North – South bicycle journey
My name is Michał Sałaban and in May 2011 I started cycling from the northernmost point of Europe to the southernmost point of Africa. After almost 19 months on the road I was lucky to reach my destination. During that time I visited 25 countries on three continents. Those days spent on the bike have been the biggest adventure of my life... so far.
581 days on the road, 30,442 km cycled
Latest entries
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Farewell to mountains
Oct. 15, 2011 (day 150)
After relaxing in Cappadocia, time had come to part with Marek. We cycled together to Develi, where he headed north and I continued east. For both of us that meant few days of ...
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Into the Anatolian mainland
Oct. 6, 2011 (day 141)
Since the Swiss guys had left, my daily mileage almost halved. Pushing forward in their companion had been fun, and also had put me a lot ahead of the planned timeline, but being ...
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Repairs and regroupings
Sept. 27, 2011 (day 132)
The week we spent at Kerem's house was perhaps the most pleasant experience of hospitality so far. He invited not only us, but also four other cycling travellers: Sarah and Bryan from US, ...
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Leaving the Old Continent
Sept. 20, 2011 (day 125)
After the short visit to the Black Sea coast, we turned to the easternmost border crossing, near Malko Tarnovo. That meant we had to cross Stranja, a hilly and sparsely populated region of ...
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To the coast
Sept. 9, 2011 (day 114)
Bulgaria welcomed us with sunny weather, good asphalt roads and generally relaxed atmosphere. After the sharp Romanian contrasts between rich and poor, tasty folk art and plastic kitch, hospitable villagers and stupid drivers, ...
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Up and down again
Sept. 3, 2011 (day 108)
Our way out of Transylvania led through the last mountain range in Romania — the Fogaraş. These steep, rocky two-thousanders are known to many hikers, and also to cyclists, who are being attracted ...
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Along Carpathians
Aug. 28, 2011 (day 102)
What I really love in mountains, is that when one crosses from a valley to another one, the cultural landscape can change as much, like the people from both sides of the pass ...
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Maramureş in two turns
Aug. 22, 2011 (day 96)
We crossed the border of Romania with one aim in the mind: to leave the bikes and head back to Poland. Our friends' wedding was coming up, and we wanted very much to ...
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The sun shone again
Aug. 8, 2011 (day 82)
I had been planning that we would celebrate my 5000km. This happened in the village of Borinja, but due to the recent events, we were in no mood to do any celebrations at ...
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Welcome to Ukraine
Aug. 2, 2011 (day 76)
From the very beginning, Ukraine differed from what we had seen before. Bumpy roads, multi–wired telephone lines on wooden poles, small wooden houses and plenty of simple bars serving cheap alcohol, were the ...
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A country in a day
July 31, 2011 (day 74)
Writing a blog takes much time. So much, that after I had finished publishing the previous entry, there was not enough time to get to the border before night. We stayed in some ...
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Up to the mountains
July 27, 2011 (day 70)
Being two, Kasia and me, we could cycle a bit faster now. However, our way through the southeastern Poland has been more about meeting friends and family than about cycling. After having left ...
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The Polish company
July 17, 2011 (day 60)
Before entering Poland I had made several appointments. Across the homeland I would cycle with some of my friends, with a much slower pace and more relaxing activities. The route I chose for ...
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Meetings
July 10, 2011 (day 53)
After I had crossed the border, a sudden change took place. Instead of bumpy and busy road, there was a comfortable, flat cycling path along the coast. It cut through numerous beach resorts ...
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Latvian colours and sounds
July 2, 2011 (day 45)
Entering Latvia I had to merge into the stream of trucks going the infamous Via Baltica. I had done it already for some moment in Estonia, but this time I had no optional ...
