Made it to Istanbul

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 The Romanian Orthodox church at Falticeni

Just arrived at Nesebar, Bulgaria

There have been some problems with "Blogger" and this blog hasn't been available for a few days. Hopefully the system has been restored.

The group arrived in Istanbul today (15 May) after riding through Romania and Bulgaria over the last week or so. Thirty-five hours were spent at the Ukraine/Romania border crossing as a result of Ukrainian obfuscation. I got through to the Romanian side of the border at 2.30 am and rode through the dark and the rain to a small hotel where I couldn't wake the owner so camped on the front step until a few more bikes arrived an hour and a half later which aroused the owner. He was such a charming gentleman - didnt mind getting woken up in the early hours of the morning and in fact opened the bar at 4.00 am!

Romania was just wonderful! Beautiful countryside, friendly, helpful people, good food and cheap prices. The Romanians are the stand-out people so far on this trip - courteous, welcoming and go out of their way to help you. Bulgaria was also interesting and the historic town of Nesebar was well worth visiting. We stayed in a luxury hotel right on the beach and were permitted the luxury of two nights there.

The bike on the ferry across the Danube in Romania

John and Jim on arrival Nesebar, Bulgaria

Byzantine church at Nesebar

Nesebar street/quay scene

Problems with the bikes persist. Lang Kidby's (the leader's) bike has been towed by his wife in the little 1200cc support van for the last two days. Yesterday Bev, (Lang's wife), towed two bikes behind the van for most of the day - a highly stressful experience for tower and towee(s). My bike generally runs well but yesterday coming over the mountains in Bulgaria to the Turkish border the road was so rough that the left-hand fork bolt lost its nut and I managed to strip the thread on the tappet cover holding stud. Both problems were fixed using wire found on the side of the road. Other riders weren't so lucky and repairs were necessary before half the crew could proceed today.

We stayed at Kirklareni in Turkey last night after a long wait at the Turkish border (three hours) but not as long as the Ukrainian border (35 hours).  The run into Istanbul today was routine as Turkish roads are the best we have experienced so far. Traffic in Istanbul was hectic of course (7 million people live here) and out hotel took some finding! Negotiating narrow streets and steep hills in the area around the hotel was difficult with the added risk of burning out a clutch should you have to stop on a steep slope.

However the Blue Mosque is just around the corner and the area of our hotel is well served by restaurants and bars. Just what we need after a long day's ride.