Orient Express 2006

"Orient Express" (Paris Jul 30/06.......Istanbul Sept 24 2006)

profiles of participants:
http://www.tourdafrique.com/orient/2006/2006_riders.htm

July 27 British Airways flight to Paris via Heathrow, check in was a breeze, nobody in line
July 28 Arrived in Paris after excellent trip over on British Airways to find that my BIKE was missing..... now that is what I call a problem. At least the BA baggage people knew my luggage was missing since they had a list where my name was included
July 29 after a totally sleepless night fretting about my missing bike, it showed up by 2PM...WHAT A RELIEF!!! The group of 19 met, + staff got together in the lobby to go over the basics. The group seems pretty old, kind of my age, and quite a range of cycling experience.

July 30 (Day 1) to August 1 Paris, France to Chaumont...... 305Km over 3 days

July 30 Cycled as a group around Paris (Notre Dame, EiffelTower Arc de Tromphe) for 90 minutes, then 104.4Km to Provins camp site. Started to rain as we put up tents. Dinner was pasta and ratatouille, ... not bad
July 31 Cycled 78 Km to Troyes campsite, got in around 12:30. Cloudy but no rain. All meals are provided on cycle days, so far they are adequate enough but pretty slim on the protein side of things, actually diner tonight was much better: couscous with merguez sausages
Aug 1 Cycled 104 Km to Chaumont, for two nights (rest day in between) in a Best Western. About half the group is totally camping, and the other half is so-called COMFORT which means staying in hotel 2 nights after 3 cycling days.
Aug 2 Our first REST day, a night in the hotel before; as welll as the night of the rest day ... Chaumont is a pretty small town, and a fairly cloudy cold day. although we hear about the hot weather in North America.Had diner with 6 guys in town ... passable, but not great.

Aug 3 to 6 Chaumont France, to Colmar France

Aug 3 Cycled to out to join the camping crowd at the camp site, had breakfast with them, and 89Km on to ? (whereever it was) spaggetti was excellent
Aug 4 Cycyled 85 to Sauluxure, had buritos in the camp shelter, and there was a one-person band who played one song
Aug 5 Cycled only 66 Km to Colmar, up to 1139 m and it was raining and cold,... very unpleasant. . they made arrangements so we could eat our lunch (brought sandwhichs) in a restaurant at the top of a ski-hill,...I was shaking so much from the cold I thought I would lose control of the bike. On the other hand cycled from Munster to Colmar 20K at close to 40 Kph on essentially flat land ..seemed like a breeze. bought a new bike lock at cycle store and a bottle of Hennessy at LeClerc
Aug 6 Rest day in Colmar, ...mostly rainy, but did the Unnterlider museum in the morning, a glass exposition, .... pretty good I suppose... but I find 90 minutes of a museum more tiring than 100 Km of cycling. Had a party with about 6 in Donnies room.... then went for pizza and a beer, group of 11.

Aug 7 -Aug 11 Colmar France, to Ulm Germany 317km over 4 days

Aug 7 Cycled into Germany, onto Friberg ...only a 50K ride. Friberg is a pretty big town and Im pretty sure Ive been here before (when I was doing SAP training for CIL
Aug 8 Cycled Donaushengen (source of the Danube) dinner: beef...very good
Aug 9 Cycled to Sign?___, dinner Chicken (Miles thought he was buying fish) Joe from Australia had a fall and broke the derailler hangar on his Canondale. He later found one (just by wild luck) at a shop in Ulm at 19 Euros
Aug 10 Cycled 114 Km Ulm, kind of crappy weather. So far the directions to find the lunch spot have not worked that well...today 14 out of 20 people couldn't find the lunch spot. Cycled back to the camp-group to have dinner with them, knowing that Miles camp dinners are usually pretty damned good, .... he does a great job. Staying at the Movenpick, a beautiful quasi-deluxe hotel
Aug 11 Rest day in Ulm. Bought a can of degreaser and brush at an impressive bike store ... so will clean my bike, ... which it is in bad need of after so many rainy days.
Aug 12 cycled to Donausworth, but made the biggest blunder of all the participants since the begining. I in all confidence ( I was following the cycle signs but on the wong bloody river) went 29 K in the wrong direction, so by the time I retraced to the begining in Ulm it was 12:30 and I still had 105 Km to do. When I finally got the destination there was a round of applause for the idot.
Aug 13 (Sunday) Cycled to Eichstatt, 70K a short day, and it started to rain as we putting up our tents, things were pretty boring but the fact we had a bonfire helped a lot. Have taken to drinking gin with a bit of vermouth, but the fact there generally isnt ice is a bummer. Dinner was fish, and a excellent vegetable dish. Walked to town with Peter, Gergu Jenn and Lili for a beer , ,.... not bad and least kept awake till 10 pm.
Being provocative (to Gergu) I told Peter and Gergu that in my humble opinion, that in terms of contributing to the "overall success" of the trip
....Miles, the cook, earned ...... 5 stars
....Shanny, director, earned ...3 stars
.... Peter, mechanic, earned ..... 2 stars
.....Gergu, photographer, is still preparing to earn stars (smile)

.....the following is text responding to David who kind of keeps an eye on my house till Sept 27, and said the flowers were dying:
"yes I turned off the water main at my house, ... so the auto-irrigation is not working. I realized the plants would die, ... but that was my decision. I gave Anton a schedule of about every 2 weeks for cutting the grass, ...and he seems conscientious, or more likely after the $30 per time.
"Background on water turn off :.... On June 16 weekend when I went to Ottawa the toilet cover was off and the valve mechanism failed and flooded water for as much as 3 days with 2 inches in the basement .... no lasting damage ..... but that's why I turn off the water main.
Maybe I give the wrong impression, but the dinner meals are really quite good, and the breakfast and lunches are rather basic but good enough. I notice there´s a lot of wine consumed maybe 20 bottles amongst 20 people. The last couple nights (for 1 rest day) have been at the Movenpick, which is pretty classy, and the buffet really quite good, ...rest days are at our own expense dinner 15.90E at the Moovenpick plus wine"
Aug 14 (Monday) cycled to Kelheim, 85 Km, and rather uneventful, except that Lili had four flats and ended up walking her bike 6-8 km or so to the campsite, and thats despite Peter´s help in solving the flat problem. For the Comfort tour it was a reasonable hotel. That afternoon there was German folk dancing in the central square. That night Joe, Shar, Donald and I had dinner in a typical German restaurant.... lamb shanks , excellent, .... and we all agreed.
Aug 15 (Tues) rest day in Kelheim, not exactly a great place to have a rest day, kind of a boring town even if the stores were open ( today is a catholic holiday and all the stores are closed). Fortunately there was a beer festival with a midway, German umpah band etc,..... so no too bad. 7 of us (Angis Devona Edie Sharon Shar Donald and I went to a beargarden and had dinner (Deer and Pork Ragout excellent). Big fuss witht he waitress who felt one of the particiapnts hadnt paid in the divied-up bill. Donald paid the 13.6 euros just to settle the matter, not sure that´s fair.
Aug 16 (Wed) cycledto Straubing 90Km, a city which has the second largest beer festival in Germany. The downtown core is quite impressive, and the campground is very good, ... not crowded.
Aug 17 (Thurs) had a fairly bad fall after lunch, skinned my knee, elbow, wrist-hand, back,....looked awful,... but once the blood was washed off, it didnt look so bad. Joanne had anti-bacterial wipes, Donald had some spray liquid bandage ... I´ll have to get some. The wounds are all kind of superficial, except the hand, which still hurts!!! so that I cant change gears without getting off my bike. I was with 5 others when it happened, ...a 90 degree sharp left turn on paved bike path, with some yellow sand right on the corner and my bike slipped out from under me, the first serious fall I´ve had EVER. I tried to slow down when I saw the sand, but not successful. Have switched to voka and bitter lemon, since gin is hard to find. Took 2 tylenol ultra and slept well enough, considering the pain in my hand. Finished reading Bill Bryson´s "Neither Here nor There" in audiobook format,....like all his books very good,.... and in this case very topical.


The destination instructions were sketchy (as is common) and had to cycle extra 18k after a 90k day,... quite a piss-off. The poor maps-instructions are my only real complaint with Tour d´Afrique. Shanny is just reading last year´s directors notes, and doing the best he can, but it´s inadequate.

On the other hand :....It was warm 33C and sunny, ..so cycled without a shirt, ... as is my wont.
Aug 18(Fri) cycled 100 km into Austria to Linz ... a big city, for a rest day tomorrow, staying in the Ibis hotel. Somehow I missed lunch, my mistake, and not appreciated by the guides, ... since they like to check you off.
Aug 19 (Sat) rest day in Linz, much bigger than I remembered.
Aug 20 (Sun) cycled to Griel, good camp site (but close to traffic, ....but I sleep in all conditions), sunny, ate 3 scoops of ice cream since thats all there is to do in a town this size on a Sunday. I´ve come to realize that a rest day on a Sunday is bad .... everything is closed.
Aug 21 (Mon) cycled to Krems to a kind of "Ma and Pa" campsite, about 100K with my return to Krems, because too much time at any campsite is just plain boring. Krems was quite charming, and I relize my german accent is non existent, but Im surprised that when I say a simple word like danau( equals Danube), or Rhodensdorf (the town) they look at me like I´m crazy. Or they dont know the direction to the Danube, .... what else have they got to keep track of?
Aug 22 (Tues) cycled to Vienna for a double rest day, then a single ride day for another rest day in Brataslava, in Slovaki
Aug 23 (Wed) rest day, took a city bus tour incl schonnbrun, much like I remember in 1961, pretty impressive. Went with 14 others to a Mozart concert, very good but very touisty
Aug 24 (Thurs) went and saw the Lippenzanner horse practice in the Spanish Riding School..... not bad. This evening we have a group dinner at the Ibis hotel for Rick who is leaving as planned, but wife is staying. Bought 2 new Coontiinentals 700 x 25c at ľč euros each, first store in 6 that even acknowledged that the size existed. I suspect I wont even need them, but like the security of knowing I have them.
Aug 25 Fri Rainy again ... for most of the day... for a riding day to Bratislava.... Bratislava is indeed different, too soon to form an opinion, fair bit of english by young people. 7new riders have joined. Crossing the Austrian Slovakia border was a breeze, and for me the begining of the interesting part of the trip. Changed 30 euros for about 1150 SK, called ...crowns... I think. Finding the hotel wasnt easy at the time, but afterwards didnt seem so bad. Almost at the end of the riding I understand that Donald, from San Francisco, was hit by a car coming out of a driveway, at slow speed, and hit to the ground, ... no cuts scrapes etc but Donald seems maybe slightly dazed, .... but seems generally alright. His bike has some damage, Im told its a bent fork and the rear wheel wont rotate well.
Aug 26 rest day in Bratislava, sunny warm beautiful day. Unfortunately there was thiervery at the camp site, jackets and such, and Michael, a friend of LiLi had his bike stolen from in front of Tesco ... a big supermarket. The bike was locked too.
Aug 27 Sunday ninety km to Gyro (or something like that) ....nice day. Donald took the train to Budapest, and was intending to have bike shop owner in San Francisco send a new fork by UPS to Budapest since we couldnt find one in Brataslava. The campground was a bit primitive,.... and for me showed the communist influence, maybe when first built, the showers toilets were OK , but twenty forty years later are in bad shape, no shower heads for example.
Aug 28 Monday, cycled one hundred ten km to Ksy???gom, nice day, good campground. Tomorrow on to Budapest for a two day rest day.
Aug 29 Tuesday woke up to the sound of rain on my tent at 4 am, so it was a discouraging start taking down the tent in the rain, but wet or not,.... into the tent bag it goes. Had trouble finding the camp site, Romai, ... but locals were anxious to point me to the bridge name where the hotel was. Hotel is a Mercur Metropole, four star, for 3 nights .... so got into the hotel 3 hours before the others, ... big deal. Met Donald on the street waiting for his bike ( he had taken the train after the crash in Brataslava, and is going to have it repaired in Budapest rather than ship fork frőm USA.
Budapest is pretty ipressive, especially as you cycle in along the Danube.
Aug 30 Wednesday, a rest day in Budapest, ...took a 3 hour city tour, ... good for an overview I suppose, but too much promotion of their other trips. Kind of a cold blustery day, so hoping things warm up. Get the impression that the communists for 40 years (or whatever) did nothing for Hungarian architecture, ... the old stuff is great, the new stuff is grim. English is fairly commonlly spoken by young people, seems more common than say German..
August 31 Thurs, a second rest day in Budapest. Not very nice weather, but on Sat it is supposed to get quite a bit warmer. Went to the Gelbert Hotel swimming pools and baths, ... supposed to be a famous place, ... spent a grand amount of 65 minutes, ... a cant imagine spending three hours, which is the point where you get no refund. Afterwards had lunch and went on a half hour tour of the opera house (just passing by), also supposed to be famous. I took the french language tour because the Englishh group was so big. Bought a pair of worn-looking jeans at C&A ( a Dutch-owned store I think) because its so bloody cold. Cindi was caught by the subway police, and had to pay fine, said she was "innocent", ... just like all the people in jail all say they are innocent. Dinner at Mokka with Shar and Eddie, Tapas ... not that good and very pricey, 10,000 Florint, about 50USD.
Sept 1 Fri Cycled out of Budapest in Group ride. I fell in a grate right up to the axle at the begininng of the bridge ramp,... did a head over heals, Sherri said it was very dramatic and could have been serious (bent wheel), but in fact ... no serious damage
Sept 2 Sat best day weather wise, about 112 km. Chicken leg for dinner, ... very good. Campsite we we're headed for was not available due to some paprika festival, so went back about 5-10 K to another, ... not a bad site, but there was a wedding going on, music till 2 AM, ... I didnt mind it.
Sept 3 Sun A 128km day. Donald self-locked himself in the toilet, .... and we considered leaving him there. Crossed a small river in a ferry and some bo-hunk Hungarin with a pot belly actually pushed Sue's bike along with his bumper as she was bording .... she was furious. Jen and Joe (the Aussies) were detained at the Romanian border till they get visas, ...staying at some hotel near the previous campsite. Australia is a land of convicts, ...what else could be the reason? In the central square of Timisora was approached by two young guys (probably roma gypsies) who seemed unreasonably interested in my bike. Two police offficers aproached and scared them off, ... I confess I didnt realize they were up to no good, till the police threatened them.

Sept 4(Mon)... text from my outgoing email, about my 2nd fall in Budapest
It could have easily been a bent wheel, when you consider it was axle deep in a road grate and I went over the handle bars (or so I'm told,..... they said I should have got a standing ovation), but I guess there was some forward motion that helped bounce it out, and it was a slow group ride where we were beginning to go across a bridge over the Danube. So in there end there was no damage at all, ... I just continued riding after a one minute stop to gain composure, ... as best I could, .... just a scraped knee and hurt the same wrist as the last time, .... but it seems to be getting better.

Romania and Hungary are interesting countries, ... already have encountered young gypsies who were after my bike, but the police scarred them off. It was the fact that the police were tough with them which made me realize they were up to no good (..I was just trying to be friendly, naively, pointing to my Canadian flag etc ,.... but maybe I've learned a lesson).
Also two cases of chasing dogs in Romania. To be crude about it, as long as you are faster than the others that you are cycling with, the problem becomes a problem-transfer to the slower person.

Sept 4 Mon a rest day in Timisora, where we stayed at the Perla hotel, which was pretty nice, and had dinner in the hotel both Sun and Mon evening. Dinner was 50 Lei or about 20 CAD, and very good. including some decent wine. At lunch had smoked salmon at a terace garden in the central square, .... wish I could find a protein lunch like that more often.
Sept 5 Tues 98 km to Resita kind of the beginning of some foothill mountains, so there was a bit of climbing, and rolling hills that give a better impression of the countryside. This ws supposed to be the BUSH camping place (= pretty much camping at the side of the road), but for some reason Tour DAfriqe booked us into a one star hotel (an old communist hotel), and Miles (the Tour DAfrique cook) is going to use the hotel facilities to cook dinner between 4:30 and 6PM.
Sept 6 Wed 125 k to Baile Hurculane. Took a shortcut with the Cristine friends and cut off 10K of a very busy highway.
Sept 7 Thurs Rest day in Baile Hurculane, a kind of small time resort centrein the mountains with thermal baths.Stayed at the Hotel Ferdinand, very posh, although the town is run down Charles of South Africa is talking about setting up a game reserve to game resserve in SouthAfrica and Mozzambique ... a possibility for Mar Apr May2007
Sept 8 Fri a 128 K ride (mountainous) to a bush camp (no showers, turk toilet) where we bather in the river in rather dubious water. That nigh the dogs barked close-by till 5:30. We found outthat Sue, 75, ahd two bags stolen from her tent when she went to the WC at midnight, I slept with my bike in my tent, not just under the fly in the ent itself with the front wheel off, plenty of room.
Sept 9 Sat a a133 K ride to Romancu Villeca Pension Orange wheere all 25 of us share onw shower. The first half of 65 K (5 hours) was rough through small towns, 2nd half on highway much faster (3 hours)
Sept 10 Sun 109 k to Gaesti, Lili said kids threw stones, ... a bit surprising. Camped in backyard of Club H motel, all shared one shower.
Sept 11 Mon cycled toBucharest, and after 65 K a police escort met us and we formed a cavalcade where we went on the opposite side of the road, like a fire truck, ...I was amazed.
Sept 12 Tues. Rest day in Bucharest Ibis hotel..... an impressive city, in a ver poor country, the Parliament buildings are the 2nd largest building in the world. 9 new riders joiuning us for the ride to Istanbul.
Sept 13 Wed, Cycled 100k or so to Rouse in Bulgaria, over the Danubbe for the last time. Shanny had a press conference in Rouse, ... I guess tourists are rare in Bulgaria. We camped in the grounds of a motel, where 2 rooms are used for showers etc.
Sept 14 Thurs cycled 120k or so to Villeca Tornova, kind of off-route from an overall perspective but supposed to be worth it from a scenery point of view. Camped in the grounds of a motel, ... since Bulgaria doesnt seem to have campgrrounds.
Sept 15 Fri cycled 162 Km, about 20 more than planned to end up in Shumen, along a road that was intended to keep us off the highway, ... and it did that I suppose, but a lot of confusion about routes and where to go. 162 k is a long day, and probably "beyond fun", .... and my biggest worry was that it would turn dark and we'd (Sherri. Sharon and Dee at this point) have to be picked-up. Lili got vanned from lunch and Peter the mechanic had to go back around 6:30 when dark approached and get 8 stragglers.... Angus Devon, the 2 girls from Thunderbay, Michael, Louise, Kendy and Cindy, .... and they got in well after dark. Despite the hard day, spirits seemed rather good, ... a bit to my surprise. Everybody seemed to have some story about how they got lost, waded through a small stream, slipped in the mud, and on and on. Gergo who had vanned in with Miles cycled back from the destination leaving a trail of yellow tape flags, ... did as good job.
Sue, 75, continues to announce value judgements ("only 9 days to go"., "my Orient Express shirt is for sale") which I suspect is interpreted negatively and is her way of encouraging disatisfaction, ...and probably not appreciated by the group, at least not by me.
Sept 16 Sat cycled 107 k to Varna on the Black Sea coast. After 162k yesterday the 107 seemed long, and Im really glad weve got a rest day coming up tomorrow. As we cycled in we could see Varna about 20K away and thought we'd be there in 15 miunutes, .... very deceptive because it toook 40 minutes, not 15 minutes.The weather has been good/great since we left Budapest, most days I cycle without a shirt.... which I like of course. Had dinner with Angus and Devona on a ship in the harbour, ..... kind of touristy I suppose, but pretty good.
Sept 17 Sun ... Doni, 46, from South Africa reports his bike stolen last night. He had left it in the back entrance to the lobby, and after seeing safe on several more occasion, neglected to lock it when he went to dinner. When he came back after dinner it was gone. Doni is 99% jokester, ... so there's a chance its all a joke.
Se18 Mon pt cycled 125 km to Pimorie, on the Black sea coast, stayed in bungalows.
Sept 19 Tues cycled 107 k to Malko Tarnova, amd staying in a hospital, 5th floor.(...hard ot believe) I guess the hospital is too big for this communist town, ... so they rent out rooms. Overall Bularia has exceeded my expectations, better roads, ... I think the truck drivers go outof their way to accmodate cyclists. Yesterday, the Varna cycle club (10 -12 persons) was grouped up outside of town to give us a hnads over the head ovation.
Sept 20 Wed. cycled just 55 k to get ınto Turkey. Crossıng the border gettıng vısas was a 90 mınute ordeal. Not that the turks were the problem. ıt was more our own doıng sınce we had a sıde tour to some caves. After the caves we had 30 k to go and we hadnt had lunch and we were dreadıng ıt.... but ın fact ıt went well over gently rollıng hıllls. Dıana from Thunder Bay bonked (= became exhausted) and rode ın the ambulance that was followıng us. I should say that Tour Dafrıque has a kınd of Turkısh agent, Cem, who acts as a tour guıde ın Turkey. and arranges for polıce escorts and an ambulance (Im not sure that ıts necessary). Dıana ıf fıne, by the way, and ate about 10 - 12 small hamburger pattıes for dınner, ... so she cant be feelıng too bad.
Sept 21 Thurs Rest day ın KUKARELI, 23 of us took a bus trip to Edrına wıth Cem(=Jım)... pretty good better than hangıng around town all day. Thurs wvwnıng we had a fancy dınner put on by the Mayor and Governor. Pretty fancy kınd of fancy wıth elaborate floral centre peıces. dınner ıtself (chıcken-mushrooms) was pretty good. and every body seemed to lıle to lıke the baklava (I make 10 tımes better). Gettıng there was a dısgrace, poor Peter (the mechanıc) was so embarrassed as he dıdnt kknow how (not typıcal for hım)to get there and he was askıng strangers ın the street, ... ıt took us 50 mınutes for a 12 mınute trıp.
Sept 22 Frı Cycled an easy 80k to Saray, and stayıng ın a hotel (rather than bush campıng), because the munıcıpal offıcıals dıdnt arrange campıng lıke they were supposed to.
Sept 23 Sat cycled 90 k to a small town Toyak?? (kınd of northwest of Istanbul). It was really bush campıng wıth no showers and outhouse toılets ... surprısıngly I wasnt too bothered by not havıng a shower. They also dıstrıbuted the Orıent Express cycle shırts we had ordere3d 6 or so weeks earlıer.
Sept 24 Sun we woke up to heavy raın at 5:30-6:30 AM that caused much floodıng... and I managed to posıtıon my tent pretty much ın a water run-off pathway. Thıngs actually changed pretty quıckly to faırly nıce and we cycled 60 K to abput 12 K outsıde Istanbul,... then joıned a group covoy rıde to the fınıshıng lıne on a park-lıke settıng on the Bosphorus. The local bıke club had put a baloon arch along wıth a sound system,.... small but ımpressıve. There were a few speeches and lots of photos. Then on to the hotel where I packed my bıke and then we had a group farewell dınner ın the hotel ... faırly fancy. Gergo had prepared a good slıde show for a projectıon system ... and gave us all a copy (I was ımpressed). I gave my tıps to the 5 guıdes (200 dollars and 150 euros collectıvely) for the 5 guıdes.
Sept 25 Mon rest day ın Istanbul, visited some of the same sights I saw in 2003, Blue Mosque etc and went on the Hop-on Hop-off bus tour .. not bad. Had dinner with Lili, Angus Devona in a rather fancy seafood restaurant terrace on the Bosphorus.... I guess appropriate for the last night.
Sept 26 Tues ... shared a minivan taxi (2 bike boxes) with Donald to the airport, 40 minutes despite the very congested traffic. The flıght for Heathrow 1:50 PM was on time then Heathrow-Toronto(5:30 PM) left on time, and arrived back in Toronto at 8:05 PM (35 minutes early)

Trıp Assessment (Draft, Sept 21 2006. 3 1/2 stars, out of 5)
just my own personal opınıon (.... of course)
Pros:
1. Evenıng dinners were often very good, .... clearly a credıt to Mıles
2. Shanny managed crıtıcism from some clients (eg Sue) very well, and the negatıvısm dıdnt spread
3. the comfort hotels were generally well chosen. and good value
Cons.
1. Lack of Maps. was a serious shortcoming, wıth many downstream bad effects (well known) . To be constructıve, I've sent Shanny a PDF of what I thınk a good map package would consıst of (from a prevıous trıp)
2. 3 tımes we cycled on "BICYCLES NOT PERMITTED" roads,... so very dangerous (admittedly perhaps not easily avoidable)
3. the Playa bush camp ın Romaınıa was "off the scale" (where we bathed ın the river with the cows) ... admıttedly thıs thırd 'Con' mıght rıghtly be categorızed as 'small stuff'
Small stuff:
1. 7:30 AM breakfasts were often unecessarıly early (maybe ıts just me, maybe others lıke early starts.
2. The cereal (muselıx) whatever was usually a pretty poor quality
3. Perked coffee would ımprove the breakfast ( 2 bıg perks devices and lımıt to one 6 oz cup, (.... works on kayak trips)
Overall (a fıve star maxımum system)
Orıent Express 2006........an important condition: as long as one apprecıates ıt's pretty much a 'budget' operatıon, (not like Backroads etc, nor does it pretend to be))
then thıs ratıng applıes:................... 3.5 stars out of 5

'Odd-ball' things that struck me (Positive or negative)

• There ia a surfeit of stray dog and cats in eastern Europe ....... I didn't like the way they (Romanians especially) kept dogs chained-up as sort of an alarm system. Also many aggressive attacking dogs in Romania (not a surprise)
• I lost 5 pounds, .............. and I assume I'm a bit more fit
  
• I learned to distrust taxi-drivers in eastern Europe,... used tricks to cheat you (one notable exception), whereas shop vendors at least seemed honest (at least in my experience).
• expensive fancy meals (say$50) were clearly less satisfying than simple inexpensive local-style meals examples only: $5/person meatballs/tomatoes/onion opposite the hotel in Kirkereli, ...great compared to: $50/person for tapas in Mokka cafe in Budapest ... was pretty much a disappointment
• Gin and Tonic are both available through out eastern Europe at low prices, $10/liter (exception Turkey where its available but at $30/l)
• "Campsites" as such don't seem available in Romania, Bulgaria, or Turkey, so 'camping' in motels backyard (with 2 rooms for shared toilet/showers) was an alternative
• some of the overnight locations Orient Express used in the east didn't seem prearranged,..... kind of arranged on the spot
• Orient Express cyclists were very varied in experience (for some their first trip), and I'm impressed that everyone was healthy throughout (minor exceptions), and a high "stuck to it" attitude to get the job done (very little van riding).
• cycling 125km or more became pretty routine, ............but camping in the rain was an ordeal, whereas camping in warm dry weather with standard clean facilities was fine too.
• British Airways did a good job overall (good meals, and on-time arrivals, going and coming (despite my bike arriving one day late in Paris)
• I cycled the 4000 k with no flats, ... in fact I only topped up air twice. I did change one tire as a precautionery measure.
• I think a road bike is best and the Litespeed Veneto performed well, and felt a mountain bike would have been a handicap (for me).
  

• 
  
  More Trivia (.... as if the above wasnt trivial enough)
• yes Ive heard about the "mayonnaise" shot on Johannne Audys site (link beleow), ... they (Johanne and Lili) think it´s so funny, I don't know why.
• I´ve taken not that many shots (compared to some), but I should try to see if I can use my reader
• Some have suggested if I used gloves I would not have hurt my hand ....maybe so, butI never use gloves, .... I like the "free" feel of bare hands, .... except if its cold. My left hand is getting better daily and I can change gears with out getting off my bike now.
• The thing about having liquid bandage or antiseptic wipes ON YOU (or saddle bag) when you fall, .... they are useless if they are in your luggage. The wipes are needed because one picks up a lot of grit, .... they say that if a hospital attends to a bike fall , they use a wire bush (or something like it)
• We have arrived in Vienna today Aug 22 at 1:00 PM and there are 7 new riders joining us, plus one new staff (a woman, a van driver), and 9 more riders joining in Budapest. For me the trip is now getting more interesting, up to Vienna Ive done it before, whereas Slovakia, Hungary etc will be all new.

Good photos etc .... See Johanne Audy's site (Johanne is a professional web designer) http://www.johanneaudy.ca

small point its kind of fun observing how different english speaking countries use different words. EG:....Joe, the aussie, said he "stacked" his bike, means he crashed his bike.

statistics:
9 Canadians
6 Americans
2 South Africanss
2 Australians
1 Dutch
1 Brit
(1 more female than males)
4 Guides (all men) , 2 Cdn, 1 Hungarian, 1 Pole,
4 youngish 27 44 and 46, .... the rest are all old farts like myself, and one lady is about 75 ( we figure)


What´s new for 2007- The Silk Route
I am now aware of a new trip Tour DÁfrique trip planned for 2007 called "The Silk Route". from Istanbul to Beijing. Now that I see how Tour D´Áfrique operates on the Orient Express (Paris Istanbul) I am fairly confident that I´d be happy enough with "The Silk Route". To be sure it is more basic than Cycleventures, and the camping dimension would not appeal to the cream-puff crowd. The current trip is 50% hotels, 50% camping whereas the Silk Route would be almost all camping, and some so-called bush camping at that. "Bush" camping from what I gather is more or less just stopping at the side of the road, so there would be no water other than what we bring with us, ... so that means no showers. . The trip starts in Istanbul and goes through Georgia, Turkistan, and various other "*** stan" countries and into China and the Gobi desert, without going into Mangolia.... and is planned for summer of 2007, say 8000 miles over 3.5 months. Miles, the cook, says that most of the roads in China are paved and really quite good. I was asking Shanny, the tour director, what bike would be good. He felt my current Litespeed would not be appropriate. Shanny works at ´Dukes´ in Toronto, a fairly high end bike shop and said that the Specialized "Stump Jumper" say 2500 CAD would be a good choice. Steel (repairable) would be preferred, but aluminium would be OK. So, .... it´s not a sure thing .... but I think I´ll probably do it .

Daily Routine:
About 3 out of 4 days are riding days, and the 4th day is a rest day where meals are on your own.
Meals:
Breakfast is usually porridge with chunks of dried fruit. with brown sugar and milk. Some davs it´s cold cereal and 2 hard boiled eggs Lunch is served from one of the vans about 55% along the way of the route, and so far has always been sandwiches, eg tuna or ham. If you want a 2nd sand which you can make it yourself from peanut butter and bananas. Dinner is the big meal, generally a one pot affair, eg risotto with duck, couscous with merguez sausages, or spaghetti with meat sauce. Also a big pot of salad. So far, the evening meals have been the highlight of the Orient Express organization..... much better than I would have expected. I think I´ve liked the camp meals clearly better than the restaurant meals. The cook Miles is from BC and works in a fancy restaurant in Montreal. Mileage per day has varied quite a bit, only 60 some days, but I guess 80-90 km is more typical.

Distance, % climbs and other statistics .... from Johanne Audy's site
http://www.johanneaudy.ca


August 12 to 14 Ulm, Germany Kelheim, Germany 260Km
August 16 to 18 Kelheim, Germany Linz, Austria 297Km
August 20 to 22 Linz, Austria Vienna, Austria 253
August 25 Vienna, Austria Bratislava, Slovakia 85
August 27 to 29 Bratislava, Slovakia Budapest, Hungary 265
September 1 to 3 Budapest, Hungary Timisoara, Romania 354
September 5 to 6 Timisoara, Romania Baile Herculane, Romania 226
September 8 to 11 Baile Herculane, Romania Bucharest, Romania 425
September 13 to 16 Bucharest, Romania Varna, Bulgaria 413
September 18 to 20 Varna, Bulgaria Kirklareli, Turkey 289
September 22 to 24 Kirklareli, Turkey Istanbul, Turkey 234

previous trip...... New Mexico May 15- June 2 2006

a link to more photos on New Mexico

New Mexico Diary:

May 15 2006 Air Canada to Denver, then United to Albuquerque, everything on time. Cloudy day, kind of depressing. Recognized three people from previous trips
May 16 2006, first day was great, full sun 22C+, a 60km tour around Albuquerque with 2 locals who are members, mostly on bike paths, and often bordering water diversion canals. 'Old Town' is the only interesting part of the city. Cycled to REI, to look into a better sleeping bag
May 17 2006 Cycled 75 Km to real small town Madrid, there's 18 of us and we had 15 flats, all due to thorns (so-called goat's-head). After the nice facilities at the Plaza Inn in Albuquerque it was a rustic camping night in a small town ball park, no water, no elec,.....pretty primitive. At least when you wake up at 5:30, the sun is beginning to add warmth.
May 18 2006 Today was my turn to drive the van (brand new Chevy Express) with all the luggage. ... found the TravelLodge in Santa Fe without trouble. Bought a pair of 'MR TUFFYs', a liner for each tire, to reduce flats from thorns. Weather is sunny and maybe 80F, others call it hot, but I think it's grrreat. Had a more expensive meal, coquilles St Jacques, steakfrites, .... ....how French.
May 19 2006 Day-off in Santa Fe, got a free breakfast (2 burritos) in town square, because it was ride-to-work week, bike-toured around town with 5 others, had seafood salad at Cafe Paris (2nd time because it was so good), cycled out to Hyde State Park, 25km, alone, 8300 ft elevation.... pretty nice, nobody around, non-commercial.
May 20 2006 Ride to Chimayo, but stayed in the Santa Cruz Lake campground, ...lots of uphill, fairly long ride with a side trip to the Nambe falls, took extra 2hours 15 min, 83 Km in total. Santa Cruz was hard to find, and all the tent sites were sloping and spent the night fighting sliding down the slope.
May 21 2006 Ride to Taos, steep climb out of campsite, 44 miles, fairly grueling day, many people got a lift. Once in Taos, I tried to find Internet cafe, ... no luck. Staying in RV park, .. not bad ... the showers were good. Dinner at a "ribs" place.
May 22 2006 Taos to Cimarron, St James hotel(old fashioned hotel fro Jesse James day with bullet holes in the wall), dinner included, 55Mi (88 Km)m. Climbed to 9100 feet, first day of lots of cloud cover, windy, hailed in the evening for hour or so, .... Diana gave me a hail-snowball collected from the driveway.
May 23 2006 day off in Cimmaron, paid my Visa bill on internet at public library , got 300USD from ATM. Visted the Philmont Boy Scout center (127,000 acres!!) and the Phillps mansion (hour tour), very interesting. The Phillips (Phillips Petroleum, Phillips 66) made their money in the '20s from Oil Exploration and gave the site to the Boy Scouts.
May24 2006 Rode to Red River, over the BobCat Pass at 9820 ft (~3000 m), highest paved pass in New Mexico, and the highest I've ever cycled. Red River is a ski town of course. Excellent self-catered BBQ, (NY Strip from grocery)
May 25 2006 Returned from Red River to Taos, mainly downhill. Supposed to hit 90's today,.... certainly is sunny.
May 26 2006 Day Off and the BEST day so far,.... did 16 mile rafting through the 'BOX' ( a segment of the Rio Grande), rather exciting, although the water was a bit low. 6 from CCCTS tried it (3 cyclists did the 'Box', 3 on a more liesurely route). Lunch provided. Excellent overall. Although I tipped the guide $20, I considered even doubling the tip (... not something I would do lightly)
May 27 2006 a 66 mile trip to Lake Abigui, rather long and tedious towards the end. The campsite seemed populated by dubious bunch of people, probably out on parole.... not impressed.
May 28 2006, no cycling due to 45mile/hour winds. Went to the Ghost Ranch in the van, saw the natural amphitheatre. Not bad, but not great either. The 45M/hr winds were a real pain.
May 29 2006 47.6 mile cycle (mostly downhill) to Los Alamos, biggish town, at Best Western which is really nice after 4 nights camping,.... visited the Atomic Bomb museum, since this was the home of the Manhattan project.
May 30 2006 Cycled to last campsite, ....now this is more like it,... isolated, quiet, a trek around pueblo ruins, had an excellent camp dinner (BBQ chicken and potato salad)
May 31 2006 Cycled to Zen Centre in Jemez (an hour session with the chief person explaining the Zen idea), went to "Bath House" had a massage $37 for 45 min, was best massage Ive ever had.
June 1 2006 Cycled to Bernadillo, Days Inn, really a suburb of Albuquerque. Was the first to come across Cynthia prostrate on the highway having run into steel fence due to wind. she had minor nose injury and took emergency trip to hospital. Roger estimated the emergency would cost $1500. Most went to Range Cafe and had a superb NY Strip, clsoe to perfection.
June 2 2006 Cycled to Albuquerque (quite a nice ride, for being so close to a big city) stopped at REI, Costco,
June 3 2006 flight home, all went well, got bumped into first class out of Albuquerque (dont know why), ..what luck, arrived home on time everything in tact.
A "Yahoo Group" to share Photos....
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CCCTS_Albuquerque_2006

The whole trip was great!!! .... and an amazing bargain....
..................................... Base+Extras =$Total/ Days... $/Day
CCCTS New Mexico...... 850+500 = $1350 /19....or $71 /d
Other trips, typical ..... 3200+500 = $3700/ 17 ....or $218/d
(Extras: Meals, Drinks etc)

Slide show of my gardening efforts, summer 2006
http://www.photoshow.net/watch/vN4Gu2Fv

List of previous trips:
http://garysarchive.blogspot.com/