Perhaps one of the easiest and still very picturesque cycling trips in Armenia is around Sevan lake. The lake lies high at the altitude of 1900 meters surrounded by beautiful volcanic mountains. From the cultural side you can see several medieval monasteries on the shores of Sevan and the unique Noratus cemetery where the largest remaining collection of khachkars stands.
The trip can be done in 2-3 days adding x-amount of days to take rest, swim and lay in the sun. We took 2.5 days cycling, and 1.5 days resting which was also dictated by the logistics. I will talk about it below.
After my trip from Amsterdam to Yerevan was over, I had done little cycling in Armenia. However, I had a plan – when the autumn sets in, continue southwards until the border with Iran.
I planned to do this in the middle of autumn when the weather is milder for cycling and the mountains become painted with the autumn leaf colors. I chose the first week of October and I think it was right on point with the weather; for the colors I could have waited for another week perhaps. But you always have to make a guess with the weather – the best educated guess it is.
My cycle trip to Sicily was organized rather last minute. I bought a ticket somewhere in November and a couple of friends planned to join me however circumstances made them all to drop out of the trip. I immediately thought that it would be an excellent opportunity to test my amateur bike touring skills for the big trip that would start in two months. My friend Fabio helped to find a good bike rental company and I booked my first night in Catania planning to figure out the other nights as I go. I will always have internet with me so this shouldn’t be a big problem. I also messaged a few warmshowers hosts, so perhaps I could stay with them instead of a hotel.
As there were no cycling routes in Sicily, I simply planned to cycle along the coast to the most eastern tip of the island where it almost touches the mainland Italy, continue westwards and turn towards mount Etna thus making a small loop. Simple. I didn’t know that this simplicity would save me from getting lost later on.
The morning I took the bike was 10th of January. It was a bit rainy but not cold. On the other hand I loved the January weather in Sicily and the fact that there were no tourists around. In fact most coastal places looked so abandoned that I could hardly believe that they can provide any kind of hospitality services in future. But I didn’t care much about closed bars and cafes. On the opposite, it was interesting to see what happens to these typical crowded tourist places when the season is over. It was beautiful and peaceful.
What’s the last time you travelled without your smartphone if you own one? Being used to something so convenient is dangerous. We rely on our phones for maps, weather, photos, communication, to book hotels and look up trains, manage our bank accounts. It’s not a necessity as all of these can be done in some other way but it’s a convenience – the speed and immediate availability.
When in the middle of the first cycling day my phone refused to charge I didn’t give it much attention – the route was easy, my hotel for the night was booked and I thought that I didn’t have much to worry about except letting my mum know that I am still alive. But gradually it became more uncomfortable as I couldn’t take photos, couldn’t transfer money to my checking account, maps would be handy sometimes and other little annoyances.
But something else happened too – I started asking locals for help a lot more – directions, distances. I have to say that I never expected Italians to be so lost when asked for help. Likely it was mostly because of the language but on the other hand some nations are excellent at communicating without having a single common word and I thought that it would be the case in Sicily. In any case there were enough of the helpful kind and at the end I got where I needed to be. The owner let me use her laptop and I made all the necessary arrangements until the end of the trip including handcrafted maps for the coming days although I have to admit they were not so useful ))
The colors in Sicily were amazing. The weather would change quickly like it usually does on islands but I remember that it always created beautiful lighting, even when it rained. In the east and south of Sicily there is lots of Greek heritage and I chose one of them to visit. The ancient theater in Taormina was a theater like any other but you could see both mount Etna and the sea while standing there and the town itself was charming. The balconies reminded me of the south of France.
After two days cycling along the coast, I turned inland towards mount Etna. The start was easy, slight uphill but I could manage it at a decent speed. Only little frogs were constantly getting in my way. On this road I turned onto, there were hundreds of dead frogs that were run over by cars and another hundred trying to cross it. It looked like the big migration of frogs of Sicily was doomed to fail but for my part I managed not to contribute to it.
After I left a pretty town where I stopped for lunch, the road started climbing at a lot bigger angle and it was getting harder and harder to push the pedals. And here too everything looked pretty but empty like on the coast. At some point I decided to take a shortcut through a super steep dirt road. It was a stupid idea, but it turned out brilliant. First I passed two dogs that seemed to belong to themselves only. They were alert but I kept cool and saying hi passed them as quickly as it was physically possible. My rental bike was times heavier then my own bike and, with the luggage I had, it made at least 20 kilos of a sliding down weight.
As I pushed I speculated about a miracle that will get me to the top of just this one impossible hill but I haven’t seen a car or a person for the last two hours and I definitely didn’t expect to see one on this little dusty path. As I laughed at myself, I heard a car engine, very soft one, but it was a car. Human mind is a curious thing. I dreamed of a miracle and it happened but I didn’t jump and shout for help. Instead I just kept walking and waved to the driver. Of course if I was in real trouble I would have behaved differently but there I knew that I will reach the top sooner or later and I didn’t want to bother the old man.
But Giuseppe was determined to help and stopped the car some five meters ahead of me. His car was a half-living monument to the auto industry. 80% of what was visible was destroyed, replaced or gone. A sheet of plastic played the role of a window. When G. opened the trunk I blurted out “impossibile” but he only laughed at me. The car was stuffed with all kinds of things from dry wood to gloves, coats, beverages and a bunch of funny pink schoolbags and there was absolutely no place for a bike and its bags. But not for G. He pushed things aside and made space for half of the bike. ‘It will do’, he must have said in Italian or maybe Sicilian. And it did, although for security I hold it from the inside of the car before we got to the top. My faith was by far not as strong as G’s.
We spoke nearly the same amount of French so that mixed with English that I pronounced in an Italian accent was our communication language. He apologized that he smoked inside the car and put some old French music. Thanks mum that I could recognize the tune and nodded in acknowledgement. He looked 70 or more but was cheerful and full of energy. His eyes however were the eyes of someone who had seen enough in order to appreciate a simple gift of life in itself. G’s car was his temple and bore all the necessary signs – icons, amulets, crosses.
He asked me if I believed in God, I said no. Then he asked if I believed in Jesus, and I said no again. He was stubborn like in everything he did I am sure. Third time – do you believe in Maria? My heart gave in and I said yes and seeing how happy it made him I didn’t regret. G. dropped me off near a small roadside restaurant with a statue of Saint Mary. I offered him coffee and cookies I bought earlier and he gladly accepted it for what I was very happy. When saying goodbye he gave me a bunch of mandarins and a picture of the Black Madonna of Tindari in Sicily. I still keep it as my talisman when I am touring. Perhaps I don’t believe in God or Jesus but I believe in good people and the power of their energy.
After Giuseppe drove away to his town, Floresta, all I had to do was to pull the brakes and enjoy the downhill to Randazzo. Once upon a time Randazzo was a big town in Sicily but today it is a small charming town nearest to the summit of Etna. In 1981 it was nearly destroyed by the lava eruptions. Cycling from Randazzo back to the south coast I saw different shapes and colors of the old frozen lava flows. It is fascinating to see cows grazing on fresh green grass next to a field of burned black stones.
This was an excellent trip. I tested my skills, enjoyed lovely sights and made amazing memories. I found Sicily a wonderful place to tour on a bike. It has beautiful nature, history, cultural heritage, good food and coffee, not much traffic and most importantly people with big open hearts.
During my trip I visited Czech Republic twice and both times I had a really nice time meeting interesting people. If you are good with maps then you are probably thinking why I say ‘twice’ if crossing from west to east should have taken me through Czechia just once in a straight line.
The secret is that I had been lucky to know people that gave me excellent advice and when you have such precious info, it’s hard not to follow it even when it doesn’t make any geographical sense.
So this story is about my second visit to Czechia, to an area called Mikulov. Mikulov is a town and a whole area specialized in wine-making considered to be the ‘center of Czech wine-making traditions.’ It’s a nice little town – though biggest in the area – with a lot of history and architecture. The wine-making area of Mikulov has a hilly green landscape mapped as the Palava Protected Area. If you decide to take a rest day here, you can make an excellent easy ride through vineyards, forests and small villages.
Beginning of spring Vineyards everywhereView on MikulovLandscapes around Mikulov
And that was exactly my plan – stay for a day, ride around and taste the wine of course. And it would be all good, if it wasn’t so hot those days in Czechia. During the day, when riding around Palava, I found it impossible to drink especially when I still had to many kilometers ahead. But I thought ‘that’s fine, I will have some in the evening instead.’ So I came back to my camp, had some rest and went out to the village to find a wine bar.
To my big surprise this area full of tourists – mostly locals – on Saturday when I arrived, was absolutely empty on Sunday. Shops were closed, bars and restaurants were closed – there was basically nowhere to have a drink or a bite. I was leaving next morning and, seriously disappointed in my organizational skills, I went to sleep. However the best was about to come.
Next day I was cycling out of Mikulov, climbing a semi-steep hill, when an old lady came out of her house and staring at me with her wide opened eyes she exclaimed some very surprise-expressing words in Czech. With my Russian knowledge I figured she said something like ‘I haven’t seen anything like this before’ meaning my loaded bike and perhaps myself.
I stopped trying to reward her curiosity with my sign-language explanations of who I am and where I am going. A little later she asked if I’d like to taste some of her wine, and of course I couldn’t say no…and why would I ?? The lady run into her house and came out with two short glasses and a laboratory flask looking thing that had wine in it. She was holding it upside down on her right shoulder and with her left hand she was keeping the wine from running out (I really regret not taking a picture but that could break the whole moment).
Like a pro – well, she was a pro – she poured us two glasses of her homemade Mikulov wine that was shining in the afternoon sun. I tohught to myself ‘this must be the best Mikulov wine I could ever find’. Not only was it actually good, but it carried all the joys of travelling and meeting the kindest and most hospitable people on my way.
After the first glass was empty, she said something else which I thought meant ‘would you like to taste another one?’ In fact, she was making sure that I liked it because next thing I knew was that she run back into the house and came back with a liter of her amazing wine and gave it to me. And this is how I almost missed but found the best ever Mikulov wine.
If, like me, you have had little experience in riding a fully loaded bike, your day 1 is likely to bring you some interesting moments.
As a well-prepared person, two days before my actual departure I decided to make a test ride. I attached the four panniers to my bike, filled them with all kinds of stuff I had at home in order to make the bags heavy and rolled out of my apartment in Amsterdam to cycle to Zaanstad and back. This would in total make 40 km, roughly the half of what I counted to ride daily on my journey.
The bike felt heavier of course but not drastically. I rode to the west of Amsterdam to take a ferry to Zaanstad, looking like a tourist and taking a picture with this classic Dutch statue. Just like a real day on the tour 🙂
This couple weighs around 6700 kg and stands high at about three-floor building
Symbolically, the statue was placed here to promote visiting the area by bike
I visited a friend in Zaanstad for a few hours and rolled back to Amsterdam. When the trip was finished, my average speed was at 19 km per hour and I didn’t feel more tired than usual. The test was a success!
But not quite my Day 1. So what did I do wrong after all the preparations?
Firstly, I underestimated the real weight of my luggage. What I put in the bags was likely half of the actual weight I took with me. Add to it the tent and the sleeping bag tied to the back of the bike and you will get a very heavy bike. Weighing the luggage only, I counted ~30 kg, and this was a BIG difference. The bike became a tank that was not just difficult to push but also difficult to handle at first.
The thing is when you add weights on the front wheel, it will take you a bit of time to master a new balancing algorithm of your bike. In fact, once you master this new way, it will be very unusual to ride the bike without the weights. Obviously, with time you will be switching these modes in your head (and hands) in a matter of seconds.
Too heavy to lift
We couldn’t even take a picture with three of us because the bike wouldn’t stand by itself 😀
And when my friends set me off from my apartment that day I was shaking and wobbling like someone who just learned how to cycle.
Mistake #2. I made an appointment with a friend to have a lunch in Utrecht which is ‘only’ 45 km away. “Three hours should be more than enough time to cover this distance even on day 1,” I thought. I was wrong, I was very wrong. 15 minutes after I said goodbye to my colleagues in Amsterdam-Zuidoost, a heavy storm fell from the sky, naturally with a strong headwind all the way to Utrecht.
I stopped to put my rain gear but first I had to remember which bag it is in (having finished packing at 4am that night I had vague memories of what is where). As it was March and the trees were still bare, I was already 20% wet when I finally found and put my rain clothes.
I headed into the rain and the wind with all my powers. In another 30 minutes I was nearly 100% wet and it wasn’t even clear what had more impact – the rain from the outside or the sweat from the inside. I must have looked miserable trying to overcome the weather but I was trying my best to make it on time. Well….I was late for more than an hour and soaking wet! One thing I regret is that we didn’t take any photo when I arrived. It would make for such a good laugh now 😀
Luckily, I was still able to catch my friend for a bit, the sun started to shine (exactly as soon as I arrived) and all the troubles were forgotten.
There are possibly many more mistakes that could happen to you on your Day 1 (read about Niel Gunton’s Day 1 here) but those were mine and I am happy to share them with you. And I would really recommend to make a true test ride with everything you have got to carry on your trip prior to the ride and not to make any time-sensitive appointments. Actually making strict appointments sounds like a bad idea to me anytime on a bicycle journey as there are usually too many unpredictable factors like the weather, roads, punctures, people and the beautiful views you have got to photograph 🙂
