A Trans-European track was chosen from a list of 6 long distance rides published in the German MYBIKE magazine. The reasons to choose the track to Istanbul were twofold. On one hand this marks the first half of a ride to Iran. On the other hand the editors clearly advertised the track as being the most adventurous Trans-Europe route available. I generally don’t judge a book by it’s cover but the description alone caught attention:
A paradise for cyclists. The further we move to the east, however, the roads get worse, gravel roads and potholes increase. Instead of cars there are horse-drawn carts and the supply possibilities on the way become rarer. Always pack enough food!
A Trans-European track
The plan manifested itself to become reality in early September 2018. The track was set to cover 12 countries. Most of them I didn’t travel to before:
- Germany
- Austria
- Italy
- Slovenia
- Croatia
- Bosnia
- Montenegro
- Albania
- Macedonia
- Bulgaria
- Greece
- and finally Turkey
We started our journey heading east on a Saturday morning from the main station of Stuttgart. A few hours later it dawned on me. This was serious. The stats estimated a total distance of 3.400 KM and a total elevation of 38.000 meters and there I was after 4 hours: Suffering to haul around my gear even before leaving my home country. A hearty lunch and a nap later I recovered a little and as soon as we arrived for our first night I slept like a stone.
Cities and tracks
Starting from this day I made it a habit to start with enough sleep and eat as much as I could. Literally I shoved plate after plate to keep the energy level up and the wheels spinning. The track itself wound through amazing places. We travelled through cities like Munich, Salzburg, Bad Gastein, Trieste, Labin, Dubrovnik, Kotor, Shkodra, Tirana, Xanthi and finally Istanbul. The track led us along wild streams and capital rivers. We crossed mountains and saw beautiful panoramas along our way.
What does it feel like to ride your bike around Europe?
There is no way I could give a precise description of the multitude of feelings that arise during such a long bike trip. Fortunately we saw rain only during 2 days out of 33. This in itself seems like a wonder to me in retrospective.














