Once we had the conception of the complete adventure we broke it down into 2 sections:  The paddle and the bike ride.

The Paddle

Stage 1 – Danube Kayak

We needed to research the Danube river and then map out a schedule that was possible. As adventurers we wanted to push ourselves but not so much as we would not be able to kayak the following day.

The daily schedule was created along with the maps. Our maps did not show detail but the track of the river. Each page was about 100km.

Our training started in New Zealand where we kayaked down the Waikato river, about 180 km’s in 3 days. Nic returned to Europe to get the kayaks made and get things ready there.

Andrew arrived in Europe and stage 1 was started and completed.

The Bike Ride

Stage 2 – Bucharest to Beijing

Once we completed stage 1 we turned our minds to stage 2: The bike ride…

We decided that Bucharest was the best place for us to start as it was a capital city and we would cross the Danube river hence making the connection where we paddle.

The planning now is making the daily schedule, maps and all the other necessary things to make the trip happen, like organising visa’s, 1st aid, bikes and of course getting some much needed training in as cycling is a lot different to paddling.

Time is a challenge as we will organise this stage in 10 months where people usually take 2 years of planning.