The Farmer
Registered user
Poland, Ukraine, Transnistria/Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Austria and back to Holland. Was an awesome trip, but only downsides were long boring highways to get anywhere decent from Holland, corrupt police and got washed out by torrential rain the last few days...but hey that's what we signed up for, right? 
Met my mates, Konrad and Ryzard in Warsaw. spent a day or two relaxing after two days of saddle sore riding from Holland in one continuous straight line for 1200km
Crossing over into Ukraine - quite a painless crossing really...I was to find that everywhere you have an EU border on one side, the border guards on the other side are generally also well-behaved
We made it to Lviv in relatively good time and there was a big festival going on. It's a really pretty and old university town. Nice people too.
This disgusting yet yummy concoction is called a "Cossack's Trick". Basically it's smoked pig's fat served with pickles and bread. The story goes that they used to eat it when drinking vodka as the fat would stop them from getting too wasted. I can categorically debunk that myth
uke1
I love this picture - there's so much going on around us
got up early the next morning
Ryzard has a rice-rocket and his bags were getting banged around as it doesn't really have suitable panniers so I loaded them onto my bike instead
Old castle at Medzhybizh built to repel the Ottomans. We were going to camp within the walls of the castle and asked the caretaker. She was going to let us, but then the manager turned up and she sent us instead to a homestay nearby
Lots of old Soviet era buildings in disrepair
This was an old jewish school until the nazis invaded
This is a Jewish cemetery and the shrine to Baal Shem Tov, who apparently is the founder of the Hasidic Jewish movement. Loads of modern orthodox jews make pilgrimage to this village in the middle of nowhere.
So this gentleman decided to pull us over over some imagined traffic infringement ...for the record - every such incident will set you back around $20...it gets worse later on. But anyway - for $20 I at least thought I'd get a photo for my troubles
Konrad is a reporter for a Polish kids charity so, because he was doing a story on them, he got us a room for the night at this Catholic home in Odessa where the local Fathers provide free schoolong and accommodation for kids from troubled homes.
Konrad and Ryzard had to leave the next day as they were going on to Georgia by ferry - Unfortunately I didnt have enough time or money so I had to making the homeward journey west. I parked my bike outside the hotel you see us standing at here. And within 30 seconds from me getting off bike to find reception, some gypsy girl tried to steal my roll-bag. I went out there and told her off and she started to cry - she could speak some english, surprisingly, so I told her and her friends that if i gave them a ride on the back of the bike around the square, they'd leave the bike alone - they were enthusiastic and agreed and later that evening I saw them telling off other kids for getting too close to my bike
OK I only have 2 photos of Molodva as it was the most f--ked up place in the whole of Europe. So excuse me if I take a break from the pics and just narrate the story for a while....I made the mistake of riding slap-bang into the small breakaway state of Transnistria - which you should avoid at all costs! biggest exports are human trafficking and guns. You get checkpoints every 2-3 km and you don't know whether youre in Moldova proper or in this other shithole. Anyway in one day I was pulled over and robbed by the cops 4 times between the border and Chisinau!!! thats a distance of just 100km.
The police in these countries are nothing more than mafia with a badge. I was on my own and had no choice. I tried all the tricks like hiding the larger sums of cash in my jacket and having only a few shit bucks in my wallet. One demanded to have my credit card - which i refused (I told him it doesnt work). two took about $10 and 20 respectively. The last was the worst. It was out of town and theyd just set themselves up a roadblock where they just pulled random people over and robbed them. One told me I'd crossed some imaginary line on the road. I tried smiling and being patient and playing stupid - and pointed out there was no line and they called me over in any case.
they told me to get off my bike and took me into this sea-container that they used as an office and started yelling and demanding money I showed them an empty wallet. they kept me there for over half an hour - it felt like 3 days. I was let go without paying anything (yay - a small victory for me). The younger officer said in broken English "You go now - fast!" I didn't need encouraging but gave it too much gas and ended up accidentally doing a not-too-pretty wheelie as i took off
By the time I got to Chisinau I was exhausted and nerves frayed - you start thinking stupid things like - "If i see another policeman step out in front of me I'll ride straight at him". I was looking for a decent and civilised place to stay and got lost in the city. Next thing a dodgy looking dude in a black limo -pulls up next to me. At this stage I'm resigned to the fact that now I'm going to get robbed by the profession al mafia instead of the ones in blue uniforms. The guy asks whether I'm from Holland (due to my dutch number plates) I tell him i live there but I'm aussie. He breaks out with big smile jumps out of his car and shakes my had telling me his sister lives in Rotterdam (where I live) and he loves the place and starts asking all sorts of things. I tell him I'm looking for a hotel and he tells me to follow his car adn he'll get me to a good one. Low and behold we pull up next to a clean Best Western and he toots his horn, waves and drives off...not before telling me to look out for the police - they're all bad people. I know which mafia I prefer.
anyway - long story short - I was too wrecked to go out and the lady at reception told me there arent any real good bars around the area anyway - so I just stayed in (boring I know) and planned my escape to Romania the next day...
Anyway back to the pics... Bike seat was starting to fall apart and my arse kept getting wet as it was like a giant sponge
Duct tape was good for first 10 minutes until it just curled up and stuck to my backside instead
Made it to the Romanian border - so nice to see the EU flag flying proudly. the border guards in Moldova are not allowed to take bribes etc because they want eventual membership to EU and are watched closely
Started making my way to Brasov and then on to Bran. This is where Dracula's castle is
local market in Bran - loads of tourists
From Bran to Transfagarasan are some of the nicest roads. not necessarily in the best condition and you have to be careful of donkeys and gypsy carts
Transfagarasan: There were still large snow drifts at the top of the pass. There is a tunnel at the summit (Capra Tunulel) which is closed during winter except for a small door to allow hikers through. There was a massive snowdrift across the road which left about a 1m gap between the snow and the cliff. so with some help from some hikers I was able to get them to help me push it around (I wasnt brave enough to ride it due to the mud and gravel) and I rode through this tunnel to the other side where i found a hotel for the night.
I've uploded the best routes onto my motortourer account - if you just do a search on romania or transfagarasan you should find it easy enough:
http://my.motortourer.com/app.php/routes/10
Had heavy rains the night before and the whole trip back down the next day was filled with dodging fallen rocks, boulders and washouts in the fog (I was told it wasnt usual for that time of year) but at the bottom there's been a landlside which had amazingly missed most of the houses. there were some guys from Czech on the other side who were wondering whether or not to turn back and I didn't feel like going all the way back again so we dug a ramp and had ourselves a little victory - I know it's nothing hard core, but it really lifted my spirits as the continual shit weather was getting to me.
From there I went to Serbia on the road to Belgrade, which is an awesome place to visit. Great bars, restaurants, good roads and friendly people.
You follow the winding Danube and see some lovely views and this castle
This is the ministry of defence in Belgrade until Nato bombed it
I met up with this pretty Swedish girl at the hostel I stayed at so we spent the day looking around Belgrade :wink:
After I left Belgrade it was pissing down rain and I had no way of drying clothes but pushed on towards Austria.
I bumped into this lovely group of French people who spontaneously invited me to lunch with them and gave me lots of yummy food
One of the guys was a motorbike mechanic for the French police.
Grossgluckner
look at those lovely bends
Got this cool little place at the top of Grossgluckner for only €60!!!
Well thats about it - to be honest the rest of the trip got washed out and the weather report was reporting the wettest summer ever for the next week and so I had to cut it short... anyway - if you'd like to watch a silly movie I made of the trip you can check it out on Motortourer account or vimeo"
https://vimeo.com/69468948
I hope you enjoyed it...
Met my mates, Konrad and Ryzard in Warsaw. spent a day or two relaxing after two days of saddle sore riding from Holland in one continuous straight line for 1200km
Crossing over into Ukraine - quite a painless crossing really...I was to find that everywhere you have an EU border on one side, the border guards on the other side are generally also well-behaved
We made it to Lviv in relatively good time and there was a big festival going on. It's a really pretty and old university town. Nice people too.
This disgusting yet yummy concoction is called a "Cossack's Trick". Basically it's smoked pig's fat served with pickles and bread. The story goes that they used to eat it when drinking vodka as the fat would stop them from getting too wasted. I can categorically debunk that myth
uke1
I love this picture - there's so much going on around us
got up early the next morning
Ryzard has a rice-rocket and his bags were getting banged around as it doesn't really have suitable panniers so I loaded them onto my bike instead
Old castle at Medzhybizh built to repel the Ottomans. We were going to camp within the walls of the castle and asked the caretaker. She was going to let us, but then the manager turned up and she sent us instead to a homestay nearby
Lots of old Soviet era buildings in disrepair
This was an old jewish school until the nazis invaded
This is a Jewish cemetery and the shrine to Baal Shem Tov, who apparently is the founder of the Hasidic Jewish movement. Loads of modern orthodox jews make pilgrimage to this village in the middle of nowhere.
So this gentleman decided to pull us over over some imagined traffic infringement ...for the record - every such incident will set you back around $20...it gets worse later on. But anyway - for $20 I at least thought I'd get a photo for my troubles
Konrad is a reporter for a Polish kids charity so, because he was doing a story on them, he got us a room for the night at this Catholic home in Odessa where the local Fathers provide free schoolong and accommodation for kids from troubled homes.
Konrad and Ryzard had to leave the next day as they were going on to Georgia by ferry - Unfortunately I didnt have enough time or money so I had to making the homeward journey west. I parked my bike outside the hotel you see us standing at here. And within 30 seconds from me getting off bike to find reception, some gypsy girl tried to steal my roll-bag. I went out there and told her off and she started to cry - she could speak some english, surprisingly, so I told her and her friends that if i gave them a ride on the back of the bike around the square, they'd leave the bike alone - they were enthusiastic and agreed and later that evening I saw them telling off other kids for getting too close to my bike
OK I only have 2 photos of Molodva as it was the most f--ked up place in the whole of Europe. So excuse me if I take a break from the pics and just narrate the story for a while....I made the mistake of riding slap-bang into the small breakaway state of Transnistria - which you should avoid at all costs! biggest exports are human trafficking and guns. You get checkpoints every 2-3 km and you don't know whether youre in Moldova proper or in this other shithole. Anyway in one day I was pulled over and robbed by the cops 4 times between the border and Chisinau!!! thats a distance of just 100km.
The police in these countries are nothing more than mafia with a badge. I was on my own and had no choice. I tried all the tricks like hiding the larger sums of cash in my jacket and having only a few shit bucks in my wallet. One demanded to have my credit card - which i refused (I told him it doesnt work). two took about $10 and 20 respectively. The last was the worst. It was out of town and theyd just set themselves up a roadblock where they just pulled random people over and robbed them. One told me I'd crossed some imaginary line on the road. I tried smiling and being patient and playing stupid - and pointed out there was no line and they called me over in any case.
they told me to get off my bike and took me into this sea-container that they used as an office and started yelling and demanding money I showed them an empty wallet. they kept me there for over half an hour - it felt like 3 days. I was let go without paying anything (yay - a small victory for me). The younger officer said in broken English "You go now - fast!" I didn't need encouraging but gave it too much gas and ended up accidentally doing a not-too-pretty wheelie as i took off
By the time I got to Chisinau I was exhausted and nerves frayed - you start thinking stupid things like - "If i see another policeman step out in front of me I'll ride straight at him". I was looking for a decent and civilised place to stay and got lost in the city. Next thing a dodgy looking dude in a black limo -pulls up next to me. At this stage I'm resigned to the fact that now I'm going to get robbed by the profession al mafia instead of the ones in blue uniforms. The guy asks whether I'm from Holland (due to my dutch number plates) I tell him i live there but I'm aussie. He breaks out with big smile jumps out of his car and shakes my had telling me his sister lives in Rotterdam (where I live) and he loves the place and starts asking all sorts of things. I tell him I'm looking for a hotel and he tells me to follow his car adn he'll get me to a good one. Low and behold we pull up next to a clean Best Western and he toots his horn, waves and drives off...not before telling me to look out for the police - they're all bad people. I know which mafia I prefer.
anyway - long story short - I was too wrecked to go out and the lady at reception told me there arent any real good bars around the area anyway - so I just stayed in (boring I know) and planned my escape to Romania the next day...
Anyway back to the pics... Bike seat was starting to fall apart and my arse kept getting wet as it was like a giant sponge
Duct tape was good for first 10 minutes until it just curled up and stuck to my backside instead
Made it to the Romanian border - so nice to see the EU flag flying proudly. the border guards in Moldova are not allowed to take bribes etc because they want eventual membership to EU and are watched closely
Started making my way to Brasov and then on to Bran. This is where Dracula's castle is
local market in Bran - loads of tourists
From Bran to Transfagarasan are some of the nicest roads. not necessarily in the best condition and you have to be careful of donkeys and gypsy carts
Transfagarasan: There were still large snow drifts at the top of the pass. There is a tunnel at the summit (Capra Tunulel) which is closed during winter except for a small door to allow hikers through. There was a massive snowdrift across the road which left about a 1m gap between the snow and the cliff. so with some help from some hikers I was able to get them to help me push it around (I wasnt brave enough to ride it due to the mud and gravel) and I rode through this tunnel to the other side where i found a hotel for the night.
I've uploded the best routes onto my motortourer account - if you just do a search on romania or transfagarasan you should find it easy enough:
http://my.motortourer.com/app.php/routes/10
Had heavy rains the night before and the whole trip back down the next day was filled with dodging fallen rocks, boulders and washouts in the fog (I was told it wasnt usual for that time of year) but at the bottom there's been a landlside which had amazingly missed most of the houses. there were some guys from Czech on the other side who were wondering whether or not to turn back and I didn't feel like going all the way back again so we dug a ramp and had ourselves a little victory - I know it's nothing hard core, but it really lifted my spirits as the continual shit weather was getting to me.
From there I went to Serbia on the road to Belgrade, which is an awesome place to visit. Great bars, restaurants, good roads and friendly people.
You follow the winding Danube and see some lovely views and this castle
This is the ministry of defence in Belgrade until Nato bombed it
I met up with this pretty Swedish girl at the hostel I stayed at so we spent the day looking around Belgrade :wink:
After I left Belgrade it was pissing down rain and I had no way of drying clothes but pushed on towards Austria.
I bumped into this lovely group of French people who spontaneously invited me to lunch with them and gave me lots of yummy food
One of the guys was a motorbike mechanic for the French police.
Grossgluckner
look at those lovely bends
Got this cool little place at the top of Grossgluckner for only €60!!!
Well thats about it - to be honest the rest of the trip got washed out and the weather report was reporting the wettest summer ever for the next week and so I had to cut it short... anyway - if you'd like to watch a silly movie I made of the trip you can check it out on Motortourer account or vimeo"
https://vimeo.com/69468948
I hope you enjoyed it...
