Nessebar Bulgaria

Friday 13 May

We are now in Nesseba, Bulgaria. Again a country of amazingly friendly
people.

The country side here is very lush with a lot of agriculture in evidence.
There is a mix of old communist buildings and the very new modern resorts
particularly around the black sea area.

We crossed the border from Romania into Bulgaria with very little trouble,
and continued on to Nessebar which is a big tourist region on the Black
Sea. Here we decided to stay for two nights so problems on the bikes could
be addressed and a little of R & R for those lucky enough not to be having
problems.

Nadia and Sasha are still catching up to us, and everyone is still on a
steep learning curve dealing with their bikes under Hub's dedicated
direction.

Martin White went ahead of us to Istanbul to meet up with his wife. He had
a few issues at the Turkish border so we will see tomorrow if the rest of
us are going to have any problems.

I will get Lang to do a report on the bikes when he has a moment to spare.

Bev

Bila Tserkva, Ukraine

Friday 29th April Bila Tserkva
Lang and I have been in Ukraine now for two weeks, 2 nights in Kiev and
the rest in Bila Tserkva where the bikes are being prepared, slowly but
surely. The saying all will be right on the day has passed through our
minds on numerous occasions. Our group of 18 riders have been arriving during the week in Kiev. Some
went off sightseeing, four came down to Bila Tserkva early and the rest
were collected in a mini bus from Kiev on Thursday morning. It is now the 1st May and here we are still in Bila Tsverka. The best laid
plans etc. Ukraine is unbelievable, the paper work and all the bureaucracy
is unbelievable, and there is such a laid back attitude to everything.
Urgency does not seem to register in the psyche of the locals here, and
corruption is alive and well. Some bikes are having last minute adjustments so we have postponed the
start of the trip by two days. On the up side our hotels are a good standard, the food and drink are
great and the prices are very cheap. The troops are in good spirits and
taking the slow motion in their stride. Keep posted for the convoy to roll out southward bound. Bev

The Great Side Car Adventure

In May 2011 twenty old Russian Army Dnepr MB650 side cars will leave Kiev, Ukraine to travel the Red Sea. As usual, Lang and Bev will be leading the trip with Lang on a bike and Bev, driving a tiny Russian car, going ahead to find camp-sites, hotels etc. Riders are from Australia, New Zealand and USA. It will take six weeks to cover the 6,000km journey cruising at only 60kmh(35mph) .

The route is Bila Tsekva, Ukraine to Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Jordan.

The bikes are closely based on the German WW2 BMW and are two wheel drive (the sidecar wheel drives as well as the bike giving terrific off-road performance). They are being restored to as-new standard by Alexander and Nadia Levchyk in Bila Tserkva, just south of Kiev.

The trip can be followed on this blog from 01 May 2011.