It's nearly 3 months since I've got home from my tour of Eastern Europe with Peter and Len. During this tour I got the chance to meet some amazing people, visited some incredible places and not surprisingly got taught a few lessons in life from my riding partners.
I put a couple of photos together of some of the more memorable moments on tour.
The photo above is of myself & Peter my cycling buddy for the entire 4 months. I must say we had an incredible time. Very patient and caring, but terrible joke teller. I've strongly advised Peter not to enter the next installment of 'Australia's got talent'.
The 2 guys in the photo above are of Peter and Len. Regardless of our differences I did enjoy Len's company for the last 3 weeks of the tour. There is one thing I can say about Len, if you needed something in life he would be there to assist. Very generous heart.
Then there was Maurice and Mary from Brisbane. They helped us during the first 3 weeks of the tour and we did have many laughs with both of them. They played a big part in making our holiday a fantastic experience.
Now there were the relatives from northern Italy. From left to right. Myself, Betilla, Graziella, Tony & Giancarlo. They took the title of the most hospitable people of the entire tour.
The family above owned a small bicycle shop and the local school in a small town in Bulgaria. We arrived late in town and couldn't find one hotel to stay at, so I went to the bicycle shop to ask for help and they then allowed us to stay in one of the classrooms overnight. Best free accommodation on tour.
Now Peter is a big promoter of the mighty Wollongong, and during one of our encounters at a local market in Bulgaria, Peter found a group of kids to share his knowledge about our town. It's a shame he gave away all his stickers in one day.
Every campsite we stayed at we always hoisted the Australian flag. That's probably why no one came near us.
During the trip we climbed some serious mountains that in some cases took hours to climb in some pretty intense heat. My favourite was the climb out of Kotor in Montenegro. A climb of 1700 metres in 21kms. That was a tough morning on the bike.
And finally perhaps the best moment on tour is hoisting the Australian flag for the last time. Arriving back in Istanbul after riding 5800kms was just one big adrenalin rush. We made it in one piece, overcome sickness, huge mountains, met some amazing people, and it was a walk in the park.
Stay tuned for the next installment which commences on Monday 28th July 2014. Now this trip is one hell of a challenge.
Until tomorrow, safe riding.
