Ride Planet Earth

Its been a blur here in wonderful Sofia. Feels like we arrived minutes ago and we leave when the sun rises. But I’ll try to summarise…

Rains out of Istanbul soaked us for days, as Andreas became accustomed to the realities of life on the long road. Passing through the hills north west of Istanbul we came across great packs of wild dogs. From what I had read of Istanbul’s history, plagued repeatedly by vicious street dogs terrorising the human inhabitants, the local government had tried shifting the packs out of the city. I think we had found where they had made their new homes. But bark though they did the open tranquility of nature had perhaps calmed their temperaments and our contact was close but amiable. One, whom we named Ekmek, Turkish for bread, followed us an entire day, despite his one lame paw. With sadness in our hearts we decided to speed on ahead of him for fear he would try to follow us all the way to Copenhagen and be shot at the Bulgarian border or something.

Our cycle out of Istanbul had been remarkably civil, despite both me and Rich falling on the freshly risen oil that manifests after rain. Rich was soon making a habit of falls, repeating the feat in the tram tracks of Sofia on our arrival one week later. But his travel hardened body has accepted the bruises without too much complaint.The infamous traffic allowed us passage and the Bosphorous guided our way. It was beautiful and poignant to see the last of Asia over the water, within touching distant, before finally entering the hills and the depths of an alternate continent.

Istanbul had been fast, surreal and emotional. I missed those I was leaving behind but eventually the road resumed its place in my affections and human relationships again merged into the background.

After 3 days we reached the Bulgarian border, where we were waved through in a nonchalant manner, seeming without a second glance. One border guard took an interest and boasted of his 220km in one day. We congratulated him on his amazing accomplishments and entered a new nation.

Our introduction to Bulgaria was humorous. Andreas had cycled ahead as we chatted to some polish cyclists who had cycled nearly 100 000km over the past 10 years. By the time we caught up with Andreas he had been befriended by a pretty young Bulgarian woman who used both me and him to buy arm fulls of cigarette packs that she carted back to her town, 100 km away everyday. She made a small profit buying duty free and then selling, but it meant crossing the border 5 days a week and waiting around all day for receptive travelers to lend her their passports as each passport had a limit of the amount of packs they could buy. All the duty free shop staff knew her and snickered as we escorted her out, weighed down with another load of tabacco.

The central Bulgarian mountains were incredible, and thankfully Andreas’ insistence kept us off the direct but harsh and boring highway. Taking the farm roads meant more kilometres, slower progress and more chance of getting lost but it also gave us an opportunity to savour the beauty of this small Eastern European paradise. Expansive dry fields swapped place with lush green forests, high canopies shading us from the tough midday sun light. Thick layers of crackling leaves, twigs and branches depressed under my feet as I explored the forests while my bicycle waited patiently beside the road. Brilliant colourful flowerbeds lined the roads of the near deserted villages. Some houses were broken or sinking, fallen trees crushed their roofs and hungry earth slowly swallowed them from beneath. The poverty was surprising and obvious.

We passed gigantic factories built in the 1960s and 70s, still operational and steadily churning out dirty smoke. Georgi from WWF Bulgaria described the lack of investment and government policy that kept these ancient hubs of industrial pollution in motion and completely energy inefficient. Bulgarian politics has only recently welcomed environmental rhetoric and has not yet moved close to practice. Yet climate change is hitting Bulgaria hard. Approx 30% reduction in annual rainfall over the past 30 years and approx  40% reduction in snowfall, according to WWF.

The centre of the country is effected by drought and increasing forest fires. We cycled passed a great dam in the middle of the country, with a water level some 15 or 20 metres below its previous height.

While in Sofia we met Ann Wilson, a 59 year old female cyclist from the UK who had just had her bike stolen 3000 km into her solo journey around the world. She has tried everything to find the stolen item but has finally bought a new bike to continue her journey. I wish her all the best of luck and whomever stole her bike all the worst.

I must thank Julia from the Regional Environment Centre for her amazing hospitality in letting us stay in her wonderful apartment and Georgi for all his help.

My stay here has been particularly memorable for my chance to meet up again with Kristen MacDonald from Australia, who is a truly inspiring environmentalist and who has helped in countless ways with the Ride Planet Earth project. The event is now only 2 months away and my excitement is growing along with my compelling urge to tell everyone I meet about it and try to get them to cycle on that day with us all.

The Cycle Change Convoy is still growing. Tomorrow we leave with a new participant, Drago, a Sofia local and the toughest cyclist I have ever met. I think his presence will ensure we reach the Romania border in one piece, as he carries a sword and air rifle while cycling. I carry a diary and a video camera. So together I expect Rich, Andreas, Drago and I will make a hell of a team.