Back home for a week now! Yes indeed, I do miss my life on the road... a lot, it's good to be home though!
The Road to Odessa started in April, when I rode 890 km from Ghent to Lausanne. Last month, I had the time of my life for 3475 km between Lausanne and Odessa and 850 km on the way back home. I think since last Sunday there has barely passed an hour in which I am not recalling my magnicifent journey. I was thinking to write some kind of summary for this last blog post, but that's simply impossible, so i'll keep it to just some very sincere thankyou's!
Thank you to everybody who made this road so memorable but also such a piece of cake, by hosting me or in any other way. It really felt all I had to do is ride. In order of appearance: Ewoud in Lausanne, Eduardo and Anna in Torino, Mauro in Milan, Paolo and Adriana in Reggio Emilia, Luigi in Meldola, Ljuba in Kupres (Bosnia), Kemal in Sarajevo, Andjelko in Vracenovici (Montenegro), Zarko and Lela in Podgorica (Montenegro), Elvis and family in Lehze (Albania), Ali in Skopje, Luba in Kyustendil (Bulgaria), Petkova Family in Sofia, Ciprian and Florina in Bucharest, Farfurica/Reghina Families in Ramnicu Sarat and Cotatcu, Rica (...and the rest of Pamfile family) in Buzau ánd Aldeni ánd Lausanne, Lucian in Buhalnita (Romania) and last but not least Maria and Alex in Vatra Dornei. Special thanks to the Bogus Family in Iasi and Sinesti, to Ivan in Odessa for getting me out, direction home and to Tariq in Debrecen (Hungary) also for getting me out (by buying my train tickets to Vienna in advance as I couldn't do it online). Be all very welcome in Ghent one day sooner or later, dinner (and breakfast, lunch, a second dinner, a third lunch, a morning tea,...) will be ready!
Very special mention goes to Dimy a.k.a. Dimysport, for sending me out on the road once again with the perfect bike (and well yeah... what happened in Sofia stays in Sofia). Message to everyone, to end all ongoing discussions about how to find or assemble the perfect bike: just trust your bike mechanic (or be one yourself)!
No matter all my profound reservations about social media, sharing some impressions and thoughts along the way simply felt very nice. So last but not least, thank you to everybody who kept an eye on me by following my blog. More stories on request!
And now... Where is my bike? There are a lot roads left to be ridden... My 3th Transcontinental is history, no. 4 is just a dream right now, becoming reality within this and a year, I do hope. I need to go!
The Road to Odessa started in April, when I rode 890 km from Ghent to Lausanne. Last month, I had the time of my life for 3475 km between Lausanne and Odessa and 850 km on the way back home. I think since last Sunday there has barely passed an hour in which I am not recalling my magnicifent journey. I was thinking to write some kind of summary for this last blog post, but that's simply impossible, so i'll keep it to just some very sincere thankyou's!
Thank you to everybody who made this road so memorable but also such a piece of cake, by hosting me or in any other way. It really felt all I had to do is ride. In order of appearance: Ewoud in Lausanne, Eduardo and Anna in Torino, Mauro in Milan, Paolo and Adriana in Reggio Emilia, Luigi in Meldola, Ljuba in Kupres (Bosnia), Kemal in Sarajevo, Andjelko in Vracenovici (Montenegro), Zarko and Lela in Podgorica (Montenegro), Elvis and family in Lehze (Albania), Ali in Skopje, Luba in Kyustendil (Bulgaria), Petkova Family in Sofia, Ciprian and Florina in Bucharest, Farfurica/Reghina Families in Ramnicu Sarat and Cotatcu, Rica (...and the rest of Pamfile family) in Buzau ánd Aldeni ánd Lausanne, Lucian in Buhalnita (Romania) and last but not least Maria and Alex in Vatra Dornei. Special thanks to the Bogus Family in Iasi and Sinesti, to Ivan in Odessa for getting me out, direction home and to Tariq in Debrecen (Hungary) also for getting me out (by buying my train tickets to Vienna in advance as I couldn't do it online). Be all very welcome in Ghent one day sooner or later, dinner (and breakfast, lunch, a second dinner, a third lunch, a morning tea,...) will be ready!
Very special mention goes to Dimy a.k.a. Dimysport, for sending me out on the road once again with the perfect bike (and well yeah... what happened in Sofia stays in Sofia). Message to everyone, to end all ongoing discussions about how to find or assemble the perfect bike: just trust your bike mechanic (or be one yourself)!
No matter all my profound reservations about social media, sharing some impressions and thoughts along the way simply felt very nice. So last but not least, thank you to everybody who kept an eye on me by following my blog. More stories on request!
And now... Where is my bike? There are a lot roads left to be ridden... My 3th Transcontinental is history, no. 4 is just a dream right now, becoming reality within this and a year, I do hope. I need to go!