I should have done this earlier, but you know what it's like....
Last year, I spent 3 months travelling by bike & foot 3500 miles following the World War One battlefields from Turkey to the UK. I went through 14 countries & over 4 mountain ranges. Except for a few dodgy towns in Turkey, I camped every night & cooked over a fire.
During my planning, I realised that I'd need to go as light as possible, but one thing that I couldn't go light on was my security & defense. (As it turned out, I was right!)
There was only one option for that & they were made by Cold Steel. I carried a Bushman bowie for firewood prep, toilet digging duties & a spear at night to make me feel safer. I also carried a modified Sjambok, cut down to 35" & with the pommel removed.
Now you might be thinking that I was being a bit over the top, as it was just Europe. But I'd say that it was just, if not more dangerous doing this type of trip in Europe than it would be in North America. As well as the wildlife, (bears, wolves & boars) there were the added risks from feral dogs, shepherd dogs (bred to kill bears, wolves & other intruders including me!), a not so small refugee problem & an unexpected bandit problem in a country that I didn't originally plan to go through!
So, I'd like to say a massive THANK YOU to everybody at Cold Steel, as your products saved my neck!!!
There's a bit of a feral dog problem in Turkey & the Balkan countries & they like to chase cyclists, but they didn't like my sjambok. It worked like a dream & I could even use it while I was cycling. Unfortunately it was confiscated by a Swiss policeman who obviously knew that it wasn't a fishing rod on top of my handlebars.... I didn't need it by then though.
I also got to test it on a man in Albania! I was riding on a single track dirt track through the mountains. (It was the main road!) Everybody I'd met in Albania had been friendly up till then, unfortunately he wasn't. He wanted my money & passport & despite threatening me with a rather large knife, the only thing he got was a few painful welts & bruises.
I also had to use my Bushman in anger too... I don't have kids, just a dog, so I love dogs & having to kill one still pains me now. But every time I look back on it, well, I didn't have any choice...
I was camped in a wood, on the shore of a lake near the Macedonian border in Greece. Like every night on my journey, I made a spear with a branch. Before this happened, I thought I was just being paranoid, but it probably did save my life...
I was attacked by a pack of dogs in the middle of the night. At first, I heard them barking & howling a couple of miles away, but I thought nothing of it, as I'd got used to hearing that at night. But after a while, I realised they were coming closer. They probably smelt the smoke coming from my fire. Anyway, I prepared for whatever by standing on top of a rock in my underwear with a tool in each hand. (Not a good sight, probably!) The first 3 were just medium sized mongrels that ran off howling after meeting the sjambok, unfortunately the third one also managed to somehow get it's jaws around it & took off into the night with it. (I found it by chance the following morning, about 3 miles along the road.)
I could see by the fire light that the next dog was much larger (I think it might have been a shepherd dog?) & I lowered the spear in order to keep it at bay, but he just ran right into it. It went into it's body just below it's neck & came out half way along it's back. I couldn't believe what had happened! (I still can't really!) It just ran straight onto my spear without stopping!!!
Fortunately the rest were more interested in barking at me than attacking & it ended as quickly as it started, but it's probably the nearest I've ever been to meeting my maker & it put the heeby jeebies into me for the rest of my journey......
I don't have any pictures of the dead dog, as my camera battery was flat at the time, but here's a couple of photo's showing me & my equipment. (If look closely, you can see the sjambok on top of my bar bag.)
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Thanks.:thumbup:
Last year, I spent 3 months travelling by bike & foot 3500 miles following the World War One battlefields from Turkey to the UK. I went through 14 countries & over 4 mountain ranges. Except for a few dodgy towns in Turkey, I camped every night & cooked over a fire.
During my planning, I realised that I'd need to go as light as possible, but one thing that I couldn't go light on was my security & defense. (As it turned out, I was right!)
There was only one option for that & they were made by Cold Steel. I carried a Bushman bowie for firewood prep, toilet digging duties & a spear at night to make me feel safer. I also carried a modified Sjambok, cut down to 35" & with the pommel removed.
Now you might be thinking that I was being a bit over the top, as it was just Europe. But I'd say that it was just, if not more dangerous doing this type of trip in Europe than it would be in North America. As well as the wildlife, (bears, wolves & boars) there were the added risks from feral dogs, shepherd dogs (bred to kill bears, wolves & other intruders including me!), a not so small refugee problem & an unexpected bandit problem in a country that I didn't originally plan to go through!
So, I'd like to say a massive THANK YOU to everybody at Cold Steel, as your products saved my neck!!!
There's a bit of a feral dog problem in Turkey & the Balkan countries & they like to chase cyclists, but they didn't like my sjambok. It worked like a dream & I could even use it while I was cycling. Unfortunately it was confiscated by a Swiss policeman who obviously knew that it wasn't a fishing rod on top of my handlebars.... I didn't need it by then though.
I also got to test it on a man in Albania! I was riding on a single track dirt track through the mountains. (It was the main road!) Everybody I'd met in Albania had been friendly up till then, unfortunately he wasn't. He wanted my money & passport & despite threatening me with a rather large knife, the only thing he got was a few painful welts & bruises.
I also had to use my Bushman in anger too... I don't have kids, just a dog, so I love dogs & having to kill one still pains me now. But every time I look back on it, well, I didn't have any choice...
I was camped in a wood, on the shore of a lake near the Macedonian border in Greece. Like every night on my journey, I made a spear with a branch. Before this happened, I thought I was just being paranoid, but it probably did save my life...
I was attacked by a pack of dogs in the middle of the night. At first, I heard them barking & howling a couple of miles away, but I thought nothing of it, as I'd got used to hearing that at night. But after a while, I realised they were coming closer. They probably smelt the smoke coming from my fire. Anyway, I prepared for whatever by standing on top of a rock in my underwear with a tool in each hand. (Not a good sight, probably!) The first 3 were just medium sized mongrels that ran off howling after meeting the sjambok, unfortunately the third one also managed to somehow get it's jaws around it & took off into the night with it. (I found it by chance the following morning, about 3 miles along the road.)
I could see by the fire light that the next dog was much larger (I think it might have been a shepherd dog?) & I lowered the spear in order to keep it at bay, but he just ran right into it. It went into it's body just below it's neck & came out half way along it's back. I couldn't believe what had happened! (I still can't really!) It just ran straight onto my spear without stopping!!!
Fortunately the rest were more interested in barking at me than attacking & it ended as quickly as it started, but it's probably the nearest I've ever been to meeting my maker & it put the heeby jeebies into me for the rest of my journey......
I don't have any pictures of the dead dog, as my camera battery was flat at the time, but here's a couple of photo's showing me & my equipment. (If look closely, you can see the sjambok on top of my bar bag.)
Thanks.:thumbup:
Just kidding. That is flippin awesome you got to do all that. I'm envious! 
