TRANS-EAST-EXPEDITION Chapter 1
(West- and East Europe - 3000 cycled kilometres)
Lake Constance marked the beginning of our new adventure – an adventure with an immeasurable dimension from the day it started up until today. The first 3000 kilometres took us along the mighty Danube to Austria, to Slovakia, to Hungary, Serbia, and Romania, almost as far as to the Black Sea.
Our heavily loaded bikes weighed 110 resp. 88 kilos, so even the slightest hills we were faced with seemed like a huge barrier to us, requiring great efforts to surmount.
One of the rainiest summers of the past century, as well as tick bites, a fall from the bike, extremely dangerous traffic, injuries, thieves, and the constantly recurrent thought of giving up were only a part of the unforeseen challenges we were faced with on our trip so far. Yet, we got to know the origin of the European culture, and were able to enjoy the extraordinary beauty of the diversified scenery along the Danube. We met a lot of lovely poeple of the most varying ethnic groups. It was a step into another world, the world of Romania, where the people in the rural areas hardly know cars, and still move about on horse carriages.
I have put our experiences – cheerful, exciting, and unique experiences – down on paper: 220 pages of detailed accounts to be found under the category Journal – TRANS-EAST-EXPEDITION – Chapter I.
