Hello Antony,
I,m in southern Bulgaria, and, while the weather has been a bit cold for the last few days, it is not normal for this time of year, and will be warming up a bit in the next few days. You should have no problem travelling through Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania and Hungary in the next two or three weeks.
The quickest route is Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Austria and Germany. You should do it from Istanbul to London in four days, five at the most.
From Istanbul to us just inside the Bulgarian border is about four or five hours, depending on how long it takes to get across the border. From us to the border with Serbia is four to five hours and you can cross Serbia into Hungary in a few hours. Check, however, if your insurance green card will cover you for Serbia, if not it will cost you. I don't know how much for a bike, but a car is 120 euros, and the motorway through is a toll road. But this route is about a day quicker than going by the other route, which is through Romania, where the roads and the lorry traffic are very bad.
We have camping facilities, and, if it's too cold could probably find you a bed somewhere for a night if you're passing by. Check out our website.
All the best
Martin Jeffes
Sakar Hills Camping,
Biser,
Nr Harmanli
Bulgaria

50 euros for a bike :-(

It is going to be pretty cold on the bike especially through Austria and Germany. Probably warmer on the coast - ferry from Igoumenitsa?

Wayne

If you want to save time and be warm, there are two things to look at:

- ferries from Turkey (or more likely from Greece) to Italy
- motorail trains

Unlikely I know, but if you were to follow the advice above and dont take the ferry to Italy, but plan to take a ferry from Hook of Holland to Ipswich, then the train Villach (Austria) - Hildesheim (Germany) would be your pick. Autozug – Autoreisen auf die bequeme Art - Startseite has special offers if you book in advance, and I believe there's some funny special discount if you book online on a saturday. If you get a good deal including a sleeper car, then it might even be cheaper than the fuel, toll and hotel accomodation when riding (assuming you won't winter wild camp with your cold ;-)

There should also be trains from Italy and definitely across Switzerland if you take the other route, but I don't recall the routes at the moment. Maybe someone else can help here.

Unless you are in a big hurry I don't think the cold will be a killer.

My guess is daytime temperatures in bulgaria etc. would be hovering in the mid teens as highs, colder at night, but presume you are riding days only (I have been there a little earlier in the year but not that much), i'm sure there is somebody there who could be more accurate!

I would head across bulgaria and get to the coast. You will have to cross higher ground, either in Montenegro or Albania I think before it drops down to coast, but it won't be for so long. Once on the coast you are again probably in that 13-18 degree weather, much colder at night. Rain is anybodies guess!

The more you hug the coast the lower altitude I would think, avoiding the worst of cold. From top of croatia / slovenia you would have a choice of staying out of the mountains and taking a long route across towards monaco/ south of france. Or you just beeline it to london, which means crossing alps, and again, being pretty cold for a bit.

Anyway, that would be the way i'd go, I think a nicer ride as it's a beautiful coast, even out of summer, and I would defitely think a little warmer than the inland route. All depends on quality of your gear etc. The only negative I would say is it is less EU so you can end up paying more insurance etc. at border depending what you already have.

There are ferries as others have said, but it's really only if you save time. The worst of the cold will be after you get off the ferry up through the alps anyway!

Good luck! Wish i was in your shoes...

Seems you will be going slow-
Best tip: avoid the long haul through Bulgaria etc - wet, cold and frankly miserable.
Come out of Turkey and cross Greece to Igoumenitsa
Fast Ferry from there to Ancona in northen Italy
Take sleeping bag and go to top deck and sleep on bunk for dead cheap.
There is a shower/loo and coffe bar & snacks there too.
Easy peasy

We did this a few years ago.. although not from Turkey.. Very cheap and a great trip through the greek islands and then onwards to Italy. Some fantastic views too along the route depending on which ferry you take to and from.

If you go through Italy then up through France if you avoid toll roads it will be pretty cheap.. and as you ask not too cold. I am not sure that 200cc is allowed on the motorways it maybe worth checking.

Hey thanks guys for all your ınput.
I'm now ın ıstanbul and brought some wet weather gear for the rıde up through Europe.

I know ı'm properly goıng to freeze but hey ıts an adventure, rıght

cheers antony

Could you tell me how much it costs to take the bike with you on that ferry? thanks.

I rode most of these areas during two successive autumn seasons. Snow in Germany, snow in the Italian mountains (not just the Alps, but the interior ranges), rain with wind at 4 degrees C almost everywhere I went in Italy, sub-freezing temps most of the day in interior France, ice on the roads in Macedonia and Montenegro, etc. etc. etc. Plus short days, with darkness around 4:00 each afternoon.

I survived just fine and so will you, but it's a good idea to watch the weather carefully and not get too uppity about your abilities. I'd check the trains (they stop running auto trains right around this time of year) for backup, and I'd be prepared for cold, wet, misery from time to time. I'd also try to stay at low elevation, and near coasts throughout. Maybe you'll be luckier than I and be pleasantly surprised.

Hope this helps.

Mark

Plenty of usefull tips already but I would advice you to stay south as long as possible while going west. Indeed Greece , Italy and depending on budget the odd ferry-hop. Once in Italy you could head west to the flower-riviera, hugging the coast all the way into France. Once in France cross the country from south-east to north-west (to Calais, the chunnelcrossing is a breeze!) and if you want to avoid the toll-routes in France, use the "route national". Stay away from eastern or central europe if you want to avoid the cold! Good luck!!
Robert, Amsterdam.