Ride Earth

Episode Three of the Ride Earth video podcast is now available to download! Sorting out their differences and changing the route, Andy, Tom and Mark cycle east, pick plums, make Jam, and sleep in some unusual places.

You can subscribe for free on iTunes or watch on the podcast page at www.ride-earth.org.uk/podcast/episode-three-amsterdam-to-switzerland/.

If you have any feedback about the podcast series, please drop us a line on talk@stringfilms.com!

The String Films Team

The first few days in Romania were mentally tough. We donned full wet weather gear and ventured into the terrible weather that the first day offered us. It was overcast, drizzle, cold and miserable. The road away from the border was full of lorries, one after the other, spraying bucket-sized amounts of water over us. In the morning we cooked a huge meal at a bus stop and washed pots in a puddle next to bemused-looking people waiting for a bus.

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We arrived in Romania a couple of days ago. We crossed the border and had a long night after realised we had crossed at a place we shouldn’t have.  We had to return to the official crossing and cross there.  It was dark, wet, lightning was striking around my feet, again, and the officials were stroking their moustaches with intent.   

We have the addition of a new member of Ride Earth, Maria.  We met her in Budapest.  She is cycling along on an old touring bike we picked up for twenty quid from the local scrapyard.  Last night we found a beautiful campsite on a hillside overlooking the vast plains that we have spent the last few days travelling across.

Romania, so far, is a feast for the senses.  It is beautiful, serene, wild, and moody.  Small farmholdings dot the land and shephards roams tending to their lifestock.  We have met a number of friendly people which we managed to communicate with despite the language barrier.  Romania promises a whole new adventure for Ride Earth.  It is a vast country with a range of geography, from imposing mountains to endless plains.  We plan to cross the Fagaras mountains in around a weeks time. 

Hello from String Films, the team behind the podcast series.

Great news - Episode Two of the Ride Earth video podcast is now available to download.

You can subscribe for free on iTunes or watch on the podcast page at www.ride-earth.org.uk/podcast.

The guys are currently in Hungary and have been filming every new adventure along the way.

We’re doing our utmost to make sure you can share their up and downhill adventure, but we need your feedback. So if you have ideas, drop us a line.

Now download, sit back and enjoy your journey with the guys.

The String Films team

talk@stringfilms.com

We pedalled slowly down the dusty track out of the last Hungarian village. An unsettled evening was in store - clouds brooded above, hanging menacingly as the air gusted and whipped around us, and the silence of the plains was interrupted only by the distant sound of cowbells on the wind. I had cycled a hundred kilometers, and was ready to pitch my tent and sleep, but the lure of the unknown drew the three of us onwards for just a little longer. The map showed a road across the border into Romania, and it would be a satisfying achievement to cross it before the end of the day.

The border itself came and went in a spectacularly anticlimactic fashion. It was nothing more than an unmanned metal barrier, which we instinctively skirted round on our bikes. The road went from dirt to tarmac, and we stopped, wondering uneasily if we had missed something. Surely there was more to it than that? But then, what with Romania joining the E.U., trans-continental travel was supposed to be a whole lot easier, wasn’t it? (more…)