Tag Archives: rain

Day 24 – Medieval cities

This morning, we actually managed to pack and leave. It was an hour still to get to Mértola, the small medieval city that we wanted to visit. Number 3 is now fully adapted to travelling and fell asleep as soon as we started to move. As we approached, we got some nice views of the castle, the river and the bridge.

Roman ruins

Mértola is sometimes called an “open air” museum. There are a couple of historic sites you can visit but most of the town within the town walls is of interest. Today, we switched it up a little and I got to carry Baby around in the carrier backpack. The ensemble is rather heavy but it was kinds nice to try it. The whole town is compact and most things are close enough together so it was a good day to try it out. On our way to the historic sites, we had a look into the church/mosque/church and promptly ran into a guided tour…Number 3 got his attention again but we waited for a bit to actually see something of the place and not have people everywhere.

Once at our destination, we started with the casa islamica, a replica of a dwelling from the Islamic period, based on the archaeological findings. It felt minuscule in scale. Tiny, tiny rooms though it had everything and more. There was even a room for weaving.

Right next to the casa islamica was the actual archaeological site. We marvelled at the mosaic which was still preserved in small parts and strolled through what was now the basement.

Afterwards, we had a look around the castle. It was mostly ramparts and a tower which closed for lunch right in our faces. I was secretly glad that I wouldn’t have to carry Baby up a tower. Also, it was lunch time and I was hungry. So we decided upon a restaurant and went on our way.

On the way out, we picked up jam and something close to muffins in a store and then fresh fruit in the market place. We still have so many oranges from the 5kg bag Flo picked up from the side of the road that we only went with the first strawberries and a fruit I haven’t actually seen before. No idea what it’s called.

McGyver or Hazmat?

The first place we tried for lunch was tiny and had no seats available. We hung around for a bit but it didn’t look promising so we decided to find something else. And so we did. Having to cater for a vegetarian still gets most places on the wrong foot…I got a plate full of steamed vegetables. They were yummy, don’t get me wrong, just…just not a full meal? So I ordered French fries to it while Flo devoured his lamb stew (of which Number 3 also approved).

Our plan for tomorrow is to visit Evora, a medieval city a bit further north. Our next camp site was still close to 2 hours away so after lunch we started on the drive. Number 3 had troubles falling asleep again but slept well once asleep. The weather turned on us and the clouds now started with a drizzle which turned into light rain. Despite the bumpy roads, we still enjoyed the drive. Stork nests still can be seen left and right.

As we turned into the camp ground, I had to open and close two gates to keep the sheep and cattle (and donkeys) in. It reminded me a lot of NZ when Flo and I did the Molesworth on the bike. Hop off, open gate, close gate, hop on. This time, it was easier though as I had to get out of the car, not down from the bike.

By now, it was raining. It took us a bit to find the reception of the “camp ground” which felt a lot like a meadow with a washing shed. It was lovely and quiet and full of animals…just hard to locate anyone in charge. Number 3 was super unhappy about being left in the car, then super unhappy about being put into his rain gear. Then, he was super unhappy about his teeth. At least, that’s what we think. He wasn’t really happy again until he was in bed hours later which made for a rather exhausting evening.

Since it was raining sideways, everything even under the tarp was slightly wet. Flo and I decided to stop trying too hard for tonight and crawled into the warm tent. One of the good things about camping with a baby is that you always make sure the tent is nice and dry and warm so if you need it for once, it’s already set up that way.

  • Storky nest
  • Storks wherever you look
  • Mértola castle
  • Mértola
  • I get to carry Number 3
  • Handwoven ponchos
  • Church door from the garden
  • Inside the church
  • Roman ruins
  • Guess that’s happy
  • Mosaic floor
  • Detail
  • Catacombs
  • From down below to up high
  • Castle wall and villagve
  • Castle tower
  • Crocheted trees
  • Rain at the camp ground
  • Wet sheep
  • McGyver or Hazmat?
  • Rain fog everywhere
  • Stomping around
  • Camp in rain, me in poncho
  • “Let me out”?

Day 7 – Hola España

Second rainy morning on the trip. As it was on the bike, everything is just that bit harder when you are doing it in the wet. It effects the mood as well, and any bad vibe gets supercharged in the echo chamber that is the nuclear family. Somehow, we still manged to get off our camp site just in time to avoid late departure fees. It “helped” that Number 3 decided it was getting up time at about 6:30 am.

Plan of attack for today was to do a bit of light culture at the Dalí theatre museum on our way to get into striking distance of Barcelona. We archived the second part all right, at least. Oh, and we also archived the “no more bodily fluids in the car” milestone. Just a tiny bit apprehensive here …

The road was uneventful. We decided to indulge a little to be in Figueres by lunchtime – have the break, lunch and then tackle the museum. We had lunch atop a little hill next to an old fort. It definitely seemed like everyone and their aunt were out and about on this Easter Sunday.

Europe makes us war and fuzzy inside. Next country …

Same held true about an hour later, when we encountered the enormous line in front of the museum. A handy sign informed us that at that time (1 pm), entry slots around 3 pm were sold. Well, we tried. Since the parking was charged by the minute (odd?), we felt no rush to get back to the car and took at least a little stroll. It was also the first time we took our wrap for a spin since leaving. Felt like a good idea to have Number 3 in a wrap in a museum. Turned out, I kind of missed it – it was a real treat having him cuddle up close for a while.

Early check in and some housekeeping then – which tuned out to be a good idea. That way we got a nice and quiet spot before the park got packed jam full. It’s expensive, but a great platform for a full day in Barcelona tomorrow.

A thought about the housekeeping: I guess that is one of the differences between travel and holiday. A holiday is an indulgence for us – where you shed the responsibilities of everyday life for a couple of days. Traveling is more like everyday life for us. You cook, you wash and tidy the house. But it’s a different life – one where we are just a bit more free. But an attainable and sustainable freedom (apart from the money thing, of course) compared to the beautiful illusion that is a holiday.

Speaking of chores: I whipped up a delicious dinner from fresh asparagus from the market and a bunch of leftovers we still had in our pantry …

  • Our first glimps at the Pyrenees
  • Europe makes us war and fuzzy inside. Next country …
  • quick(ish) lunch break at a fort
  • So close …
  • … and yet so far
  • The little one all wrapped up and close
  • some installations were set up around the place
  • There were signs, graffiti and tags for catalan independence everywhere
  • look number 3, a mommy
  • cosiest spot on a cramped campground

Day 2 – A new routine

The night in the tent was nice, cosy and…not too good. Number 3 had some trouble adjusting and also some belly pain. However, since we got about 10 hours in the tent, it just had to be enough.

It was still rather cold though. Temperature had dropped to around 1 degree and with the sun not quite over the tops of the trees, it hadn’t really warmed up. So we dressed and made breakfast to enjoy a hot beverage of choice and warm porridge. 🙂

With this under our belts or rather in our stomachs, we decided to take it slow. This is a holiday after all. With yesterday’s push, we could use a breather. So Number 3 got a bit of playtime and we walked to the lovely little lake of our camp ground.

Packing up was a little rough and tumble – our system is not completely in place yet.  Everything fit back in which is the main thing.

Leaving at 10.45am, Number 3 was tired again already and I was quite hungry. I’ve forgotten how it feels like to be outside so much – how hungry you get and how sore my face felt. Despite sunscreen and it only having been a day. With the baby asleep within a couple of minutes, we had a smooth drive until lunchtime, only interrupted by a short stop at a tiny boulangerie to buy baguette and, of course, pain au chocolat. Both were delicious but only one survived until our actual lunch. 😉

Around noon, Number 3 woke up so we considered lunch and bought cheese and sausage before stopping near a bit of forest and having a yummy, filling but still rather cold one. Even a hot tea couldn’t make the coldness go away completely.  Cuddled up in our gear and an extra blanket, I still was glad to get back into the car. It had started to rain as well, so surely today was a good day to get some mileage under our tires….wrong. Number 3 was very unhappy in the car so we stopped again after 30 minutes. A big intermarche looked just like the place to pick up groceries and give Baby the chance to walk around a bit more. The store was ridiculously big. There was a whole aisle just filled with yoghurts.

Another long stretch to the camp ground followed. Flo had picked one from ioverlander that looked nice, just as for our first night. This one had a picturesque drive up a hill, overlooking vineyards. But it was closed when we arrived. The camping season obviously starts a little later than mid-April here.

It was still drizzling and we were getting really tired and hungry, at least in my case. The next, definitely open, camp ground was another 30min away, which wasn’t too bad. Setting up camp there took close to no time, especially since Number 3 had another little nap. Because of the rain, we used the tarp which turned out to be enormous and give us a lot of dry space to sit under and cook. Baby was prepared with rain gear and gum boots….and had a lot of fun.

Our new gas stove proved to be quite good in getting hot quickly, Flo made the most delicious and already French-inspired dinner for us including potatoes and the rest of the munster cheese from lunch.

The late afternoon and evening felt a lot like a great holiday again … my mood is very dependant on how well Number 3 is feeling, to be honest.

  • Any problem over there, sir?
  • And so it begins …
  • Playtime at the beach
  • Roadside lunch stop
  • Eat, child, eat! ;P
  • Munster cheese and smoked sausage
  • No! Tea!
  • But coffee!
  • Rainy camp spot
  • There is no bad weather, only bad gear

Day 322 – Breakdown

Rinse and repeat. That was the motto for today. Get up early, ride hard, push through all of Austria and arrive in Würzburg at Flo’s dad’s place in the evening.

Austria in a nutshell. Or so.

Austria in a nutshell. Or so.

From Budapest, Vienna is just 150km away so when we reached the Austrian capital, it was time for our first coffee stop. Not wanting to get into the city traffic, we had it at a motorway fuel station along with the obligatory Mozart chocolate. It had been raining since we crossed into Austria and it didn’t look like it would stop any time soon so I put on all of my rain gear now, Flo was still wearing his from yesterday’s rain.

It only got worse. All through Austria, it was pourring down with rain. While the suits kept us dry, our gloves were soaked through leading to cold hands and our boots were simply carry-on puddles. During a roadside lunch break at Burger King’s, we emptied our boots out, at least.

Trying to get warm and slightly dry

Trying to get warm and slightly dry

All this rain led to the probably most dangerous situation of the whole trip. It was gushing down, making it hard to see much and the Austrian traffic people deemed it appropriate to paint a giant white arrow for direction right into a corner. Only the right lane turned but the next lane over was also ornated with an arrow pointing straight ahead…in a corner. Rain and paint are the deadliest combination of things for a motorcyclist. The rear tire gave way and slide which brought the bike to wooble dangerously before the tire had grip again. Lucky us that we didn’t fall going 130 km/h on a motorway.

Damn, green cooling liquid all over the place

Damn, green cooling liquid all over the place

The border between Austria and Germany is practically non-existent. We were waved through without a glimpse into our passports and weren’t even able to stop at the “Welcome to the Federal Republic of Germany” sign as there was simply no place to stop. Still wanting to get a “back in Germany” photo, we stopped at the next rest area. As soon as we had crossed over to Germany, the rain had stopped. Still, we didn’t quite get our celebratory photo as Flo discovered bright green cooling liquid on Rocinante’s side; we had a leaking radiator.

Broken Rocinante and desperate Flo waiting for the towing truck

Broken Rocinante and desperate Flo waiting for the towing truck

The next fuel station was not too far away. They even sold liquid that is supposed to fix small leaks. All you have to do is pour it in and keep the motor going for 15 to 20 mins so that it can harden. As soon as the engine went on, cooling liquid was gushing all over the place. This motorbike was going nowhere until the radiator was fixed. Out of money and out of time, this would mean the end of our trip. No riding into Frankfurt, celebrating our achievement. What a bitter disappointment. Flo was desperate.

Our bike does this way too often

Our bike does this way too often

So first, we called the ADAC. There was nothing more we could try at the fuel station so we might as well hope that they send a mechanic. They didn’t. They sent a towing truck for a car. He was competent nonetheless and we had Rocinante securely on the truck in no time. The workshop we were towed to was awesome but they didn’t have good news for us: The replacement would only be here at the end of the week and it would cost us 500 euros. Impossible. We have neither the time nor the money for it. Completely deflated, we asked about a botch job. Due to German law, the workshop is unable to provide anything like that. You could sue the workshop and no one would take that risk. However, one of the staff people gave us the hint that we, ourselves, could ask someone to fuse the holes and put the radiator back in. This way, the workshop would be not liable and we have at least the chance to ride to Frankfurt. They were even able to point us to a mechanic for radiators of all sorts. Flo called him and he agreed to see us at 8am tomorrow morning to take a look at the radiator and try to fuse it.

Well, this is not how we thought our last night on the road would look like.

Well, this is not how we thought our last night on the road would look like.

Tomorrow morning. At least, there was hope again. All we had to do now was get a rental car as the mechanic was 25km away from Passau. Oh, and a place to spend the night which wouldn’t cost 50 Euros. We checked everything online but 50 euros was the cheapest we could find. So we concentrated on finding a rental car and got lucky. There was a special offer: 33 euros for one day and 300km. If everything else failed, we would sleep in the car. As Passau turned out to be too expensive for us, we started driving towards the mechanic. The GPS showed a camp ground on the way and maybe it would be less than 50 euros.

The camp ground turned out to be amazing. 12 euros for a night for two people; exactly what we needed for one night. Super-duper tired, we put up the tent one last time. Tomorrow would tell us if we can arrive in Frankfurt on two wheels or if we have to resort to four wheels instead.

Day 316 – Bridge between two continents

Rain. That thing. The slight annoyance that you forget about after camping in sunshine for a week. Well, this morning, it was raining. It slowed down our daily morning routine and it dampened our mood. Packing a wet tent is also not fun. Enough whining, we got on the road and today, we’d make it to Istanbul. 🙂

stupid toll system, still not working!

stupid toll system, still not working!

The GPS routed us on a giant 6 lane motorway. Flo, scrolling ahead, said there seems to be a ferry which will shorten the trip considerably. However, the next signs told us that Istanbul is only 90km away and that there will be a bridge. That sounds great! Yeah, nah. As with the museum in Troy, people got ahead of themselves. The motorway led right to the sea…but the bridge isn’t finished yet. From this point, Istanbul was still 120km away and we had to circumnavigate all of the Sea of Marmara. To make things worse the toll road ended with a secured gate this time and instead of waving your paywave card, they wanted cash from you. We still have about 30 Turkish lira on the card which we will probably never use up so paying cash now felt like we had to pay twice. Flo was not amused, to say the least.

Time to move on. Rocinate still looks like a demo bike ;)

Time to move on. Rocinate still looks like a demo bike 😉

Didn’t matter, we were still on track for Istanbul. Our first stop was the Touratech Türkiye shop, just for a visit. As with almost all Touratech shops we have been in, it was lovely. The staff is good for a chat, we got free tea and coffee and we looked at what’s new. We didn’t need anything but I didn’t say no to the visor cleaners we were offered…insect goo is one of the constants of our trip.

Istanbul is big. The GPS calculated another 28km from the shop to our hotel. And there is a lot of traffic, especially because we wanted to use one of the two bridges over the Bosporus. Driving from the Asian continent over a bridge onto the European continent was our idea of ending the trip. Of course, we will have a look around the city for a couple of days but afterwards, it’s pretty much straight to Frankfurt. Europe will have to wait for another journey. With those thoughts in mind, the crossing was actually quite emotional. It took us almost 11 months to get here.

The last meters in Asia!

The last meters in Asia!

Our one room apartment, once we found it, turned out to be exactly what we’d hoped for. Hotels in Istanbul seem very cheap at the moment and the online offers are very good. We got our room for three nights for 62€ including breakfast. And it’s in the center of the city.

But riding through rain and traffic, skipping lunch and being emotional about this last part of our journey had left us exhausted. We had an early dinner and otherwise enjoyed the comforts of our room.

Day 300 – See you when we get there

To continue where the last entry left off: 440 km to Göreme. It kind of became our mantra. After breakfast and packing we just wanted to get to Cappadocia. Really, really in need for a break now. Unfortunately, the weather forecast for Göreme wasn’t that great either but going on to the Mediterranean coast might prove too long.

So we got on the bike and rode. And rode. It was mostly cold and did rain a couple of times. For lunch, we found a posh looking restaurant which was great…until our main course arrived and, once again, chicken wasn’t counted as meat so I ended up not having a main course. *sigh*

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After that, we kept riding through grey skies and bad weather until Kayseri, where we took a turn to get to Cappadocia. Luckily, here the sun was shining so we rocked up on the camp ground, set up the tent and collapsed.

Day 299 – Moving on (and on …)

Hotels in towns have become a luxury for us by now, so after two nights in Trabzon with patchy weather, it was nonetheless time to move on. We used all the time to sleep in and get ourselves organized though. This included changing the brake pads around, taking the dodgy pair I got gifted way back in Pattaya, Thailand and swapping it for the most worn one. The Transalp uses CBS, which means that the foot brake also operates one of the two front calipers, which in turn wears faster.

Finally a shot of the main building without a school class

Finally a shot of the main building without a school class

On our way out, we did a brief stop at Trabzon’s version of the Aya Sofia. This one is a 10th century church, build on the same site as a roman temple that got converted into a mosque, ammunition depot, museum and now mosque again over the last 10 centuries. We mostly learned how to squeeze through endless high school classes armed with selfie sticks.

Then, we were back on the coastal highway. Riding is really smooth, even through the regular little showers coming from the grey sky. Soon enough it was time for lunch. We bought some supplies and found a really nice picnic spot right at the sea. We sat down, enjoyed our lunch and amused ourselves with the innocent romancing of high-school-aged teenagers.

No break without a hot cuppa :)

No break without a hot cuppa 🙂

We had no real goal until Cappadocia, 660 km down the road. So soon enough, we were faced with a decision: Take the shortest route now, or follow the fast coastal highway for another 100 km, adding 50 km to the trip. We made the call as the rain started back up and turned inland. The particular pass we chose turned out to be a bit annoying, because it was in the process of being upgraded to two lanes per direction. To make matters worse, it really started hammering down about half way in.

Flo decided to wear plastic bags over his shoes to stop the water from leaking in

Flo decided to wear plastic bags over his shoes to stop the water from leaking in

Thoroughly soaked (the Compañeros held true, but summer gloves and old boots not so much), we made it to the high point of the pass at 2200m. We had passed through the rain by then and at least up here, the sun was out. Not too much consolation, though, as it was pretty cold.

We still stopped for a bit right after the pass to have a chat with two huffing and puffing pushbikers on a snack break. Tristan and Francesco from Switzerland are on their own epic journey from Europe to central Asia (and beyond for one of them). We swapped some anecdotes, snack food and tips for our respective roads ahead before going our way to secure a camp spot. In parting, we heard they will be looking for a guidebook for Iran, so we quickly dug up our Lonely Planet and donated it to their cause. Definitively a much better use than collecting dust in our future home. Godspeed guys!

Lovely guys (just) starting on their journey: Tristan and Francesco

Lovely guys (just) starting on their journey: Tristan and Francesco

As we got lower, it got warmer again, but so did the clouds return. In the first town after the pass, we stocked up on rations again and soon after were in full camp spot hunting mode. The rain made it tempting to look at the hotels, but the idea of spending another $50 did not appeal to me at all. We got lucky anyway – off the main road, then a side road and into a dirt track we found the perfect little ditch in the pastures that could not be seen even from the little track.

We set up our tent in the light drizzle and soon gobbled up our dinner. Risini noodles and instant sauce made for a surprisingly good and hearty meal and a nice change from bread and cheese. Time to keel over, exhausted. 440 km to go till Göreme …