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 have more stories than kilometres on the speedo. But it had to end sometime. And now I’m disembarking from my saddle, taking my lifetime supply of vitamin D, and swiftly heading back to the island of crap weather. Where we drive on the wrong side, have a nonsensical and internationally useless measurement system and rollerskating to work is considered deeply uncool. So to keep myself amused on this six hour ferry home, I’ve compiled a list of some potentially interesting facts about my trip…
Total Distance: 8,115.6km (5,042.8 miles). If I cycled around the world at the same pace, it would have taken me 607 days. The world record stands at just 92.
Average speed: 20km/h (12mph). What I call…chilled.
Punctures: 0 – (crazy uh?) These tyres did over 1600km before this trip and there’s still tread left! For those that care, they are Schwalbe Marathon Plus Tour
Countries visited: Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Czech, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, Italy, France, Monaco, Luxembourg, Belgium. (just a tiny 7.14% of the countries on this insanely massive rock we are all living on)
Days spent cycling to a different place (actually cycle touring): 85
Days of sitting around/being a tourist/getting drunk: 85 – coincidence
Pictures taken and not deleted: 4,868
Longest distance cycled in one day: 227.9km (136.7 miles)
Hottest weather: Croatia, 40 degrees C
Coldest weather: Luxembourg, 3 degrees C
Cheapest hostel: Poznan, Poland. €8 (£6.50) Included all you can eat buffet breakfast.
Cheapest beer: Slovakia/Poland @ 1€ (80p) or less.
Most expensive beer: France. The cheapest beer in Nice was €6.50
The 8000km route I took around Europe in 2012
Go travelling. Go and do something different. Don’t live your life sitting around or working all the time: save up some money, get up off your ass, leave your country and go and explore. Don’t make excuses.
Go and take a good look at the world that you live in. You wont regret it. I wish I had done this a long time ago.
Hello!
I’m looking at cycling Paris to Luxembourg, which you appear to have done. This will be my first foray into ‘cycle touring’… Any route tips would be much appreciated – including any recommendations for campsites etc.
Email – janethomas_uk AT hotmail dot com, a response would be fantastic… Merry cycling, enjoy your trip.