Manchester to Vietnam
After arriving back in the UK from my 4 month trip around Europe in 2015, I spent the next few months working, essentially waiting for the spring when the weather would allow me to leave UK and finally complete my trip to Vietnam. It was a long wait….
Eventually though however, I did leave. In March 2016, I finally left the comforts of home behind me and set off on a very heavily laden bicycle with the somewhat precarious aim of reaching East Asia sometime the following year.
I only had a vague route outlined based on the countries I wished to visit, be that through curiosity or necessity and with only a set of paper maps to guide me, I was full of anticipation and nervousness in equal measure. What a time to be alive!
My route from Manchester took me over the Pennines – a kind of windswept series of barren hills east of Manchester and then onto Nottingham before reaching Harwich at the end of day three. My first night was sent camping in the Pennines in the snow which was something I wasn’t expecting in early April.
From Harwich, I caught a ferry across the North Sea to the Netherlands and eventually Amsterdam where I spent a couple of weeks with friends.
From Amsterdam, I headed north west to Germany where I found myself in Hamburg and at the mercy of both my compass and my sense of direction: two things that I would come to rely on more and more in the following few months.
When I eventually exited Hamburg, I cycled north where I took a couple of ferries to Denmark which ultimately brought me to Copenhagen which is where I was first introduced to the concept of a EUR 6.50 coffee.
Next, I spent 7 days cycling north east through Sweden encountering bitterly cold weather along the way. I found Sweden to be reminiscent of Ikea: clean, packaged well enough but overall, a bit colourless. Perhaps that last bit was more to do with the time of year rather than anything else.
After Sweden, I arrived in Estonia which is where I spent the next two weeks lounging around in Tallinn with my friend Maria before heading south on a six week trip through Eastern Europe. I took to the backroads of Latvia and Lithuania where the heat was intolerable and the traffic quite mad. In Poland, I lost my sleeping mat in a torrential downpour and spent a few days in Warsaw and Krakow. Slovenia saw me cross the beautiful Tatras mountains and this brought me gently down into the grand city of Budapest where I met up with a friend, Lazslo. After cycling through Hungary, I encountered Romania, where I spent the best part of a week trying to escape across the Danube to Serbia due mostly to the unforgiving driving standards but also in part due to the constant harassment of stray dogs. Eventually, I made in to Bulgaria where the heat once again began to take it’s toll but after six weeks of cycling, I had finally made in to Istanbul where I was to meet Maria again.
After Sweden, I arrived in Estonia which is where I spent the next two weeks lounging around in Tallinn with my friend Maria before heading south on a six week trip through Eastern Europe. I took to the backroads of Latvia and Lithuania where the heat was intolerable and the traffic quite mad. In Poland, I lost my sleeping mat in a torrential downpour and spent a few days in Warsaw and Krakow. Slovenia saw me cross the beautiful Tatras mountains and this brought me gently down into the grand city of Budapest where I met up with a friend, Lazslo. After cycling through Hungary, I encountered Romania, where I spent the best part of a week trying to escape across the Danube to Serbia due mostly to the unforgiving driving standards but also in part due to the constant harassment of stray dogs. Eventually, I made in to Bulgaria where the heat once again began to take it’s toll but after six weeks of cycling, I had finally made in to Istanbul where I was to meet Maria again.
Having spent an amazing ten days relaxing in Istanbul, I headed out east along the black coast on the second part of the journey. As it turned out, it ended up being a good time to leave as there was a n attempted coup just ten days after I left.
The next three days saw me following the Black Sea coast across the whole of northern Turkey. The people I met were some of the most welcoming and hospitable people of the trip so far. The coastal landscape was truly stunning and afforded many amazing camp spots amidst starry filled, warm nights. The further east I cycled, the fewer women I met and the more cups of tea I was offered. I found the east of the country to be completely at odds with the west and it was truly fascinating to witness this change occur in real time as I slowly edged my way through the landscape.
After three weeks, I crossed the border into Georgia, and if I were to say that the scene that greeted me was a little different than to that of the previous few days, that would be an understatement of the highest degree. Casinos lined the coast whilst bathers lay lazily on the beach. Bars littered the road and vodka was being drank openly on the street. After three weeks cycling through Turkey, it was a complete surprise to say the least.
I spent a week cycling through the summer heat of Georgia passing by quaint little villages and busstling little towns. The dogs accompanied me throughout but were somewhat friendlier than they had been in Romania and whilst the driving was as mad as ever, I was at least fortunate that every second oe was a lada and with that, the speed was a little more akin to my own.
In Tbilisi, I applied for my Chinese and Azerbaijani visa: the former arriving within a few days whilst the latter took the best part of two weeks.
From Tbilisi, I cycled east through Azerbaijan with Furkan, another cyclist I had met in Georgia and we entered Baku after two butal days cycling in the desert and it was here I managed to catch a cargo ferry across the Caspian Sea to Kazakhstan, where Central Asia finally awaited me.
From Tbilisi, I cycled east through Azerbaijan with Furkan, another cyclist I had met in Georgia and we entered Baku after two butal days cycling in the desert and it was here I managed to catch a cargo ferry across the Caspian Sea to Kazakhstan, where Central Asia finally awaited me.
