and when I came up with the great idea of cycling from London to Paris for charity (http://www2.jdrf.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ride_homepage) my flat mate, Aisling, was more than willing to take on the challenge with me! Of course when we decided to do it, neither of us actually had bikes or even the slightest idea what to do if we got a puncture but we begged and borrowed and trained!
For practice I did the 42 mile Greyhound Challenge from The Greyhound Hotel in Shap (http://www.greyhoundshap.co.uk/):
to The Greyhound Inn in Grizebeck (http://www.thegreyhoundgrizebeck.moonfruit.com/):
In July 2009 we did it!
After that achievement there was no stopping me.
I got back to London after a very interesting celebratory night in Paris, met up with a friend and took a road trip around the south coast of England:
and the Isle of Wight:
then on to Ireland to celebrate the 21st birthdays of Aisling and I.
Of course I ventured home for a few days to celebrate with my family as well before I set off for my exciting tour of Europe.
Having only been home for a short while and needing to go out and celebrate my birthday with friend from home, packing time was limited and when I was picked up from my house to be taken to the airport I was still struggling to find a place for my right trainer....
In the end in joined the left trainer in my rucksack and with only my first night of accommodation booked at Hostel Giraffe (http://www.hostelgiraffe.com/) I boarded my flight to Krakow, Poland.
Having not really thought of specific places to visit but wanting to go through as many countries as possible I took advice of other travelers and made my way to Zakopane, a ski area on the border with Slovakia.
Of course there was no snow in summer but it was such a beautiful place and my hostel; Good Bye Lenin Hostel (http://www.zakopane.goodbyelenin.pl/mainEN.html) was amazing!
I walked part way and took the Gondola to the top of the mountains where the path marked the border:
Next I made my way to L'Viv, Ukraine to try somewhere off the main tourist track. I took a train to Przemysl...
where I found accommodation for £5 and managed to have a two course meal and drinks for £5. Bonus! When I arrived in L'Viv the main coach station was 8 km from the city centre which meant finding my way on to the correct bus to get in to town and find some accommodation. Of course no one speaks English and everything is written in Cyrillic. Thank goodness for my travel book, which i showed to the lady at the bus station counter and managed to get a bus number written down. I had no idea when or how to pay and was yet to pick up any Ukrainian currency but the bus driver was fed up enough and just waved me on. I had to take wild guess when to get off because I didn't have a clue where the main square was. Unfortunately my guess wasn't very good but I was lucky enough to bump in to an American who pointed out where to go. I made it to the tourist information centre where, to my relief, there was a lady who spoke English. She directed me to the hostel around the corner. As I went inside the building and up the stairs to the first floor where the hostel was located I was definitely questioning whether coming to L'Viv had been a good idea and whether I was actually going to manage to get back out again??? I thought my feet were going to crash through the wooden steps at any minute. I knocked on the door but secretly I was hoping nobody would answer. My wishes were answered and so I had my excuse to go and find a hotel instead. The George Hotel (http://www.georgehotel.com.ua/index.htm) was well priced and very central so I was happy to stay there and have a room to myself:
L'Viv was a wonderful city and I was surprised at how coffee crazy the country was.
I definitely had my fill of coffee and cake in this city :)
Leaving L'Viv wasn't as hard as I had thought it might be although it wasn't without difficulties. The first thing to know about trains in the Ukraine is that you need to buy your ticket in advance, queues can be massive, cashiers will close their counters whenever they feel like it and you need to work out which counter will sell you a ticket to the destination you want to go to. If that counter is closed then you just wait until it reopens!
I took a tram to the train station in the morning...
...and purchased my ticket for an overnight train to Budapest leaving later that day. Later, I returned to the station in the afternoon with plenty of time to spare. I manged to find out what platform to go to so then you would think it was fairly simple from there...... not in the Ukraine. There was only one platform number but each platform has two tracks allocated on either side of it. There was a train there when I arrived so I assumed it probably wasn't mine since I was so early. The more I waited the more concerned I was though so I took a chance on asking a gentleman if it was in fact my train that was there already and hoped that he spoke some English and could help. I think he was Polish but he didn't really know if it was my train but he was so helpful that he ran up and down the platform trying to find out from various conductors. It turned out it was my train and I was shown to my very cheap but very spacious cabin. I was amazed, it was my first experience of sleeper trains and I had hit the jackpot. I had my own cabin with bunk bed, sofa, sink and mirror.
At around 2:00 am I was woken by people walking down the train banging on doors.... we had reached the Hungarian border. The guards were taking everyone's passports, possible some of the scariest hours of my life. When they realised I was British they were very nice but being left in your cabin in the middle of the night without your passport, somewhere between the Ukraine and Hungary is not the most enjoyable experience ever. The thought of them selling my passport did cross my mind more than once. Eventually after 3 or more hours my passport was returned to me with my new Ukrainian stamp with a train image on it; having entered the country by coach my previous stamp had a car on it :)
Arriving in Budapest was such a relief, words were written with an alphabet I recognised, tourist info was at the train station, people even spoke English! I consulted the tourist information staff and was allocated a hostel that wasn't on the verge of collapse, I had returned to civilisation. Budapest was so scenic and split in to 3 main areas to visit: Buda, Pest, and Margaret Island. Being me I wasn't going to pay to look around so I took it upon myself to walk everywhere, by the end of the day my feet were definitely aching!
After Budapest my next stop was further along the Danube river in Bratislava.
This place was buzzing and I managed to get accommodation in the university as it was closed for summer. I only spent one day and night here but I would love to go back to Slovakia and see some more!
Still following the Danube I ventured in to Vienna and boy could I tell I was back in Western Europe, the prices were like London, but I wasn't there to shop I was there to see the city...
and enjoy the massive gardens they have there...
By this point I was starting to look forward to having some company on my travels so I booked an overnight train to Paris to meet my friend from home with his car. Not surprisingly this train cost at least ten times as much as my Eastern European night train and was no where near as comfortable. I was in a cabin comprised of six seats, five of which were booked. I was joined by two student around my age that had been studying in Vienna and were going home to France. Luckily no other passengers showed up so we were able to slide all six chairs in to a horizontal position so that we each had a bed for the night. Phew!
When I arrived in Paris it was my second visit to the city but I have still never made it up the Eiffel tower :(
My friend Ged picked me up at a tube station and off we went on our joint adventure through France.
The first destination on our list was Ged's parents house near La Rochelle. We had bikes, we had kayaks, we had a satnav and we were ready to go. We made our long trip down to La Rochelle and were very relieved when we made it to Ged's parent's house, it was such a treat after the hostels I'd been staying in since I'd set off.
We spent a few days relaxing, sightseeing, shopping, eating good food and drinking good wine. We also spent a lot of time trying to insure on Ged's car so we could share the driving but it was going to cost a fortune so the driving was left to Ged and i was designated navigator alongside Mr Satnav. A few days later our other friend from home joined us and our adventure could really begin.
Being the only girl and the only energetic and active one in the group I was desperate to see the Alps in summer as I had skied in France a number of times. Eventually they were persuaded and we made our way up...
and up...
to the mountains:
They were so beautiful in summer (the mountains, not the boys) and I was so desperate to try biking there but unfortunately I was the only one of the group that it appealed to so we played table golf instead:
We drove through a number of places in France, staying at various camp sites. We made it all the way to St. Tropez and along the south coast where we celebrated Ged's birthday:
From France we went on to Italy, driving through Monaco and Sanremo. We travelled to Lake Garda to finally use the kayaks we'd been transporting everywhere with us. We pitched our tents only for a huge thunder storm to begin and flood the entire campsite in a matter of minutes. I had never seen lightening like it and needless to say we slept in the car that night! The next morning was glorious though and we got out on the lake in the sunshine.
After Garda I managed to convince the boys of yet another favourite ski destination; The Dolomites. Our campsite in Alpe di Siusi was far superior to some of the others we had stayed in and we had an amazing view of the valley below.
After the mountains we drove on through Austria and Germany to find ourselves in Strasbourg where we enjoyed an evening by the river:
Our next destination was Luxembourg, a country non of us had ever been to but one that I hope I get chance to go back to in the future.
From Luxembourg came Brussels, a city bigger than I ever imagined it to be.
Next on the to do list was Arnhem and finally Bruges and it was just like the film:
From here it was time for me to head to Calais and back to the Lake District. Another summer of adventure over and time to go back to university for my final year
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