One Man And His Bike: Paris To Istanbul

One man and his bike: Paris to Istanbul

It was in 1889 that the original Orient Express train completed the Paris to Istanbul route for the first time. Rather than opting to get aboard the iconic orient express, I’ve decided to attempt to cover a total distance of 3870km by road bike. The route starts from Paris and travels through Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and finally finishes in Istanbul. I will be attempting to cover 3,870km in 50 days.

I am really looking forward to this challenge and can’t wait to set off. My journey begins on October 11th 2021, where I will be leaving the foot of the Eiffel Tower and heading East.

Having begun in Paris, and after a brief stop at some of its most famous sites, I will cycle on into the French countryside. The route through France passes through medieval towns and across increasingly lush, hilly and forested terrain, before a thrilling descent down to Munster, near the French-German border.

Inside Germany, I will cycle to Donaueschingen, the start of the Danube Cycleway, which I will follow off and on all the way to Budapest. It snakes across picturesque Bavaria through Ulm to Linz and then to Vienna. After a day spent in Vienna I will set off to Bratislava, the cosmopolitan capital of Slovakia.

I will continue on to Budapest and after a short rest there I then head for the Carpathian mountain range which promises to be one of the most challenging parts of the cycle. Following this, I will then head on to Bucharest, before crossing into Bulgaria and cycling along a series of secondary roads to Veliko Tărnovo.

Then it's on to the border town of Malko Tarnovo before heading into Turkey. After a few days exploring the countryside, I will finish the journey by cycling into Istanbul and arriving at the famous Hagia Sofia Mosque, which overlooks the city.

I am delighted to announce that I have decided to raise funds for the Charlie Waller Trust. The Trust was set up in 1997 in memory of Charlie Waller, a young man who took his own life while suffering from depression.

The Trust raises awareness of depression and other mental health problems and provides training to schools, colleges, universities, workplaces, GP’s and practice nurses.

Most importantly I hope that this challenge will continue to raise awareness for a cause that needs continued support. I hope that the funds raised will allow the Charlie Waller Trust to support people who are battling with mental health problems and to provide them with both support and sanctuary for dealing with the issues they face in their lives.

The cycling training is well underway, and I am so excited to get to Paris to begin this event.

Any and all support is both invited and of course welcome. I’m extremely excited to begin this challenge and any donation is greatly appreciated.

If you would like to see what I’ll be getting up to on this challenge please follow @one_man_and_his_bike_2021 on Instagram to see photos and videos of the trip itself.

Thank you!

Con