Vienna to the Black Sea

[Gwylan]

Still hankering after one last extended trip.

Have done from Rotterdam to Vienna in steps over the years.

Anyone got any experience of the rest of the trip?
Yes, there is a route book, but experience is the best guide.

Look forward to informed information.

 

[matticus]

Where do you think you'll finish? Is the end of the Danube in Ukraine or Romania? :-/

 

[Gwylan]

Where do you think you'll finish? Is the end of the Danube in Ukraine or Romania? :-/

Quite, that is one of the present challenges.

But I have to get that far anyway. So I will persevere with planning 2023 but resign myself to have to do it in 3 parts.
But, time is not on my side.
Ukraine is presently off, Romania has some security challenges.

Might have to create a notional end point or something

 

[HobbesOnTour]

Still hankering after one last extended trip.

Have done from Rotterdam to Vienna in steps over the years.

Anyone got any experience of the rest of the trip?
Yes, there is a route book, but experience is the best guide.

Look forward to informed information.

I haven't gone past Vienna but I believe the further east you go the more adventurous the route becomes

As always, CGOAB would be my first recommendation for info and inspiration
Here's the journals from Romania
https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/locales/?locale_id=175&doctype=journal

If you use Facebook I'm pretty sure there are groups for that route and areas.

Good luck!

Edited to ask: what are the security problems in Romania?

 

[Gwylan]

I haven't gone past Vienna but I believe the further east you go the more adventurous the route becomes

As always, CGOAB would be my first recommendation for info and inspiration
Here's the journals from Romania
https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/locales/?locale_id=175&doctype=journal

If you use Facebook I'm pretty sure there are groups for that route and areas.

Good luck!

Edited to ask: what are the security problems in Romania?

Clearly not spent any time there! Romania, that is.
I survived various dodgy parts of the world but that made me anxious at times.

Will look up the link. Not on FB!

Based on earlier experience the German guides are pretty good. As you say the further east you go the more interesting things become.

We shall see.

 

[Alex321]

Where do you think you'll finish? Is the end of the Danube in Ukraine or Romania? :-/

Romania.

 

[Gwylan]

Well it's polarising to the Vienna to Budapest leg. Next.

Do I take Hercules, the heavy, battery monster or Pierre, the Peugeot lightweight tourer?
Camp or B&B?
May or September?
Solo or find another sucker to tag along?

Who is going to mention it to The Management?

 

[Bodhbh]

I did it a while back, 2012 I think. I enjoyed Hungary/Croatia/Serbia. The further East you go, the more attention you get. In Romania I personally found it a bit much, but I'm sure others would relish the chance to interact with the locals. It is also pretty flat countryside and by then you are not really following the river directly. It was October the wether was turning, and I didn't have the gear for it, otherwise I might have jumped ship and headed to the mountains.

 

[dimrub]

Coming back from a trip Ulm -> Passau along the same EV6, we met a couple of cyclists who did Vienna - something (I don't think they made it all the way to the Black Sea, maybe they did). Their main take on this part of the route was that it's boring. A lot less is going on there than during the earlier stages (and I can attest that Ulm to Vienna a lot is going on). We have this plan, my son and I, to cycle all of EV6 in stages, and we're leaving Vienna -> Black Sea till the end (and maybe will end up skipping it altogether).

 

[Gwylan]

Ulm, had a brush with the police there, very early one morning. Many years ago.

I went round the roundabout the wrong way - tired, no traffic and still thinking England.
A guy looking like a ice cream salesman stepped into the road. Expecting me to stop Didn't actually hit him, but he probably needed an underwear change.
Lots of sorry sir and all that. Got a rollicking in German and luckily moved on.

Anyway, it's polarising to Vienna to Budapest. Then on into Slovakia. Have connections to rebuild there

Assumes I make into the 4 score league still mobile.

 

[dimrub]

I'm back from France, so this is the next step for us now. Thinking Vienna -> Belgrade and maybe that's it, not sure the challenge beyond Belgrade is worth it. Appears to be about 750 km of mostly flat riding, so should be doable in a week. From what I gather, accommodations might prove to be a challenge so some proper planning is needed.

 

[Gwylan]

I'm back from France, so this is the next step for us now. Thinking Vienna -> Belgrade and maybe that's it, not sure the challenge beyond Belgrade is worth it. Appears to be about 750 km of mostly flat riding, so should be doable in a week. From what I gather, accommodations might prove to be a challenge so some proper planning is needed.

Timing is important. Gets very busy with touroids in the season if you do the Radweg. Good German language guides available.
Learned that from research. Done the, easy, Passau Vienna bit.
Vienna Black Sea on my bucket list. Likely to stay there.
Good luck

 

[dimrub]

Oh yes, I have the bikeline guides parts 1-5, with 3-4 covering Vienna to Belgrade - nothing beats those. I'm not sure about it being very busy - I mean, the segment leading to Vienna does, but beyond that - are you sure? If we're doing it this year, it will likely be towards the end of September (that's when we have the Fall holidays this year), so it will not be the high season anyway.

 

[EltonFrog]

I was going to start a new fred but I'll hi-jack this one. Quite impulsively and without an forethought the Fragrant MrsP and I booked yesterday flights to Vienna and we will be taking our Brompton bikes and cycling east to Budapest over 8 days and getting a train back. Folly? maybe, we shall see.

 

[Alex321]

I was going to start a new fred but I'll hi-jack this one. Quite impulsively and without an forethought the Fragrant MrsP and I booked yesterday flights to Vienna and we will be taking our Brompton bikes and cycling east to Budapest over 8 days and getting a train back. Folly? maybe, we shall see.

Shouldn't be folly.

The Danube cruise we went on a few years ago does Budapest to Vienna in one day, going upstream. So 8 days to do it on a bike should be reasonably leisurely. Though apparently it is 180 miles along the cycle path, which means an average of 22.5 miles a day.