Week 21: Bicycle Heaven – Life in Holland Route: Chamonix, France – Rotterdam, The Netherlands – Amersfoort 145 kilometers While hiking the Tour de Mont Blanc, we met a nice couple from The Netherlands, and once we told them about our plan to spend a month in their country looking for jobs, they insisted we [...]
Week 19: Romans, Romans everywhere Route: Nimes – Camargue – Avignon – Chamonix – Tour du Mont Blanc 215 kilometers We stopped in Nimes to check out the Roman ruins, which included a large amphitheater used in current times for concerts instead of gladiator events, and a temple dedicated to Diana that’s now a draw [...]
Week 17: Riding the Tour train Route: Ste. Marie-de-Campan – Tarbes – Rabastens – Lombez – Toulouse – Carcassonne – Quillan 430 kilometers The riders in the Tour de France had a day off on Monday, but we didn’t. After packing up, we rode 50 km to Rabastens, where we would watch a sprint section [...]
Week 15: More Port, please! Route: Porto – Vitoria, Spain 87 kilometers The best thing about visiting wine cellars and vineyards is that after learning about the wine, you get to taste it for yourself. My problem, though, is after I do the tasting, I forget most of what I learned earlier about how the [...]
Week 13: A bumpy road to Lisbon Route: Sagres – Setubal – Lisbon – Sintra 238 kilometers Heading north, we found we had fewer roads to choose from, and they weren’t as well maintained as the ones in the big tourism areas in the southern Algarve region. Surprisingly long stretches of road were paved with [...]
Week 11: Ahhh…Andulacia Route: Tarifa – Vejer – Arcos – Sevilla – Tavira, Portugal 443 kilometers Since returning to Europe from Morocco, the pace of our trip slowed down quite a bit. Instead of setting the alarm for the morning, we got up when the sun made our tent too hot for sleeping. Avoiding the [...]
The Big Trip Morocco Week 9: Cycling the Route des Kasbahs Route: Ouarzazate – Gorge du Dades – Gorge due Todra – Goulmima – Merzouga 345 kilometers From Ouarzazate, we headed out into the desert, a vast, empty, rocky landscape. In the distance, we could see the hazy outline of the High Atlas mountains. We [...]
Week 7: Welcome to Morocco! Route: Tangier – Chefchaouene – Ouezzane – Meknes 180 kilometers We arrived in Tangier and spent a couple hours cycling in circles through the middle of the city, searching for an ATM that would take our debit cards. I quickly realized I would need to give Bob a few lessons [...]
If you’re credit-card bike touring, travel is easy. All you have to bring is a change of clothes, a tire repair kit, a toothbrush and your credit card to pay for hotels and meals. But when you’re traveling on a budget, it’s a bit more complicated. In order to afford six months in Europe traveling [...]
