Getting around
This is more a travelling and planing blog so if you are looking for my daily life, you’ll have to look somewhere else :)Archive for 2010 On two weels to the Black See and back.
Statistics
As you can see on the map, I divided the trip in to eleven legs. One of them was just a day tour in the Transylvanian area.
- The longest leg in km was Minsk to Kiev, 582 km.
- The shortest was between Odessa and Chisinau, 194 km.
- In total length of the journey was almost 4 000 km
- The highest point was by Zakopane on the 10:th leg, 1 139 m
- The temperature varied from 9 to 39 degrees C
- The petrol was very cheap in Belarus and Ukraine, about 8 SEK per litre. I never stopped for petrol in Moldavia, but I can imagine the prizes being low there as well. In the EU it’s almost the same as in Sweden.
Final conclusions
I’m back home at my own desk trying to sort everything out. I’m very pleased with the trip. As I now know a bit more about the roads, what to see and so on, I would have made some different choises for this trip.
For the first, the way back is an easy trip, I did count one day too much for that. I could have managed to stay in the south one or two more days. I’ll have that in mind the for the next trip to that area.
Secondly, the roads and traffic are absolutely no problem for my kind of bike. I felt perfectly all right and safe the whole time. Knowing that I will try out smaller roads next time to get more adventure.
Third, it is easy to find nice accommodation in all cities. You really don’t have to book in advance.
Fourth, next time I’ll have more $bills in smaller amount, they do come in handy. 😉
Gdansk – Nynäshamn
The weather for my last day in Poland turned out to be quite rainy. I therefore decided to go directly to Gdansk and try to catch a ferry one day earlier. Originally I had planned to go home on the 27: th. I went down to the Polferries Office to make the change in my reservation. It was no problem, but they were out of cabins. I could ask on board if they would have any left.
As I waited to board the ferry another GS-raider came up to me. Fredrik from Umeå just came from the eastern Poland. We decided to cheer a cabin if the would have any. And they had 🙂
So this is the last post on this trip. Right now I’m on the ferry, about 2 hours from Nynäshamn. Then another 70 km and I’ll be at home.
I will post some statistics and reflections when I get home.
Auschwitz
Barbed wire…
So I reached the last important place to see on this trip, Auschwitz. For so many years I’ve wished to see and experience this place. The weather was perfect for visiting, gray skies and some rain. I can’t imagine this place in bright sunshine.
You probably seen all the main buildings and surrounding on TV or so so I will show you some details that I found interesting.
Search-light at the main gate “Arbeit macht frei”.
Tracks of Birkenau
A rose on the old beds in the wooden barracks
Zyklon B canisters
From 38 degrees C to 9 in 3 days
As I left Romania some days ago, the temperature almost reached 40 degrees C. Today I had one-fourth of that. As I for the last time went through the Carpathians the temperature dropped to 9 degrees C. And it rained. And it was windy. And it was foggy. For the first time I had to put on warm stuff.
My plan for today was to pass the border in to Poland in the mountains. And I passed it without even noticing it. I had to turn around to make this picture. It is remarkable how we inside the EU takes away all borders. In the east they put up new borders after the fall of the USSR.
It was even though a very nice ride. And I had no idea that I would pass Zakopane. I was surprised as I saw the sign. This was almost the highest point of the whole trip. If you have good eyesight you will perhaps see 1113 m on the GPS. Just another km further on I reached 1240 m. That was the peak. If you plan to do this trip, don’t do it on a sunday. The way down on the Polish side was a parking lot, all tourists on there way down at the same time. Boring. I managed to recalculate my GPS and it showed me an alternative route over a small mountain in to another valley. And it was empty. 😀
Hello Hungary and goodbye
This has been a day on the bike. I started off early this morning to use the “cool” morning. It was nice. As I went over the Carpathians the clouds came up the hill. It was magnificent.
I went along route 60, en E-road. I didn’t know anything about it but the part in Romania was superb. Smooth tarmac and lots of nice bends. And this morning no traffic.
As I entered Hungary it started to rain so I had to put on my rain gear for the first time.
It rained the whole way through Hungary so I didn’t stop at all. Hungary in one hour if you like. Right now I’m in Košice in Slovakia.
So far I haven’t had one day with temperatures that didn’t go over 30 degrees C. Neither have I had nights with temperatures going below 20. But I think it is about to end. I just checked the forecast.
Tomorrow on my way from here to Krakow: rain and 18 – 20 degrees C. I truly feel a bit closer to home.
Goodbye Transylvania
This will be tha last post in Romania. It has been very nice, much better than I originally thought. Actually I didn’t know that much of the country. So I’m very glad to have seen it.
Tomorrow, I’ve planned to go to Konica in Slovakia. It is not that far, about 500 km but it is on slow roads. It will take me through Bulgaria. Hmm, as I look outside the windows I see a full moon. Did I mentioned that some say that Count Dracula was borne here?
Gravel roads
At last I found the opportunity to go aff tarmac and I did really find some nice gravel roads. The only thing you must look up for is sheep. Fortunately the are always watched by a shepherd. I don’t think I ever seen a working shepherd.
At one part there was serpentines on the way down to this lovely road.
This was a very narrow gravel road. I should have let out more air of the tires because it was quite rocky. This part was just a couple of hundred meters so I didn’t.
Fortified churches
I spent my last day in Transylvania driving around to see the almost uncountable castles and fortified churches. An a roundtrip of about 120 km I could easily find 10 of them.
Sighisoara or Schässburg
I’m not only in Transylvania, I also understand that I’ve reached Siebenbürgen. I could barely remember the germans living in Romania so I was at first very surprised as I saw signs in german. I came in to Brasov, I thought I would see a nice old town. As I went in to the church it said to be named “Schwarze Kirche” and it was a protestant church. I started to read som documents and the history was clearing.
Schwarze Kirche
This was yesterday. It was late and I wanted to hurry to my “Pensionata Citadel” in Sighisoara, or Schässburg. It was not far and I was excited as I entered the town, it looks so nice sitting on a hill with the “Bergskirche” on top.
And what about my Pensionata – right next to the main gate.
Originally I planned to go to Budapest but I decided not to, I’ll stay an extra night here. There is a festival starting today so I think that will be nicer. I will allways have the chance to go to Budapest another day.
Instead I used the day for a drive in the region, checking out the fortified churches and the landscape.
Getting around 
