Yonas and Corentin, our two committed cyclists, are continuing their journey eastwards. We left them in Serbia. We tell you all about the rest of their adventures!

Yonas and Corentin have been travelling east for two months now. They have already passed through eleven countries, discovered dozens of landscapes and met many cultures. It's not easy every day, but their motivation is still intact!

We had left our bikers in Belgrade. After visiting the Serbian capital, they continued across the country towards Bulgaria. Once again, it was raining. "We slept outside in an orchard before having to move to an abandoned house to dry our stuff", they recount. Before leaving the country, they tried out a Serbian-style haircut: "The hairdresser spoke very little English, so we managed as best we could. At the end of Yonas's haircut, she even took photos of the result. It was her first cut on curly hair!"

Then followed the crossing of Bulgaria, with very few contacts where to sleep and so many nights in tents, in forests and fields. And then a mixed reception in Greece: "After 4 hours, we finally finished covering the 10km of mud. We were exhausted and the bikes were covered in mud. We stopped at a café to rest and clean the bikes a bit. It was getting late and the managers offered to let us sleep in an abandoned room next to the café. Given the state we were in, it was worthy of a 5-star hotel. The only difference is that in hotels, the police don't wake us up at night to see who we are :)"

On day 37 of their journey, Yonas and Corentin crossed the Turkish border. "We discovered a people of legendary kindness. Everyone came to say hello and, in a single day, we received: 3 teas, 1 bottle of milk, 1 orange, 2 bananas, 2 chocolate bars, money (we refused several times but in the end he shook our hand and put a note in it 🫠 ) and all from different people!"

They then linked up with Istanbul and set their sights on the Black Sea:"We just had to cross a tiny mountain range and go from 50 to 1,300 metres in altitude, stay in the 1,000s for a day, drop back down to 100 metres in altitude before climbing back up to over 1,400 (we did a continuous climb for 20 km with over 1,000 d+, calves were bleeding). When we reached the plateau of our last climb, we hesitated to put up our tent to watch the magnificent sunrise. But luckily our good friend Sami came to warn us that there were bears (3 of which he'd come across) and wolves after dark."

With the goal of the Black Sea achieved, they still had to drive along it for around 630km to reach Georgia on 17 December.

After covering almost 4,500 kilometres, Yonas and Corentin continue their adventures and head ever further east, with Malaysia in their sights.

Don't forget to support them and, through them, Louvain Coopération's projects in Cambodia. They are counting on you! Thank you