When my regular hitchhiking partner couldn't start last summer's race on time, while the other teams left from Copenhagen, she and I met up a few days later in Budapest joining the others. She went by bus while I decided to use those extra days going down through Europe on my motorcycle.
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| The Großglockner Pass, Austria |
I set out from Aarhus on Madam Blue (my BMW) and rode down through Germany. A little south of Hamburg, I traded in the autobahn for the wavy German countryside and forest-dotted hills in western Czechia.
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| Going down from Großglockner Pass, Austria |
Longing for bigger and sharper contours, I entered Austria. The air was cold and sweet crossing the Großglockner Pass, and I may have shreiked a little bit underneath my helmet. My excitement stemmed in part from the fact that I was racing to cross the pass before an incoming thunderstorm.
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| A thunderstorm moving in over my camp in the Austrian mountains |
After a few days' riding, I left my bike at a friend's house in Graz and caught a bus those final kilometers into Hungary and arrived in Budapest. Our original goal of hitchhiking to Albania was changed to Bucharest so we headed further east.
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| Austria |
Getting into Romania turned out easy enough with the help of a Hungarian couple going on holiday and a truck driver and his wife heading home. We had less luck on the border as cars were full but we finally managed to get a ride south towards Bulgaria with to Georgian friends heading home from France.
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| In a camper heading towards Bulgaria with two Georgians |
Crossing the border into Bulgaria around 3 AM, the guys served us a late dinner with bottles of wine over a lot of talk through Google Translate before we went to bed sleeping in the head of the camper.
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| Georgiean ride into Bulgaria |
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| In the streets of Burgas |
Then we reached our own little goal apart from the common race finish line: The Black Sea in Burgas.
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| On the store of the Black Sea, Bulgaria |
Before we crossed back into Romania, we made a final stop in Varna. Here, we met some friends of mine from Denmark for dinner who happened to pass by on their interrail trip. Oh and of course we had a beach day. You need some rest from hitchhiking once in a while.
Then we completed the final stretch to the finish line. We got there by the help of a couple that originally said no but then they took pity on us watching as we tried to get a lift at a gas station for more than an hour and a caring father who dropped us off next to the Parlament in Bucharest, coming in second place.
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| Outside of Sunny Beach, Bulgaria |
We spent our time in the Romanian capital trying to defy the heat wave that was passing through the country a few hours each day while also enjoying some much needed rest and aircondition at our Airbnb.
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| Sibiu, Romania |
Then it was time to head back to Budapest. By the kindness of strangers (and the grace of God according to one of our rides), we made it to Sibiu and spent the night. This turned out to be a lucky and practical coincidence as I was able to pick up a hiking map of the Transylvanian Alps which I would be needing a few weeks later.
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| Sibiu, Romania |
Our final spoon of luck came when a guy pulled up on the outskirts of Sibiu and took us all the way to Budapest in one go (I highly recommend hitchhiking in Romania; shorts wait times (our record on this trip was very literally 10 seconds) and friendly people).
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| Trying to get out of Sibiu, Romania |
Back on the eastern edge of Austria, I picked up my bike where I'd left it ten days before and rode back up to Denmark passing through Vienna and Bohemian Czechia on the way. The final hours of the trip were spent getting soaking wet from pouring rain coming into Copenhagen. But I didn't really care. What a trip!
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| Camping in southeastern Germany |