Well the big day has arrived!!

Day 1 - Had a pleasant trip to the Channel Tunnel. After all the rain it was marvellous to get up to sunshine. It turned out chillier than I expected and I was glad of a warm coffee at Folkestone. The shuttle was running 1/2 hour late as a result of a problem earlier in the morning. Once onto French soil it was a blast via Lille, Charleroi to just south of Luxembourg to a little village called Dudelange for the first night. Chose the hotel because it was a Logis which normally has good food, but the restaurant was closed for the week-end.

Day 2 - was cross country to Augsberg - where the restaurant is also closed!! Hoping for better tomorrow. The ride was longer than I expected as I managed to get lost twice in Saarbrucken and Karlsruhe. The sign posts were all to local destinations with no major towns shown. Although I loaded the latest Garmin updates 'Miss Garmin' was also confused and kept 'recalculating' and asking me to go to the planned route. I switched over to compass and followed the general direction until I got back on course. How I wish there was a mute switch to turn off her irritating repetative voice but keep the compass running.Day 3 - Augsberg to Krems which was much flatter than I expected. There were some hills around Salzburg which looked like skiing country but then it was rather flat heading towards Vienna. Krems lies about 40 miles NNW of Vienna and was a delightful little town with ancient buildings and hilly cobbled streets where cars make a low rumbling sound as they pass by. I stayed in a family run Gasthof with typical Austrian food. What a welcome change from the Burger King the previous night!!

Day 4 - was a gentle ride to Budapest arriving about 2.30pm. On leaving the UK the temperature was 10C. It was 26C on the road today and 31C on arrival in Budapest. Off came the fleece, second shirt and scarf!!

I felt at home as I entered Budapest passing 2 Tesco stores, a Marks & Spencer and Ikea!!

I stopped on route for a coffee a few miles before the Austria/Hungary border and saw a UK registered car parked adjacent to me. It was a young 30-something Hungarian couple with 2 small children visiting family in Budapest to escape the British summer rain. I thought I made good progress in covering 1,100 miles in 3 and a bit days but it was nothing compared with this couple. They left Nottingham just 25 hours ago with only the husband driving !!

I am staying in a Mercure Hotel just across the park from the Castle Hill district of Buda, which is the ancient part of the city, overlooking the Danube and Pest on the other side. Thank you Internet. Got a special deal costing 80€ for 2 nights with breakfast included. How they do it I don't know as most of the other hotels are 100€ plus per night. No it's not a dorm with shared loo down the corridor - all mod cons as you would expect in a Mercure. It even has a locked underground garage.

When I checked in the receptionist asked if I wanted to park my bike in the garage at 16€ a night. I asked what it cost to park a car and she said the same - 16€. I said my bike has only 2 wheels and not 4 so it should be half price. She looked at me in an old fashioned way, smiled and said that sounds a fair deal and charged me 8€ per night.

Had 'romantic' dinner cruise on River Danube which was enjoyable but would have been better if shared with Davina !!

Sorry for not sending a Spot Oscar position last night which may have got some of you (Paul in particular) worried. I had a day sightseeing in Budapest and as I hadn't moved thought it unnecessary to send a Spot position. Will rectify in future.

Day 6 - the ride from Budapest to Belgrade. It was a bit like a typical British summer's day - lots of rain!! The frontier is like they used to be. A long queue to depart Hungary; a quick sprint across nomansland and then another long queue to get into Serbia. I dutifully pulled in having just got into Serbia, changed some money and presented myself at the insurance counter. The woman attendant looked at my 'log book', grunted insurance was not necessary and sent me on my way. I have a horrible feeling that for the first time in my life I am riding uninsured. When I leave Belgrade I shall probably take a short cut to Romania rather than follow my original plan and get back into an EU country where my insurance will be valid again.

I went out to eat this evening in the pedestrianised part of the city with a long cobbled street full of restaurants many of which are outside. It was 'heaving' with many street musicians and people inside engaged in raucous sing-songs. 2 courses from the a la carte menu, 2 beers and 10% tip set me back all of £11.50. What a difference from the EU countries I have just left.

When I booked the hotel on the Internet yesterday it said "some on site parking" which turned out to be exactly that - my bike parked in the entrance lobby!!

The ride from Belgrade to Sofia was uneventful but the ride from Sofia to Istanbul was longer than expected. I calculated the distance by stepping it off using dividers but the road zig-zagged adding about 80 miles. It took me a good hour to negotiate the border from Bulgaria into Turkey as I had to buy insurance and was given a run around finding the right building. It was 28C at 08.10 when I left Sofia which rose to 38C in the middle of the day. It was very hot even with all vents open on my riding gear.

Finding my hotel in Istanbul was 'interesting'. My GPS has now run out of maps and I had to use mark 1 navigation. It is a huge city with lots of signs meaning nothing to me + heavy unforgiving traffic. I got directions to the general area and then paid for a taxi to run the last mile with me following. Without this, I would never have found it.

Another case of poetic licence about parking. The Internet says "Free public parking is possible on site (reservation not needed)". Now I understand why !!

I am intrigued about this bowl like object in my shower. Do I stand in it; sit in it, on it, or what ? Repeatable answers on a postcard (or email) please.

This morning I went to the British Consulate and spent 2 hours being shown around the entry clearance unit and seeing how they process visa applications in Turkey. I was lucky to be introduced to the ambassador who spends part of his time in Istanbul and part in Ankara. The consulate is a wonderful old building built in the mid 1800's in its own large grounds which still retains a Victorian charm and style.

I am staying out of the sun in the height of the day and will venture out later to see the Blue Mosque and Topkapi Palace both of which are close by. As we are now in Ramadan I thought it would be better to eat some fruit for lunch in the seclusion of my room rather than possibly offend devout Muslims during their fasting.