Wheelyamazing Cycling Trips

Inishowen Peninaular Day3. More sunny weather and lots of hills. Almost saw the dolphins playing but a few minutes too late. More lovely beaches but many more we ll need to come back to (with a car). Last day tomorrow.

Day 2 inishowen peninsular. A day of beaches, sunshine and the steepest uphill section we have ever had to do. Perfect B&B and an England win tonight would be just perfect.

Coffee stop, day 2

Day 1 of inishowen peninsular, Co Donegal

Had a great day today cycling around the White Peak loop. 87 kms of sunshine in the Derbyshire peaks and dales.

Last day, and time to cool off. Even the stray dogs wanted to come and see us off! Have really loved Romania and hope to come back to see more soon.

Had always planned to have yesterday as a day on the beach in the Black se resort of Mamaia before we fly back later this evening. Thankfully the rain did not materialise and we were able to lie on loungers just metres away from the waves as they lapped up on to the beach. Yet another big contrast. I managed to get into the sea for a splash around and also get my book finished. Good day. Final day for enjoying Romania today.

Have arrived at the Black Sea town of Constanta and dipped our toes in. Jenny's list of birds we have seen grew longer today, plus we saw a tortoise crossing the road (took ages) and a European ground squirrel, which was quite exciting. Beach day at the nearby resort tomorrow then home Friday night. Romania is certainly a country of contrasts!

Day 2 of boating in the Danube delta. Somehow I became assistant boat driver, but not allowed to touch the throttle😃 Today the smaller boat was able to get into the shallower waters and we could get much closer to both types of pelican which live here. So we have now reached the end of our journey along the Danube as our boat took us into the Black Sea

The Danube delta is one of the biggest and most important bird breeding areas in Europe. We spent 7 hours yesterday meandering through just a very small part of the complex network of waterways. Jenny has compiled an impressive list of the birds we saw but most impressive for me were the kingfishers and pelicans. We had expected to see the pelicans bobbing on the water and certainly not flying. At first we didn'the recognise the birds soaring high above us as they looked more like large raptors seemingly gliding effortlessly in large organised formations. Although we did see a couple on the water we had to use the binoculars to see their familiar features

Bucharest has many grand buildings but perhaps none more so than the palace built by Caecescu before he was executed. It is 2nd biggest building in the world and was constructed entirely with materials from Romania and using only RomanIan labour. Quite a building, inside and outside!

Failing miserably with the photos! I have a great video of traditional dancers, but for some reason can't attach to this page. Photos on Jenny's phone wont load either. Doh. Anyway, now completed our 2 day trip to Bucharest and found it fascinating. Romania has nt quite understood tourism yet and so bits of what we expect from elsewhere have nt yet arrived here. The city centre has some wonderful old buildings and the parliament palace built by Ciacescu is absolutely amazing. It certainly wont be everybodys' cup of tea, and the sacrifices which had to be made to build were high but there is no doubting it is impressive on a world scale. Have had a 6 hour train ride out of Bucharest @ 6.00am this morning to bring us down to the Danube Delta. We now have 2 days of exploring that by boat. Very different feel again down here.

Another day crossing the great Romanian plains. Fields of wheat and other crops stretching to the horizon in both directions, quite amazing but the monotony sets in quite quickly. We stopped of at some Roman ruins this am and as we were the only ones there we were given access to a tunnel leading to an underground spring. Managed to get the car back without accident after 700 kms of driving and then a train to Rosiori de Vede from where we can get to Bucharest tomorrow. We are back on our original route again and looking forward to the city break.

Yesterday would have been our longest day on the bikes and one where I had no Plan B prior to departure. Having now travelled it in the car it would have been much more pleasant than I imagined. The roads are generally flat and there were plenty of villages dotted along them. Plenty of activity going on in the fields, even though they are so vast and stretch away to the distant horizon under big blue skies . Significantly less stray dogs but lots more horses and carts. We are staying overnight in a nice hotel in Bechet, a small town with a river crossing over to Bulgaria.

Travelling on Romanian roads is certainly interesting. An American couple we met have reverted to trains, whilst an Irish couple did not sleep last night for worrying and have gone to bed in the same state tonight! Jenny is definitely not missing the cycling on most of these roads. Having the car for 4 days has probably worked out well, although it is difficult to engage with people and the landscape so easily. Dogs are going to feature quite highly in our memory of this are...a. They are roaming loose everywhere, including many dead on the road verges. I nearly hit one today too. Others have said they can be a nuisance when cycling but they certainly are in the night when they start barking. One starts, and that sets them em all off. We had it all last night and sounds as though it will be the same tonight.We are now back onto the original route schedule, minus bikes and so we are seeing the sights and sounds we would have seen. It is certainly interesting, and we are enjoying it as a holiday, but probably not something you would recommend to others.
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We were not expecting great things about Romanian food and drink and although it is not cordon bleu it is amazing value. Our meal tonight, with a drink each was just £15, and that is the most expensive we have had so far.

Afraid we are not very good at planning ahead for these updates and have again forgotten to take photos that we can add to this site! We did take loads on the camera, but can't access those. We started the day in rural Serbia with a fine mist hanging over the Danube but that soon lifted once we were on the boat with our two guides. We had always planned to travel this section in a boat as it is undoubtedly the best way to see the Iron Gate gorge. Very sad to end our time amongst the Serbian peoples. It has been a short stay with them but we wouldn't hesitate to visit here again. They seem to all be very happy to be outside the EU, which is encouraging. For the rest of our trip we will be getting to know the Romanians. Jenny not upset about missing out on the cycling so far!

So, we are getting used to the revised itinerary and so far not going too badly. We have arrived into the heart of the Djerdap National Park by bus from Belgrade: it is all very serene and stunning.the views on the other bank of the river are of Romania but nobody here in Serbia seems to have any details about places there at all. Very strange but the river here forms a very hard border between EU and non_EU.
Still unclear about whether we would have got the bikes onto/ into the bus as no carriers that we had been led to believe there would be. Everyone is so helpful and friendly.