Contents: Tours (4)
Reports by Peter Wulff
All descriptions are in English, unless otherwise noted.
Tours
| Ukraine 2002 - Riding in Crimea and along the Dniepr
tour started May 2002 Having in 2001 experienced how nice a country Ukraine in many ways is, I returned for more riding in 2002. During about two months I rode 3927 km in Crimea and along the Dniepr river. I arrived in Ukraine by boat from Istanbul in Turkey and left the same way. Since last time I was in Ukraine things have improved; better food (now one can have Ukrainian made cornflakes and musli), the cities also look better. Surely Kuchma is doing something right. One thing hadn't improved though - the horrible mentality in most state-owned hotels. Luckily there are several types of alternative accommodation. Ukraine is cheap and during two months I spent less than 1000 USD. On the whole I enjoyed the riding as much as the previous year, not that Ukraine is always pleasant, but it is rarely boring. There is something special about riding in Ukraine, the contrasts, it's socialist history, the absence of western tourists, the light, the Ukrainians, well, I can't exactly put my finger on it but nice it is. The itinerary/places where I slept was as follows; Feodosia - Ribatche - Jalta - Feodosia - (Kerch) - Feodosia - Strelkovoe - Dzankoj - Feodosia - Otradnoe - Feodosia - Kurortnoe - Sudak - Jalta - Lyubimovka - Pribreshnoe - Mirnyj - Meshvodnoe - Khorli - Lazurnoe - Golaja Pristan - Kahovka - Kamjanka Dnieprovka - Nikopol - Dniepro Dzerzhinsk - Komsomolsk - Chigirin - Cherkasy - Prokhorovka - Kedina Gora - Khorol - Komsomolsk - Dniepro Dzerzhinsk - Novomoskovsk - Vasilivka - Strelkovoe - Feodosia - Belogorsk - Bakshisaray - Inkerman. |
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| Riding in Turkey
tour started April 2002 From April 19th to May 22nd I rode 2523 km in Turkey. I stayed in Marmaris the first week as the ticket I had bought in Copenhagen included hotel there for one week. I rode 268 km there to acclimatize, get tanned, and work out where to ride next in Turkey. After this week I first rode 745 km eastwards along the Mediterranean from Marmaris in the SW-corner of Turkey along the coast to Tarsus, then 919 km across the country to Havsa at the Black Sea, and then 593 km westwards along that coast. It was mostly quite easy being tourist in Turkey - no problem finding accommodation, mostly food is inexpensive, no shit-bureacracy or taxes at the borders, i.e. the basics work well. Turkey is also a very beautiful country, and extraordinary things happen, as I experienced on May 11th. What is then bad in Turkey? Millions of honking truck drivers, and lack of adequate maps. Some basic info is included at the end. Trip 2 started August 2nd and ended September 5th. I started riding in Igdir in E-Turkey, from there I rode straight westwards. The itinerary (or places I slept) was as follows: Igdir (Ararat) - Kagizman - Horasan - Erzurum - Erzincan - Imranli - Sivas - Akdagmadeni - Yozgat - Kirikkale - Ankara - Sivrihisar - Bozhuyuk - Eskisehir - Bursa - Bandirma - Gelibolu - Uzunkopru - Edirne. That was 2078 km and took 20 days in the saddle - 104 km a day on average. There was less climbing than on trip 1, only few days involved more than 1000 m climbing. |
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| Bicycling in Tenerife
tour started January 2002 Riding in Tenerife is fine, and on bicycle unspoilt sites with few or no tourists are within reach. The reasons for going to Tenerife are manifold: 20 C in both air and sea during winter, natural beauty, challenging riding and trekking, it's easy getting there and equally easy staying there, it's affordable, it's cycle-friendly etc. etc. [This] is a diary from 14 days, 9 of which I cycled. |
| Bicycle Trips in Ukraine
tour started April 2001 During six months in Ukraine I did 11 longer bicycle trips, in total 5300 km. I sincerely enjoyed riding in Ukraine and want to recommend it to other cyclists. [...] The following is a kind of diary about the last six trips followed by some practical information. |