Author: Snoo

Lying down and finding a comfortable position has been almost as challenging as some of the hottest and toughest roads on the ride. But morning finally came and breakfast in the Hotel Drustar seemed like it had been created in the 1970s. The jam was bright red in a plastic pot, some items were identifiable but, oddly for me, didn’t have that “eat me, I might be delicious” vibe. You can’t go wrong with a bit of muesli, yoghurt and honey, though. We set off shortly afterwards and reached the border crossing in 5 minutes. There were three cars and a van in front of us. We handed over our passports and then waited. People watching is great at the best of times but at a border crossing it goes to another level. One woman in particular was clearly having a bad day. She was getting more hot and bothered by the minute – she opened the back of her van and seemed to load more stuff in it just after she got clearance and another woman magically appeared to help her. A lot of the cars were from Ukraine – packed to the gunnels with holiday stuff. Another cyclist turned up – traditional Romanian with a plastic bag brimmed with what looked like Mother’s Pride. She tried skipping the queue but was sent back to wait behind us. Slowly slowly she crept up again and five minutes later she was on her way. I wondered where the bread was heading – seems to be a big effort to cross a border just for bread! 

So the wait was about 20 minutes – it’s always a good feeling when another country lets you enter – it’s like passing an exam. We turned right after the border and cycled along a road with vines stretching for miles on each side. Within five minutes, we passed a horse and cart with a large family sitting in the back. Soon the vines turned to sunflowers. We were parped at and waved at by every vehicle. So much to see and so much to photo – we kept overtaking and then re-overtaking one particular horse and cart I think the guy must have been roaring with laughter when having his beers that night. 

Neil took on the role of film director and cameraman for the day – capturing some of the amazing sights. We stopped at a creek on the Danube for a short break. Everyone jumped in, save me. I probably should have but didn’t want to spend the day riding in damp shorts. I twinkled my toes. The water was lovely. We stopped at a monastery which had healing waters so I washed my battered arm and drank from the spring. I saw a few poorly folk also making the trip to the healing water fountain, which was dedicated to St Andrew and highly decorated inside. 

We waited a little while for Deyan to arrive – he was stuck at the border for 2 hours – he said there was a lot of queue jumping going on which slowed everything down. Lunch was inside the monastery and was mossaka, beetroot/carrot/Apple/dill salad and mushrooms with rice. Very delicious. With 30km still to go we reluctantly got on our bikes and pedalled off up a hill in the ever increasing heat of the day. 

It was a great afternoon’s ride, though. Beautiful scenery, challenging physically and mentally and when we arrived at Lake Oltina we stopped for a rest and a packet of ritz biscuits. The path round the lake was lovely – we saw loads of birds, a massive herd of goats, sheep and donkeys, a large snake, and people fishing by hand – chasing the fish into the net while standing waist height in the water. 

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There are lots of dogs here. Lots and lots. I am not great around dogs I don’t know. So it was tough cycling through barking dogs that seemed to be chasing me. I think my Fitbit bpm peaked a few times! 

The boys made a special dinner – eggs with yoghurt and a broth, and roasted whole peppers washed down by some Romanian beer and then wine. A great meal to end a lovely day.

Kamentsi to Silistra – about 40 miles. Sat back in the bike making sure I had taken as many pills as allowed and took it slowly at first. But confidence came flooding back and had a great ride – at times a little dull along stretches of main road but a couple of great highlights. Breakfast was great – buffalo yoghurt, honey, nuts, dried plums and Deyan and Svestro had cycled 22km to bring us fresh baked Bulgarian pastries…

We then cycled to Badjaliyata – a Thracian rock sanctuary along the Taban dry valley canyon. We climbed up to the cave which provided a great photo opportunity for a “man cave” shot. 

We then stopped for a shepherds lunch, prepared by the boys – and finished up the pastries from breakfast. 

After lunch, we cycled on to  Medjidi Tabiya fort – just outside Silistra – a room for every war that has taken place since the Crimean Deyan knows his history inside out and it’s very complicated – I get a bit lost but the uniforms looked good.  Leaving the fort we had our first glimpse of Romania just the other side of the Danube – great feeling. 

Other great moments today included picking apricots from an orchard and eating them – the ones in the ground are the sweetest. We passed some large communist monuments in a park that had been abandoned – like many buildings we see, abandonment is ever present. 

Dinner was at a local fish restaurant on the Danube. We tried many different types of fish including fish soup (today was fish soup festival), Danube white fish, caviar and some weird crispy fish…

The menu also included nature brains and battered brains…didn’t like to ask what creature 😆

So the X-ray showed a fractured rib – painful but not a lot to do save for take something to help with the pain and take it easy. Walking is easy. Breathing and talking is good too. The paperwork took longer than my brief physician’s appointment and I signed everything in triplicate. Maybe I signed away some body parts – who knows! But Deyan was really good at explaining everything – the doctor asked if I spoke German – took me back to when we were in Spain travelling as kids and my brother fell really poorly and the only doctor available was German. The only person who could speak German was my brother… We flew home shortly after that episode. 
Took some shots of the market – great herbs and just lovely fresh salad. Just off to meet up with the weary bikers!

Very lucky to be travelling with Plateau cycling – they sorted out a X-ray and a physician very quickly. Just in way to market 🙂 looking at food should be a good filip. Then back for a quick doctors appointment. Have some horse strength paracetamol to take the pain away. The others tootled off and I think we are meeting up later for maybe a short ride down hill on nice road 🙂 Deyan runs a supper club too so we are sharing recipes. What are the odds?!!! Feeling ok but glad to be resting a little. Bulgarian hospitals don’t smell like British ones – in a good way! Very clean although x-ray machines always scare me – particularly when you are left naked to its shudders while the nurse goes and hides 🙂 
More later

Whose idea was this anyway? Tough tough day in the saddle and also out of the saddle. Weird breakfast of pancakes with Nutella but sun was shining and the day held lots of promise. First hour was fine but then I was trying to negotiate a heavily rutted path and fell badly. I heard a noise in my ribs that didn’t sound great and my right arm took the brunt. Deyan our guide sprang into action and cleaned me up and disinfected the wounds and I gingerly got back on my back. Was quite painful but I was sure I hadn’t done anything too drastic – was breathing and still living. Rest of the morning was a bit of a blur but lunch surpassed all expectations. We stopped at a monastery where the other guide had prepared a picnic lunch. There was a spring if freezing cold fresh water which was ethereal. I lay my injured arm in a trough of heavenly water and it was almost religious. Picnic lunch was amazing. Grilled fish and salad..



Swapping my pedals and shoes to non cleats gave me more confidence as did some painkillers and ibuprofen gel. The temperature then started to rise and rise while I started to wilt and wilt. At one point I was so hot I just lay down at the side of the road and lost the plot completely. Even the passing Bulgarians were worried – slowing down in their cars to see if I was a corpse or not. My amazing fellow cyclists and guide waited patiently for me to regain speech and some modicum of energy. I thank them for their understanding and encouragement. Once my lowest point had been reached and conquered, I was able to get back on the bike and continue to the next but one village where ice cream was available. Now almost fully restored I could again engage in speaking with the team, chatting about food and whether Bulgar wheat was from Bulgaria or not. The route was tough but we cycled past acres of sunflowers – the odd yellow head peeping out. Arriving in Dobrich, our hotel was fab – shower lukewarm though. Hot spicy sausage and the shopska salad, more beer than I should have but my ribs are feeling less painful. Iceland are 2 up but I need to sleep. Hope the boys come good in the end. 

Oh!and I had another ice-cream because I fell off my bike and Fitbit said I had used nearly 4000 calories 😍 

Eventful day yesterday with British Airways flight bringing me safely and timely to Bucharest. Shortly afterwards, Laura and Louis arrived from Amsterdam. However, the fourth man, was very delayed and took a few countries and planes to arrive 5 hours later. Luckily I had A Little Life to read – my book club choice and (no spoilers) but it’s not one you can read in a couple of sittings. After a further 3.5 hour car journey (hindsight is fabulous – we could have flown to Varna much easier and probably cheaper) , we arrived at our hotel and I slept like a log. Breakfast was very good and the Black Sea looked turquoise and inviting so a dip was a necessity. Neil’s bag was lost so he paddled (later he found a great pair of trunks for about £1 so we swam again later). After a tour of the Archaelogical museum where the sign over the whore house was the best exhibit for me, we then had some lunch in a beach cafe – blue fish and shopska salad – and a couple of beers before heading to the late afternoon waves for the last time. Our guides then drive us to Kalimentai Han – I had tried to google it beforehand but it didn’t appear to exist. If you like a place that’s sort of like a Doctor Dolittle’s Portmerion with a slight Daliesque Swiss chalet, this is the place for you. Never before had my ensuite had a tiled roof and my tv a  wooden frame. The food was very good with Neil choosing a sword of meat and Louis having a drainpipe of veal. We start the hard work tomorrow but I think the guides have realised it’s the food that takes me to the next stop   …..

These terrifying words were spoken by Husband this morning. I had just spent 12 hours over the previous two days sitting in the car parks aka the M25 and the M1. I hate sitting in traffic. It drives me insane. Apparently, according to Husband, traffic jams provide a great opportunity to listen to music and car watch. Huh? Is that a thing? Car watching? The only cars I like to watch are the ones I am overtaking. And that’s not possible when you are in a traffic jam. I have to change lanes frequently as I can’t bear to follow the same car for miles and miles. I try and liven up a traffic jam by coming off at junctions, zooming up to the roundabout and then zooming back down to filter back on. Weirdly I only do that when I am on my own in the car. But I do feel smug when it works – have only had one occasion when I tried to beat the system but ended up going down the M4 rather than staying on the M25. I recently found out that Bell does the same thing. Motorway service stations are still rubbish – particularly the ones on the M1. I think we have stopped at every single one from junction 6a to junction 29. Here’s a photo I took at Trowell services where you have to walk over the bridge to get to M&S and three separate Costas, and why on earth does WH Smith sell Krispy Kremes? 

  
I have decided never to drive on the M1 ever again. No more Watford Gap nowhere near Watford. The next journey north will be the M6. However, even the M6 has its horrors but we have decided to leave at 6am or some other time that only exists a few days of the year when I absolutely have to get up for a holiday or an airport run. So, for those of you travelling tomorrow, listen to some music and watch the cars…

The walking ladies (Minus One) are currently on tour in Scotland. We met at Godalming station at 8.45am and 11 hours later we stepped off the train and were in a taxi to the Glencore activity centre near Aviemore. As far as train journeys go, this was my longest ever. Husband wouldn’t understand how, but we chatted non stop for 11 hours. We also drank copious amounts of tea and coffee, had sandwiches for lunch and tea (very good quality – salmon and cheese), sent snapchats to Minus One of our Wensleydale sandwich and gin and tonics/prosecco, almost finished the Everyman crossword and got our step counts up through numerous trips to use the facilities (ok maybe that was just me and I don’t even have a fitbit). There were a few interesting fellow passengers including one couple who joined us in Edinburgh and didn’t speak to each other for the whole journey to Aviemore. They both seemed to be deeply engaged in their crosswords but weren’t sharing clues. Where’s the fun with that? We also had the archetypal lads-playing-cards-drinking-beer for the whole journey with constant banter, ending up with them complaining that the bar had run out of beer. They were good natured if a bit blokey. We played ‘I wonder if she is going to Glencore to do the course with us’ but wrongly identified one woman who looked like a candidate but got off at  Berwick. 

I was set to share a room with a stranger here at the lodge.  I did a similar thing a few years ago when I shared a tent with someone who I hardly knew. That time, we were climbing Kilimanjaro and while sharing a tent is much more intense in terms of lack of personal space, it didn’t worry me at all. It was fantastic and my tent fellow is now a good mate and a very strong bond (we survived) was formed.

This time, though, it seems a bit different. When I got to the room, there were signs of my room mate’s existence- the bed cover neatly set at a jaunty angle and sleepwear tucked on the pillow, a suitcase and a rucksack. Those people that have shared rooms (Minus One, Husband) or tents will know I am not the quietest sleeper or the tidiest person. I worried for this stranger’s sleep pattern – although she had taken the bed by the window leaving me the one nearest the loo – bonus points for that. I worried that my inability to keep my clothes in neat piles would upset her clear sense of order and so I took the decision to check out the possibility of not ruining her week in the Cairngorms and am now safely ensconced in another room in glorious solitude. Clothes strewn everywhere and the light still blaring while I write this blog. Tomorrow we start our course on map reading and navigational skills. Family, beware, mum’s short-cuts maybe a thing of the past – they might start being actual short-cuts!!!

   
 

…sitting in the car on a glorious spring day listening to Husband “singing” along to Santana at 1,000 decibels. 

I left you in the departure lounge at Gatwick airport heading for my flight to Dublin. After all the excitement of sitting through three hours of computer-based training and indulgent airport retail therapy, I was asleep just after the safety demo. I have to be really tired to fall asleep on planes. So it was slightly annoying to be woken up by the pilot announcing that we were beginning our descent into Dublin and should be landing in 35 minutes. Huh? The whole flight is just 55 minutes. But, on the positive side, an (in)famous woman has been known to ‘power nap’ for 15 minutes and wake up ready to run the country. I woke up ready to drink some Guinness…

Walking through the exit doors I couldn’t see any shrieking girlies that I recognised but on instruction I walked towards a man who was standing where advised with certain features. Luckily he said “you must be Snoo” and leaned forward to kiss me on the cheek. In a bit of panic, I tried to say yes and kiss him on the other cheek which just ended up in a clash of glasses and embarrassment on my part. Soon united with the girlies who had started drinking many hours before, we ate, drank and reminisced our socks off. Clearly none of us had changed with life dealing us great hands. 

The rest of the weekend was a slight blur but there were some fab moments that have remained (and given the inability of my brain to withhold what I had for lunch yesterday, these clearly will have a lasting memory). We stayed in Howth, which is a lovely fishing harbour about 30 minutes from the centre of Dublin, in a great B&B run by a fab lady called Joan (King Sitric). The breakfast was very good and was the inspiration to write this blog. Choosing the full Irish, knowing that I had a full day of sightseeing and the Guinness factory to get through, I was presented with a very large plate of deliciousness. For those who don’t like food to touch, they would have been in heaven. The best thing on the plate by far was the homemade white pudding. I sometimes think if I was a food critic (how I wish) like, for instance, Jay Rayner or William Sitwell, what would be the positives and negatives. I think they would wax lyrical about the white pudding. With so much in the press about the benefits of black pudding and its elevated position of a superfood, let’s hear it for white pudding. I had to take some home. Thankfully, I was able to pick up some award-winning white pudding at the airport (Kanturk pudding). I urge you to try it, if you can find it.

Other notables include a walk to the Baily lighthouse – the shipping forecast is a favourite show, now enhanced by a visit to one of the names – got me thinking of a potential tour of all the lighthouses in the shipping forecast with a visit to the nearest cafe/restaurant but maybe that’s more like Extreme Gastrotourism aka Extreme Ironing. We had lovely fish tapas at The Brass Monkey and just before I headed back to the airport, Michele took me to the best fish shop I have been to in the UK. I was like a kid in a sweetshop, Dorans on the pier. If you go to Dublin, take the DART to Howth and visit this fish shop. I only wished I lived next door. Two final mentions, the Guinness, which neatly marries white with black so could be a super Superfood, and the Chester Beatty Library, which had an incredible collection of ancient manuscripts like the bible and Egyptian papyrus texts, and it’s free!

So big thanks to the girls and for Michele for showing us a great time. We have planned the next one at my house  – not sure I can match a lighthouse, Guinness factory, white pudding and freshest fish shop, but Hydon’s Ball looks pretty in most seasons….bring your wellies, girls!