Huddersfield to Istanbul. Day 6.

Thursday 24 May. Day 6.
Levier to Annacy  118 miles.

After a poor nights sleep with minimal food/drink and nothing to charge up phones/garmin oh and a damp night with no mat to sleep on, and to add to all that I have 2 broken spokes on the back wheel. I had a few aches, but I had set my alarm early to get to a nearby town to see if there was a cycle shop there.

I was headed for a town called Pontarlier it was about 12 miles away, so I was packed up for 6am and pushed my bike along not wanting to do anymore damage to the wheel. The sun was rising and the mist was burning off as the sun was rising. It was a long slog to this town unable to ride along, although on the downhill bits I let the bike go with me on it so it got me to a shop a little quicker. I arrived at Pontarlier about 9.30am and started to look out for bike shops, I see one so its straight in and ask them if they can fix it ? Yes they say come back at 11am and it will be done.. Result!  they also said leave the panniers here they will be safe.

I did, then walked off at leisure for a couple of hours. I stopped at a little supermarket as I was very hungry and thirsty, I managed to fill up my water bottles as i left the campsite toilets. I sat down in the sun with my goodies from the store - the usual Sandwiches, chocolate, biscuits etc. I have a stroll around the town until its time to go pick my bike up. I get back to shop and Its ready, the guy who fixed the wheel said The wheel is kapput !!  It will need changing soon..  I took that on board and thought It may do me today, so I paid up and off i went, they also put a brand new tyre on too. They said the old one was knackered!  I agreed so now I have a new tyre on back wheel, the front one has done fantastic up to now with no bother apart from 1 puncture.

I was headed to Lausanne, the hills were getting bigger and the sun was getting hotter, but as long as I was cycling away it created a nice breeze all the way to Lausanne via Vallorbe. I was looking forward to seeing Lake Geneva as I had see it on another guys video on youtube, it looked fantastic.

I was getting a little frustrated because of the repairs to the wheel, it was putting me behind schedule but  had to keep pushing on..  It was not long before the lake came into view Awesome !  with the mountain alps behind in the distance. I cycled to the shoreline and stopped for a coffee at a cafe near a harbor, very good just to chill along the way. I finished my drink and headed along the coast of the lake stopping for an ice cream along the way. Eventually I arrived in Geneva, that cycle to here was Brilliant! a tail wind all the way along the lake.

After a ponder around Geneva I was heading towards Annacy, thats where I thought that would be a good distance for the time I had available for today. I arrived in Annacy around 9.30pm it was dark. I managed o find a hotel and went in there was a steep staircase up to reception which meant I had to carry the bike up this narrow staircase..  I got to the reception and the guy looked in amazement at the fact I had just carried my bike up :-)  I booked in and asked if there were any bike shops open tomorrow, he gave me a map of where there was a good one, I thanked him and then had to carry my bike back down the staircase because he wanted to put my bike overnight in the cellar..  oh well I'm carrying it down to the cellar its safe there for sure because he locks the door.

So its now a frantic part to get my tent unraveled to dry it out from the night before, put my stuff on charge and then shower and change.. now its time to find some food, as this hotel does not do food especially at this time - about 10.30pm. So I walk off around the town and see a little kebab shop, I see some students are sitting outside eating what looks to be very nice. I asked for a curry tandoori as that was on the menu, he passed me a small cup with small pieces of tandoori chicken in it! The look on my face must have said it all ! I said could I have same again, then he asked if I want meal,  said yes :-)

He mentioned something big and I just nodded as I was extremely hungry tonight, he asked if I was sitting outside on a table, I agreed and on way out I asked for a small bottle of wine Red Wine with my meal :-)

The food came over with the wine "Fantastic" a big plate of food..  nice I tucked in it was Fab, after eating this I asked how much was it for the meal and the wine, he said 15 euros, so I asked for same again, he offered up another dish so I agreed with him, if it was as good as the last one that will do for me, oh and can I have another bottle of red wine too ? :-)

There is a daily phone call back home when I finish my cycle for the day, my daughter each day asks Are you in Istanbul yet dads ?  so I run through the countries that I still have to cycle through to get to my destination, so by now the call is shorter the closer I am getting :-))

After my 2 meals and 2 wines I make my way back to hotel, my belly is full and I'm happy again. I get back to room, and my tent etc is dry now so I pack them up back into my bags so it saves time in the morning. What a day, and tomorrow I have decided I need a new wheel, so when the shops open thats my first job.

Huddersfield to Istanbul. Day 5.

Wednesday 23 May. Day 5.

Chaumont to Levier 118 miles.

After a good nights sleep, good food and wine again, I was up around 6.30am and just got ready and set off towards the town to see how far the bike shops were (2 of them I was informed by the lady at reception) so, I walked off into town. After about a 15min walk I came across a bike shop, checked out the opening time and it was 10am. Just further on the same road another with opening time of 9am Thats mine ! so I went back to hotel to get some breakfast - not fryup styles in france but jam, cooked meats, plenty of coffee and orange juice and cereals -  not too bad for me that lot :-)

After breakfast I went up to my room to pack all my things up ready for when I return from bike shop so I was ready to set off. So I'm now walking back to bike shop with wheel in my hand. I go into shop and try to explain my problem, he understands and I say can you fix asap ? He nods and get to work on it, at this stage I was going to pay whatever to get it fixed as  needed to get a move on - this late start has put me behind the time I would have set off, probably around 7.30 to 8.00am.

After about 25mins he had fixed and got the wheel as good as new Fantastic you're a star I was saying but I don't think he understood. 10 euros was brilliant news (Not that bad considering he got to work on it straight away even though he was serving another chap when I walked in his shop) Top guy :-)

So , I'm sorted and walking back to hotel swiftly ready to load up and off I go heading in the direction of Besancon.

The roads at first were generally flat once again, as I rolled into Langres (The place I was planning on getting to the previous day - but the broken spoke stopped me in my tracks!)   After this place the roads were getting more rolling - I compared them similar to Devon, or Cornwall types of hills. I cycled on through little villages and towns once again, the weather was a little improvement on previous days - but still no Sun although it was trying to get through. It would have made the hills harder to cycle over if the sun was out I was thinking,  so the shade was quite good for cycling hills.

I did cycle over a nice place with a river running through - La Saone. Later in the afternoon I had reached Besancon after a manic cycle down roads that were like busy motor-ways I turned off into Besancon and headed down towards the river, once down there the views of the hills surrounding were very nice. You could tell that the alps were coming soon... just coming out from this town it was up hill more and more (very hard going) and didn't appear to be leveling out at all !! But after a few hours of cycling up I could see breaks in the clouds and for the first time since Holland I seen blue sky.... Yes !

After plenty of miles ascending it flattened out a little before going up again, and again Phew !!   by this time the sun was setting and my thoughts turned to finding some place to stop for the night, I passed a hotel in Amancey, but cycled on up again and passed the hotel heading towards a place called Levier, but my thought was will that be too far for now?   so I turned around and went back to hotel I had just passed. Pulled up at door way walked in, and shouted hello.. No answer, after a few minutes of waiting a guy came along and I was trying to ask for a room for the night but he didn't understand and called his daughter over and she told him my request, he replied FULL sorry..  Oh well I asked is there anywhere else nearby - his daughter said 7km back down hill, or 34km further up and over hills..... Blimey !!!     I'm not going back down where I came up its just too demoralizing, so I said my farewell and started to carry on up and over the hills,  the light was fading quickly !

I got on my garmin and searched Campsites in the area, it gave me one 7miles further on,  in Levier town, so that was the result I was aiming for (It's a night in my New tent, the tent I had not put up yet!) This should be fun in the dark !

I was cycling in the darkness now, my water bottles had nearly emptied, and I was hungry with little food left in the panniers..ohh dear ! school boy error.  

After about and hour I was freewheeling down a hill towards Levier and "PING" again and the wobble as previous night - Is it a puncture ? I thought,   or is it another bleeding spoke..   I didn't stop to see I just carried on until I got to that campsite I just took it very slowly. Eventually I had arrived at the campsite but nobody was where you cycle in or anything so I just cycled on in through a little wood past some caravans and sneaked into the furthest corner of the small campsite, opened up the panniers and started to try and put up my tent for first time in darkness - Not good ! haha.

I thought I was going to get the tent up without any bother, but as I was struggling in the darkness, a guy and dog were coming over in my direction (did someone see me cycling in earlier?) Hello he said, I replied hello, is it ok to camp here, he said yes are you ok with that.... I said yes thanks, how much to stay ? 10euros which was good for me but no food or more importantly Red wine !! damn..  He walked off back where he came from and I fumbled away and after about 45mins I was in my tent in the dark with very little to eat just half a bottle of Lucozade sport and bit of chocolate and thats my tea for that night, also before I got into the tent I felt around the back wheel spokes and it wasn't 1 spoke it was 2 this time (Just my luck again) I will have to wake early in the morning and try and find another bike shop for repairs again. By the way in my tent I forget a sleeping mat so was sleeping directly on the damp ground - not much sleep for me then tonight :-(

Huddersfield to Istanbul Day 4.

Tuesday 22 May. Day 4.
Vouzier to Chaumont 128 miles.
Woke up this morning and looked out of my hotel window, it was another grey day but.. I was feeling fantastic, not sure if I was still tipsy with last nights Red wine but I was totally refreshed after good food/drink and sleep.

So after booking out of hotel I was off.... panniers packed, water bottles topped up, ipod on (Abba gold) and ready to rock n roll.. :-)

I was using my Garmin now,  but just looking at the map part to see if I could get away without using iphone map app! I was heading in the direction towards St Dizier.  The roads were very flat today and I passed through some very nice villages (typically french buildings). I did my usual stop of for food and drink stocks at a local Lidl, bike tied up next to trolley parks and off I go whizzing around the aisles for Baguettes, choccy biscuits, water and Red bull, after a quick snack outside Lidl I was off again :-)    I was beginning to wonder where the sun had gone, and was hoping that when I get to the Alps the weather will improve - I really  wanted some great photos of the mountains (heres hoping that the weather breaks for the alps!)

After passing through St Dizier was en route to Langres (thats where I could get to today and was well up for some big miles to make up for some shorter milage done on earlier days)

I passed through a place called Wassy and was cruising to Chaumont things were great. It was around 6pm and I had passed through Chaumont,as I approached the town I looked up and seen a train going across a viaduct.   I reckoned that I could be in Langres in a few more hours, when about 2 miles past Chaumont PING!! and a little wobble from my back wheel.....! My first thought Puncture !  but it wasn't that. It was a broken spoke ! (I've never had a broken spoke!)

After looking through my tool kit it was apparent I did not have a tool to remove the cassette from the back wheel Oh no!!  Right... its decision time, do I push/walk the bike to Langres or do I return back to 2 ish miles back to Chaumont ?? I opted to go back :-(  Not ideal I know, but my thought was that I would find a bike shop more easily in a bigger town that a smaller one, so off I went pushing the bike back.

Just yards from arriving in the centre there was a hotel on the left of the main road into Chaumont, I pushed into here and asked if there was a room for the night. The woman on reception said yes, I was in so thats good I have another room tonight and good food and another bottle of Red YES..

I asked if there was a bike shop she said yes about half a mile back into town it will be open at 9am or 10am. Well that will do for me, I was starting to bring my bike into the hotel when the woman asked if I could take it around the side of the hotel - there is a garage basement door at the side of the building,  I started to push it around, although I had to carry the fully laden bike up several steps to reception doors which does knacker the arms a little as this bike weighs a ton.. so off I go to the basement garage door, the woman said she would use the automatic door to let me in. Great..

After some waiting at the garage door about 15 mins, I was getting a bit frustrated and thinking has she forgotten that I'm here at the door, so I went back around to the front and carried the bike up the steps again to ask here to open the door (didn't want to leave the bike around the corner or at base of steps I always think - take your eye of the bike and someone may pinch it) haha.

Just my luck as I went back to see the woman, a coach load had pulled up and were all booking into the hotel !!  Bugger... I tried to get her attention by waving hands "madhead stylee" :-0   she did see me and apologized and went straight away to open door. Result!

After the bike placed was in basement I rushed up to my room to the usual routine, charge phone etc, shower and change. Then it was off for a steak meal together with another bottle of you know what ? :-)  Getting used to this... its great after a good days cycling.

Monday May 21.  Day 3. Brussels to Vouziers  127miles.

Was checking out of the hotel around 6am today and with not eating when I checked in last night I felt weak. I needed some food so I asked if I could pay for a breakfast, as I remembered last night when I checked in the woman said it was 10 euros for breakfast. But she was not there in the morning it was my friend the annoying man, he replied breakfast will be 18euros, I replied that it was 10 euros last night when I checked in but he was not budging on 18 so I told him to go shove it !!  haha.

So after checking out with no breakfast I have to get on my bike and try to find a food shop for some sandwiches and drinks etc..  I'm cycling down into the centre of Brussels (massive place with hundreds of little roads/streets going in all directions) the weather is crap - misty, damp and cold. Big difference to previous day!

I cycle into a small fuel station and it was small with only a few pumps, but it had a little shop on site, so I went to walk in but the doors were closed, the girl inside held up her hands 10 mins until opening.. once inside at opening I'm browsing around but there are no sandwiches, so I have to get some plain baps, and a pack of cheese and make my own when I get back outside. Not ideal but at least its some needed calories to down..

After my cheese sandwiches, I'm off to try and find a road south out of this massive place (Brussels) I should have really avoided the main cities due to poor navigation through them, but that was where I ended up last night so I could not really do anything about it now.

Another thought that was also on my mind was the amount of money that had been raised so far to date, I really thought that it would have been pushed more at work and got lots of people behind it (my thoughts were "Big solo cycle unaided"  should be raising lots more that it had to current date!), so with the weather being poor, the just-giving page not really motoring, adding in the stress of finding my way around this busy city with my iphone map app which by the way had now used up 150MB of data so when I worked that out it was £150 already and I wasn't even in France !  As you can imagine today was a low day, and the thought of just packing it all in was close by in my head :-(

But after taking several wrong turns I did eventually get back on track, and was heading south towards Charleroi. The weather was poor for most of the day, and some thunder was around too.

In the late afternoon the weather was improving but still grey! What I needed was food and a better place to stay tonight and also to try and get my phone back up and running because I had used up my data, anything used now would cost even more and I did not budget for this. The garmin was switched off by now due to saying turn around all the time (Damn thing! but I must try to suss the map part out at least for navigation)

By late afternoon I was in France and had left Belgium my spirits were raised due to the fact  had now cycled through 2 countries. I was looking out for somewhere to stay.… The town Vouziers appeared on the signs and I thought thats the place I will look to stay tonight. It wasn't to hard to find a place to stay, I cycled up to one that looked good, booked in got showered and changed and headed down for some food (At last some decent food and wine Oh yes! Wine and it was equivalent to a full bottle.

My belly was full and I managed to drink a full bottle of red, I was happy and also sorted my data to be reset on my phone. I also had time to try and suss out the garmin even if it was just the map part to get me around. i would try it the following day. My mind was back focused on my adventure and not what was happening elsewhere.

Huddersfield to Istanbul Day 2.

Sunday May 20. Day 2.
Hook of Holland to Brussels 116miles.

It was around 8.30ish and the ferry was slowly sailing towards the docks in Holland. My cabin had 2 single beds and a shower, not too bad really apart from the engine noise throughout the night.   At 9am we had arrived, it was a mad rush under the decks to the basement for everyone to get going (me included).

As soon as I'm on the road out of the ferry I'm thinking now which way do I go ?  I have a Garmin800 but don't know how to use it yet, as I only received it a day or two before departure (Its a long story that one!!)

So I'm making do with the map app on my iphone. I know it is going to cost me BIG time by using it,  but hey this GPS is bleeping all-sorts of noises and sounds and I've not even touched it yet !! but I do keep having a go with it ;-)

I'm out on the road now out of the port.. well I'm on the cycle paths and what great paths they are - smooth, flat and very wide. The weather is better than the previous day its sunny Yeah! and quite warm in fact its around 70 degrees.

I'm zooming along thinking this is fantastic, I'm going to bang in some serious miles here..until I end up in a housing estate still on the cycle path..  I'm thinking Is this the right way ?? I back track towards the main road where I see over the other side of the road the cycle path I needed to be on....

This was going on all the time, so much so I decided to get on the main roads as those cycle paths kept taking me off course.. the local car drivers were not impressed that I was on the roads - plenty of "Beep Beep" and hand gestures to get back on the cycle paths. They do take a bit of getting used to for sure if you are here for the first time, but I was not here for a leisurely cycle around, I had to catch a flight from Istanbul.

I did pass through a tunnel on route to Brussels (Think it was just past Roosendaal- I remember that name well as some people that I know on twitter were posting what are you doing in Rossendale :-))) once in the tunnel it looked like it was for cars but looking back now I think it was just for cyclists - they do really look after cyclists in Holland, but there are lots of waterways so navigating is hard when trying to cover long distances around the rivers/waterways.   Just after midday the temp was rising it was in the 70s for sure and I had a puncture the first of the trip - front wheel, so that would do for me. After that was fixed I was back off again calling in along the way to petrol stations for snacks and water, I was still trying to work out the garmin but as usual it was yelling at me to do a u turn - so i switched it off (Doing my head-in) haha.

As I was approaching Antwerp I took a quick pic little did I realize at the time there was a McDs in the shot. I did not go into it, but just past there the weather started to become grey with bits of drizzle, not nice after glorious sunshine earlier. It was getting heavier the rain as I cycled further towards Brussels, along the way I did call into a McDs for a Big Mac and coffee, and nice it was.   At around 7pm I was entering the outskirts of Brussels and thought I need to stop somewhere now, and seen a hotel billboard.. I headed towards the hotel and went past a large monument and took a couple of photos (Still not sure what it was - let me know if you know what it is ? see below..

I cycled to the front entrance where I got off the bike and entered into reception, like a drowned rat !  I don't think the guy on the desk was impressed - I got the feeling he didn't want me staying there that night, luckily enough there was a nice receptionist who was very nice and booked me in for the night I think she said would I like breakfast for an extra 10euros I declined for now.  Great, I could now get changed and look forward to something to eat. I got my bike after I'd checked in and started to bring the bike inside the hotel (I was taking it up to my room - as per usual!) but no...  the awkward chap appeared again and was mumbling something about not taking my bike to my room, and pointed to a storage type room I open the door to the room and wheeled my bike inside.. there you go I said to the miserable chap..  he yelled No No No !!  Silly me I had lent it against a projection screen Ooops!!  must be worth a fortune that - it went from the floor to the ceiling! After a reposition of the bike he was happy, or I thought so.

After a quick shower and change, and after plugging all phones etc for charging I returned to reception - Do you have any food/menu ?  The guy replied "No Food"  oh well, no tea for me then. So I went back up to the room to check out the map app and updated social networks.

Huddersfield to Istanbul

Saturday, May 19 Day 1.
Huddersfield to Hull 74-miles.

Its departure day and my head was a little hungover from the previous night at a 40th Birthday party — hence plenty of the John Smiths flowing, also was the dancing :-) Met a twitter friend on the night too... Ivan,  nice guy.

The morning weather was a little overcast but spirits were high, and our neighbors came over to our house to see me depart too. The bike weighed a ton ! I wheeled it through the house and out of the front door, the usual bye, and kisses for my wife and daughter... and I'm off up our street a little wobbly to start with due to getting used to the weight of the panniers.

I reached the top of the street and took a right turn out of sight now... the journey has begun. As I reached the man A62 road I had a thought of my previous Gibraltar cycle (Would my trainers hit the pannier bags when I cycle ??) NO they are fine YIPPEE!!  I'm off (Mark Canning would chuckle at that one)

I'm heading off in the direction of Rothwell it was generally flat going and easy for now, with just a few steep bits coming out of Dewsbury which had me huffing and puffing. Just showed how out of shape I was for this trip. The weather was quite dull/grey throughout the morning as I headed through Rothwell, my next place was heading towards Selby. I was sticking to the most direct rout to Hull along the A63. I reached around Howden and stopped off for a tea break at a burger van. Cup of coffee and a cheeseburger please, was nice  and the guy who served my asked "Where you off to"? Istanbul my reply.. he thought I was joking ! (I must go back to have a brew and burger now I'm bak and tell him I did do it) :-)

After a few minutes chatting some more customers came along he told them what I was doing and they were all amazed and wished me a great and safe journey. This first day was quite easy in terms of time, there wasn't really a rush to get to Hull ferry so I was limited to 70 ish miles for the whole day - so steady day for me. I cycled through Gilberdyke (I like that name) and thought I would get the ipod on and listen to some tunes.. first one was pussy ca dolls Jai ho !!  I hear you laughing :-)  but that brought a smile to my face as that song is my daughter favorite at that time. After the next hour listening to tunes it appeared that there were only a few songs on that were playing over and over again ! What's going on here?? I had hundreds on this ipod!inc my recently downloaded Abba Gold !!  (Somehow the majority of songs had been wiped off somehow!)  Not good. my music I need to listen to it haha it keeps me going and entertained.

Luckily enough I took my iphone too and the majority were on that so phew!!

I was getting close to Hull now and had to start to take notice of where the port is to board the ferry. It was the P&O terminal, so was easy to find. I was early so I took a couple of pics at the water side with the bike and the humber bridge in the distance. Before you board on the ferry it was quite a long queue to get checked in.. Whilst waiting in line another cyclist fully bagged up pulled alongside of me and started chatting about where I was off to. I told him where I was planning, he informed me that if I was to go through Bulgaria, etc I would encounter Wild dogs (very nasty ones he said, he showed me a knife he had to deal with the wild dogs.. my thought was Shit !!  never thought of any dogs along the way, so its a good job I could change the way of my route day by day. From that point I was going Italy, Albania :-))

I was on board now, the guy who I was talking to had gone on another ferry so I was back on my own again, I checked out around the ferry (Its Big!) my first thought.. even a cinema on board. After unpacking, shower and changed I was out and about on the deck, in the bar (Best part they had Bitter) after a few beers and some food I returned to my cabin (Which was all to myself) to a nights sleep - although not a great sleep due to the engines next to my cabin :-(