Blog

Rapha #Festive500 We’ve had our rest day in Zagreb, after cycling the Balkans from Athens. On Christmas Eve it is the start of our penultimate leg in the journey home. It is also the start of the Rapha #Festive500. Whilst … Read More

Tivat (Montenegro) to Dubrovnik (Croatia) Today was our last day in Montenegro and for once, the morning was bright and clear. We cycled around the coast to a small car ferry where a short €1 trip took us to the … Read More

Albania Sagiada beach (Greece) to Borsh (Albania) A short 7km stint took us into the hills to the border, which seemed in the middle of nowhere. If it wasn’t for the flags flapping around, we would have assumed the border … Read More

Athens From the ferry port, we cycled into Athens – every brick wall, every fence, every building used as a canvas for graffiti. In the centre, Christmas lights and Christmas shoppers filled the streets. The city holds ruins steeped in … Read More

Turkey Part 4 Murtici to Kadriye In the morning, we packed our bikes and went to say a huge thank you and goodbye to the owner. He couldn’t let us leave without a glass of hot, black tea. We swapped … Read More

Turkey Part 3 Goreme to Aksaray As we cycled out of Goreme National Park, we were still awed by the fairy chimney rock formations protruding out of the stone landscape. So much so, a thorn caused a puncture just so … Read More

Turkey Part 2 Fatsa to a Lokanta Today we said goodbye to the Black Sea coast as we turned our wheels south, into the heart of Turkey. We thought we had a companion to join us on this adventure, when … Read More

Turkey Part 1 Batumi to Ardesen The storm over the Black Sea refused to leave. It lingered there like thick grey glue smeared across the sky. After sheltering from some fierce wind and torrential rain the day before, we decided … Read More

  Lagodekhi to a vineyard (posh field) A new day and a new country; a lovely morning glow cast long shadows and we said goodbye to a friendly German Shepherd dog who was supposed to be guarding the Wine Cellar … Read More

  Flying from Shymkent, Kazakhstan to Baku, Azerbaijan After some deliberation, we booked a flight to Azerbaijan over the Turkmenistan Karakum Desert to avoid cycling many days through the hot dusty desert sandscape only to wait on the shores of … Read More

Osh (Kyrgyzstan) to Andijon (Uzbekistan) The currency exchange in Uzbekistan was on the cusp of a reform – going from a black market norm to the banks taking back control. In the midst of this confusion, we decided that spending … Read More

Kyrgyzstan: One of the most beautiful places that you’ve never heard of From Kazakhstan into Kyrgyzstan After exchanging the last of our Kazakhstan money (tenge) into Kyrgyzstan som, we set off into the morning glow of the sunrise towards the … Read More

Zharkent to Chundzha   We set off later than usual on our first full day in Kazakhstan, but for good reason. Breakfast included in the hotel price, so wont complain there then. Breakfast was a good start. Then we got … Read More

China Part 4: Leaving China   Urumqi to Liangzhouhu We arrived midday at the brand new, shiny Urumqi train station after a night on the sleeper train. On the train, we were given the top bunk of a 6-berth open … Read More

Cycling from Leshan to Lanzhou via the Tibetan Plateau (albeit the very edge of the plateau!) Leshan to Pengshan After waiting around for too many days, we wanted to get going and away from cities, but we had to start … Read More

China: Part 2 Panzhihua to Miyi We had anticipated that finding our way out of the city would be a lot more difficult than it was, but it was a pleasant surprise. We also bought face masks to avoid choking … Read More

China: Part 1 Indonesia to China The day before our flight from Indonesia to China, we popped to a bike shop and organised for bike boxes to be delivered to our hotel from the city. Instead of jumping in the … Read More

Having left New Zealand we got to Jakarta and instantly noticed a subtle difference. There were cars, trucks and motorbikes on the road – millions of the bastards! The first few days we spent trying to organise our visas for … Read More

Tongariro River With our new 4 wheels, we zipped away from Auckland in our van towards Turangi with the bikes now resting in the back. This is where we would begin our next house sit. We stopped for the night by … Read More

Umukarikari Track Trail Run Opposite from the main tourist hotspot of Tongariro National park and the towering volcanoes that dominate the landscape, are the Umukarikari Ranges. Scouring topomaps.nz looking for tracks that we could run we found the Umukarikari Track. … Read More

Hikurangi to Whau Valley Damn We were incredibly sad to say goodbye to Nico and the beautiful surroundings we had called home for the last 3 weeks. We left thinking that house sitting is the way forward to exploring New Zealand. Simply … Read More

House sitting We cycled to where we would reside for the next 3 weeks. No tent, no campsite, and not a cycle-touring host: we were about to embark on a new chapter of exploration courtesy of Kiwi House Sitters; time … Read More

Time to begin our cycle touring New Zealand – along with many other activities on our list! We arrived in Wellington, North Island of NZ, at midnight, declaring our walking boots, bikes, tyres and tents to the Customs officials, who scurried … Read More

Hobart (via Richmond) to Copping We said farewell to Hobart, the capital of Australia’s island state, where houses tiered the hills that rolled right down to the sea. We cycled on the bike paths along the estuary of the River … Read More

Devonport to Somerset With time to spare before our flight to New Zealand, we decided that the best option was to battle the rubbish weather surrounded by dramatic scenery – against the advice of a lot of locals who warned … Read More

Mount Gambier to Dartmoor During the night, we listened to the howl of the wind and drumming of the rain. When we woke, we peeked out between the blinds to see grey clouds. Despite this, we felt determined to cycle, … Read More

Geelong to Mt Mercer Our legs had been rested enough, the weather no longer scared us (much) and the forecasts suggested the ferocious winds may be subduing… We finally left Geelong again, after our heroic rescue from Saul. It may … Read More

Melbourne to Geelong It was sad to leave the city so soon, but we knew that we would be returning to Melbourne for our flight to New Zealand in August. We cycled through South Wharf and admired the shiny metallic sky … Read More

Traralgon to Port Albert We left our hosts in Traralgon with our bellies full from a couple of days of feeding. Just before we cycled away, our host kindly offered to deliver our panniers via car to the top of … Read More

Jindabyne to Geehi Although it is the start of the skiing season, we were heading over the snowy mountains past Thredbo, and hopefully to the other side. We felt confident that the roads wouldn’t be closed, mostly due to the … Read More

Sydney to Woolongong We did our best to stick to the cycle tracks to get us out of the city safely. The slightly disjointed nature of the cycle paths meant we were led to the back of industrial estates where … Read More

Port Macquarie to Taree June, July and August form Australia’s winter, where the popular trend along the East coast is to migrate north to the warmth, where the tropical Northern Territory becomes bearable and the southern state of Victoria experiences … Read More

Gold Coast to Lillifield Community Centre  Saying goodbye to our Australian home for the second time was harder, as this time we were leaving for a one-way trip to New South Wales and beyond – we can’t thank our Persian … Read More

Standing on the balcony of an 8th floor apartment looking out over the brightly lit night scene of Cairns, beer in hand, cool breeze blowing, we felt a huge relieve and sense of achievement to have made it this far … Read More

Mackay to Bloomsbury I awakened Will with a breakfast fit for a King (King William of Cycles): almond muesli topped with chia seeds, apple pie, cheesecake and vanilla ice cream. We rode off happily along the Pioneer River and slowed … Read More

Stayover at Tannum Sands With our heads down, cycling into the wind, we were on an incline just slight enough to dampen our speed, but just sneaky enough to start doubting our own fitness: is this even a hill or … Read More

After a lengthy and sleepless flight, plus spending far too much time in Kuala Lumpur, we landed in the Gold Coast, and was greeted by a smiling and happy Amir, a friend of Lindsay’s family who had invited us to … Read More

NORTH VIETNAM A rest at Phong Nha to visit Paradise Cave We had a well-deserved rest in Phong Nha, especially after completing our Strava February climbing challenge. We keep reading the life of a cycle tourist is slow and relaxed, … Read More

Hue to A Luoi We enjoyed a couple of superb, sunny days in Hue: catching up with an old friend, being guided through the morning hubbub at a local village market, buying our very own Vietnamese coffee filter (from a … Read More

After settling in Nha Trang for a few days, we were ready to celebrate Tet: the most important and celebrated festival in Vietnam. You could feel the excitement building among the locals, and the streets were becoming more colourful with … Read More

Ha Tien to Chau Doc Our first day in Vietnam introduced us to bustling food markets, beautiful rivers and the challenges of recognising what’s on offer for dinner. During our street-food dining, we learned a valuable lesson: having been dished … Read More

Sisophon to Siem Reap After the excitement of entering a new country, our enthusiasm quickly deteriorated after the 50km, long, straight, dusty, dull road to Sisophon. However, today was a new day and we had over 100km to get to … Read More

Khao Lak to Khao Sok National Park Cycling away from Khao Lak after such a great Christmas wasn’t easy, but we knew we were in for a treat as we headed towards Khao Sok National Park. The roads wound around … Read More

Back in the UK, Wilson and I live away from where we grew up; this means we are used to shuttling around over the Christmas period, where we hop from house to house trying to visit as many friends and … Read More

Tamalang Pier to Thung Yao Today we couldn’t stop smiling. It started off a good day as we were leaving the Malaysian island of Langkawi (or what we now refer to as Skankawi) and we were heading back to Thailand. … Read More

Surat Thani to Sichon – 80 km The weather on the island of Koh Pha Ngan was monsoon of a timid nature, with the presence of grey clouds and rain only lasting an hour at most. We were really pleased … Read More

Koh Pha Ngan is one of the three main islands off the East coast of Southern Thailand. Though sad to leave our bikes so soon after buying them, we were excited about the freedom rucksacks offer. And if we missed multi-discipline … Read More

Another excuse to buy more bikes! Touchdown in Thailand and the next morning we were already trekking around Bangkok in the search for bike shops. Knowing that we could well be spending a lot of money on new bikes and … Read More

  Nepal to Thailand With no onward flight already organised from Nepal, we visited our favourite travel agent in Pokhara (the very smiley Yadu from Cosmic Travel, who had arranged our trek around Annapurna) to help us secure a flight out … Read More

Wednesday 4 November to Tuesday 10 November Day 1: Kathmandu to Syrabrubesi, 8 hours by local bus Anticipating a long and arduous administrative process to organise our permit and TIMS for Langtang Valley National Park, we went to the Nepal … Read More

One of the catalysts for going travelling and exploring the world in search of adventure was the excessive amount of time I spent looking at websites such as National Geographic, RedBull, and Outside, as well as various websites of adventure … Read More

Wednesday 7 October to Monday 19 October 2015 Total time = 13 days Total distance = 180 km Day 1: Besishahar (820m) to Ngadi (890m) – 13km, ~3 hours Up and out by 6am, we caught a local bus from Pokhara … Read More

With a love of mountain biking, and surrounded by some of the biggest mountains in the world, it was only right to try and find two wheels to hoon down a mountain on. Lindsay, not quite as daredevil as I, … Read More

Tuesday 29 September 2015 – Our journey begins: Fly to Nepal. We used duct-tape to prevent the straps of our rucksacks getting caught in any airport conveyor belts and to maximize the chances that we will be reunited ‘on the … Read More

Namasté My soul honours your soul. I honour the place in you where the entire universe resides. I honour the light, love, truth, beauty & peace within you, because it is also within me. In sharing these things we are … Read More

My conversations with wiser owls made me realise that quitting our jobs and breaking free from the bubble of comfort was the right thing if new adventures, different cultures and a ripened outlook on life are being offered. I admit I was … Read More

As my birthday is shared with Christmas Day celebrations, I do get to enjoy a blissful ignorance of growing older, and the holiday festivities allow me to forget about it. Although I don’t consider myself old, at 26 years I find myself being more … Read More