London to Bucharest Cycle

Exactly one year ago we started our journey from London to Bucharest by bike. We've got the "official" trip video ready for you :) enjoy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNnc5V8phHM

Exact acum un an am inceput excursia Londra - Bucuresti pe biciclete. Am pregatit filmuletul "oficial" al excursiei :) speram ca va place

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNnc5V8phHM

with Silviu Chirila and Alexandru M. Alexandrescu

London to Bucharest Cycle Myself and my good friend from highschool, Alex, cycled from London to our hometown in Bucharest in April - June 2017. We covered a total of 2900kms in 37 da...

After 2907km and 37 days of cycling, our adventure ended in front of the Romanian House of Parliament on the 5th of June. It was an emotional moment to see our friends and family waiting for us, as well as the children from Fara who prepared some lovely posters and made our arrival very special.

We wanted to thank everyone who made this adventure so memorable, including people who donated, friends and family who supported us throughout the trip, everyone at FARA, and all the lovely people we met along the way. You are all extraordinary!

This Saturday we had to cycle around 65km on busy roads, where our main aim was to hold the handlebars tight and pray we don't get smashed by a passing truck until we reach Vanju Mare. This is where we switched to a secondary road, which, to our surprise, was recently rebuilt and offered gorgeous views of the surrounding hills. At around 19:30, we stopped in the small village of Balacita, where we met Adrian, who, when he heard our story, had no hesitation to invite us into his home and offer us a bed. Silviu went to play a quick football match with the kids in the commune, while Adrian invited some of his mates and prepared a traditional Romanian bbq, just in time to see Real smash Juve in the Champions League final. We were impressed by Adrian's hospitality and would like to thank him and his friends for making our evening special.

An early start to our Sunday proved to be a good idea, as we cycled the remaining 65km fairly quickly and arrived in Craiova by 12:30. After a quick stop in the city centre, we had to catch a train between Craiova and Rosiorii de Vede. This was a decision based on the fact that the only two roads from Craiova towards Bucharest are very high-traffic and, while we assumed risks throughout the trip, the risk-reward ratio on this one was not worth it. The remaining 60km from Rosiori to Videle were adventurous, 1/3 being on occasionally flooded gravel roads, so pushbike was again the main sport. At our destination, we found a nice accommodation, where we enjoyed our last evening of the trip and had time to look back at our adventure.

In the morning, after enjoying another free breakfast (gotta love Romanian hospitality) we started the last leg of our trip with 1 extra cyclist (Liviu, Silviu's dad, took an early train to cycle the last 70km with us). We rode along secondary roads, which were mostly fine apart from a long stretch of potholes, which proved too much for Alex's bike rack and broke on one side. 5 metres of rope and 15min later we were back on the road. We arrived in Bucharest early and were greeted by Radu, Silviu's uncle who did the last few kms with us up until a kebab shop, where we stopped to eat before we made our way to the House of Parliament at 19:00

We had a pleasant surprise on Friday morning, as our accommodation offered us free breakfast when they found out about our cycling mileage. We then set out in what had been the most spectacular day of our trip so far - the Danube Gorges (Clisura Dunarii) which stretches along a 100km well paved road undulating along the Danube. We'll let the pictures speak for themselves. Alex had his third flat tyre, but other than that the roads were quiet so we enjoyed every pedal. After a stop at the Rock Sculpture of Decebalus we arrived in Orșova, where, to our surprise, all the rooms were fully booked due to national holiday. But before we installed our damaged tent, we figured it was worth asking random people on the street if they have a spare bed. It didn't take long for us to find Dan and his lovely family, who offered us a shower and a warm bed, as well as an awesome boat ride the next morning! As we progress into our journey, we realise that sometimes you have to rely on strangers' hospitality and 9/10 your expectations will be exceeded. This turned out to be a fantastic end to an amazing day.

We're only 70kms from Bucharest. For anyone who wants to greet us at our arrival tomorrow, we will be at 19:00 in front of the House of Parliament, Constitutiei Square

On the 29th we set out from Mako and crossed the border into Romania after a few kms. This milestone marked exactly 1 month since we started our trip and provided a rewarding feeling. We continued our cycle towards Timisoara on a fairly busy road, where cars were flying by us, and ended the day at 95km. In the evening, we met with Dana and Radu, Silviu's relatives from Timisoara who prepared a delicious dinner for us, as well as Adi, Cristi and Robert, Alex's friends.

On Tuesday we explored the beautiful city of Timisoara, with a vibrant historical centre filled with young people. In the morning we had an interview with Digi24, one of the biggest TV channels in Romania, giving us a fantastic chance to promote our cause.

On Wednesday, we decided to make our way along secondary, less circulated roads, even though that would mean the total distance would increase. Soon after we left Timisoara, where the temperature was 30+, we started cycling on a regional road that was undulating along forests and small villages, virtually unchanged in the last 60-70 years... except everyone was carrying a smartphone. The quality of the pavement was not great, but the absence of cars gave us the chance to cycle at a leisurely pace. We ended the day at 75km as we found an accommodation in Bocsa, a small town close to the Banat mountains in the Carpathians.

On Thursday we set off early and continued cycling towards the Danube. The route was very challenging as, in some areas, the road looked like a WWII mine zone. There were some steep climbs as well, as we crossed the mountains to reach the Danube, but the natural setting was unspoiled and the cars were very few again so we enjoyed every moment. At some point we had to climb around 450m over 5km, but the downhill that followed was great fun so definitely worth it! This led straight to the Danube shoreline, providing the perfect reward.

Exactly 1 month after we left from the London Parliament, we finally entered Romania! We still have a long way to go, over 600km.

This last stretch is by far the hardest, with non-existent cycle paths, narrow, circulated roads and increasing temperatures. The best motivation for us would be to achieve our fundraising target, as we are only £125 from smashing it! So if you haven't donated for our cause yes, now would be the best moment! It only takes a few minutes, and you will be supporting education which is a great cause!

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/londontobucharest

We didn't really want to leave Budapest, but we had to move on so Saturday morning we made our way towards our next stop, Kecskemet. After we left Budapest, the satnav guided us through some gravel roads, which led to huge forest. The roads were full of sand, and this section tested our patience, resilience and orientation, as we did 10km in over 2 hours, most of it pushbike. The forest was beautiful, full of wilderness (we saw a few deer passing in front of us among others) but at some point we were wondering if we'd ever get out. When we finally did, we decided to ignore the satnav and the "bikes forbidden" signs and followed the main road into Kesckemet. The road was quiet and the few cars passing by were generally respectful with cyclists. We arrived at our accommodation (no campsites nearby) after around 95km.

Sunday we followed the same road for around 85km into Szeged. The cycle was done along a combination of well paved cycle paths and bad quality roads, but there were few cars, it was sunny and not too windy so we enjoyed it. After a quick stop in Szeged (where we saw the first signpost with Bucharest), we cycled the remaining 30km to our campsite in Mako. The campsite is beautiful, right on the river Mures, and very close to the border with Romania.

As we are writing this post, we are just about to leave our campsite, expecting to cross the border very soon.

With our batteries recharged we left Vienna on Monday to cycle 60km alonge the Danube to the border with Slovakia. Bratislava is right on the border (Vienna and Bratislava are the closest 2 capital cities in Europe) so we ended the day at 70km of cycling, in time to explore Bratislava for a few hours. We really liked the city - an interesting mix of history, communism heritage and modern buildings. The historical centre reminded us of the one in Bucharest, and the views from the Bratislava Hvar (castle) were beautiful.

Tuesday we left Bratislava and after 15km we entered Hungary, through EuroVelo 6, an official cycle route along the Danube. The cycle paths in Hungary were fantastic, with most of the cycling along well kept 2-way cycle paths, similar quality to the ones we had in Netherlands or Austria. After a short stop in Gyor, we arrived at our campsite after 115km of cycling. We slept in some old mini-campervans for 10 euros each (which was a good choice given the thunder and lightning) and went to sleep early, after sharing a bottle of Hungarian wine, to make a strong start towards Budapest the day after.

We woke up early and managed to leave by 8:45, the earliest so far. The cycling experience was a combination of the amazing paths we had the day before and busy roads with lorries which were not as pleasant. Around 12:30pm, after 60km of cycling, we had to call it a day because of Silviu's increasing heel pain. We did the remaining 40km from Dorog to Budapest by train and, after checking in at our hostel, we found a bike service to leave our bikes for some repairs. Being right in the city centre, we took advantage of the pleasant weather and did a long walk along the Danube Promenade. Budapest revealed beautiful historical buildings at every step, and managed to impress us in every aspect so far. We ended the day with a night out in the party district of the city, our first one since we started the trip.

Last couple of days we took the time to explore more of Budapest, both by foot and by boat, and Saturday we will make our way towards Romania, with around 900km left from our journey.

So far, the trip got better and better with every day and Saturday was no exception as we entered the gorgeous city of Vienna.

But let's start where we left off. We woke up around 7:30 on Wednesday to see a tourer, who camped next to us, already packed and ready to go! He didn't want to talk to us about his journey, but we took the liberty of taking a picture of his bike as he was carrying easily over 100kgs. We set off around 10 and shortly saw the Danube for the first time during our trip. We then continued through country roads and cycle paths to end an exhausting day at 130km, in a campsite next to the Danube, 35km from Passau. We met a French couple here, who were on a cycle tour around Europe for around 3 months.

On Thursday we woke up around 7 to realize the french couple had already left, but we like our sleep so that's a bit outside our reach :) We set off around 9 and, after fixing Alex's flat tyre, we arrived in Passau. Here, we shot a quick video, bought some food and then set off towards Austria, where we managed our best average so far, 32km/h over 23km to the border. In Austria, the cycle path along the Danube is amazing and we cycled along it for most of the day, except for a small bit where we climbed 150m over 3km (the downhill was really fun). We ended the day at 95km and found a campsite near the Danube, where we replaced German beer with Austrian white wine as we tried to stay local :)

Friday we set off around 9 again and after a quick stop in Linz (birthplace of Hi**er), we continued cycling along the Danube. The road was very pleasant, with castles, elegant towns and impressive bridges at almost every meandre of the Danube. We met Matthias, a German tourer who was cycling around Europe for about 18months. He only had a backpack with him, which once again proves that most of us have way too many things :) we arrived at our campsite around 18:00, after 115km of cycling. We set up the tent and everything was going smoothly until, out of the blue, the strongest wind we ever saw started to blow, destroying our shelter and ravaging parts of the campsite. We soon realised our best option was to sleep in the bathroom, on the floor, which was an interesting experience, though not a very comfortable one.

Saturday we set at 9 again and by 10 we arrived in Melk which has a superb abbey, inspiration for Umberto Eco's novel, The Name of the Rose. At 11 we embarked on a cruise on the Danube between Melk and Krems, which is said to be the most scenic part of the Austrian Danube. This turned out to be true and, with our batteries recharged, we set off towards Vienna around 2pm. The road from here was slightly dull, but the quality of the cycle path was outstanding, so we did the remaining 90km into Vienna in less than 5 hours, including breaks. It was very rewarding to see ourselves in Vienna after 6 consecutive days of cycling in which we did almost 700km. In the evening we visited the city centre, which is absolutely superb.

Sunday we took the day off to recharge our batteries and explore more of Vienna.

We just entered Austria, after 13 days and almost 1000km through Germany. It's been an amazing time, we met great people and cycled along beautiful, safe roads. We wanted to finish our German experience in style, so we achieved our best average between Passau and the border with Austria, 32km/h over 23km