Video: Barcelona Update
Almost live from central Barcelona…
La Côte Rouge, France
I’m about to enter country number 9, Spain, but this last ride in France along what I’ve seen referred to as the ‘Red Coast’ south of Argelès has, despite the cars, been a delight…
Cycling Day 36: The Pilgrims’ Nest (Near Villardebelle) To Perpignan
Eddy wasn’t just good, interesting company; he was useful company. Before the combined effects of the food, cycling and two glasses of local white wine (I know, sorry, I’m a lightweight) had had their effects, he talked to me about his own experiences of cycling through Spain and […]
Cycling Day 35: Béziers To ‘The Pilgrims’ Nest’ (Near Villardebelle)
Here we go. Apologies for the late update but I’m not going to move from my seat here in the garden of the Ibis hotel in central Perpignan until cycling days 35 & 36 are written. I may order another beer at some point. Life can be tough […]
Cycling Day 34: Nîmes To Béziers
I’ve just heard on the radio that the Prime Minister back in Britain wants a ‘cycling revolution’. Well, good luck with that but its a shame he wasn’t cycling with me yesterday as I made my way along the coast from La Grande-Motte towards Béziers. Some excellent examples […]
An Evening In Béziers
I tweeted earlier today pointing out how nice it was to spend Sunday morning cycling around an unknown town (see the next post for some of the pictures from Nîmes). I could say something similar about Sunday evening although in Béziers tonight it was without the bike…
Cycling Day 33: Villes-sur-Auzon To Nîmes
Today was, at times, at many times, a frustrating day. The wind, the roads, the signage, the route, the tourist destinations. They all conspired together. Perhaps they wanted to show me another side to Provence before I departed for the (mainly) flatlands of Langudoc-Rousillon, a meaner, grittier, kick […]
Rest Day 8: Mont Ventoux
Mont Ventoux is a place with iconic status but one about which I knew little about until just a few months ago. Scouting around for interesting cycling-related things to do whilst crossing southern France, I simply noted on the map that Mont Ventoux was actually in the very […]
Cycling Day 32: Gréoux-les-Bains To Villes-sur-Auzon
Time to catch up. I’m a little behind so if you are waiting for the story of Mont Ventoux, please bear with me as I first update you on cycling day 32. Even before I retreated to my tent at the end of cycling day 31, the campsite […]
Provence In Photos
Cycling Day 31: Castellane To Gréoux-les-Bains
Back in summer 2010 it took me 30 cycling days to get to Brindisi in the south of Italy from my home in southern England. It’s now cycling day 31 on this particular trip. I cycled 3,311km three years ago averaging 110km per day. I’m currently averaging about […]
Cycling Day 30: Nice To Castellane
Now in Castellane. This may not get sent tonight as 3G doesn’t seem to actually be 3G in this corner of the Alps of high Provence (that’s what the French call this department or county). Split infinitive there, sorry but moving the ‘actually’ elsewhere seems to change the […]
Video: Nice To Mont Ventoux
Rest Day 7: Nice, Côte d’Azur, France
Cycling Day 29: Limone-Piemonte to Nice
I can’t say for sure but it wouldn’t surprise me if great works of travel literature have been penned whilst sitting in laundrettes worldwide. If they haven’t, this short piece describing my cycle from the Italian Alps to the French Riviera may be a first. But I doubt […]
Video: The Tende Pass
Limone-Piemonte: Next Stop France
Cycling Day 28: Cherasco To Limone-Piemonte
May I first of all start with a public plea to the sign makers of Italy; sort it out! I experienced the same problems back in 2010 and am having to cycle through the frustration of the same signage ‘idiosyncrasies’ in 2013. I’m being polite. How difficult can […]
Cycling Day 27: Pragate (Near Voghera) To Cherasco
It’s now midday on Saturday and I’ve arrived in the town of Cuneo just above the plain of northern Italy. Not too high – just 550m – but the highest that I’ve been since arriving in Italy and from here over the course of the next 24 hours […]
Cycling Day 26: Cornovecchio (Near Cremona) To Pragate (Near Voghera)
It was the equivalent of one of those days when you turn up at work and just potter around doing bits and pieces but never seem to get to tackling the big issues in your job. This tends to happen for me as a teacher on the very […]
Video: 2013 Meets 2010 In Piacenza
Cycling Day 25: Verona To Cornovecchio (Near Cremona)
Time to catch up on yesterday’s events along the road to Portugal. Sometimes I arrive either too late in a place to muster up the necessary energy and concentration to write. In other places when I am staying with someone it would be rude to take myself off […]
A Morning In Fair Verona
Cycling Day 24: Venice To Verona
So where are you tonight? Who said that? It’s Ivan, Ivan iPad. Oh my… Haven’t we taken this too far? As I was saying, where are you tonight? Ask me for a Shakespearean quote Err… OK. Andrew, can you give me a quote from Shakespeare? Yes, I’d be […]
Cycling Across Italy – The Plan
My plans as they stand for the upcoming week are below. As always they will evolve, change, be scrubbed etc… as circumstances & events dictate. My arrival in France will miss the self-imposed deadline of the 1st August (quite considerably) but… If you have any comments or suggestions […]
Rest Day 6: A Damp Day In Venice
Cycling Day 23: Caorle To Venice
I started writing this last night but eventually gave in to the weight of my eyelids shutting… How could I not take a day off in Venice? That’s the plan for today but before that, I need to catch up on yesterday’s events, cycling day 23. I have […]
Cycling Day 22: Trieste To Caorle
So I find myself back by the Adriatic coast but this time in Italy. Just to the north of Venice in a place called Caorle. Or is it Porto Santa Marhgerita? I’m certainly staying at the (very busy) municipal campsite in the latter but I have cycled back […]
Trieste, Italy
Cycling Day 21: Novi Vinodolski To Trieste
Apologies. Another late update. The good news is that I am in Italy. I feel that I am at home. Which is very bizarre as I am not Italian, have never lived in Italy and have merely been an occasional visitor to the country over the last twenty […]
Cycling From The Unfamiliar To The Familiar
After my enforced day off it feels just like the evening before you return to work after having been sick. I am now more or less sure that I wasn’t suffering from dehydration after all and that my problem was a bug that I had picked up somewhere. […]
Rest Day 5: Novi Vinodolski
When I normally say ‘rest day’ it is no such thing. It’s a ‘day off the bike day’ but today really is a ‘rest day’. I won’t go into detail but I wasn’t particularly well yesterday evening. The symptoms were more associated with a bug of some sort […]
Cycling Day 20: Pag To Novi Vinodolski
Time to catch up on events of the last 24 hours… For the first time yesterday (cycling day 20) I suffered in the saddle beyond the point of comfort. I self-diagnosed myself as a little dehydrated, combined with that slight fever you can get from having lots of […]
The End Of Croatia Is Nigh
It’s not imminent – I will still be staying here tonight at some point along the coast – but I can see the end and finally another country. It seems such a long time since I crossed from Montenegro into Croatia. It’s actually only a week but it’s […]
Cycling Day 19: Skradin To Pag
This place is comedy gold but more about where I am staying tonight later… It was a very quick job packing up back at Chez Zorbin in Skradin. I had a quick chat with him before I left and he explained how he was an engineer and used […]
Cycling Day 18: Stobrec (Near Split) To Skradin
When I look at the map I don’t seem to have cycled very far today compared to the previous two. However, three days into my post-Dubrovnik campaign to make it over the border into France by the 1st August, the number of kilometres cycled has been comparable to […]
Cycling Day 17: Podaca To Stobrec (Near Split)
A few months after I had published “Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie” (available in all good book shops, a few not-so-good books shops and online), a chap contacted me to say how wonderful it was (honest) and I subsequently exchanged a few emails with him about […]
Video: Sunday Morning Thought For The Day
Cycling Day 16: Dubrovnik To Podaca
The plan over the next week or so is to cycle a minimum of 100km and find a campsite to stay in overnight. Today was day one of the plan, and it worked a treat! Leaving Dubrovnik and all the other tourists who had flocked there wasn’t difficult. […]
The Dubrovnik Festival 2013: Romeo And Juliet
The finest performance of Prokofiev’s Romeo & Juliet I’ve ever seen… It was a nice modern touch to include the theme music to The Apprentice as well. [Shut up & go to bed!]
Rest Day 4: The Sights And Sounds Of Dubrovnik
It’s easy to get quite snooty about the tourist crowd. I’ve already taken a few side swipes at the cruise parties that I seem to be bumping into (often literally) on a far too regular basis – and they are certainly here en masse in Dubrovnik – but […]
A Message For My Tutor Group…
The children at Gillotts School where I work had their final day of the academic year today. Here’s a message that I recorded for them this morning which they were shown during their tutor time. Apparently they appreciated it (although not the jokes…)
Rest Day 4: Dubrovnik Preview
These previews could catch on… Here are three photos from my morning. Full commentary & higher quality photos later.
Cycling Day 15: Tivat To Dubrovnik
If proof were needed (and can I say that it isn’t) that this was just one long mad dash from A (the Temple of Poseidon in Greece) to B (Cape St. Vincent in Portugal) then today was that evidence. Which isn’t needed. [Get on with it, please…] I […]
Cycling Day 15: Preview!
Haven’t had one of these before but I’ve cycled through some stunning places today… Here’s a couple of pictures to whet your appetite. Full update later in the evening.
Cycling Day 14: Ulcinj To Tivat
I wasn’t in the greatest of moods this morning when I woke. I had slept relatively well (who wouldn’t after most of a bottle of Montenegrin Chardonnay?) but was still narked that I had been taken in by the wide boy who had turned the patch of land […]
The End Of Albania…The Start Of Montenegro
Cycling Day 13: Tirana To Ulcinj
I can highly recommend this type of holiday if you want to delve into the variety of accommodation on offer within Europe. Last night I was having a shower in a wet room and then donning a white bath robe in a boutique hotel in was of Europe’s […]
Planning From Tirana To Dubrovnik
So… The next couple of countries are coming up fast; Montenegro & Croatia. Today is Monday 15th and the plan is: Tuesday 16th – Tirana to Ulcinj (Montenegro) This might be a long day in the saddle but I have just had a decent rest here in Tirana. […]
Rest Day 3: The People & Colours Of Tirana
Religious Harmony In Tirana, Albania
Cycling Day 12: Durres To Tirana
There isn’t a great deal to tell about today’s cycling (well shut up then!) but for the sake of completeness, here goes (at which point everyone has found something more interesting to do. Anyone still there? I could say anything! It’s all a lie! I’m really sitting at […]
Views Over Tirana, Albania
While you’ve been watching the cycling or cricket or just tanning yourself in the UK sun, I’ve been hard at work on the terrace of the Hotel Vila Alba here in Tirana. This is my view over the rooftops…
Cycling Day 11: The Llogoroja Pass To Durres
So, here it is, the tale of an epic day in the saddle, all 172km of it. In fact I’ll start by reeling off the statistics. When I cycled to Italy in 2010 I gave the statistics at the end of each day on the blog. (One reader […]
Tirana, Albania: First Impressions
Despite the very best efforts of the combined armed forces of Albania (the drivers & the roads), Reggie and I have arrived in the Albanian capital, Tirana. We are just about in one piece after the ordeal of the last few days and are going to be taking […]
An Englishman Walks Into An Albanian Bar…
…and they don’t serve food. It’s the bar under the hotel where I am staying for a ridiculous 15€ (I would happily have paid triple that; last night I paid double and had mice thrown in for free!). I sighed but they were very apologetic. I smiled, they […]
Thoughts On Albania
Like many probably most others I came to Albania with a number of preconceptions. In the main they have so far turned out to be false or certainly outdated. What I’ve discovered is a country that appears to be heading in the right direction from closed communist to […]
Heading North From The Llogoraja Pass
This is simply a stunning country…
Cycling Day 10: Saranda To The Llogoroja Pass
Where does one start on a day like today? The beginning I suppose. Waking up in the hotel room in Saranda and pulling back the curtains was akin to taking part in a nuclear test in the 1950s but forgetting to have turned around. The sun was beaming […]
The Panoramic View From The Bar Restaurant ‘Nivica’, Albania
I’ve been sitting here for far too long… but I don’t care. The view is breathtaking (as was the cycle to get to get here…).
Cycling Day 9: Ioannina To Saranda
If I had any real worries about cycling into Albania (they weren’t for dramatic effect, surely?) they have certainly been dispelled by today’s events. Waking up at the campsite in Ioannina was a delight. Looking out over the lake and across to the mountains is the kind of […]
Camping Limnopoula, Ioannina: The Kind Of Campsite I Love!
Put your tent up where you want, great view in the morning, green, friendly neighbours… (let’s just give the guy on reception the benefit of the doubt that he was having a bad day…)
An Evening In Ioannina
This really is another side of Greece. Isolated in the mountains as it is, the town is frequented mainly by locals and a few hardy tourists but if Ryan Air opened up a boat plane service between the Thames Estuary & the lake here, people would flock! It’s […]
Cycling Day 8: Kanali To Ioannina
Sitting here in a café sipping coffee on a rainy afternoon in the mountains is very reminiscent of summer 2010. Over the last couple of hours my mind has been cast back three years on many occasions due to the wet weather since I arrived in town… Today […]
Albanian Thoughts… & Shadow Cycling In Greece
Cycling Day 7: Mitikas To Kanali
It was indeed a shorter day in the end and nothing untoward happened. Following coffee in Mitikas it was a relatively short cycle to the much nicer Paleros where I had planned to meet Ed Cox. Ed is cycling from Bristol to Brisbane and he had contacted me […]
Camping Ionian, Mitikas: Not My Kind Of Campsite
From boutique hotel in Nafpaktos to this. Scruffy campsite, dodgy clientele, questionable facilities, somewhat derelict camping shower… The ironic thing is that I actually slept quite well. A shorter cycling day in prospect today. I’m meeting another cyclist called Ed Cox at 11am just 30km up the road […]
Cycling Day 6: Nafpaktos to Mitikas
I’m in Mitikas. Didn’t arrive until about 8pm but more of that in a moment. I eventually dragged myself away from the café in Nafpaktos and headed back in the direction of the bridge. It’s a very photogenic thing and I spent a bit if time snapping photos […]
Early Morning In Nafpaktos
So, from the jaws of potential disaster comes another pleasant surprise. In this case it is the small coastal town of Nafpaktos. It’s quite bustling on this Monday morning as the residents wake up to another week at work, play or (let’s face it for most of the […]
Cycling Day 5: Olympia To Nafpaktos
There are some days which, however simple you think they might be, end up being anything but. Today was one of them. Lets roll the clock back to last night. I do get frustrated on those ‘rest days’ when I’ve done the resting bit or in the case […]
Rest Day 2: Olympia, Greece
The reason for trekking all that way across the Peloponnese was, of course, to visit the ancient ruins of Olympia. I don’t want to make this to be too big of a thing but if you read my book about cycling to Italy you may remember that I […]
Olympia: The Original Olympic Stadium
It pays to be up early at these places; I have the Olympic Stadium all to myself…
Cycling Day 4: Levidi To Olympia
I’m not sure why I ever thought that I’d be able to cycle all the way from Corinth to Olympia in one day and then have time to have a look around the ruins here before setting off the following day for Patras. It was never going to […]
Route Profile: Corinth To Olympia Via Levidi
This really is a tale of two very different days. The full story later but the two graphs below show the route profiles of the two days. The first one is yesterday’s ride to Levidi, the second from Levidi to Olympia. I’m celebrating the crossing of the Peloponnese […]
Video: Thoughts From The Top Of The Peloponnese
Cycling Day 3: Corinth To Levidi
If cycling day 1 had been a little bit of a shakedown for Reggie, today has been a shakedown for his rider! I set off early this morning from the campsite in Corinth with high hopes of settling into another campsite in Olympia later in the day. I […]
The Peloponnese: A Stunning Start To Cycling Day 3
Evening On The Edge Of The Peloponnese
Cycling Day 2: Athens to Corinth
It took me an age to pack last night in the hotel. As per usual I had emptied all the panniers as soon as I had arrived on Sunday in order to find things which obviously necessitated replacing them before I left. If only I had a memory […]
The Plan For Cycling Day 2
Slight change of plan for tomorrow. The original one had been to cycle from Athens all the way to visit a WarmShowers contact in the eastern Peloponnese near a town called Astros. Before setting off at the weekend I plugged a few of my initial cycling routes into […]
Rest Day 1: The Acropolis & The Parthenon
‘Hang on!’ I hear you cry… OK, I’ve only done one cycling day so far but I couldn’t very well pass through what is arguably the birthplace of modern western civilisation and not pause for a look around. The Parthenon is the main attraction in these parts and […]
A Green Evening In Athens
This whole trip is fairly green in an environmental sense but last night is was physically bathed in green in a wonderful rooftop terrace bar that I was taken to by local journalist & cycling blogger Manos & his girlfriend Katerina. A great evening and a fantastic introduction […]
Cycling Day 1: The Temple Of Poseidon To Athens
I suppose it should be ‘back’ to Athens but… Before I start just a couple if quick admin points. Firstly, fear not those who did not read the blog posts back in 2010 but subsequently read the book ‘Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie’. The book was […]
Video: Parting Thoughts At The Temple Of Poseidon
First time I’ve tried to do this at distance… Lights, camera… and action:
The 10 Point Plan For Cycling (Hopefully) Day 1
I’m not a list person but here goes… 1. Finish coffee in this great little local café just up the street from the hotel. 2. Go to the bike shop I have been recommended (just 300 metres away apparently – it looks promising from the evidence of the […]
Cycling Day Zero, Athens, Greece
After writing the post last night I lay on the sofa back in the flat in Reading but didn’t sleep a wink. By the time my colleague Stéphane arrived to pick me up at 4am I had moved all my things into the street including of course a […]
Here We Go Again: Cycling The Eurovelo 8
The day has arrived. It’s now past midnight and we are into Sunday 30th June 2013. My flight leaves Heathrow Terminal 5 in under seven hours. And yes, I’m nervous. Not that I have had a great deal of time to think about such trivialities as nerves today as I […]
Good Luck!
A colleague at work – David Wall – gave me a card this morning; here it is. I am touched that anyone should go to the effort of doing something like this but he is not the only one to have passed on their best wishes as I […]
Packed!
Well, it’s a preliminary pack but will allow me to cycle to work for the final time this academic year on a fully-loaded bike. The question is… what do you think I didn’t pack from the original spread of equipment shown in the second photograph?
Andrew & Reggie: The Official Pre-Trip Photograph!
Courtesy of keen cyclist & colleague at Gillotts School, David Wall, here is the official pre-Eurovelo 8 photograph of me and Reggie. I’m even smiling… (3 working days to go!)
The Tours De France 2013… And 2014
They used to make a really cool little video showing a fly-through of the route of the Tour de France, but strangely, for the 100th Tour de France they have reverted to simplicity… Shame. My route this summer will pass over the route of the Tour de France […]
The Guide Books… Finished!
Not very waterproof but we are hoping for dry, sunny weather…
The Default Position For Reading
I’d like to think that all readers of Good Vibrations: Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie take up this position when reading about my cycling adventures… Great photo courtesy of @iamjakamo on Twitter.
The Rough Guide To The Eurovelo 8 (Minus Albania, Montenegro & Bosnia…)
It has yet to be rebound and may be better as two volumes but here it is, hot off the chopping board… The Rough Guide to the Eurovelo 8; Greece, Croatia, Slovenia, Italy, France, Spain & Portugal (or at least the bits I’ll be cycling through). I have […]
Equipment For A Cycling Tour: The Thoughts Of Billy Romp
Occasionally, readers of this website put such time & effort into writing a comment that it is worthy of elevation to an entire blog post of its own. The wonderfully-named Billy Romp (he joins Otto Sentieri & Lester Knibb as characters in my future novel, whatever it may […]
The Equipment Needed To Cross Europe (Again) On A Bike Called Reggie
Here is a picture of most of the equipment I’ll be taking with me when I set off from the south-eastern corner of Greece in exactly two-weeks’ time. There is a full list of everything below the image. If you think I’ve missed anything, please do let me […]
Maps, 1 to 10 (minus 2…)
BikeFestLeeds
Here are some exciting things being planned in West Yorkshire (the area where I was brought up) to tie in with the Tour de France visiting the region in 2014. Hopefully I will be involved in some way, shape or form…
Bikes On A Plane
There could be a film in this… Or perhaps not. Cast your mind back to late August 2010. If you were an avid reader of this blog at the time, you may recognise this picture. It is of course my bicycle, Reggie looking a little forlorn to say […]
The Knowns And Unknowns Of The Cycling World
Three weeks to go… Still so much to do in terms of planning and I am beginning to feel the same way as I did back in 2010 before I set off for the south of Italy; a mixture of excitement and anxiety. Excitement is the easy emotion […]
