San Juan to San Pedro A friend once told me, when travelling and someone gives you advice on a must-do direction, “always choose the YES option”. Yesterday’s climb included a stop half way up at a rest area and church. This was shortly after a brief police interaction, but that is another story. A local …
San Sebastian Sitting upon a hill top, gazing towards Miramar Palace in San Sabastian. Basque country, not Spain; or so we are told (it is Spain really, just don’t tell the Basque people I said that). Views one direction towards the Pyrenees Mountains. The other direction takes in a small bay and harbour to die …
South to France – Dunkirk Skies are blue-ish. Wind has eased-ish. Time to take advantage of the conditions and hit the road south. The channel from The Netherlands to The Netherlands (Vlissingen to Bresken) has a major shipping port in-between. I mean, I’m fairly sure at any one time you can see around 20 ships …
Cycling south from Keukenhof towards The Hague. “Towards the south, and towards the warmth,” we cry. Our enthusiasm to straddle our steel horses is renewed. Courses are plotted with Mapout, some coastal, some parklands. Our journey begins within the pastural lands of Keukenhof. A kaleidoscope of coloured fields blind our eyes as we push on, …
Housing in Holland comes in many and varied sizes. Our trip from Amsterdam west toward the coast, went along many paths, roads, footpaths, cycle only highways and canals. The variety of housing was dramatic. From stand alone properties, through to terraced housing, floating boxes, old ships and work boats that have been converted to specifically …
Postcard Ah Amsterdam, yes it is everything….and I mean everything….that you have read on the postcard. The good, the bad and the ugly. Although, I didn’t see much ugly. It is a major city; so many tourists and so much traffic. It reminded me of a scene, from an underwater documentary where schools of baitfish …
Third time lucky Europe claims the prize, as being our third major bicycle tour destination. We are by no means experts; however as they say, third time lucky. I’m not about to broach the subject of how to set up your cycle, cycle kit or indeed what you NEED to bring. This is such a …
Slovakia If Vienna was Salzburg on steroids, then Bratislava ‘Slovakia’ is Salzburg after a nice bottle of red. Totally chilled and happy to see us. Food-again I rate the Bratislavan chef, as sculpting me a ‘five star’ meal. The euphoric culinary experience eclipsed any I have had, for a very long time. Cautiously selecting the …
Vienna Vienna Vienna. To put things into perspective, the populous of Vienna is very similar to other cities. I said similar, but certainly not the same. The 20-30 something lads were still out doing blockies through the main “…to be seen…” street. The difference here is the ‘lads’ are driving the latest AMG Mercedes, BMW’s, …
Salzburg, just come here… Postcard Mandy put it best. Europe is a wonderland, but Salzburg, Austria is the postcard. WOW on every corner, every moment, every street, every scene. Yes, they have a brewery where the beer is served in the same timber barrels that it was brewed in. Yes, they have majestic castles and …
Passau Medieval town, after Medieval town, it’s mind-blowing. After our night camping in Straubing, we roll into a town called Passau . Along the way I find a really cool tractor which is actually a diesel Porsche. Didn’t know they did a diesel. Let alone a tractor. Also, along the route we see evidence of …
A better way – for Cycling This is the land of the bicycle. They have embraced the most efficient machine known to mankind and laid infrastructure for all bicycles, cars, trucks and pedestrians in order to coexist in a utopian, harmonious, existence. Imagine, bicycle-only highways running parallel to the vehicular highways. Footpaths that include both …
