Cycling through tiny hamlets, towns and cities – along open countryside, forests, farms, lakes, coastlines, beaches, cliffs, rivers and over mountains – on tarmac, gravel, dirt and mud – in scorching sunshine, clouds, rain, hailstones, thunderstorms and fog. And that’s only half of it. I met hundreds of lovely people, seen some incredible things and…
My plan as of two days ago: Cycle back across the coast of the Netherlands, to Rotterdam, take a few nice pictures of windmills or something, and sum up my trip. Reality: Got to Netherlands, didn’t want to pay for boat across river, decided to take long way round via tunnel. Cycled 20km to tunnel,…
Baguettes, croissants, wine spilling over from France and fine chocolates, strong beers and… waffles. My journey through Belgium has been a true ramble. With an excellent map of the region, donated by the cyclists I met in Luxembourg (cheers!), it’s no struggle to go everywhere and anywhere, especially with the thousands of cycle paths. It’s…
A surprisingly interesting and very green city, Luxembourg is the heart, and really the only city of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, with around 100,000 people. Despite the political importance to the EU and the 100+ banks that are based here (contributing to a large part of the country’s wealth), it has a relaxed atmosphere…
One road. No turns. Great countryside. But lots of rain. After four excellent nights in Paris, I left on Friday morning, heading east towards Luxembourg. A few hours to break free from the urban metropolis of Paris and the landscape flared out once again into the beautiful French countryside with Autumn coloured sleepy villages –…
Yesterday I accompanied Dave to his work – a bicycle tour guide! Where we both have commutes through heavy traffic, I think my daily cycle to work was somewhat different to Dave’s. Mine – an old tram route across Glasgow, the most interesting sights probably being a small park, the murky waters of the river…
I think I’ve run out of luck with the sunshine. For the first time since I left Poland – over 3 months ago, it’s rained for 3 days straight. I’ve not had much luck with the roads on the way to Paris either. On Monday I found myself on a busy main road filled with…
For the last few days, I’ve been in Lyon, the second largest city in France. It’s a really fresh city and rich in culture. And unlike Paris (so I’m told), it’s much easier to walk around. But it’s really no problem here anyway, because like a lot of the other cities in Europe they have…
First things first, Saint Tropez is overcrowded and boring. Celebs have no taste these days. Anyway, the last few days I’ve made my way through epic thunderstorms, rain and yesterday a horrible headwind towards Lyon. But today it’s finally sunny! The lack of good weather has also made for a lack of good scenery, and…
Currently cycling down the south coast of France, from Nice to Saint Tropez. Last night I found an epic cliff-side spot for wild camping, with a hidden beach below. Can you see the tent? Going to the toilet in the middle of the night was risky business!
Yip, it’s officially the most terrible pun ever. ‘Nice’ is actually a really nice place. It’s one of the oldest human settlements in the world, dating to at least 300,000 years ago, and could be as old as 2 million. And it’s only been French for the last 150 years, previously belonging to Italy, which is…
Yesterday I cycled the 25km back to Monaco from Nice, pannier free, along the coastal road, instead of the main road. It was one of the best cycles I’ve ever experienced. Not only was it 27 degrees on a quiet Sunday but the surrounding coastline is simply amazing here. The road hugs the cliffs, gently…
The last few days have been tough. Waking from Lake Garda, after a thunderstorm during the night, I cycled 165km (100 miles) per day to reach where I am now – Nice, in France. The first two days involved cycling across the most boring farmland plains of Northern Italy to reach Cuneo. The traffic was…
From Venice, I cycled across the plains of Northern Italy, The Alps a permanent fixture to my right, quietly ebbing away both east and west until the horizon allows no more. As the sun set behind the small hills overlooking Vicenza, I swapped sunglasses for head-torch and pitched up next to the river for the…
Ahhh, Venice. Well I finally made it here, five days later than I thought. Cold, heavy rain followed me from Ljubljana back to Nova Gorica, but a strong wind was behind me nearly the whole way. My bags like a sail, I managed to confuse a few car drivers when they were overtaken by a…
Back in Ljubljana again. On Saturday night just when I went to bed in a vineyard in Italy, I realised I lost my wallet, with all my bank cards. So I had to make a U-turn from Nova Gorica and head back over the unavoidable hills to Ljubljana and to the British Embassy to get…
From Ljubljana my journey took me north, on the advice of the hostel staff, to see the real Slovenian countryside. A gently sloping back-road broke from the forestry surrounding Ljubljana to reveal the vast plains of the Sava Valley, a huge glacial valley leading directly into the Julian Alps. My journey was far from isolated…
On Monday morning I woke early to find my way to Ljubljana. I was camping just south of the city and although I was worried when I covertly went to bed that someone might find me and my tent, in the morning only one thing was clear: the fact that I was completely invisible. It’s…
I think it’s only rained twice since I left Budapest over a month ago. I guess I got so used to it being super sunny that I didn’t see the point in checking the weather forecast anymore. But early yesterday morning when I left Pula the air was hot and the sky was a blanket…
In the hostel in Zadar I met Jasiah, who was also coincidentally travelling to Silba, so we went together. Silba is a lovely, simple place. For a start, there are no cars allowed, only bicycles. It’s hard to see why you would need a car anyway on an island that’s only 15 square kilometres. Its…
Zadar is a coastal city half way up the coast of Croatia. It would be a quiet place were it not for all the tourists, despite it being the end of the holiday season. This city is far more geared up for the summer tourist as apposed to Zagreb, with ice-cream parlors, fast food and restaurants…