Leg 5 – Europe (+/- 3000 km)

Countries:

Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, Slovenia and Italy

My original plan for the leg after South America was that I would fly to Europe, but I hadn’t factored in the cold and wet weather in March. Hence, after finishing cycling in Chile I flew to the Middle East where the climate was much warmer.

The European leg of my cycle now became the end of my round the world cycle ride and after cycling through Oman and the United Arab Emirates I took a flight to Bulgaria.  By the time I reached Europe I had two months left and just cycled until my time ran out. 

The interactive map below outlines the route that cycled through Europe.

The blue route line is often not the actual route that I cycled, more a representation.  For the actual GPS tracks that I rode each day please scroll down and click on the Actual GPS links at the bottom of this page.  

Please click on the map symbols for more detail about each leg, and zoom in for a closer view of the route that I cycled through Europe. (the initial map load time may be slow depending on your internet connection)

Zoom in on the map for a closer view of my route

I started my ride in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, where I cycled south into the mountains for a spot of skiingIt was then time to head to Plovdiv to celebrate Easter with the localsI then crossed the snowy Balkan Mountains at Shipton before cycling north to cross into RomaniaI left my bike with friends in Bucharest while I flew to Malaysia for a weeks holiday with my wife before  I returned to cycling through Transylvania, Romania.  I was joined on this leg by two friends from England as we went in search of Count DraculaWe then caught a train to Budapest, Hungary where they flew to England, and I had a few days cycling on my own so rode to Lake Balaton to the south of Budapest for a few days R&RI then returned to Budapest and met up with another couple of friends as we cycled our way to Bratislava, teh capital of SlovakiaFor this leg of the cycle we largely followed the Eurovelo 6 cycle path along the River Danube.  The EuroVelo routes are part of a network of 15 long distance cycle routes connecting the whole European continent.

From Slovakia, I continued to follow the River Danube into Austria and it’s capital – ViennaFrom Vienna, I cycled south through the foothills of the Alp Mountains towards Slovenia.  As there are no bears or wolves left in Austria I was once again back camping.After crossing into Slovenia I made my way through the mountains towards Ljubljana, the countries capital before crossing my final border into Italy and cycling to Venice where I finished my year on the bike.

If you have any questions about my cycle through Europe I would love to hear from you – please click here to email me direct!   

Thanks for taking the time to read about my route through Europe and the final mention must go to the innumerable people who helped me out along the way. I would just like to say a huge heartfelt thank you as without you my journey and memories would not have been the same.

Click on the links below to see my actual GPS route tracks through Europe:

To see all of my GPS tracks through Bulgaria – CLICK HERE

To see all of my GPS tracks through Romania – CLICK HERE

To see all of my GPS tracks through Hungary – CLICK HERE

To see all of my GPS tracks through Slovakia – CLICK HERE

To see all of my GPS tracks through Austria – CLICK HERE

To see all of my GPS tracks through Slovenia – CLICK HERE

To see all of my GPS tracks through Italy – CLICK HERE

 

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