs, I have nothing else to add to
this travelogue.
Day 53 Campuling - Some wood somewhere Wednesday
13/09/06
Another hard day... this isn't what its supposed to be
about!! Not so many hills this time, but the distance I covered was
just stupid.. 150kms. What was i thinking!?! The route I had chosen to
take was not the best one (Campuling - Pitesti - Bucherest), and to top
it, there wasn't one hotel along the way.. not one! Its hard to
describe the riding, as I decided to switch off a part of my mind and
just go into automatic. Not only were there no hotels, but also, there
was not where to stop. Eventually, about thirty kms short of Bucherest,
it started getting dark, and a section of woodland started to
run along the dual carriage way. I pulled off the road, pushed the bike
through the initial minefield of human excrement where countless
drivers had stopped off for a poo, and then continued pushing the bike
further into the wood. I found a suitable glade, took out my sleeping
bag, and went to sleep almost straight away.
Day 54 The Faeces Forest - Bucherest Thursday
14/09/06
I got up early, but had to wait until it was light
enough to push the bike back onto the road again. I stopped off at a
garage for breakfast, then carried on cycling towards Bucherest. As I
neared the city, the traffic became heavier and heavier, and although
it wasn't the most pleasant cycling I've done, I was looking forwards
to a day off from cycling and to see Heidi. She's been backpacking
around Europe, and we decided to meet in Bucherest for a couple of
days. I somehow made it to the area of the hotel, and sat down for a
meal while I waited for her. She soon turned up, and then we headed off
to the hotel.
Day 55 Bucherest Friday 15/09/06
 We
had a wander around Bucherest during the day. I was impressed by the
Parliment building, and the historic section of Bucherest was quite
good, but we both came to the conclusion that Bucherest isn't all that
nice. Still, we had a good time all the same.
Day 56 Bucherest - Ruse 16/09/06
It's been a good couple of days, but its time to get
moving again. I have to meet my brother in Istanbul in 12 days, so I
had better get a move on! The exit out of Bucherest was reasonably
easy, and being early on a Saturday, there wasn't much traffic on the
road. The weather was quite humid and blowy at times, but the road was
good quality, and the cycling was enoyable. The only drawback was
that my cycling computer wasn't working, which was a real
shame. I must look at it every 10 seconds or so to keep an eye on my
speed and distance,but not today. I think one of the batteries may have
worn out. I reached the border with between Romania and Bulgaria for
about 12.00, and there weren't a lot of people crossing over, so it was
a quick exit from Romania. To enter Bulgaria, I crossed the River
Danube on the so called Friendship Bridge, and after that, it was again
easy to clear passport control. This is now my seventh foreign country
of this current trip. They have a crazy alphabet thing going on over
here in Bulgaria, which should make life interesting. The letters look like they
are either mirror versions of ours, circles or squares. Its going to
make finding my way around challenging! I had pre-booked a hostel in
Ruse, and
after eventually finding the bus station, I phoned the owners and they
came over in the car. For 10 minutes I cycled after their car whilst
eating an ice cream, and I found myself in a housing estate of high
rise apartment blocks. Its not actually a hostel, more like a spare
flat that they rent out, but as I am the only one here, and it only
cost a tenner, its game on! Just not entirely sure where I am, but no
doubt I'll find the road out ok (fingers crossed).
Day 57 Ruse - Svestari Sunday 17/09/06
Extremely tough cycling all day. I managed to leave
Ruse without any hassle, but after that a tremendous wind picked up
which seemed to blow in my face all day. On the rare occasions it
wasn't trying to force me backwards, it was because it was trying to
blow me off the side of the road. Not very pleasant, and that combined
with a seemingly endless series of huge rolling hills sapped my
strength and spirits. I decided to head towards a village called
Svestari, where the owner of the hostel had said that there was an
archeological site. My cycling computer still wasn't working, but
judging by road signs and the maps, I covered 100kms to get there. As I
entered the village, a bunch of kids decided to follow me on their
bikes towards the Thracian Tombs - there was obviously nothing on TV!
The ten leva price at the ticket office included entry and a guide who
was alright but nothing special. I think her main job was to lock and
unlock the doors into the tombs to prevent vandalism really. The tombs
themselves were constructed from stone, and resembled to my eye at
least minature Greek Temples. The tombs, when the bodies were intered,
were then covered in earth to make a mound. Dating from the Thracian
era, the tombs had been robbed long ago, in all likeliness within years
of their completion, however, after that, they had been left virtually
untouched until the eighties, when archeologists started to investigate
them. I'm not sure of the history of archeology in Bulgaria, but it
seems amazing that they weren't investigated long before. The area
surrounding the village of Svestari contains many of
these Thracian Tombs, and some are said to mirror the constellations.
It was late in the day, and I had to move on which was a shame, so I
cycled back into the village, and found a hotel. This is their website www.dani99.hit.bg.
I really thought the room was going to be awful, but it was top
quality, and all for ten quid. Lovely job! Had a stupidly cheap meal,
and got some well deserved rest.
Day 58 Svestari - Madara Day 58 Monday18/09/06
I felt nice and rested in the morning, and after an omlette
and a couple of cups of coffee, I stocked up on snacks and hit the
road. The wind was nowhere near as strong as the previous day, and
although the land was still hilly, it didn't seem as bad. I took some
back roads of varying quality through some beautiful countryside as I
cycled towards Madara, where there is another archeological site. Quite
close to it is a motel, where I have ended up in a glorified garden
shed for the night - it brings back fond memories of New Zealand!
I decided to visit to site the following day, as the weather had turned
rainy and it was getting late in the day. My surreal moment of the day,
was when two shaven headed Bulgarians standing by the side of the road
simultaneously gave a Nazi salute and shouted Adolf Hitler as I whizzed
downhill on my bicycle. Also, the Bulgarians nod for no and shake their
heads for yes. I haven't seen this much head movement since India.
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