The places where we have cycled.
If you’d ask us what makes bicycle touring so great, our answer would be: freedom. Since we live in an overcrowded country, which can be oppressive, we constantly search for remote areas while bicycle touring. To really experience that happy shiver down our spines as we feel totally free surrounded by vast landscapes. Not another soul in sight. Does Italy have the answer to our desire?
“I’m sorry, but the City Night Line doesn’t stop in Utrecht Central Station tonight. You need to get to Arnhem quickly!”
“Say what?!?”
It sounded so much more convenient: an overnight train to Vienna, Austria and no hassle with packing our bicycles safely for a flight. But our short bicycle adventure near the Alps starts with quite some stress…
“So, what’s in the Achterhoek?”
“I don’t know, I’ve never been there. Maybe we should check it out.”
“Sure, why not?”
A two hour drive later we find ourselves in Aalten, a village in the East of the Netherlands. We park the van and ride to a local farmers campsite, where we put up the tent and have ourselves a snack.
It has been a little more than six months since we rode into our hometown, so what have we been up to? Well, in a nutshell: meeting friends and family, finding jobs, looking for a home and giving interviews to local newspapers and bicycle touring magazines.
A hidden route in the Rio Bio Bio region in Chile for you to explore on your bicycle. As long as you love volcanos, pushing your bike up steep hills and crossing knee-dep rivers you should put this one on your bucket list.
A final memory of our cycling adventure across the Americas: here’s the short video of our bike ride in Canada! Check it out!
With mixed feelings and hesitation I hit the enter button, moments later a flight back to Europe is a fact… To say farewell to this cycling life in a decent way, we have booked a flight to London to cycle the final leg back to the Netherlands. We want to end this journey in style!
Word is that November is one of the wettest months here in the Vancouver area, but together with Paul and Jan and lots of raingear we are happy to take on the challenge and decide to cycle the backroads of Vancouver Island.
Here we are, 20 kilometers away from Whistler in British Colombia, Canada and my odometer jumps from 29.999 to 30.000 kilometers! It took us a while and we (I for that matter) are certainly not the fastest cyclists, but we definitaly enjoyed every meter of it. My heart jumps up too; full of pride and then instantly a more dark feeling emerges; the end of THIS journey is getting closer and closer…
Looking back at our cycling experience in South America, Bolivia has definitely been one of the highlights . Why? The main reason is probably because it wasn’t ‘easy’. The altitude, the rough roads, the lack of hygiene all meant we had to work hard in this country. And I’ve said this many times before, but the toughest moments are the ones I remember best, make me the proudest and become the highlights of our cycling adventure. Enough said, just go cycling in Bolivia and don’t miss out on these 5 highlights.