Round the Bloc tour 2009

I will PM you, Thanks for the offer.
Geoff

good day

Hi Geoff,

Hope the first day of your trip was good, look forward to seeing your updates.

ryan

Day 2 quickie

Hi all

Found an internet connection at Macdonalds at the Brenner pass between Austria and ITALY.
Having great time roads around here are excellent.

Trying to make the Ancona ferry for tomorrow.

Geoff

Hey Geoff, Hope the weather's as hot in the Europe as it is here still. & Hope you made the Ferry ok.

So, what were you doing in McDonalds pray tell...?

Jason.

Day one

Day one
Didn’t sleep a wink way too excited. Got down to Dover docks and was boarded straight away and was near the front of the queue for a fat boys breakfast. It was worth £7.49.



Arrived in France 08.30hrs their time and hit the motorway. France very soon became Belgium, passed in a field just prior to Brussels a number of 10ft high blue and red plastic bunnies? Went around Brussels and started to head south into Germany. Passed masses of bike traffic on their way back from the MOTO GP in Italy. I got a bit lost around Stuttgart but managed to find an alternative route. Came off the motorway at the end of the day to find a camp site and managed to get pinged by a speed camera in a village. Maybe I am now wanted in Germany for speeding (Only got my ugly mug forward facing camera). Found a campsite in a town called Ellwangen which is close to Ulm. Put up the tent and ate my packed lunch for tea. Total miles today a whopping 520. Went to bed nice and early.
At 2200 hours I was awoken by a firework display above my tent from a local park which was hosting a fairground. Back to sleep within minutes of it ending.

Ghostrider (aka Geoff)

Day two

Day two
Up nice and early had a tin of beans and sausages for breakfast with the most delicious bread rolls provided by the nice German woman at the camp site. Spent too long sorting out the kit and subsequently left late. Motored on into Austria and sent on a diversion which brought me out onto a motorway junction I had got lost at in 2005. Not a good place for me as I forgot to look the other way and a nice Austrian lady had to toot at me, better that knocking me off. Bought a vignette for the Austrian motorway (thought I better already in trouble with the Germans). Then I travelled through the Alps...the roads were great apart from the heavy traffic and the rain. The views were amazing even saw some nuns but they weren’t singing or running through the fields; their Fiat was broken down on a twisty Alp road.
Once in Innsbruck went for the Brenner Pass, stopped briefly at the Macdonald’s prior to the toll booths and test the theory ‘Does all Macdonald’s have free internet’ the answer is yes and sent a few emails over coffee before the rain was threatening to soak the laptop. (Yes I took my laptop after saying it was going to be a ball and chain and it is). I saw the weirdest thing in the car park of MacDonald’s...Two plain clothes Austrian police officers in an unmarked car with a laptop on the dashboard and every time somebody parked in a particular space they would shout, flash the sirens and blue lights and move the driver on? Not discreetly but so everybody in the car park saw. I have two theories about this 1. There were on the internet and this blocked their signal 2. Looking for fugitive German speeders. Any buggered off to Italy as quickly as possible.
The Brenner Pass was worth every cent of the 8 Euro toll the views and landscapes were brilliant even at 80 mph. Then entered the Dolomite Mountains which I can only describe as being like Chedder Gorge on speed. Anyway a few hours later and still in the Dolomites and still having grapevines and on both sides of the road was getting a tad boring.
Got lost on the motorway system and went towards Milan in the words of Homer DOH, completely the wrong way. All Italian Autostradas are toll roads and I have abused the credit card at the toll booths. For those coming to Italy be warned the road signs are rubbish and I missed loads of junctions and some of the driver are complete morons. Another thing the speeds are in km, distance is in miles.
I must now mention the weather; as you may recall it was raining so as all good motorcyclists I put on my wet weather gear. Now as we dropped out of the Dolomites my Temperature gauge was reading 30.5 degrees. Soon stopped and removed the wet weather stuff and was drinking litres of water to re hydrate.
As the day wore on I left the motorway to find a campsite; I struggled to find one but eventually did close to Ravenna. It was 6 miles from the main road and when I got there I wasn’t sure I was in the right place so I went in this restaurant and it was indeed a camp site but also a bird sanctuary. The waitress said if I have meal no charge for the camping. A place was prepared for me and I sat down to cold sardines with onions, pasta/pesto and rice salad, onions and lamb and espresso coffee. It was all good especially as I spent the day on extra strong mints and water.
At 2200 hours I put up the tent in the dark and fell into bed, 506 miles today.



Ghostrider (aka Geoff)

Day Three

Day three
Awoke to the sounds of birds..well I am on a bird sanctuary, thought I saw a DODO, maybe not. I am the only person here!!! That is until a man appeared from the back of an apparently abandoned van. Cold shower, no breakfast got to get to the Ancona ferry by lunchtime. Suns out all ready and the liners have been removed from the bike gear.
Those dam roads signs again taking me miles out of my way...40 mile detour. The GPS says 97 miles to Ancona the road signs say 143. Anyway hammer time arrived in Ancona at 1030 ish. Even managed to go through San Marino, thats another country visited.
All that planning what a waste of time, the Superfast ferry doesn’t run to Igoumenitsa today so I am on ANEK lines sailing at 16:00...5 hours time. Whilst waiting chat to a German biker and a British FJR rider from London. Loading was at 16:00 and was like a GP start. My bike is tied with rope to overhead pipes in the lower deck god knows what I will find tomorrow.
So right now we are sailing to Greece, I have an aircraft style seat which looks great in the brochure but it doesn’t show all the others who are laid out on the floor wherever there is a space. We don’t arrive until 8am what a night I’m going to have. Its cost me 6 Euros to have an hour on the internet but I am nicking their electricity.
Going to have something to eat now got a splitting headache from being out in the sun all day, its really really hot.




Ghostrider (aka Geoff)

Geoff
Glad to hear yo made the ferry ok and also glad to hear the weather is good too.

Take care and ride safe mate.

You need to stay off the motorways dude. You have and will miss some of the best roads in the world! You also will not encounter as much traffic if you take the quieter routes.

Sounds like you are having an awesome time. Look forward to the next update.

Keep safe bloke.

ryan

great reporting - best of luck with the trip

Guys

Let me say I have belted down to Greece cos thats where my adventure begins

Day 3 and 4

Day 3 and 4
Not a good night, ended up sleeping on the floor and the Greek Olympic snoring champion was in the seating lounge. Just wanted to stuff a pillow down this throat about 2 am so instead moved to another place and managed to about 3 hours sleep and of course lost another hour to the time difference.
Met up with a couple on a FJR1300 touring Europe who live in London and spent the evening discussing all topics including BMWs, Metallica and the original Genesis line up. Really nice couple.
Awoke to the Greek/Albania coastline out of the window. My left eye felt a bit sore yesterday and now it is nearly closed, something has bit it. I look like I’ve been in a punch up. So I had a morning coffee and a napkin of ice. Also found out my bike had not been tied down throughout the voyage thank god it didn’t fall over.
Arrived in Igoumenstia at 08.30 offloading is the same as loading...drivers start your engines.
Decided to follow the scenic route to Athens after the mammoth days this week and take two days. The roads here are excellent and can only recommend them I spent all morning on quiet twisty roads we bikers can only dream of with scenery to match. Stopped at a non wifi Macdonald’s for lunch and discovered I was only 80 miles from Athens. So I made the decision to go for the ferry as I had just about enough time (sort of).
I then entered Athens what a nightmare the roads are, I can genuinely say I was not comfortable with being in this traffic. The worst thing is the little mopeds who zip everywhere. I got stuck in the middle of a crossroads with one of the mopeds as the lights changed and the traffic zipped either side of us leaving us stranded, how I made it into the Port of Piraeus I never know. The signs took us all through the back streets of Athens and it’s a huge city if I had missed a sign I would still driving around next week. It’s over 30 degrees here as well and sat in the traffic I had visions of the bottom hose coming off (F800GS manufacturer fault) but I’m glad to say all is well with the bumble bee.
Made the Ferry with about 30 mins to spare. Another ANEK lines boat so another 6 Euros on the internet and an hour’s chat with the kids on MSN.
We arrive at Chois at 2am then have to catch another ferry at 8am to mainland Turkey. Looking forward to the Turkish border controls. I have managed to find a shower on the boat first one since Italy. Best change those socks tomorrow. Hopefully with fellow Gser Andy007’s help I can wash them in Bulgaria.
Greece is a great country and excellent for bikes. The people I have met have been very friendly. A Greek Honda rider stopped to see if I was ok when I had stopped in the middle of nowhere to take a picture. Good day (apart from Athens, didn’t see the acropolis too busy watching for those pesky mopeds), Total miles 240
Right off to dinner let’s see what tomorrow brings. The next update should from the hotel in Istanbul.










See ya
Geoff AKA Ghostrider

awesome

Awesome update bloke.

Hope the eye gets better, the trip sounds better than you ever thought it would be I guess there will be lots to talk about when you get back.

ryan

hotel

So hows the hotel?

Must be good to sleep in a bed after the long rides and liaising with the snoring champions of the world.

ryan

Day 5

Day 5
Arrived in Chois at 0320 hours and most of the entire boat disembarked. I left the harbour area and went a mile down the road and found an old boat yard. I parked the bike behind an old car and dug out the bivy bag . Slept till about 0630. Got up made coffee and went down to the harbour. Booked a ticket on Erturk Lines to Cesme. Went through exit controls for the EU and boarded the boat. Its only small and had only enough room for about 4 cars. Only vehicle today was the Beemer.



Crossing took about 50 minutes and then managed to drop the bike against the of the ship getting it off the centre stand. No damage.
A man approached me on the boat introduced himself as a customs agent and showed where to park and get my passport inspected. I duly did as I was told, I was not allowed pass the Turkish Police ‘no visa’; the agent ran off and came back with a woman who took my passport and £10 and returned a few minutes later with the visa. This time I was allowed to walk the 3 feet to the custom desk. That’s me in now the Beemer. ‘ Papers for the bike and insurance’ was the next question, ‘no insurance’ I said. The agent duly got on the phone and within 10 minutes another man arrived took the log book and passport ‘ he will get insurance for you’. In due course he came back with 3 months insurance, I took a breath ‘how much’ the agent looked rather sheepishly ‘5 Euros’, inwardly I was jumping for joy, outwardly I said ‘ok’ and tried not to smile. The agent then ran off with all the papers from room to room and then disappeared. Sometime later a Policeman walked up to me with my papers and said ‘yours Bmw’, ‘yes’ I said. Dreading the worse he said ‘You go, exit’. That was it done and I rode off handing over the exit slip at the gate. It took about 45 minutes in total and the Turkish officials were polite and courteous all the time. I never saw the agent again to thank him. (Thanks to Turkish Customs). The officials do seem to run around a lot stamping papers and drinking tea.
So off I went towards Izmir, the plan to have a light day and stop at Burgas and travel into Instanbul tomorrow. Turkey is great the views are awesome and the country is well worth a visit. Izmir is such a huge city and with all the Mosques standing above the other buildings it’s a sight to see. So a couple of hours later in the middle of nowhere I stopped for fuel (which is about £1 a litre). The garage attendant filled the bike up and I started to have some water and bought a packet of biscuits. He then offered me tea which I politely refused but then a few minutes later brought tea and offered me a seat. So we had tea and talked about bikes and my travels ( me in English him in Turkish). I took his photo with my bike which he was very chuffed about. The Beemer in this country really does turn heads.



About another hour later 50 miles from Burgas the bike felt a bit wobbly, the roads are bad in places so put it down to that, but was not happy thought the luggage was loose to stopped at a petrol station 2km outside Sedir. To my horror the tyre was nearly flat; I had planned for this bought a puncture kit and levers. The garage attendants came over and pumped up the tyre. The outside of the tyre was red hot, another 30 degree+ day today. The directed me to a garage 2 km back down the road, I found this but he couldn’t help so he jumped on his moped and indicated me to follow him. We went through all the back alleys and unmade road, it resembled Gaza in palces and then pulled up outside the local motorbike shop. The owner was repairing a Minsk outside the front. The problem was explained and my bike was pushed into his workshop and the wheel removed. His assistant ran off with the wheel to bubble test it. Meanwhile the bike and me were starting to draw a crowd. People were starting to ask questions and practice their English. Tea was produced from a shop across the road. Photos were taken by me and them and a 15 year old girl tried to translate as I think she was the only person around who had any knowledge of English.



No puncture was found, I think I just cooked the tyre on the hot road. This cost me 20 TL (about 8 quid). I then carried on to Burgas and decided not to go into the city and to find either a campsite or hotel on the main road. I found a hotel about 90 from Istanbul, 3 star 65 TL per night. Had two showers changed clothes and feel great. Went to a Turkish restaurant next door the place was empty and the lady owner thought she had seen a ghost I when I appeared at the door in my Metallica T-shirt. I tried to explain I was hungry and was staying next door. She ran off and came back with the receptionist from the hotel who translated. I had mantia (pasta and yogurt dish) with bread followed by cake and tea. Cost 6 TL (3 quid). Opposite the hotel is a Mosque and during the meal the call for prayer was given; it was at that moment sat in the restaurant in a place I have never been ever and with the problems of the day and acts of kindness given to me I felt like was on an adventure.



Anyway went back to the hotel caught up with home via MSN and had a sound night’s sleep.

Catch up tomorrow with another thrilling adventure by the Ghostrider (aka Geoff)

Great report mate, sounds like you are living the dream.

Nice one! As ted Simon and many others have said. It is the trials and tribulations that stick in your mind. If anyone ever loses faith in human nature I would urge them to go on a motorcycling adventure. Even if something bad does happen it will be remedied ten fold by many other people.

Your adventure is shaping up nicely

Istanbul

Have arrived safe and sound at my hotel in Istanbul

Day 6

Woke up this morning in a bed, what a luxury; had a shower, what a luxury; had breakfast, what a luxury, get the picture. Paid the bill in the hotel and got 5 TL off the price as the manager didn’t have enough change. Sorted out the blog (too knackered last night) packed the bike and rolled off towards Istanbul. Stopped 2km down the road to fuel and the attendant and his mate were all over the beemer, asking this and that, invited me for tea but I politely refused.
Things were going very smoothly, traffic was lighter than yesterday, I got pulled over by the Turkish traffic cops in a checkpoint. I was speeding (again) exceeding the 50 km speed limit?? On a dual carriageway road. They must have seen the nose of the bike dive towards the ground. I didn’t see a radar gun but I have been warned about the Police here. Anyway they walked around the bike um’ed and arr’ed and said ‘Thank you, you may go’, a polite ‘Thank you’ from me and I legged it at 50km for about 2 km then back to the normal traffic flow speed.
The roads heading towards Istanbul in places are awful and could be considered off-roading. I took it easy today, plenty of stops to make sure the rear tyre did not get too hot again. All seems ok at this point, weather is 30 degrees + again. Took the toll motorway for the last stage of the ride in Asia and when I reached the toll plaza prior to the bridge crossing a workman waved me through an empty booth, no need to ask twice I was through it like a tramp on a kipper.



Passed the Istanbul Park race track and for a moment though maybe I could see the race, might have done if it had been MotoGP. Eventually crossed the Bosphorus Bridge and started looking for a way into the city, which is easier said than done.



Cut a long story short I got well lost and ended up at an industrial centre for Ataturk airport. I asked a passerby who didn’t speak English for directions he phoned his daughter who did and we had a three way conversation down a mobile. His directions gave me enough to be heading into right area. Whilst on a dual carriage a moped rider and girlfriend drew up alongside and shouted me a welcome to Istanbul. They saw I was struggling and when I shouted back ‘Sultanamet’ follow us came the reply. Now they are on a moped and I am on the beemer with boxes but I did a pretty good job keeping up, hard shoulder et al. They got me to a position where I could see the Blue Mosque and signs showing its direction. Off I went alone after lots of hand shaking. Now I followed the signs until I was sure I was lost again and I came across a gun laden cop who I asked for further directions without making him jump. I was just round the corner and hey presto there was the road but...it was across the tram tracks and the wrong end of a one way street. One thing I have learnt since being in Turkey is that the rules of the road are, there are no rules (just like fight club). So across the tracks I went and luck would have it a Transit van(they can go anywhere you know) went up the one way street the wrong way, I followed in his wake and pulled up outside my hotel. Job done only took at 90 minutes since crossing the bridge (About 2 miles as the crow flies).
Parking had been arranged for me at no extra cost in a secure car park behind the hotel. Knackered and sweat dripping I checked in to the hotel. The hotel room is basic and small (good job I wasn’t coming here for a cat swinging contest) but it’s better than a boatyard in the dark.
Showered finished locking up the bike and off to explore. I am only a few minutes away from the Blue Mosque so of I went to see it and recce the area for tomorrow’s day off. I had taken some leaflets and sat in the park opposite the Mosque reading them. Next to me was an elderly Turkish man. He leant over and stated the price for the Turkish bath was a reasonable price. That sparked the conversation, he had a reasonable grasp of English certainly better than my Turkish. Turned out his name was Fedher and was Cartographer (map maker). We talked about all sorts of topics from politics, crime, F1, tourism, visas, families, football, bikes, travel etc. We must have sat there for over an hour chatting. I said I was going for dinner and offered to show where the best Turkish restaurants were. We walked and talked for another 15 minutes. He took me to a restaurant who served me a Turkish starter selection and a Turkish Grill selection.



Fedher refused to even stay and have tea with me. He told the restaurant owner to look after me. The meal was great and I got to sample numerous dishes and had tea (Twice) all for 36 TL (£15).
One thing Fedher did say before leaving was why visitors to his country never speak to the people who live there. He was right, I had spoken to him and learnt lots about his country and culture and taken to a great restaurant. So my advice when travelling is talk to the locals.
Anyway after dinner went and found the Turkish Bath house to enquire about times, first thing tomorrow I’m booked in for a bath and a massage. Passed an English pub on the way back, England were beating Kazakhstan four nil with four minutes to go, didn’t even stop for a beer.
Checked on the bike, all’s well and back inside for good night’s sleep and blog update. Managed to rip the only pair of trouser I brought with me, now I will have to manage in shorts. As you may have noticed I have got right into the blog thing, hope you like it, I enjoy writing it. Thanks for all the emails from family and friends, believe me it cheers up my day.

Looking forward to my day off tomorrow sightseeing.

Ghostrider aka Geoff