Roxy and Tommy on the road

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One week in Ridder town has flown by! We were delighted to have the opportunity to discover such a remote place, hundreds of kilometers from anything known, where people live with very hard conditions all year long. During our one-week stay, we witnessed temperatures down to -35 degrees and apparently, they can go way lower ! But still, Kazakhs are going out, shopping and walking in the streets, as in every town we visited in the past 7 months.

With such freezing air, the streets covered by snow stay white for a very long time, and sharp giant icicles hanging off the Soviet-style buildings can fall at any time. Like so many remote places in Central Asia, Ridder was originally an extraction mine and it still is. But it was early winter and its dreamily light powder that drew us here.

We were so lucky to discover the wilderness of this “forgotten corner of Siberia” while ski-touring the surrounding mountains, the weather spoiled us with a big-clear-blue sky every day. Unforgettable.

A perfect week in (frozen) paradise !

🇰🇿

🇫🇷 MERCI OGARUN!
Enfin une nouvelle qui nous réchauffe le cœur (et le corps): la marque française de Mérinos nous rejoint dans notre aventure en nous équipant de la tête aux pieds de leurs beaux produits !

Très fier de représenter une jeune entreprise française qui s’est lancée dans le milieu du textile et qui comme nous, mets la priorité sur la qualité plutôt que sur la quantité.

C’est 100% ce que nous prônons, ne voyageant qu’avec quelques vêtements depuis maintenant 7 mois !

Les premiers essais sont validés avec des sorties ski de randonnées dans la chaîne de l’Altai au Nord-Est du Kazakhstan, où les températures descendent actuellement jusqu’à -35c. Et l’hiver ne fait que commencer !

Portrait of frozen Tommy.

Portrait of frozen Roxy.

MADE IT TO BISHKEK! 🇰🇬🏙

Well, that’s it ladies and gentleman: the first part of our cycling trip through Eastern Europe, Turkey, Iran and Central Asia. It took us 6 months and a half and ~11000km to reach the capital city of Kyrgysztan. If you followed a bit our adventure, you know that we are only halfway to our final destination: Australia 🇦🇺!
But we also love doing mountaineering and Kyrgysztan has one of the best playground for that.
We will be switching gears for some months, so stay tuned for some crazy freezing adventures !
🚲↔️🎿

We start next week our first ski-touring trip !



._.travel

🇬🇧Starting near the Toktogul reservoir, we had over 2300m of climbing to do in 65km to reach the famous Ala Bel Pass at 3175m. It was freezing. The forecast for the next three days was -17c during the night, but clear blue sky. We decided to split the climb in two days. The first day we did an “easy” 45km with 1500m of elevation. The second day was slightly different…

Thanks to our friends who cycled here 1moth ago, we found their shelter protected from the wind at 2300m, surrounded by empty nomads huts. We still had a steady -10c during the night though 🥶.
We even prepared ourselves some hot tee in the thermos for the next morning…

When we woke up everything was frozen. Our bananas and grapes uneatable. Honey hard as concrete. Tea in the thermos obviously… cold and water left frozen…

We had 17km left to reach the top. After a sleepless and glacial night at 2300m, we felt exhausted but motivated.
We left around 10am with the first rays of sun. First 5km wasn’t that bad. Then, the real game begun: It was a constant struggle to stay on a bicycle and move forward. Huge face wind, making it even colder. Lack of the space on the road due to the snow and countless big trucks. Slipping tires. Numerous stops for jumps to keep the circulation in our feet and hands. 🥶When we finally reached the pass we were completely wasted. But we did it: the last big push of the trip for 2022. We managed to take only this selfie on the top and freezed to the bones we hitchhiked the way down, impossible to cycle with the icy surface…

🇬🇧Kyrgysztan 🇰🇬
After 6 months on the road and thousands of kilometers cycled, we finally reached our host country for the winter: Kirghizistan !

Cycling through those mountains and endless lakes is so rewarding after all this time on the road.

Enjoy the landscape.

🇫🇷 Kirghizistan 🇰🇬
Nous y sommes ! Après plus de 6 mois et des milliers de kilomètres pédalés, nous voici enfin arrivé à notre destination hivernale : le Kirghizistan !

Nous ressentons une joie intense de pouvoir enfin fouler ces terres ancestrales, où les montagnes plongent dans les lacs bleus turquoises.

Retour à la simplicité : le paysage.

It’s getting colder every day, so we tend to sleep somewhere inside (at the local’s, abandoned house or a guesthouse). The autumnal season doesn’t spoil us and it rains a lot. The soil last drenched for a long time after a rain, so wild camping is getting more tricky.
We cook sometimes in front of our room. Even though, cooking in Central Asia, most of the time, is not worth it, because you can get for ~2€ a nice plate. But it just feels good to eat something you know - not lamb/horse 🐑 🐎

⛺️

6 MONTHS ANNIVERSARY 🥳🎂!!!

It’s been already 6️⃣ months since we’ve been cycling the roads of the world. From our home in the Alps to the remote villages of Central Asia.
Since 6 months we are nomads, looking for a new place to sleep every night.
6 months we are discovering new cultures and habits. Being amazed every day.
182,5 days stuffed with unexpected encounters.
4380 thoughtfulness hours.

6 months may seem a lot, but living it every day, with the daily challenges and rewards, the time has flown by so fast.

We’ve learnt how to enjoy little things like: hot shower 🚿, western toilet 🚽 , good coffee ☕️ , a real conversation 👨‍👩‍👧‍👧… and way more !

We celebrate this birthday in the Fergana Valley, at the doorstep of our winter destination: Kyrgyzstan 🇰🇬!

But that’s only the beginning…

Finally reached the symbolic 1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣km cycled!!! 🥳😎
Is there a better place to achieve this milestone than in the Tadjik mountains 🏔?!

The toughest ride we’d done so far.
We woke up at 6am to give ourselves every chance to reach the pass and descend as low as possible on the other side to pitch the tent.
Down in the village, people were waving at us that the road was closed. Turn around ? No way ! ⛔️
The climb was harsh and steep from the beginning. Fortunately, we managed to cycle the first 15ish km. The road was officially closed due to the recent snowfall, even the police officer the day before didn’t want to let us go…
We found ourselves completely alone. It was amazing to cycle such a remote road only by ourselves. We felt privileged, but nervous at the same time. If there were no cars passing, it meant that people were telling the truth and it may be too much snow up there…

Indeed, the last 10km were very challenging.
It was a constant battle between a poor gravel road, powerful face wind, mud, snow, and our soaking legs.
Some sections were fully covered with snow and ice, and for others we had to hop onto a muddy part, but was even worst with mudguards, picking all the mud along and making the tires stop rolling every 500m. Exhausting.
Our bicycles definitely didn’t enjoy this adventure. The mud slowly covering the chains and breaks. We were afraid not to be able to do the downhill. 😰
We’d finally reached the top: 3258m! So happy and exhausted(…)
But the view was rewarding, with 4000m snowy peaks surrounding us and Afghanistan few kilometers away…

That was a hell of a day !

Read more on:
https://www.polarsteps.com/Roxyandtommyontheroad/4842565-to-australia

🇬🇧WINTER IS HERE ! ☃️🇹🇯
The 19th of October, everything changed. Before this date we were riding T-shirts/shorts in the Dushanbe valley under a scorching heat 🥵 The next day, snow started to fall on the summits, nights were freezing 🥶and we had to get our winter gears out !🧥
The next month will be even more challenging, will we make it to Kyrgyzstan ?

🇫🇷 L’HIVER EST LÀ! 🇹🇯
La date à laquelle tout a changé: le 19 Octobre. Avant cette journée, nous pédalions en shot/t-shirt sous un soleil de plomb dans la vallée de Dushanbé et ce depuis quasiment 6 mois… Le lendemain, tout a changé : les sommets se sont couverts de neige, les nuits sont devenus glaciales et nous avons du sortir nos équipements d’hiver !
Le mois qui arrive sera l’ultime défi, arriveront nous à rejoindre le Kirghizistan ?

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🇬🇧Tajikistan 🇹🇯

So excited to arrive in our 14th country! 🚴‍♀️🚴The most mountainous 🗻country so far in our journey. After only 10 days in Tajikistan, we can already place it in our “top 3 countries list” 🔝👌
Now entering Pamir mountains 🏔
Let’s GOOOOOO

🇫🇷 Tadjikistan 🇹🇯

Très content d’arriver au Tadjikistan, notre 14eme pays traversé ! Sans aucun doute le plus montagneux d’entre tous et l’un des plus beau. Après seulement 10j, il fait déjà son entrée dans notre «Top 3 » 😎😉
La suite de l’aventure s’annonce épique : altitude, pistes défoncées et peut être la neige ❄️ ?

🇬🇧 SILK ROAD 🇺🇿
One of the rewards for cycling the Silk Road is definitely its unique Persian architecture! We are stoked by the beauty of these ancient cities. Feeling like real nomads moving from one city to another, by bike instead of camel 🐫🚳

🇬🇧 5 MONTHS ON THE ROAD ! 🎂
While finishing 3 weeks of cycling in the desert, we arrived in Bukhara, an ancient city on the Silk Road, just in time to celebrate ! 🐪🐫🎉🍻

—STATS FOR SEPTEMBER 2022–
🔢SOME NUMBERS:

🚵🚵‍♀️ KM cycled in total: 9️⃣2️⃣2️⃣1️⃣km!
this month: 1️⃣5️⃣0️⃣1️⃣km

🏆Cycling day average: 8️⃣4️⃣km

💰We spent this month for both of us 4️⃣7️⃣5️⃣€ (8€ per day per person) thanks to the desert 🙏

Nights:
- 🏕Wild bivouac: 1️⃣3️⃣ (in the desert)
- 🏨Hostels/Hotel: 1️⃣0️⃣ (Silk road cities)
-🏠At someone’s: 6️⃣ (mainly Iran)
-🛬At the airport: 1️⃣ (Aktau 🇰🇿)

What’s more? 🤔
- 🤮Days sick: 1️⃣ (Roxy again…)
-🏖 KG of sand in the tent ⛺️: countless
- 😴Days off:1️⃣3️⃣ (9 days off visiting Zanjan and Tehran in Iran)
-🌧Rainy days: still 0️⃣ (only 30min when we arrived in Aktau^^)
-🐫🐪: Camels: 6️⃣5️⃣3️⃣ 😅
-🛌 Punctures in the mattress: Roxy 7️⃣ vs Tommy 1️⃣) (still not repaired..😭😭)
-💨Days of full head-wind: 3️⃣ (will remember them forever)

👩‍🔧🧑‍🔧Desert issues:

-🪞💨Roxy’s rear mirror broken 😠
-🇵🇱💨Roxy’s polish flag broken (repaired)
-🦿Roxy’s bike-stand kaput (fixed)
-🥴Fall: 1 (Roxy, because of the wind)
-🚴‍♂️🚴‍♀️Punctures: (Roxy: 0 Tommy: 1🤣🤣🤣)

We have now officially finished the desert crossing. Will surely miss the easiness of finding a camping spot, being remote and the campfire under the stars. But now, a slight change in the landscapes will be highly appreciated! 😅

🇬🇧See you soon Kazakhstan! 🇰🇿
After almost 10 days in this gigantic country (5 times bigger than France), the time has come to cross the border with Uzbekistan.
Riding in the Kazakh desert was quite a challenge: we thought we would cycle over 100 km a day due to the fairly flat terrain. The headwind wanted it differently. Logistics was also important: carrying enough food and water, stocking up at strategic points, finding bivouac spots sheltered from the wind for the night ... After all, it was mentally pretty hard to ride a bike at 6 km/h for three days … But we made it and the scenery was amazing.

Now let's see how the Uzbeks desert looks like 😉

🇫🇷A bientôt Kazakhstan 🇰🇿
Après seulement 10 jours dans ce gigantesque pays (5 fois la taille de la France), il est déjà temps de passer la frontière avec l'Ouzbékistan.
Rouler dans le désert kazakh fut un veritable défi : nous nous attendions à parcourir plus de 100 km par jour en raison du terrain relativement plat. Le vent contraire en aura voulu autrement. La logistique fut également cruciale : transporter suffisamment de nourriture et d'eau, s'approvisionner aux points stratégiques, trouver un lieu de bivouac à l'abri du vent pour la nuit... Enfin, ce fut dur mentalement de rouler à 6km/h pendant trois jours... Mais bon, on s'en est sorti, et les paysages furent magnifiques !

Maintenant, place au désert Ouzbek! 😉

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🇬🇧Welcome to Central Asia ! 🇰🇿
a week now we’ve been cycling surrounded by amazing canyons and desert landscapes, camels, and mysterious rocky balls !
It's simply stunning.😶😮
🇰🇿🏜🐪💨

🇫🇷Bienvenue en Asie Centrale! 🇰🇿
Cela fait maintenant une semaine que nous pédalons entouré de magnifiques paysages désertiques, de falaises colorées, de chameaux et des mystérieuses formations rocheuses en forme de sphères !
Nous sommes complètement sous le charmes de notre nouveau terrain de jeu! 🌬⛺️🇰🇿🏜🐪🚴‍♀️🚴‍♂️

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🇬🇧 4 months on the road ! 🎂

For our 4th month anniversary on the road, we are in the city of Zanjan, in Iran 🇮🇷. We were “kidnapped” by an incredibly nice Iranian whom we met back in Istanbul (2 months ago!) and who had invited us to his home 🏠 , keeping in touch with us throughout our journey.
It’s already been 2 weeks since we’ve entered Iran and we have been experiencing Iranian hospitality every day and still cannot believe it.

—STATS FOR AUGUST 2022–
🔢SOME NUMBERS:

🚵🚵‍♀️ KM cycled in total: 7600km! 🎊
this month: 1️⃣8️⃣0️⃣2️⃣km
😎11 days-off (included 5 days for climbing Mount Ararat 🏔 in Turkey 🇹🇷!)

🏆Cycling day average: 90 km (again! We are getting constant)

💰We spent this month for both of us 650€ (10,50€ per day per person, WITH 5 days expedition to Mount Ararat included!)
+visas for Iran 🇮🇷

(In 2 weeks in Iran we spend 80€ so in average it’s like 3,5€ per day per person 😳)

Nights:
- 🏕Wild bivouac: 9
- 🚿Warmshowers: 4
- 🏨Hostels/Hotel: 3
- 🏨Hôtel offered: 2
- 🏡 In someone’s garden: 4
-☪️At Red Croissant: 1
-🏠At someone’s: 8

What’s more? 🤔

- 🎪Touristic attraction: a big one: Mount Ararat 🗻 (a 5137m gift 🎁 for ourselves)
- 🤮Days sick: 0️⃣ (our stomacs getting stronger)
- 🌧Rainy days: still 0️⃣ (it’s getting scary)
- ⛽️Liters of fuel (for cooking): 1L
- 😴Days off: 11 (5days ascension)
-🚴‍♂️🚴🚴‍♀️ Other cyclists met : 5
-🥘🥙🍎🍑🚩Things offered by Iranian people: 65 (approx. 5x par jour)
-Days we wanted to come back home: 0️⃣

👩‍🔧🧑‍🔧Technical issues:

💉Punctures: (Roxy: 1 Tommy: 3 🤣🤣🤣) this guy is so unlucky, or simply riding recklessly)

We are now on the way to Teheran !






Thanks to:

🇬🇧 Mount Ararat - Ağrı Dağı, 5137m

Finally appeared to our eyes, the majestic snow-capped sleeping volcano. The highest peak in Turkey: Mount Ararat, with an elevation of 5,137m.
Seeing this mountain was very meaningful for us. It meant that we did it. We crossed entire Türkiye only with the strength of our legs. By bicycle. Even though, it wasn’t always easy. We reached the last city before the Iranian border (39km left).
The summit was so symbolic for us that we couldn't resist trying to climb it, to mark the end of our crossing of this immense country. And of course, the desire to discover by ourselves where the Noah’s Ark could be, was too strong! 😉

🇬🇧 COMFORT ON THE ROAD
People we meet on the way often ask us how do we do to enjoy our adventure with so little comfort. Someone even told us “at least when I come back from work I have the comfort of my home”.
Well, that’s partly right, but we are long-distance travelers and carrying with us everything, makes us feel like home (well, almost). The perfect example are our chairs Zero: 500g to carry everyday inside our paniers, but so comfy that we unfold them twice a day !
Imagine, what do you dream of after a long day on the saddle on a bumpy road ? A nice seat. We are not always lucky as on the first photo, when our hosts brought us their most confortable armchairs !

What about you, what’s your “comfortable item” you are always carrying and could not travel without? 💄💂‍♀️🩴👑🌂

🇫🇷 CONFORT SUR LA ROUTE
Les personnes que nous croisons en chemin nous demandent souvent comment nous faisons pour profiter de notre aventure avec si peu de confort? Quelqu'un nous a même dit « au moins quand je reviens du travail, j'ai le confort de ma maison! ».
Eh bien, c'est en partie vrai, mais nous sommes des voyageurs longue-distance et emportons avec nous tout ce qui nous fait nous sentir comme chez nous (ok, presque). L'exemple parfait est nos chaises Zero : 500g à transporter tous les jours dans nos sacoches, mais tellement confortables qu'on les déplie deux fois par jour !!
Imaginez, de quoi rêvez-vous après une longue journée sur la selle sur une route défoncée ? Un siège confortable ! Malheureusement nous n'avons pas toujours de la chance de la première photo où nos hôtes nous ont apporté leurs fauteuils les plus confortables !

Et vous, quel est votre "objet confortable" que vous transportez toujours et sans lequel vous ne pourriez pas voyager ? 💄💂‍♀️🩴👑

🇬🇧Meetings, çay breaks and naps 👫🫖😴

In Turkey, our daily life is filled with countless beautiful encounters, çay breaks and long-lunch nap 😴

With the current heat wave, we often wake up very early in the morning, meeting only shepherds on the road. At the end of the morning, we systematically stop for the coffee/çay break and take a good nap to recover from the difficult awakening at dawn 🌅.

This Turkish routine allows us to meet a lot of people. It’s simply great.

🇫🇷Rencontres, pauses çay et siestes 👫🫖😴

En Turquie, notre quotidien se résume souvent par une multitude de belles rencontres, de pauses çay et de petits soms.

Avec la canicule actuelle, nous nous réveillons souvent très tôt le matin, rencontrant sur la route seulement des bergers, en fin de matinée, nous nous arrêtons systématiquement pour la pause café/çay et faisons une bonne sieste pour récupérer du réveil difficile aux aurores.

Cette routine turque nous permet de rencontrer un maximum de personnes. C’est génial.

🇬🇧
For our 3 months on the road anniversary we were lucky to have hundreds of lights in the Cappadocian sky! 🎈✨ 🎂

We are right in the middle of Turkey ! 🇹🇷

—STATS FOR JULY 2022–
🔢SOME NUMBERS:

🚵🚵‍♀️ KM cycled this month: 1640km (not a lot, we spend 10 days-off in Istanbul 😊)

🏆Cycling day average: 91km

💰We spent this month again for both of us 552€ (9€per day per person) ✅

Nights:
- 🏕Wild bivouac: 7 (🌌Under the stars: 1 (full of dust and biting flies 😕 ))
- ⛺️ Camping: 1 (first one since 3 months !!)
- 🚿Warmshowers: 14 (!)
- 🏨Hostels/Hotel: 5
- ⛪️Place of worship: 2
- 🏡 In someone’s garden: 2

What’s more? 🤔

- 🎪Touristic attraction: Traditional Turkish Hammam a Istanbul, Kaymakli underground City and Ihlara Canyon in Cappadocia.
- 🤮Days sick: 2 vomits each!
- 🌧Rainy days: 0 !!!! (We miss them…)
- 🥵Sweaty days: not that many !
- ⛽️Liters of fuel (for cooking): 1L
- 😴Days off: 14
- 😤Times that someone saw Roxy’s ass while peeing by the side of the road and was laughing : 0 (yeah !!!!)
- 🎈Ballons in the Cappadocia sky: 85 (counted!)

👩‍🔧🧑‍🔧Technical issues:

- 👆Bike upgrade: Brooks Saddle for Tommy,
- 🦽Wider tires Schwalbe Marathon for Roxy,
- 🍼2 new Thermal water bottles
-⚙️New brakes pads for Roxy and Tommy
- 💉Punctures: (Roxy: 1 Tommy: 1)
-💥Exploded Air-tube: 1 (Roxy)

Now heading full east 🧭

🇬🇧TURKEY
Place frozen in time.
Amazing views from one of the largest hypersaline lakes in the world: Tuz Gölü!

🇫🇷
Des magnifiques paysages, comme figés dans le temps. Bienvenue dans l’un des plus grands lacs salés du monde: Tuz Gölü!

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🇬🇧 LOST SOMEWHERE IN TÜRKIYE
After cycling some days through the forests, canyons and green mountains of Türkiye’ west coast, we finally reached the heart of the country! We are amazed by the beauty and dryness of the landscape. We need to improvise to make some shadow during the hottest hours of the day. But so far, we’ve been very lucky and had chilly temperatures during nights (12 degrees !). We feel so small crossing those gigantic lands, meter by meter, in full autonomy !

🇫🇷 GRANDS ESPACES - TÜRKIYE
Après avoir pédalé quelques jours à travers les forêts, les canyons et les montagnes verdoyantes de la côte ouest de la Turquie, nous avons enfin atteint le cœur du pays !
Étonnamment, pas d'arbres ici! Il faut donc improviser pour faire de l'ombre aux heures les plus chaudes de la journée. Mais jusqu'à présent, nous avons eu beaucoup de chance et avons eu des températures fraîches pendant les nuits (12 degrés !).
Ces paysages désertiques à perte de vue nous inspirent la liberté, voyez par vous-même ! 🏜

🇬🇧 ITINERARY SUM-UP 🗺🧭
What a nice coincidence! Reaching Istanbul right for our 5000th kilometer! The vibrating city is an even more important milestone for us: the end of the first chapter of our journey, Europe! In two months and an half, we managed to cycle from the doorstep of our home in the French Alps 🏔, to the gateway of Middle East 🌉. We loved riding through the Balkans, discovering a variety of unique and beautiful countries with rich history and incredible hospitality.

Tomorrow we will cross the Bosphorus strait, entering to the second chapter of the trip. We are looking forward for the next few months, where the environment is totally different from what we experienced so far!
First, Turkey is massive, crossing it won’t be a piece of cake! We are right in the middle of summer, meaning the heat will be cycling with us, touristic places will be crowded and roads will be a challenge. Of course we wanted to discover the West and South coast of Turkey, as well as cycling along the North coast of the Black Sea. At the end, we choose to see Turkey from the center, far from coasts and hopefully with a more chilly weather! As well, we still have a long way to reach Central Asia before the first snow ❄️. Here we share the itinerary we took and the one we are planning on. Chapter 2 let’s goooooo !

🇫🇷 POINT ITINÉRAIRE 🗺🧭
Quelle belle coïncidence ! Atteindre Istanbul juste pour notre 5000e kilomètre ! La ville effervescente est une étape encore plus importante pour nous : la fin du premier chapitre de notre voyage, l'Europe ! En deux mois et demi, nous avons réussi à pédaler du pas de la porte de notre maison dans les Alpes françaises 🏔, aux portes du Moyen-Orient 🌉. Nous avons adoré parcourir les Balkans, découvrir une variété de pays uniques et magnifiques avec une histoire riche et une hospitalité incroyable.

Demain, nous traverserons le détroit du Bosphore, entrant dans le deuxième chapitre du voyage. Nous attendons avec impatience les prochains mois, où l'environnement sera totalement différent de ce que nous avons connu jusqu'à présent !
Premièrement, la Turquie est immense, la traverser ne sera pas un jeu d'enfant ! Nous sommes en plein milieu de l'été, ce qui signifie que la chaleur nous accompagnera, les lieux touristiques seront bondés et les routes seront un défi. Bien sûr, nous voulions découvrir la côte ouest et sud de la Turquie, ainsi que faire du vélo le long de la la mer Noire. Au final, nous choisissons de voir la Turquie par le centre, loin des côtes et avec un peu de chance, avec des températures plus fraîches! De plus, nous avons encore un long chemin à parcourir pour atteindre l'Asie centrale avant les premières neiges ❄️. Nous partageons ici l'itinéraire que nous avons pris et celui que nous prévoyons de suivre. Chapitre 2 on arrive !

GRÈCE - TERRE DE MONASTÈRES

🇬🇧
Greece 🇬🇷 June 2022

(…) Last European country. Greece was crazy. Breathtaking Meteory, extraordinary monasteries, hilly roads, crowded beaches and finishing with the Greek Dash and our own record of 156km in one day… Bye bye Europe ! ✌️(…)

Full story and more photos in our blog:
Roxyandtommyontheroad.com

🇫🇷
Grèce 🇬🇷 Juin 2022

(…) Dernier pays européen. Notre périple en Grèce fut une traversée spectaculaire: Des Météores à couper le souffle, monastères insolites et extraordinaires, routes « vallonnées », côte ensoleillée, plages bondées avec douches et un dernier tronçon sportif « le Greek Dash » avec notre propre record de 156km pédalés en une journée… Bye bye Europe ! ✌️(…)

Histoire complète et plus de photos sur notre blog:
Roxyandtommyontheroad.com

GRÈCE - TERRE DE MONASTÈRES Il fait beau et chaud ce 24 juin 2022, lorsque nous atteignons enfin la frontière grecque. Nous commençons à nous habituer à cette météo, après notre séjour caniculaire en Albanie. La Grèce ne sera pas différente à cet égard, nous sommes même inquiets en rentrant dans le pays, car les a...

We just arrived in Turkey 🇹🇷 !!! We plan to spend here about ~6 weeks (to cross from west to east) 🤠

We are ready to face the heat 🥵(hopefully) and sweat a lot. We can not wait to fully experience local culture, explore the unusual places of this incredible country and simply to cycle. We will definitely embrace every moment.

We haven’t really planned our exact itinerary yet.

❓🙋‍♀️What do you think we should visit? Or which road NOT to take ?🤔🙏 Any advice is welcome !

Greece 🇬🇷summary post coming soon ! 😊

🇬🇧
Already 2 months on the road ! 🚵‍♀️🚵

The second month was definitely extremely hot. We were sweating a lot, waking up at 4 to avoid the heat and having huge breaks in the afternoon. We lived beautiful moments and met beautiful people. We are so looking forward to what the third month will bring! 🤗

🔢SOME NUMBERS:

🚵🚵‍♀️ We cycled in total over 4000km, which gives an average of 70km per day (We slowed down because of the heat, huge elevations and to visit some nice spots)

🗺 Countries crossed so far: 9 (Italia, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia, Albania, Greece ) 🇮🇹🇸🇰🇭🇷🇲🇪 🇧🇦🇽🇰🇲🇰🇦🇱🇬🇷

—STATS FOR JUNE 2022–

💰We spent this month for both of us 550€ (9€per day per person) ✅

Nights:
- 🏕Wild bivouac: 10
- 🚿Warmshowers: 2
- 🏚Abandonned buildings: 1
- 🏦 Hotel offered: 1 (Podgradec, Albania)
- 🏨Hostels/Hotel: 2 (Pristina, Kosovo)
- ⛪️Place of worship: 1
- 🏖On the beach: 3 (Albaniaaaa)
- 📍At locals: 7
- 🏡 In someone’s garden: 3

What’s more? 🤔

- 🏰Touristic attraction: 2 (Gadime cave in Kosovo and Meteora Monastery in Greece)
- Cry: Roxy: 0, Tommy: 0 (All tears spent sweating)
- 💄Days without make up: Roxy 30, Tommy 30 !!!
- 🌧Rainy days: 1,5
- 🥵Sweaty days: 30
- ⛽️Liters of fuel (for cooking): 2L
- 😴Days off: 4
- 😤Times that someone saw Roxy’s ass while peeing by the side of the road and was laughing : 2
- 🚿🙅Days max without taking a shower (not counting rivers): 5

👩‍🔧🧑‍🔧Technical issues:
Not a lot this month!!! 🥳
- Bike upgrade: 1 new honk for Roxy (funny one)
- New helmet for Roxy with a visor. Better for sun and rain!
- Punctures: (Roxy: 0, Tommy: 2)

Pedalling through Greece 🇬🇷 right now !

🇵🇱

Małe podsumowanie drugiego miesiąca! 🚵‍♀️🚵

To był wyjątkowo upalny miesiąc. Dużo się pociliśmy, wstawaliśmy o czwartej rano, aby uniknąć upału i robiliśmy długie przerwy w godzinach piekącego słońca. Każdy z tych dni był pełen fantastycznych przeżyć i spotkań z miłymi osobami. Z niecierpliwością czekamy na to, co przyniesie trzeci miesiąc!

🔢 NIEKTÓRE LICZBY:
🚵🚵‍♀️ Przejechaliśmy w sumie ponad 4000km, co daje średnio 70km dziennie (zwolniliśmy z powodu upału, ogromnych przewyższeń i żeby zwiedzić kilka fajnych miejsc)

🗺 Dotychczas przejechaliśmy 9 krajów:
(Włochy, Słowenia, Chorwacja, Bośnia i Hercegowina, Czarnogóra, Kosowo, Macedonia, Albania, Grecja) 🇮🇹🇸🇰🇭🇷🇲🇪 🇧🇦🇽🇰🇲🇰🇦🇱🇬🇷

—STATYSTYKI NA CZERWIEC 2022–

💰Wydaliśmy w tym miesiącu dla nas obojga 550€ (9€ za dzień na osobę) ✅
Noce:
- 🏕 Dziki biwak: 10
- 🚿 Ciepłe prysznice: 2
- 🏚 Opuszczone budynki: 1
- 🏦 Oferowany hotel: 1 (Podgradec, Albania)
- 🏨 Schroniska/Hotel: 2 (Prisztina, Kosowo)
- ⛪️ Miejsce kultu: 1
- 🏖 Na plaży: 3 (Albaniaaaa)
- 📍 U miejscowych: 7
- 🏡 W czyimś ogrodzie: 3

Co więcej?
- 🏰 Atrakcje turystyczna: 2 (jaskinia Gadime w Kosowie i Klasztor Meteory w Grecji)
- 😢 Płacz: Roxy: 0, Tommy: 0 (zamiast łez były hektolitry potu)
- 💄 Dni bez makijażu: Roxy 30, Tommy 30 !!!
- 🌧 Deszczowe dni: 1,5
- 🥵 Spocone dni: 30
- ⛽️ Litry paliwa (do gotowania): 2L
- 😴 Dni wolne: 4
- 😤 Ile razy ktoś widział tyłek Roxy podczas sikania na poboczu i śmiał się : 2
- 🚿🙅 Dni max bez prysznica (nie licząc rzek): 5
- 👩‍🔧🧑‍🔧 Problemy techniczne: Niewiele w tym miesiącu!!!
- 🚲Ulepszenie roweru: 1 nowy klakson dla Roxy (zabawny)
- Nowy kask dla Roxy z daszkiem. Lepsza ochrona przed słońcem i deszczem!
- Przebicia opon: (Roxy: 0, Tommy: 2)

A gdzie jesteśmy teraz? Pedałujemy przez Grecję 🇬🇷!