Ian & Julie’s Slightly Less Big Bike Trip

And so we come to the end of our 2025 European cycling adventure. We had a fabulous four days in Delft, relaxing after our three continuous weeks of cycling. The hotel, part of the Social Hub group, was outstanding. Julie had only booked it because it was cheap, but it turned out to be probably the best hotel environment we’ve ever stayed. Neither of us had heard of the Social Hub before but we discovered it had been set up by a young Glaswegian guy, initially as an alternative form of student accommodation, but more recently morphed into a relaxed and friendly hotel environment, with a social conscience. They cater for students, hotel guests and business people, providing short and long-term stays, with co-working spaces. There are now around 15 operating in Europe. All very cool. We were checked in by Jennifer from Cheshire and later met the hotel manager, Sarah, from Timaru/Wellington. One of the best bits for Julie was the laundry facilities. They have an app where you can book wa...

Three weeks after setting off from Sophie and Chris’s house in Altendorf, near Zurich, we’ve completed our ride down the Rhine River. This last leg of our bike adventure has covered some 1,250km, spanning the river from its outlet at Lake Constance to Hook of Holland - the point where we started our European trip, off the ferry from Harwich, back in early June. Until a few days ago, our Rhine journey saw 21 consecutive days of cycling. We’re spending our last four nights in Europe in a hotel in Delft, luxuriating in a comfy bed, savouring being unencumbered by our bikes and tent, and playing at being normal tourists. From Worms, where my last post was written, the next overnighting point was the city of Mainz. There, we’d identified a campsite on an island in the middle of the river. Getting to it proved quite a challenge, entailing lugging the laden bikes up a large number of steps to the cycle path attached to a rail bridge, only to find we’d crossed at the wrong island. Then it was ...