Day 171-172 – 18.-19. October 2013

It was raining again. I was not feeling like cycling and Marcin had a lot of work to do, so we decided to stay an extra night in this hotel.

The next morning I was ready at 9 am to go back to Romania. Besides a few clouds the weather was fine. At 10°C a little chilly, but over the day it was getting warmer. Only the wind was very strong and mostly from the front.

The first 15km of the street (if you can call it street) was very bad. But then I got to a just newly renovated road, only with some occasional holes and bumps.

After 65km I was at the border. Marcin arrived a few minutes later and we both went to our first border-crossing of the day.

First we had to cross the border from Ukraine to Moldavia. Only 2 km further there was the border from Moldawia to Romania.

I was finished in 15 minutes and was waiting for Marcin. He was not so lucky. He had to wait for several stamps, give his passport to different Ukrainian or Moldavian officers and then had to almost unload the car to find the serial number. At the end they wanted to see his medicines. He also had to pay the obligatory vignette for only two km of Moldavian road.

In the end the procedure took more than two hours.

The border-crossing to Romania was much faster.  We had to wait in line for about 30 min but the procedure itself took only a few minutes.

The first thing you notice when you enter Romania are the roads. No holes, no bumps, almost perfect.

It was now already 6pm and I still had to go 35km to our next hotel. At 6:30 pm isun almost set and the last hour I was cycling in the dark. With the condition of the roads it was not nice but OK to ride without any sunlight.

After 114 km I was at the hotel and was happy to stay two nights in this town.

Day 172: 114,14 km  all: 5701 km

Day 164-165 – 11.-12. October 2013

We overslept a little bit an because I was tired and Marcin had some work to do we decided to stay and additional day in this nice room.

The next morning we woke up early and at 9:20 am I was on the way to odessa.

The weather was outstanding with 17°C and no clouds. It took me only three hours to reach the border to Ukraine.

The Moldavian border was no problem and took only 15 minutes to cross.

After about 5 Km we were wondering if there was an Ukrainian border. But finally there was another checkpoint. For me it was a very fast crossing, because I think I accidentally  just did not stop for custom. For Marcin and the car it took a little bit longer, but he did not have any problems.

After the border we stopped at the first filling station to eat something. Marcin went on and contacted the landlord of our apartment in Odessa. We found a nice apartment for a few days for only 9€ per day and person.

I still had to do 60 km to odessa. At about 5 pm I reached the apartment. It was at the 16th floor, but the elevator was big enough to carry my bike so we took it up and stored it on the balcony.

The bad roads, especially in Ukraine and Moldavia took its first toll. My back wheel / rim is broken. Some spokes are out of the rim and some crakes are in the rim.

So the next days I have to find a new rim in odessa.

Border, Ukaine

Day 165: 107,84 km  all: 5401 km

Day 163 – 10. October 2013

After I said goodbye to our host and new friend Faisal, I departed to the south in direction to Odessa.

Marcin and I found a hotel in 100 km distance and I was heading there.

After I was finally out of Chisinau the traffic was getting better. It was cloudy with 15°C and the road was sometimes a  hilly.

In the afternoon I meat another long term cyclist.

Anton is from Romania (www.antonduma.ro) and on this trip through Europe he is now 3 years on the road. In a few days he is home and will take a brake till he is again on it´s way. We talked for a while and we found out that we have a lot in common.

In the evening Marcin and I meet at the Hotel and got a nice big room in a new renovated building.

Day 163: 103,64 km  all: 5294 km

Day 161-162 – 8-9. October 2013

We went to Chisinau city center for sightseeing, had lunch with our host and were resting and talking the rest of the time.

On wednesday evening Faisal took us to a restaurant for a charity quiz event. We were not the best but had a lot of fun.

Day 160 – 7. October 2013

After breakfast I started to cycle to the border. It was only about 18km and after one hour I reached the border and waited for Marcin.

A few minutes later Marcin arrived and we both crossed the border to Moldova. The whole procedure took about one hour and we were glad that there was no real harassment.

Once in Moldova I had to go about 80 km to Chisinau.

The weather was nice the wind from behind but the terrain was hilly. In the end I had to climb 1500m and also decent the same amount.

I reached Chisinau  at 5 pm, took some pictures and had to go through the city to reach the apartment of our couchsurfing.org host.

Faisal is from Pakistan, studied in Russia medicine and was for a pharmaceutic company in manny countries, which formerly were in USSR and also in the USA.

His girlfriend made dinner and we all had a nice evening. Later that evening two french reporter came and also stayed the night in his appartment.

Day 160: 104.40 km  all: 5190 km