I started cycling from the snow-covered hometown, Gorenja vas, on the 6th of March in 2018 and reached the capital Ljubljana without any big difficulties two hours later. I spent the night in the dorm room of my friend from elementary school and on the next day I cycled to the village of Trebnje, where my aunt lives with her family. After two days the known world was behind me and the unofficial first day of my trip began. The trip from Trebnje to the capital of Croatia, Zagreb, was challenging because I got lost and in Zagreb I fell off my bicycle – the only time on my whole trip – after I had driven into a railway gap, but luckily only with some bruises. There aren’t many steep or long hills on the way to Serbia, so my progress was quick. I enjoyed my first Couchsurfing experience with an amazing Croatian family from Slavonski Brod and on that day I didn’t spend any money at all, which gave me confidence that my budget will last until the end. Serbia welcomed me with worse quality roads and a lot of stray dogs that chased me relentlessly. Nevertheless, I reached the capital of Serbia feeling great. In Beograd I took my first days off which were throughout the journey devoted to sightseeing, regeneration and bike maintenance.
Two days later I had one of the worst days of cycling on my entire trip. I made every beginner’s mistake I could. Firstly, I booked accommodation far away from my starting point. Secondly, I started cycling in bad weather – rain and strong headwind – I struggled to reach 10 kph on flat roads. Thirdly, I felt a pain in my knee from the beginning but still carried on. Moreover, I took a wrong turn at one of the intersections and had to do unnecessary kilometers on a gravel road. Everything was against me and it was slowly getting dark, and cycling in the darkness is not a pleasant experience, especially if your lights are not strong enough. On that day I made a promise to myself that I’ll never cycle after sunset again – and I kept my promise until the end. Eventually, I arrived at the city of Niš in the southern part of Serbia. A day that was necessary for me to learn a few lessons about bike touring. Since that day I’ve never started my day if it rained if I felt that something was not right with my body and I never booked a place to stay if I wasn’t sure I could reach it easily.
I left Niš doubting my ability to successfully finish the trip. Two local cyclists from Serbia joined me on nice roads, bought me a beer and chatted with me and time flew by. My place for the night was in a living room of a family house and I was being served some wonderful local food. The day filled me with hope and joy, as I looked forward to the third country on my journey. Spring weather didn’t spare me in Bulgaria and I had to endure cold and rainy days. As a rule of thumb I usually took a day off in the capital city and my stay in a hostel in Sofia proved to be a wonderful experience because local people and other tourists have already praised my achievement of reaching Bulgaria and dropped their jaw when I told them where I’m headed. After two days of massaging my knee and sightseeing Sofia, I decided to continue. Two days later a snow storm caught me in the middle of nowhere. It was far the coldest day of a long time and my winter cycling gloves didn’t pass the test. I warmed myself next to the radiator in a tiny room of a small apartment. However, I gained my strengths back. Waking up knowing that I will have to cycle all day became a routine and my legs felt stronger as well. The fear of the unknown faded away right in time because I had no idea what awaits me in Turkey.
