A long look back

A cup of coffee, a route, and off I go

Before I set off on another summer cycling foray, I want to look back at last year’s adventure that took me from the northern tip of Scotland to my home country, Switzerland. My blog ended rather abruptly on 31 July when I was still inWales waiting for the ferry to take me to Roscoff in Brittany. There’s no simple reason why I didn’t write anymore, but a mixture of several: The daily journeys got longer and longer because I had put it in my head that I would try to ride across all of France in less than two weeks. I was tired in the evenings on the one hand, but I also felt suspended in a mood of tranquil forward movement, with not a worry in the world. Also, I usually splurged on great food, now accompanied by wine rather the beer, and so I usually just plonked myself down on some comfy bed and started dreaming before the rest of my body hit the linen.

I hummed and sang a lot on this sun-splashed ride through France – with the occasional shower and endless hours of headwind. Following rivers and canals, mostly without much traffic, was relaxing and fun, but there were fewer adventures to write about than in Ireland and Scotland. Through the winter and the endlessly cold and windy spring, I kept completing a sort of travelogue. However, that would really be too boring a text to impose on all and sundry. Or would you like to read two or three pages about every single day I did not do much more than expose my head to the elements? I thought so.

Below, anyone that can be bothered will find a series of tracks plotting my route more or less accurately. You’ll notice a gap in Wales. The wind and the dodgy up-and-down cycling routes got the better of me there, and I took the train to get to Plymouth. As soon as they build a decent bridge across Bristol Channel that will spare me the long detour, I’ll gladly ride from Llanelli or Swansea to Minehead or wherever it ends.

On top of the tracks, I upload a summary of my 2012 trip. I’m still amazed that I did about 900 km more than in 2011, but obviously the land between Thurso and Porrentruy is mostly flat – at least compared to the Alps and the partly rugged Adriatic coast.

We’ll see what this years brings. I’ll take a train to Bari, the ferry to Dubrovnik and then carry on from exactly where I left off in August 2011, towards the Black Sea and, perhaps, famed Gagausia.

More to come in this blog, soon…

Thurso to Inverness

Inverness to Oban

Oban to Campbeltown

Ballycastle to Derg

Derg to Mullingar

Mullingar to Rosslare

Fishguard to Llanelli (Wales)

Roscoff to Josselin

Josselin to Angers

Angers to St Aignan

St Aignan to Moulins

Moulins to Chalons-sur-Sâone

Chalons to Porrentruy