Tandem

traffic jam in Romania (2007)

In a previous post I mentioned  The Bards of Wales by János Arany which is all the knowledge that Hungarian kids have of the country. Using my travels and this blog in tandem, I've found a goal which is as important as my fundraising. I would like to give a little more information, on top of the bard poem, to anyone who doesn't know much about Wales. 
This region really deserves to be part of a wider international discussion, as a secret corner of the islands of Europe.
Besides this blog I have published a few comments about my impressions of the British world in Képes Ifjúság, a youth magazine based in Serbia, and will report on the trip and the (so far really positive) experience of fundraising in Press Szó, an online magazine for young journalists.

There is a fellow cyclist from my home town, I just call him Spiritleader. 

He and I didn't have many chances to cycle together, but when we did manage to hit the road, it was always like being in a very bright dream, pedalling away from reality into the haze.

illustration by EdE Sinkovics

As he wanted to join me this time, too, I'm  inviting him here on my blog for a tandem cycle with his blog, the site of his latest book, Cycling with Zoli the Turk!

Countdown

The final countdown started yesterday - two more weeks before the proper pedalling starts.

As there is not much time left, I decided to do cycle sessions around Cardiff every day as warm-up training.

Yesterday I rolled up to Barry.

Googlemaps said it was 10 miles away and would take 1 hour by bike. Pff, Google underestimated me - or so I thought. I was wrong.

The way to Barry was UUUUUUUp  'n downhill. Thankfully, there were a few hundred metres when the terrain was quite flat. I remember two of these stretches.

One was between Lavernock and Sully. There I had a feeling, a sort of flashback, from when I was in Serbia, on my way from Moravica to Kishegyes. I am on my way home from a wedding party, hung-over, feeling like a blossoming tree, sweating out the past, and breathing in a memory with every curve.

Fruska Gora and the white smoke of Kovin

Later, heading from Barry to the Knap beach, the town with all its closed down shops, and a street with all the too-colourful petrol stations/car services look like a mix of the crumbling industrial zone of Kovin in Serbia and the tax-free Andorra`s "petrol avenue".

But these are just minutes, and then I'm Running Up The Hill again.