Ian & Julie’s Slightly Less Big Bike Trip

After six days of cycling, we’re properly underway and starting to get into the rhythm of life on the road. From Malmo, we’ve gone around the southern coast of Sweden and we’re now slowly heading up the eastern coast towards Stockholm.  Biking out of Malmo on the first day, we were passing through undulating rural farming land. Much was with a tail wind and we were breezing along at a good clip. We took a cross-country route to the southern coast with a lunch stop once we’d reached a little port. There, we were approached by Kenneth, a journalist based in Uppsala, who was writing a magazine article on the cycling attractions of the area. He was intrigued by our story and took notes and photos - we may soon become famous. Tall poppy Our first night of camping at Ystad seems to have set the scene for our camping experience. We paid 365SEK (c. 63NZD) for a little tent site in a far-distance corner, bounded by a busy road, of a massive campground which catered almost exclusively for ca...

We’re finally underway on our European bike tour after around five weeks in the UK. Having based our trip around cycling, it’s been more than a month of family and friends. After walking the kids to school on Tuesday (10 June) morning, having a last coffee at ‘our’ local cafe (they already know our orders…), we packed our bags, loaded our bikes, got obligatory photos and set off from James and Tamara’s front door. The route from north London to Liverpool Street Train Station in central London - c. 15km - was surprisingly pleasant with cycle lanes, cycle paths and minor streets pretty much the whole way. There was the one jarringly steep hill (the clue was in the name - Upland Road) which reminded us what cycling with a laden bike is all about. Suited, booted and ready to ride The train journey from Liverpool Street to Harwich was equally straightforward, apart from the brief flurry of activity and stress transferring bikes from one platform to another at Maningtree, via lifts and stair...

We’re now coming to the end of the first stage of our post-work O.E. trip.  Since the last post, our pace has definitely slowed, spending most of our time in London, staying with James, Tamara, Eva and Josh. It’s been an opportunity to kick back, slow down, watch the world go by and smell the flowers. For such a long time during my working years, I’ve been driven and task-focused, always conscious of time pressures trying to get things done efficiently and expediently, before moving onto the next task. Ticking off tasks on to-do lists has been a way of life, both professionally and personally. Now, with our travels underway and the main logistical arrangements for our pending bike trip booked, we’ve had the ‘ time to stand and stare ’. There have been simple pleasures like walking the kids to school in the morning and then nipping into a neighbourhood cafe for a leisurely coffee. Sipping on my long black (necessitating careful instructions to the barista), I’ve looked out the windo...