Marcel Nijman

Sleeping Bike

Part 4: Leova — Bilovodsk (1535 km)

The fourth leg of my trip went through just two contries: Moldova and Ukraine. The trip happened to coincide with the Soccer World Cup 2010. I had just three weeks for the trip, because I needed to be back in Holland in time for the Four Days Marches. At first I needed to get back to the place where I had stored my bike the previous year. The bus ride went okay, except for the Ukraine-Moldova border. Let me spare you the details, and just say that Moldovian border police doesn't like to hear 'No' when asking for a bribe. At the bus station of Leova I was met by Vasile Raileanu. We watched the soccer game againt Japan, after which I made a test ride on my bike. The rest of the afternoon we spend in the garden of the neighbors, eating garden fruits.

Leova — Comrat
Sun 20.06.2010 60 km

I left Leova at 10 in the morning. It was a good feeling to be back on the bike after a whole year. The surrounding views were great: wide hills and long views into Romania. I made the first stop at an artificial lake. A passing car lost its wheel cover when crossing a brigde; an unfortunate marking of the state of the road as well as of the car. In the afternoon I saw a rainbow in a clear sky. Amazing. After that, I entered the autonomous region of Gagauzia. The capital Comrat looks cleaner and has a better economy compared to the rest of Moldiva. Even though I had done only 60 km, I was quite tired, because the route had been quite hilly, and on a recumbent bike you use different muscles compared to on a regular bike. I chose a hotel in the center. The manager proudly showed me the exercise room and said that I could do some workout on the hometrainers. After a whole day of biking?? Maybe next time. :-) And I realized that I should have actually *used* the sun cream which I had taken with me...

Comrat — Căuşeni
Mon 21.06.2010 95 km

The day started with a visit to a local tailor, to get my pants repaired. One and a half euro lighter, I could start with the route for today. Just outside of Comrat a man stopped me and wanted to know where I had bought the bike. He wanted to buy one too, so I wrote down a few websites for him. My first rest was in Cimişlia. At a petrol station people adviced me to take another (better) road, which goes straight to Ukraine. Well, I came to see Moldova, so I continue on the planned route. The hills got steeper and steeper. Twice I had to walk to the top. A man invited me to stay at his place, but it was only noon. Too early to stop. In a forest, crockets were giving a concert. The last 10 km I wasn't going so fast anymore, and it was already late when I enter Căşeni.

Căuşeni — Bilhorod
Tue 22.06.2010 95 km

The first confrontation with my tight time schedule. The city Tiraspol in communist Moldova was close, but I had no time for it. :-( I first went back to the center to get yoghurt for breakfast. After eating the change (two pieces of candy) I left Ca's'eni. The route started with a climb, and a beautiful view over the city. A few hills later the road became nearly flat. Crops were being harvested. A motorist passed me. He was on his way to Kazahkstan. Me too, but not this year. :-) The border crossing with Ukraine took about an hour, which made a good time to have some lunch. In the first village I saw a nice church. When I was taking a picture, a man came running up to me asking if I had a permit for that. Permit? Never heard of such a thing. Turned out he was joking. He told me he was a pensioner who served in Eastern Germany. In Bilhorod, I quickly found a hotel which happened to have a large Russian library. After the short story Shutochka by Chekhov I fall asleep.

Bilhorod — Odessa
Wed 23.06.2010 85 km

After biking one hour I reached the Black Sea. In the resort Zatoga literally all houses have rooms to let. The bridge across the Dnistrovskij liman is protected by two militry men carrying machine guns. When I wanted to take a picture of the bridge they stopped me because of security reasons. Understandable, because this bridge is the only connection of the south-western part of the Ukraine to the rest of the country.

One hour later I saw a group of people walking on the main road. It was a funeral procession. Two people in front carried a large wooden cross. The procession passed in an atmosphere that I didn't want to disturb by taking a picture, but it was surely the sight of the day.

In the last village before Odessa it started to pour, and I had to take shelter for half an hour. In Odessa I was awaited by Vasiliy. He showed me to a bicycle shop where I left my bike for some repairs. In the evening he gave me a quick tour through the center, after which we met some people with whom we watched the German soccer game. The next day I spend mostly resting, and in the evening we watched the Dutch beat Cameroon.

Odessa — Mikolaiv
Fri 25.06.2010 140 km

A terrible day. I wanted to reach Mikolaiv that evening. The distance was just a bit more than I had liked, but I fit in well with the rest of my schedule, so I decided to continue even when I got tired. Things got worse when it started to rain really bad, and as the rain was not moving the only options was to go through it. The main road was flooded. A car passed me, and as we reached the lowest point of the road simultaniously, it soaked me with a two meter high wall of muddy water. After a quick change I could continue. At the next stop I saw that I lost my coat. I reached Mikolaiv, nearly too tired to eat.

Mikolaiv — Kherson
Sat 26.06.2010 95 km

The days started with buying a new coat in the center of Mikolaiv. Nothing fancy, just something to keep me dry.

In many parts of Ukraine the main roads are the only way to make progress, as secondary roads often lead to a big detour, and the state of tertiary roads make them unsuited for biking. But, staying only on the main roads isn't the most interesting, so I decided for the countryside. The second problem is that Ukrainian maps don't always correspond with reality. I must have missed a side road, because I reached a group of farms that I wasn't supposed to, and the farmers advised me to somehow get back to the main road. I managed that, at the cost of some extra kilometers, but at least I had seen something of rural Ukrainian life. Just before Kherson I found a motel.

Kherson — Kalančak
Sun 27.06.2010 100 km

On many places people were selling fruit beside the road. Some of them with a full selection of fruits, others with only one bucket. After Kherson the scenery changed. Some interesting sand dunes appeared. Just before Kalančak I had to take shelter at a restaurant against a rain shower. A good opportunity for a meal. The hotel in Kalančak wasn't much, but also didn't cost much: three and a half euro for a room, and one euro for a shower. I tried to imagine Kalančak in winter, with people shuffling on the uneven sidewalks past piles of snow, and cars splashing muddy snow on the sidewalk. Not a pretty sight.

Kalančak — Krasnoperekopsk
Mon 28.06.2010 60 km

I left the village on a small sandy road. No big detour today; the road was roughly following the main road. A stork didn't fly away when I passed. The road past close to the Black Sea. So close, that I thought I could walk to it, but a cliff prevented me from getting all the way to the water. A bit further was the start of the Crimea. A small border house marked the border. Only trucks were checked. In Krasnoperekopsk I biked around and found a hotel. Again, I could store my bike inside. I watched the soccer game between Holland and Slovakia in my room, and after that went to the center to eat. Just around the corner of the hotel I saw a sports cafe. Too bad I hadn't seen this before.

Krasnoperekopsk — ǅankoy
Tue 29.06.2010 60 km

When you go biking in Ukraine, you must be prepared for long, straight roads, a little bend, and then another long straight road. Today was such a day. After a whole day biking I reached ǅankoy. ǅankoy has an interesting atmosphere. Even the center consists of bended roads, small houses and garages. Very coasy. I stayed with Natalya, her husband and two kids. As they both like to joke, the atmosphere was great. We had some interesting talks, but unfortunately, the time passed fast.

ǅankoy — Geničesk
Wed 30.06.2010 80 km

After breakfast I set off to leave the Crimea. I passed the village of Ermakovo, where Yuri Gagarin was born. Then followed a stretch with water on both sides of the road. Technically, The Crimea has only a narrow connection to the mainland of Ukraine. A tank from the second world war marked the boarder of the Crimea. Even though the main roads are classified as motorways, it is not uncommon for a shepherd to stop the traffic with a red flag and to let his animals cross the road.

What works better than a sign to warn people to drive carefully? A crashed car! This method is used all over Ukraine. In Novooleksijivka I couldn't find a hotel, and was advised to continue to Geničesk. It started raining the last 10 km. I found a pension close to the beach. The spiral of the bed was so bad that I put the matras on the floor.

Geničesk — Prymorsk
Thu 01.07.2010 175 km

The first hour I biked slowly, warming up my muscles, having breakfast on my bike, and enjoying the sun above the sunflower fields. The road was long and straight again, except for the road around Melitopol', which had an interesting scenery. It was getting dark when I arrived in Prymorsk.

Prymorsk — Urzuf
Sat 03.07.2010 75 km

In Prymorsk I took a rest day. I didn't see many other tourists. The next day was extremely hot. ALready at 8 when I left the air felt like a suffocating blanket. I liked form shadow to shadow and took many rests. North of Berdyans'k there's a steep descent with a broad view over the wetlands. In the next village the map didn't correspond with reality, and I had to cross a few farm fields to get back to the road.

Ukraine has a long coast with the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, but except for the south of Crimea there is hardly any beach related tourism. Urzuf is one of the exceptions.

Urzuf — Volnovaha
Mon 05.07.2010 100 km

After 100 meters the chain broke! How do you fix a broken chain without the proper tools to do so? Fortunately, a miner who was staying in the same pension as me saved my trip... He found a nail of the right size, cut it, placed it inside the chain, hammered the loose end, and filed the other (rounded) end. Within an hour we were done. I say we, but actually he did the work. I did little more than holding the chain and watching in amazement.

After a test ride and saying goodbye I continued the day at half speed, not wanting to break the chain again. But all went fine. I passed the first mine befoee arriving in Volnovaha.

Volnovaha — Makeevka
Tue 06.07.2010 75 km