Preparations are going well. For the first time we have maps
and guides for the whole route. No more spending hours in tourist offices and
bookshops looking for decent scale maps. No more following the sun in the vague
hope that any road south will lead to journey’s end. No more arguments on which
road to take and whose fault it is that we are lost. (fat chance!) However with all these guides comes a plethora
of information on places that must be visited and historical artefacts that just
have to be seen, although, if we exclude churches, chateaux, and any climb over
10% for a view, I think we’ll manage to keep to our 75 to 100kms a day target.
Just in case, I’ll do a Google search for bicycle blinkers and continue my
lifetime obsession with culture avoidance.
The net is providing a wealth of information on this route. Looks
like it’s quite a popular ride. Accommodation does not seem to be a problem
until we get to Romania but we’re still discussing the option of leaving the
Danube and venturing into the Carpathian Mountains so it could be back to basics
and seeing what’s available when we start to get tired at the end of the day.
Getting back home might also be a problem but worst case scenario is another
two months of cycling!
We’ve only slightly modified our kit. We’re leaving behind the
sub-zero clothes and I’ve bought new shorts after it became apparent that my
old pair had become almost see through when stretched. (embarrassing and not
pretty). We have also bought a couple of Ortlieb handlebar bags with map cases
on top. There might now be a tad too much information on the handlebars with
GPS, mini cycle computers maps and guides. It’s a good job we don’t have
mirrors. Various undergarments designed to hold up and squash wobbly bits
and to cushion dangly bits complete the purchases. The usual highly efficient
service was received from Wiggle and Chainreaction.
The bikes were desperately in need of service so we
entrusted them to our local village cycle shop, not that you would recognise it
as a cycle shop. Outside is an array of ladders, seed potatoes, dog food,
various agricultural implements and two fuel pumps. Inside is everything you
would need to survive a nuclear attack (and probably enough bits to build a
missile for a counter attack). Tucked away to one side is the bike shop stocked
with the kit of your dreams. I love rural France. After a lecture on changing
the chain every 4000kms and a lot of laughter, our bikes were returned and are
now performing better than new. Just the
legs to get back in shape……..
