Trip to Bulgaria this Sunday 14th June

Stelvio Pass Italy

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Bulgaria

Made it all the way now we enjoy
 

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Corfu

ferry to Corfu, and views from Corfu
 

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PHOTOS

Thanks Geoff , Andy , Geoff , and I will be boarding the ferry tomorrow in cherbourg in france to take us on our final journey back to Ireland I will contact you later,.

Ps Thanks for the offer of your place , much appreciated,

Davy
 
bulgaria

WOW , WHAT CAN I SAY BUT AL THE VERY BEST AND DONT FORGET THE PICTURES OF YOUR TRIP . BEWARE OF YHE BULGARIAN WOMEN AS THEY TAP YOU UP IN THE DAY ( LUCY BARSTEWARDS )

REGARDS ONE BIG TOSSER NEIL 4022:beerjug::beer::clap:Motomartin:JB:ChrisKelly
 
Bulgaria

Hi Neil

thanks for your comments we have already left Bulgaria and i take in your comments lol. We are actually on the ship now at cherbourg heading back to ireland i will update on here when I get back Total miles covered 4900

David
 
Bulgaria Run Day 11

Hi Everyone

Thursday 25th and still another week to go , yesterday was day 11 so I am trying to catch up on the blog.

We left the hotel at 8am and headed across Greece towards Igoumenitsa which is where we get the ferry for Corfu , after about 200 miles it started to rain quite heavy so we pulled of the motorway at the first exit we came to it was a wee dirt track and at the bottom we came right onto the beach where was one hotel it was quite old and run down.

We stopped our bikes and run for cover as it was thunder and lightning , the owner of the hotel, an old man with a stained shirt, came out , and we asked him could we have anything to eat and he said the hotel was closed, so we asked him could we boil some water in one of his pots and he agreed.

So guess what , out came the army rations , lamb stew, chicken sausages, and baked beans, and custard and apple crumble for desert. The wee old man sat with his dog drinking beer and watching us in amazment (boil in the bag dinner for three lol)

It took almost two hours for the storm to finish, after which we packed up and headed of , the roads where very wet and muddy so we took things easy. After clocking up around 320 miles in total we called it a day and stopped in a wee place called Agia Parasnevi , parked the bikes up safely and showered and dressed for dinner, after which we got a taxi into town.

We where in the town for about half an hour and we decided to head back to the hotel where we shared a bottle of wine and a few beers , before heading to bed around 10pm.

For those wondering, why Corfu? as its of out track, well this is so we can chill out for a day or two and recharge the batteries, its only Euro 17 on the ferry and we have booked into cheap hotel , the pace has been quite hectic , and we have ridden our bikes over 3000 miles at this point , so time to relax a bit.

We leave Corfu on Saturday and get the ferry back to Igoumenitsa where we then catch an overnight ferry up to Ancona up North of Italy, Geoff has a sister living in St.Tropez in the south of France we intend to pay a visit on our travels home , I will keep you posted.

Anyhow I will sign off now as we are about to head of for the ferry to Corfu.

Bye for now

Davy Hughes
 
Bulgaria Run Day 12

Hi Everyone

Got to the port today and just missed the 11.30 am ferry to Corfu so we sat around for the next ferry at 12.30 it cost us Euro 8.00 each bikes and all so it was well worth the visit , the crossing took about an hour and the scenery around the Greek islands was beautiful .


After we docked and got the bikes of we headed for the Hotel , well it was more like a hostel type place but at Euro 27 a night you wouldn't expect much but its clean and tidy , and its only for sleeping in so we cant really complain, ( the Euro 27,00 includes breakfast and dinner lol ).

Tomorrow we will get on the bikes and take a tour of the island Andy has said its about 15 mile east to west and around 60 miles north to south , so we will take it easy and enjoy.

Bye for now

Davy Hughes
 
Bulgaria Run Day 13

Hi Everyone


Got up this morning at around 10 am and we intended to hit the road straight away but there was torrential rain and fork lightning it was horrendous , we walked down the road and found a wee cafe to have breakfast the rain stayed on for around two hours, so we didn't hit the road till about 3pm.

The roads where like glass , very slippery, and muddy but we took our time and eventually it dried up . We took in most of the north of the island .

We stopped at a restaurant for lunch at around 6pm lol Geoff said he wanted lamb chops and he asked the wee waiter if he could have two chops, when the waiter came down he handed him two lamb chop dinners lol , but i helped him out there.

We didn't get back to the hotel until 10 pm so we threw are kit in the room and run straight to the bar which is where I am writing this from , tomorrow we check out of the hotel before 9am and head straight for the port to get the ferry back to Greece.

We have booked the overnight ferry to take us from the same port in Greece to take us directly to Ancona in Italy where we then begin our journey home .

I will sign of now and continue tomorrow

Davy Hughes
 
Bulgaria Run Day 14

Hi Everyone

I am writing this email on the ship taking us from Kavos in the very south of Corfu, back to Igoumenitsa on mainland Greece the journey takes about an hour its Saturday 12.30 pm. When we get there we have to wait until 10 pm tonight to catch the overnight sailing to Ancona in Italy, we have two cabins booked, ( we could have got one big cabin that would have slept the three of us but Andy and Geoff wouldn't have it) It must have something to do with the fact that I snore lol.

Anyhow when we get off this ship in about 30 mins we are going to find a place with a tv as Andy and Geoff want to watch a rugby match , this ship is full of kids, and they are all squealing and shouting at each other.

We plan to be back in Belfast next Thursday it depends on what mileage we put in when we get to Italy , I think its approx 1030 miles from Ancona to Cherbourg in France , the total mileage we have covered to date is approx 3476.

Anyhow I will sign off now and will either email tonight or tomorrow (Day 15 )

Bye for now

Davy Hughes
 
Bulgaria Run Day 15

Hi Everyone

Its Sunday morning June 28th at 10 am , we are on the ship taking us to Ancona in Italy, we have been sailing all night , and I have just returned from breakfast,and I am in my cabin writing this e-mail.
Yesterday the ferry from Corfu taking us to Igoumenitsa docked at around 1.30 PM we went straight to the booking office and booked our tickets for this ship to take us to Italy.

This ship didn't sail until 10 pm so we had a long wait , facing the docks there was a hotel so we went over and asked if they had sky so the other lads could watch the rugby, unfortunately they hadn't , but they had Wi Fi so I got my laptop out and tuned into the match live from South Africa.

While they watched the match I asked at the reception if we could book a room for the day as we where leaving at around 9pm that night, the guy at reception gave us a very large room for Euro 40 for the day so we where well set up as we could shower , eat , watch the match , and chill out.

Unfortunately the lions got beat by the South Africans so the lads where not in good form , although I am not into Rugby or football , I had a secret chuckle to myself, as i lived in South Africa for 9 years and my two boys where born in Johannesburg .

We boarded the ship at around 9.30 last night, got the bikes sorted, and threw our kit into the cabins and headed straight down for dinner, followed by a few drinks.

Today we start our journey home for real, we should dock at around 11.30 am this morning local time , (we have to turn our clocks back by one hour) Once docked and on our bikes we are heading straight to Torino which is about 350 miles from here , we have booked our hotel there, and will stay the night before travelling on to France.

I will sign off now and talk later

Bye for now

Davy Hughes
 
Bulgaria run Day 16

Hi Everyone

The ship docked in Ancona at 1.30 pm and it was a nightmare , for some reason there was a gridlock , neither passengers or vehicles could get on or of the ship and the lifts stopped working.

I was stuck in deck 6 along with a few men and women with kids, it was absolutely boiling down at the bottom of the ship , where i was a lorry had its engines running and the fumes started filling up the lift shaft, and the kids started coughing and crying, one man started freaking out , he must have been claustrophobic, eventually things started moving but it was a very bad situation.

When we got the bikes of the ship it was around 35 degrees and with all our kit on it was really hard to stick, but we hit the road straight away, and headed of two our planned destination Torinio which was approx 350 mile away, well with what happened on the ship and the heat we where wrecked and decided after 280 miles , to stop in a wee place called Verona .

We checked in at around 7pm , showered and got a taxi into town to a restaurant (recommended by the hotel) the meal was really lovely , but very expensive.
After dinner we went for a walk and found this street full of really old buildings and the whole street, including road and footpaths was made with Italian marble, really posh.

The whole street was full of people sitting outside in the sun having coffee etc , we sat down and this waiter came over to us and wasn't very pleasant , I think he thought we where three big hairy bikers lol, so we called another waiter of and asked if he could recommend a nice wine , he did so very helpfully , and recommended a nice red so at Euro 22.00 a bottle so we ordered two, gave him Euro 50 and told him to keep the change the other waiter was upset lol.

Just after that the rain came down in sheets and the street became a river and it lasted for about an hour just long enough , for us to finish our wine.

Anyhow got back to hotel and got to bed for some very much needed sleep.

Bye for now

Davy Hughes
 
Bulgaria run Day 17

Hi Everyone

Its hard to believe our trip is nearly over , but today was probably the best day of motorcycling so far , for me anyhow , we left Verona late on at about 11am , it must have been a bad bottle of wine lol , that allowed us to sleep in for a while.

Andy plotted a course on the Sat Nav to take us to Cherbourg over the next couple of days, and the Sat Nav suggested the best route was to head for Geneva in Switzerland , after studying the map we realised it would take us to torinio the place we should have went to the day before, but then we would veer up north slightly and go through Milano , up into Geneva Switzerland Via Monte Blanc , and then on to Paris.

This we did today to reach our overnight stop over in Geneva, when coming close to the border in Switzerland the views where absolutely stunning I really haven't seen anything like it, we had to pass through a tunnel at Monte Blanc and it was 11km long , this is the tunnel where a few years ago a truck went on fire half way through it and caused severe damage and it had to be shut down for months.

On a motorbike its a whole new experence , you are not allowed to be slower than 50km an hour , and no faster than 70km an hour and its dark in there lol , your mind starts playing tricks on you after a few miles.

Anyhow when we got to Geneva , I was shocked by the beauty of the city there is a huge lake (lake Geneva) and it has very large yachts, and cabin cruisers berthed all around, there obviously is a lot of money in this city , I can understand why there is, because the prices where really expensive ( £6 for a pint of beer) lol

Anyhow we found a hotel facing the train station where we where able to park our bikes up overnight securely , it was the cheapest we could find at Euro 170.00 for a single room. We went around the corner and got a beer and a kebab (no restaurants here lol)

Went back to the hotel had a few beers and went to bed , very tired I must say. Tomorrow we head for Paris

Total miles today ..........................380

Total miles to date ........................4066 wow


PS Paul hope you get this (u have that many email addresses)
 
Bulgaria Run the Final

Hi Everyone

Its Thursday morning 8.15 am and I am in my cabin ,on the ship heading for Rosslare we are expected to dock at 12pm and hopefully be in Belfast by 4pm , I have just seen the weather forecast, and torrential rain is forecast , just our luck.

Looking back on the last couple of days I think I have lost track of the days numbers , I think I got a bit mixed up with day 16 , 17 , 18 , anyhow counting back this should be day 19 our final Day.

Yesterday, at our hotel on the outskirts of Paris we where up very early at 7am had breakfast and where on our way by 8am , our idea was to try and put in a good few miles before the sun came up really strong , unfortunately this wasn't the case as Andys Sat Nav put us on a course that took us almost through the centre of Paris and the traffic was horrendous.

There was hundreds of Motorbikes out and they where all flying up between cars throwing caution to the wind. Andy and I had full luggage on and decided to stay in the line of traffic. french motorcyclists are very courteous almost every biker who past us waved either there hand or there foot to acknowledge us.

After almost an hour stuck in the traffic jam and the heat starting to rise, we also threw caution to the wind , and headed up between the cars, we did this for a few miles , then I noticed a police car behind with lights flashing and siren going, we pulled in to the side to let it passed and just as it did there was about 30 or 40 bikers had pulled in behind the cop car, so we joined in it took us about 5 miles further up the road it was amazing

When we got out of Paris we set of at a steady pace of between 90 and 100 along the motorway and after a few hours we had the back broke of the 300 miles we had to do.

Because we set of pretty early in the morning we had some time on our hands so we stopped of at Normandy and stopped at Omaha beach where the D day landings took place , the sun was up and the beach was spectacular , so Andy got the cooker out and we had lunch and guess what it was? British army issue chicken sausages and beans, with a big mug of tea, after which we lay on the beach and took in a bit of the sun.

On the way to the boat we also stopped at Utah Beach and done some camming and took some pictures, after this we headed straight for the docks and boarded without any problems. we got our kit of showered and changed and went up on deck where , as we planed, we would treat ourselves to a slap up meal and a nice bottle of wine followed with a few beers , and get the head down for a good night sleep.

When I get home today and get myself sorted (washing etc ) i will send a final email with some statistics , and my own personal reflections of the whole trip.

Bye for now

Davy Hughes
 
Bulgaria Run Stastics

Hi Everyone

Well its Saturday morning and I am at home nursing my injuries lol , to be honest I am still knackered and still have the aches and pains especialy my backside , the bike is in the garage with about three million flies on it, but it will be washed and polished today ready for my next sunday run with the flyers.

And now for some statistics.


Countries visited in order.

Southern Ireland / France / Italy / Switzerland / Austria / Switzerland / Slovenia / Crotia / Serbia / Bulgaria / Greece / Corfu / Greece / Italy / France / Sourthern Ireland/ Belfast.

Total Mileage covered

Andys Bike 4950 miles
My Bike 4650 miles

Very strange we covered exactly the same ground but we gradually noticed a difference between our mileage, My bike has a digital clock , and Andys hasnt.

Total Fuel used Around 660 litres each , and because we where just topping up most of the time we probably visited a petrol station at least 60 times , we used approx three litres of oil between the two bikes

Hotels stayed in.

Not counting My apartment and Andys , we stayed in 12 different Hotels

Highlights of the trip.

For me Going through the tunnel in Paris where Diana was Killed was sad , but on the otherhand , Doing Stelvio pass was just mind blowing, going through the Alps was spectecular , and the 11km tunnel at Monte Blanc was something else. as was lake Geneva.

Personal thoughts

It was on a trip to Bulgaria to look at some properties , I said to Andy why dont we ride our bikes to Bulgaria some day , that was about two years ago and we have been planing it ever since. I really have Andy to thank as he planned this trip to perfection, he plotted all the routes by sat nav and did all the map reading , to get us through all the countries, I doubt if I could have done this trip on my own. So Andy thanks for everything mate.

Geoff had said that he may jump ship and fly home around the 10 to 14 day mark , but he didnt and stayed the whole way , and to this he deserves credit. Before this trip I only met him a few times, but we have got to know each other a lot more and expect to remain good friends forever.

For me , I doubt I will ever do a trip like this again , My first grandchild arrives in approx 6 weeks time , and I will have to get my priorities in order.

I hope everyone has enjoyed the daily e-mails and I havent been to boring , and at least been a bit interesting to you all.

Bye to to Everyone

Davy Hughes
 
I enjoyed reading the blog,it reminded me of my trip. I'm sure one day you will do another big trip, I also know exactly how you feel being home.
Glad you're all home safe

Ghostrider AKA Geoff :thumb2
 


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