Wednesday 28 October 2009

early greece

thıs was the day after we got SOAKED ın a bıg storm ın early Greece. We slept about 2 hours and felt BAD.


You can vıew ALL our photos on facebook - even ıf you are not a member. They are quıck to put on there but they are all low resolutıon.

THESE ARE MOHANS PICS FROM HIS CAM. FINN ALSO HAS HIS TO ADD

Here ıs the fırst album

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=157268&id=711391577&l=4d4de108ca

& here ıs the Swıtzerland and Italy album

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=160947&id=711391577&l=29a4ec2da2

& here ıs Italy and the start of Greece

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=167555&id=711391577&l=1a7a41198c

& here ıs the end of Greece!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=170403&id=711391577&l=fccebefd07

We are well and ın Turkey now!

Saturday 17 October 2009

quick greek update

We are now in Greece, and have a few bits to report.
we have done a video update, but this net cafe wont let us see our videos when we plug in the cam, only pics.
have yammed a few on here: www.photobucket.com/cycle2australia

am trying to get more on, but takes a long time to upload and time is money in internet cafes and you know we're doing this on a budget...

to give you a quick update in words - we met some lovely english cyclists as soon as we got into greece, spent the night camping with them, and then the next night got caught in a mad violent storm which gave our tent the ultimate test.... and it failed miserably. we got soaked all our stuff in or out the tent was wet. our sleeping bags were big sponges and we both had a couple of hours of sleep each. The next day we both felt a bit ill and I (Mo) was very bunged up.
Luckily we were blessed with sunshine which dried our stuff, so we chilled for that day, and slept the next night in a little brick hut we found on the side of the road which was lovely... and had about 11 hours sleep each.
we then had a big mountain cycle which was great, and enjoyed some sunshine and good greek countryside views.

The weather seems to be holding out, the sun is very strong but you can feel autumn in the air, it has a slight bite, which we are soon escaping from; our latest thoughts are that we will fly from turkey to north india, where we will cycle down the south from top to bottom and maybe even touch on Sri lanka. We will then fly to Kunming, china or somewhere similar and cycle into Laos, Thailand etc as planned.
The reason we are avoiding Iran and Pakistan is that firstly that the Pakistani situation has worsened, which you may be aware of, recent suicide bombings etc and the FCO strongly advises against westerners travelling through it. And another reason is that flights from Iran are more than double that from Turkey, and Iran is gonna be COLD!

Hope all is well from where you are!

Mo & Finn.

Tuesday 13 October 2009

Rimini to Brindisi
















IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SPONSOR US, YOU STILL CAN!

We are obviously trying to raise as much money as possible for the Red Cross, and the default sponsorship donation goes 50/50 for the Red Cross and towards the costs of the trip (Visas, Food, Internet Cafes, Maps etc). We are budgeting as much as possible but it is still difficult to keep the costs down because we cannot control the majority of our spending which is not on food or any other variable but on things like VISAS (It costs £95 for Iranian VISA alone) and maps and unexpected repairs such as my front pannier rack which has given way. Any excess sponsorship cost covering money will go to the Red Cross once we have finished the trip if there is any too.
If you would still like to sponsor us you can by:

Emailing me the amount you have sponsored us, your name, and the amount you want to go to the Red Cross and amount you want to put towards covering the costs of the trip, if any.
The bank account I have set up for the sponsorship money is:

Nationwide
Mr Mohan Everett
account no: 72433983
sort code: 07 00 30

You can pay money into that bank account via phone banking, online banking, cash (in bank) or by cheque.
I'm set up with online banking and will be basing my budgets and checking balance/transferring money with it throughout the whole trip, whenever I'm near a computer.

You can also pay via Paypal to:
Moohan13@gmail.com

Thankyou!

We have been kindly sponsored and supported by:












Mayo Wynne Baxter




















01273 477071















Mayo Wynne Baxter is one of the leading law firms
in the South East with offices throughout Sussex.







&















Gossypium is a leading brand in Fairtrade-certified organic cotton fashion:










  • All our products are Fairtrade & organic - we're the real thing





  • We only use good quality cotton; organic, pure & strong





  • We are responsible for how our products are made





  • The eco-system & environment are never far from our thoughts





  • We're independent: working together as a family - in business





www.gossypium.co.uk






&













(click image to expand)







&








Located in the south lanes close to the seafront Terre à Terre is one of Brighton's leading
restaurants and continuously retaining the prestigious AA Two Rosettes and Michelin: ” Bib Gourmand” awards.






www.terreaterre.co.uk


Blog update:

We have reached the town of Brindisi after a week of cycling from Rimini. A lot has happened in this week and Italy has been incredible. After a week of relaxation in Rimini whilst waiting for our package from the UK to arrive, our legs had got used to the lack of cycling unfortunately they have a lot more work to do.
The people at our hostel were very nice they even sold duff beer??? We have had an amazing cycle down the coast of italy the scenery has got steadily nicer and more tropical as we go. The towns have got less touristy and much more friendly the further we have gone.
The weather has been perfect until today, and it has only rained once since we entered italy.
We have slept outside most nights this last week, as the weather has been good and its much faster to pack up in the morning.
Mo has suffered the first puncture of the trip, and i am proud to say that i have cycled to greece without getting a puncture i wonder how long this luck will last.
Weve met a lot more people now we are out of the tourist zones of italy, the locals are much more interested in us. Everyone we have spoken to has said "mumma mia" when we tell them how far we have cycled hahaha.
We had a nasty nights sleep after cycling 150km, we slept on a rock solid ploud field. It was freezing and our sleeping bags were already soaked from the dew from the night before. It wasnt the highlight of the trip thats for sure.
I had a very close escape as we cycled through Bari, a car pulled out as i was going down a hill, and i swerved but went into the side of the car. luckily i was unhurt, and the car was undamaged. But when i started to cycle away i noticed that my front wheel was completely bent. We attempted to adjust the spokes and bend the rim back, but it wasnt happening. Luckily we pushed the bike into town and some very enthusiastic italian men showed us the local bike mechanics shop. The mechanic obviously knew his stuff, we were convinced i would need a new wheel which would cost me around 60 euro. But the mechanic spent a few minutes adjusting the spokes, bent the rim slightly and my wheel was better than before the crash, he was a genius. All for 10 euro he even reinforced mohan's front pannier rack, we believe it will last him to australia thanks to this mechanic, he saved the day!
We set ourselves the challenge of reaching Brindisi for this mornings ferry. After 5 and a half hours of cycling yesterday and another hour this morning we arrived, to discover that the ferry isnt until 6.30 this evening. To make matters worse the final cycle to Brinidisi was all against the wind making it twice as difficult and twice as unpleasant. But it is over now and we have greece to look forward to, though we have the unexpected inconvenience of arriving at 2.am!

ps. we are trying to upload high resolution pics to photobucket, but most the pcs we use are too slow for it! watch this space though, we have some good pics and are working on it.

Thursday 1 October 2009

Current cycling distance

We have been kindly sponsored and supported by:


Mayo Wynne Baxter
01273 477071
Mayo Wynne Baxter is one of the leading law firms
in the South East with offices throughout Sussex.


&





Gossypium is a leading brand in Fairtrade-certified organic cotton fashion:
  • All our products are Fairtrade & organic - we're the real thing
  • We only use good quality cotton; organic, pure & strong
  • We are responsible for how our products are made
  • The eco-system & environment are never far from our thoughts
  • We're independent: working together as a family - in business
www.gossypium.co.uk

&



(click image to expand)


&



Located in the south lanes close to the seafront Terre à Terre is one of Brighton's leading
restaurants and continuously retaining the prestigious AA Two Rosettes and Michelin: ” Bib Gourmand” awards.

www.terreaterre.co.uk




IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SPONSOR US, YOU STILL CAN!

We are obviously trying to raise as much money as possible for the Red Cross, and the default sponsorship donation goes 50/50 for the Red Cross and towards the costs of the trip (Visas, Food, Internet Cafes, Maps etc). We are budgeting as much as possible but it is still difficult to keep the costs down because we cannot control the majority of our spending which is not on food or any other variable but on things like VISAS (It costs £95 for Iranian VISA alone) and maps and unexpected repairs such as my front pannier rack which has given way. Any excess sponsorship cost covering money will go to the Red Cross once we have finished the trip if there is any too.
If you would still like to sponsor us you can by:

Emailing me the amount you have sponsored us, your name, and the amount you want to go to the Red Cross and amount you want to put towards covering the costs of the trip, if any.
The bank account I have set up for the sponsorship money is:

Nationwide
Mr Mohan Everett
account no: 72433983
sort code: 07 00 30

You can pay money into that bank account via phone banking, online banking, cash (in bank) or by cheque.
I'm set up with online banking and will be basing my budgets and checking balance/transferring money with it throughout the whole trip, whenever I'm near a computer.

You can also pay via Paypal to:
Moohan13@gmail.com

Thankyou!

Blog update:
Just a quick update with some data from the cycle computer.

We bought it in Vesoul in France (right next to switzerland), so have also worked out our cycling distance with google maps from dieppe to vesoul, so will have a total distance.


Distance we worked out from our route from dieppe to Vesoul with google maps - 717km


Distance we have cycled since Vesoul to Rimini where we are now from cycle computer - 1,411km


Therefore current total distance to date - 2,128km


average cycling speed since Vesoul - 21.82km per hour


top speed 83.4 km per hour

All 4 of our legs are fully rested now and dont ache for the first time in 28 days!
Our parcel which we are waiting for at the hostel still hasnt arrived so our parents have paid for another night here which we cant complain about! Check out time is 11am tomorrow, so hopefully it will arrive before then!
we are digging in to some cheap pizza from the local supermarket using the hostels OVEN. madness all these luxuries!
We have had an amazing day resting, lying in the sun on the beach showering frequently etc!
its amazing! We spent the late morning /afternoon on the beach chilling, and then spent the rest of the day doing a bit more planning for the next leg of our trip - Greece and Turkey.
We will be getting the ferry from Brindisi, a port at the south east of Italy. And the cycle down there looks promising on all fronts.
The ferry will take us to Igoumenitsa. Which is a port on the west coast of Greece. Its a small 100ish mile dip across.

We have checked some data for Iran too, on the weather average weather conditions for when we reckon we are going to get there and it does not look nice at all! Finn will definately need to invest in a new sleeping bag if he is getting cold sleeping in Italy at night! He got bonus points by ripping it too!
Iran is forecasted to be about 10 degrees in the day, and 2 degrees at night! its gonna be tough!
Another thing is that its bloody massive! Its going to be about 3,000 miles not KM! MILES! from where we enter it and leave it. So it may be a bit tough, but Im sure the country has some beauty to inspire us a bit to keep us powering on.
From then on we have Pakistan which is where things start heating up, and India is out the question for too cold. I will be wishing for Finns sleeping bag at this point if he still has it!
We will experience hot humid conditions, which will keep all our clothes and tent nice and mouldy. Happy days.

We have also spent some of our free time re doing our budget which made us groan, but what can you do! We are operating on as little funds as possible! We will see how it goes!

Hope all is well and the sun is shining where ever you readers are!
x

ps Am in the process of sorting pics on Photobucket. Which is a website which allows you to store and share high quality photos and videos, so will put a link from here to the public account once we have stuck all our stuff on there, which will mean captioned pics, videos etc and therefore hopefully slightly clearer viewing for you guys! These free hostel pcs are free for a reason... They operate on approx 1 pic a minute for upload speed which isnt popular when you have a queue of people waiting to use the pcs!
-Sorry for disorganised pics/videos etc on this blog at the mo, will hopefully clear it once we have the photobucket running and we can just put a couple of pics on here and majority on that.