June 2009
47 posts
HMA Belgrade, Stephen Wordsworth blogs about... →
Chris Hodge - British Embassy Zagreb - Saturday 27...
1700 Finally into Belgrade and I manage to shake off concerned tour-guides who think I won’t make it up the hill to the hotel - but I do and keep up with the field the whole way. My bike has performed brilliantly - not a puncture, snagged cable or snapped spoke to complain about. The rider hasn’t done too badly either! This tour (or blog) wasn’t about my disability. But more...
Chris Hodge - British Embassy Zagreb - Friday 26...
1600 We take the bus from Vukovar and head on towards the Serbian border. The last time I came to the border of Serbia with my bike was the summer of 1995. The Balkan wars were in full swing, Hungary was swarming with refugees from Croatia and Bosnia and the Serbian border guards looked at my bike and my passport and turned me back. 15 years on and the contrast is complete and very positive....
Chris Hodge - British Embassy Zagreb
1830 The final 25km into Osijek begins to hurt - but there is a real sense of joint endeavour across a very wide range of people of all ages from across Europe and beyond.
This morning I was engaged in high-level dialogue with a 12 year old Czech boy on who had the wettest pants - an honourable tie in a thunderstorm we decided.
This afternoon one of my riding companions was a British/Irish lady,...
Chris Hodge - British Embassy Zagreb
1230 Ok so I shouldn’t have underestimated the Slavonian mountain. I didn’t get into a low enough gear and ran out of puff just 500m from the top of a long slow climb. And when I stall on a hill it tends not to be pretty. But only a scrape to show for it.
Chris Hodge - British Embassy Zagreb
1900 Evening sun and Hungarian music on a rooftop terrace overlooking the Danube was a nice setting for dinner. I tried not to feel too guilty that I was enjoying dinner without having done the riding to earn it (yet).
Recumbent riders soon flock together - and some of my first contacts on the tour were with a couple of recumbent bicycle riders from Holland with who I could compare notes on...
WatchMilky way
Steven Fisher - British Embassy Budapest
14.22 We have reached Baja. 49km so far today (it was scheduled to be 35 so we are feeling pleased with ourselves for surviving). Next stop Mohacs where the Turks met the Hungarians and where we will meet the Zagreb team and hand over the baton. Actually we have forgotten the baton. Chris will bring it with him. We will get it off him and hand it back. Baja TV have just interviewed us. A chance to...
Steve Fisher - British Embassy Budapest
10.00. Several km under our belts. We are riding along a dyke beside the Danube. These dykes have been here for many years but perhaps they will have more work to do in the future if climate change predictions come true. Amongst our colleagues on the ride is Peter from the Meridian Cycle Club in Orpington. We had a nice chat - he was impressed by our Ambassador’s turning out for the opening...
Congrats to the Budapest Team
Well done Steve, Anna and Geory and not to mention Greg and family, for getting out in the rain this morning. It seems that the bike tour, like the European project, eventually moves in the right direction - but with frequent wrong-turnings, diversions and occasional pauses for reflection!
Hope that you can keep dry and enjoy a nice hot cup of tea at the end of the day.
See you tomorrow in...
Steve Fisher - British Embassy Budapest
19.30 Arrived at Hotel Kalocsa in town of same name. More than 50km (or 30 miles in UK terms). Team Embassy is sitting on a terrace across square from magnificent church. Peaceful. A moment to reflect on the day and what it means. Different things to different people of course. We have seen some lovely countryside, especially the Danube bank. We have seen some examples of a traditional rustic...
Steve Fisher - British Embassy Budapest
12.15 am. Dunafoldvar. Still on bus. Clothes drying out. Rain stopped. Have not seen Danube for a while, but driver seems to know were he is going. Nice to see a different part of Hungary. The real degree of EU integration and development should be measured in the countryside small twons and villages, not the shining globalised capital cities. Now seeing signs for ‘Danube bridge’. We...
Greg Dorey - HM Ambassador, British Embassy...
I have just seen off the participants in the Danube by Bike Tour 2009, sadly in pouring rain but still displaying huge enthusiasm. We all gathered in Kossuth Lajos Square at around 08.00 this morning. I am not sure if the dreadful weather forecast scared any participants off, but going on for 200 people were present and quite a lot of media. A team making a film of the project for the European...
Steve Fisher - British Embassy Budapest
10.30 am. We have cycled to Heroes Square. Bikes loaded onto trucks. We are on the bus, eating chocolate and sandwiches. This just increases the sensation we have of being on a school outing. As I write the engines start. We are off. We have a short journey to Solt, some 50km south, then lunch. So far we have cycled 4km in 3 hours. Moving slowly, and with some confusion, but at least in the right...
Georgina Szilágyi - British Embassy Budapest
It is 9 am. We are absolutely soaked. The organisation is chaotic. We are only running 10 minutes late but it seems like hours. At last the Ambassador is speaking. As press officer I was quite nervous whether he could deliver his speech as half of the crowd started off cycling in the other direction as the organisers wanted… I feel that the light at the end of the tunnel is far from within...
British Embassy Budapest team
Steve Fisher, 44, DHM at the Embassy in Budapest. The tour seemed a great way to see a beautiful part of Hungary and to trace a historic route that has linked European regions since pre-history. It’s good to link up with colleagues from other Embassies and I am attracted by the enlargement and environmental messages. I also want to prove to my kids that I am not completely...
Danube by Bike site →
This is the web-site of the organisers of the Danube by Bike tour containing full information on the route and events
Danube by Bike
About four hundred people will be riding the length of the Danube river in Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania next week as part of an idea inspired by the European Commission to bring people from across Europe together.
A team of staff from the British Embassies in Budapest, Zagreb and Belgrade will be joining in the Danube by Bike tour and riding a relay from Budapest in Hungary,...