I’m two weeks in to an extended tour. How extended? I’ve taken insurance for 364 days — the maximum on BMC, the only company that will insure for cycle touring, don’t require a helmet to be worn at all times, and allow entry to areas the FCDO advise against all but essential travel. The last one is crucial — there are plenty of places with this advice that I’ll need to cross, it’s essential if I’m not flying, and there’s no particular issue with it.
The question I’m being asked by everyone I meet is the obvious one: where are you going? The truth is, I don’t know. I want to cycle in countries I’ve never been to before, I want to cycle a long way in one go. But where to? That will just happen. So I normally reply with the next country, or the one after. This is a habit from when I used to Audax: if you say where you’re really going people think you’re mad, so you just mention the next café stop.
So where am I really going? Of course I have some ideas.
I’m starting with Scandinavia, I’ve never been to any of these countries before as the cycling season is short, and expensive. I’ve also heard that tunnels can make things tricky, with bikes being banned from some, and there are plenty of issues with ferries. I have the time to cope with these things now.
I’ll then head down through Eastern Europe. At that point I need to decide whether to head East to SE Asia, or West to go down through Western Africa. Both of these are heavily dependent on season, and I’m constrained by Schengen rules to 90 days in 180. For the Africa option I’ll need to bank some days by staying out of the Schengen area in Eastern Europe before dashing across to Spain, but not too early so as to follow the tail of the W African monsoon southwards. For the Asia option I need to be sure I can cross the Stans before the winter sets in.
I’m just two weeks in now. The trip to the ferry was split with a ride across the fens to Norfolk, then down to Harwich a couple of days later.
The overnight ferry is a fantastic way to start a tour, you have a comfortable sleep, a shower, then get off at 8:00 local time ready to go. Without dismantling the bike. So much better than flying where you either waste a whole day with the transfer, or you get up at 4:00 to get to the airport and spend hours getting through baggage and passport control.
The Netherlands is well known as a cycling paradise. The cycle facilities are World-Class, you really never need to ride on a road, except maybe a town street that’s been purposed as a play/home street. Absolutely everyone cycles, including trips that British people would consider ridiculous to cycle. The paths between towns have perfect surfaces, are well-swept, and as a result they are well-used.
In Germany I suffered an eye injury, picked up in a hotel, which meant I had to lay up for a week to recover and receive treatment from the ophthalmologist. Out of two weeks, I’ve had a week of cycling. This is unfortunate, but at least I’m not on a strict time budget to get home.
So where am I going? Or specifically where am I going next? I’m in Denmark, the choice is whether to navigate the islands across to Copenhagen and Malmo, or head North and take the ferry direct to Norway.
I’ll decide in the morning!
