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 […]
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 […]
Last weekend when I was staying at my brother’s house in Yorkshire, my niece happened to be browsing through the travel section of The Sunday Times. She pointed out an article about ‘cycling-friendly‘ hotels, the first of which was in Provence, France and my ears pricked up. The […]
I was emailed yesterday by a guy in America called Angelo who is planning his own cycle tour of Europe. He had read Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie and suggested that I might be interested in another book that predates my own by getting on for […]
Tent heaven or the nearest I have ever come to tent heaven can be found on the third floor of an old mill in the Calder Valley of West Yorkshire. It’s home to Springfield Camping and is the kind of shop that you really could live your entire life exploring. […]
If you are a reader of Cycling Active magazine and have an ability to spot detail amongst all the bike-related info., you may have noticed a mention of Good Vibrations: Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie in the July edition of the magazine that came out last […]
I’m fairly open about reviews; I don’t expect everyone to enjoy reading Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie and where justified criticism is offered, I take it on board as helpful advice. I am in the fortunate position of having many more positive reviews for the book […]
There does seem to be quite an overlap between my route from east to west along the Eurovelo 8 & some of the stages of this year’s Giro d’Italia which kicks off tomorrow. There is a good breakdown of each of the stages on the BBC website and […]
It is by far my preferred type of accommodation. Usually. OK, when in a city centre, I am more often than not seduced by the attractions of a hotel but anywhere which is remotely green (and even not-so-remotely green), give me a camp-site any day. When I cycled […]
When I cycled the Eurovelo 5 to Italy, all my maps were Michelin 1:200,000 scale maps and there were ten of them in total – see the overview map of Europe here (I didn’t take the Belgian ones by the way as I cut off Belgium from my […]
It’s 7:10am on April 21st. In exactly 10 weeks (to the minute, hopefully), my cycling expedition across Europe starts as my flight from London Heathrow to Athens takes to the air. OK, if you want to quibble, there is much room to do so. I start the cycling […]
Another 5-star review of Good Vibrations: Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie at Amazon.co.uk (see below) but also a couple of new short reviews at Amazon.com (see bottom of this post). First up is ‘Alex’ who has titled his review ‘A truly epic adventure and book‘; “Feeling […]
It’s getting on for five years since I first came up with the idea of cycling to Italy during my long summer holiday from work as a teacher. At the time, in those initial weeks and months of frankly secret planning (I was never even sure myself whether […]
A few months ago I wrote about Neola, a cyclist from Halifax who is planning a trip across Europe this summer from Santander to Romania. I may well bump into her and her fellow touring cyclist as I make my way in the other direction across Europe. Neola […]
Graham Thompson writes on Amazon.co.uk: “Andrew Sykes is a language teacher, an admirable profession that to do well, I assume, must have some empathy with the countries and people who live and speak those languages. If this is the case then a tour across Europe should come as […]
The reason I’ve been blogging about visiting France last week and being in Slovakia this week is three-fold. Firstly it gets me back into the travel writing mode and I’ll need to be be in that mode as from the 1st July for this summer’s big cycle along […]
A significant amount of climbing was involved in today’s mountain exploring but fortunately it was courtesy of cable cars rather than our own efforts. More of that in a moment. Last week I was contacted by a guy called Julian from the European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF). He is […]
A man decides that there is more to cycling than the daily commute. Somewhere in his forties, he is questioning the direction of the second half of his life. He needs a little time to think so he resolves to set off on his first long-distance cycling tour. As a naive touring cyclist […]
I need to get back into the habit of blogging while on the move. Apart from this summer’s epic cycle (is it really ‘epic’ or is it just me trying to spin?), I’m off to France in just under three weeks with a small group of 15 year […]
“Sometimes when you read the endorsements on a book you wonder if they can possibly be true. Have a good look at the back cover of Good Vibrations if you get chance & I guarantee they’re 100% accurate. The book is a very easy, compelling read. The author […]
Dear friends Earlier this weekend my book ‘Good Vibrations: Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie’ sold its 5,000th copy and I’d like to use this milestone to take the opportunity of saying a heart-felt ‘thanks’ to all of you. Written following a six-week cycle from my home in southern […]
Mentions of my book on far-flung websites are always intriguing to read; the thought that someone far off is absorbed in reading about my little journey across Europe is as delightful as it is curious. Even more so when they are not written in English. This has been […]
I received a message this week on the Facebook page from Neola Kay Wilby; “I’ve just been looking at your route for the summer. My boyfriend and I will be cycling from northern Spain to Croatia then to Romania, cross through Germany, Amsterdam and back home! We’re doing it over […]
In exactly 6 months’ time I will be in Athens, or somewhere near Athens. My bike will have been reassembled after its flight from London, my panniers packed with equipment, clothes & supplies & my mind no doubt full of excitement and anxiety as to what the subsequent […]
This is a nice post with which to bring 2012 to a close. Alex Pavitt has written a review for Good Vibrations: Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie for his website (which is well worth a visit!): “Feeling inspired from the amazing feats of the Great Britain team […]
Here’s an urgent message from the European Cyclists’ Federation (the ECF) which I support whole-heartedly! “There are 35 million daily cyclists in Europe. There are more than 100 million Europeans who cycle regularly. Yet the European Institutions are failing to take cycling seriously as a mode of Transport. […]
You did it! Just after midnight last night I sent £202 to BBC Children In Need thanks to all the people who downloaded the Kindle version of ‘Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie‘ in the first two weeks of November. Thanks if you were one of them. […]
‘Pieman Pete’ has a few suggestions; “I was looking at the Italia routes you mention… I have climbed Tende (on the south route) and it is a relatively gentle climb until the last 10km. I have been up it a few times (see Flickr photo) and is definitely […]
I’ve received an email from Giulia of the Italian national cycling organisation, FIAB. I had emailed her asking about possible contact that may be of use when I cross the north of Italy from Slovenia in the east to France in the west. More on that at a […]
A couple of weeks’ ago I posted some comments from Tim about cycling through Albania. I asked him for more details on his own cycle through this lesser-known European country and he has kindly obliged: The main reason I wanted to get in contact was because I was […]
Having just upgraded to the new iPhone, my BioLogic iPhone 4 bike mount has just become redundant. The company have reassured me via Twitter that they are working on a new mount for the iPhone 5 which is wonderful news. I use the mount every day in conjunction […]
Over the next few months, I will drone on endlessly on this website, on Twitter & on Facebook about this piece of cycling equipment or that. I will debate the merits of widget A over that of widget B to the extent that when I do finally make […]
“As my title suggests I can’t wait for the next tale of travel by bike in Europe, I finished it so quickly as I enjoyed it so much. I am assured the next book is due after summer 2013 on Eurovelo 8 Athens to Cadiz. I thoroughly enjoyed […]
Cast your minds back to September 2010. I had just returned to the UK from my cycle to Italy and I tentatively checked my online mobile phone account with Orange. I’d planned ahead and made sure that I had a quota of data available for use each day […]
I’ve just caught up with last Monday’s Cycle Show on ITV4 which contained an interesting piece on cycling up to the Stelvio Pass in the Italian Alps. Some stunning images and it’s worth watching on the ITV Player just for the views (although if you do, be quick as […]
Digital mapping moves on apace. Only this week I was emailed by a guy from the German website Cycle Routes & Tours pointing out that some of the Eurovelo routes have been mapped on his site. I’ve added the links he gave to the relevant route sections in […]
Perhaps the first line of the latest five-star review for Good Vibrations: Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie will help me break into the lucrative market currently dominated by Fifty Shades of Grey… “This a passionate read – and if you enjoy travel or you enjoy cycling, […]
Tuesday 4th August Straubing to Passau: 5 hours 10 minutes, 90km “Waking up late, I strolled into town, to find every second person in leather pants and drindl dresses. It could only mean one thing. I followed the swarms of people as they headed down the street. One […]
Wednesday 8th August Rest in Munich “In the morning Andi wrote down some things I should check out in the city. I decided to head to Englisher Gardens, the largest city park. The river that runs through it, flows with such force that under one bridge people are […]
Tuesday 7th August Augsburg to Munich: 4 hours, 70km “I woke up to find a breakfast table covered in an assortment of breads, cereals, ham, cheese, eggs and orange juice. Although it was only 7.30, Astrid had already popped down to the local bakery, bought some breads and […]
“What a cracking little read this was, showing just what anyone can do if they put their mind to it and have the bottle to head out of the comfort zone of their front door and out into the unknown. The thing I love about these type of books […]
Monday 30th July Zürich to Stein am Rhein: 5 hours 55 minutes, 99km “I caught the early rays of sunshine on the lake while chatting to Marco, a Dutch cycle tourist, who arrived at the campsite at the same time as me last night. He was travelling south […]
Friday 27th July Montbéliard to Basel: 4 hours 42 minutes, 90km “So today I made it across France. My first country on European mainland had been crossed. Just want to shout out to everyone reading and following my trip! Thanks for all your comments, I am getting and […]
A couple of Warmshowers visitors have passed this way over the last few days; first there was Bob, a novice touring cyclists in his 60s and then there was Wade, a novice touring cyclist in his 20s. I’m a novice touring cyclist somewhere in the middle! Bob is […]
I wouldn’t like to stretch the comparison too far but there are parallels between cycling long distances and embarking on this volunteer role at London 2012. Despite my training (which, whatever you may believe from reading the papers was thorough, professional & above all useful), I’m still not […]
Here is Morgan Ruffini looking increasingly anxious about his journey along the Eurovelo 5. He set off a couple of days ago from London and is heading for Parma. And below, in his own words (which have already appeared on this site over the last couple of weeks […]
A couple of weeks ago, James Mudd emailed me after having read Good Vibrations: Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie telling me of his plans to do something similar; I am setting off with two friends on 2nd July 2012 from Home (Leeds) to Rome. I was inspired by […]
From the other side of the Atlantic, Mary Reynolds has written a review of Good Vibrations: Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie for Examiner.com; “With a dry British wit (and some very wet days), Andrew Sykes tells of his amazing bicycle journey from Reading, England to Brindisi, Italy. […]
Another five-star review of Good Vibrations: Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie; “Looking for something different I stumbled upon Crossing Europe on a Bike called Reggie and found it surprising and inspiring. The book works on a number of different levels. As a travelogue, the author takes […]
An email has arrived from Jack who fancies cycling around Europe… He writes in blue, I write in red. Well, I am a teacher, albeit one with a sniffly nose today. And on the day that Francois Hollande becomes the French president, it does give this post a […]
What bike is? As I type, friend Sally is pedalling the streets of London on a Boris Bike. She has beaten me to it! I must have inspired her with my tale of cycling to Italy for it is the very same Sally who advised me where the […]
I’ll let you into a secret; please don’t tell anyone. Here goes… When I post reviews of Good Vibrations: Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie on here, I occasionally edit them ever so slightly so as to give them a seamlessly positive tone (and to be honest, […]
I received an email on Friday from someone called Kate, a travelling cyclist who was planning on making Reading a stopover en route from London to Oxford. She’d found my contact details on WarmShowers, the social network for cyclists looking for and offering accommodation. I used the site […]
My cousin is a teacher of English language in Portugal. He works for the British Council in the beautiful hilltop city of Coimbra some 40 kilometres from the Atlantic coast. I’d certainly recommend it as a place to visit. Anyway, away from my travel advice, you’d think he’d […]
On the BBC’s Countryfile yesterday afternoon, the weatherman shown here explained how April 2012 had been very wet indeed. He used this graph to explain that in southern England since January 2010, there had only been three months that had received above average levels of rainfall. Of those, August […]
“Andrew Sykes’s enthusiasm, determination and wry humour come through in this entertaining read. It will suit both armchair dreamers and two-wheel travellers considering their own possible adventures… Andrew’s trip from England to the toe of Italy during his summer break from teaching has the feel of a minor […]
Another 5* rating on Amazon for Good Vibrations: Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie; “I’m sure I heard Andrew on The Bike Show podcast giving a rough outline of his trip. It was such a good podcast I noted the title down & bought the book on […]
Today sees the infamous Paris-Roubaix cycle race… 260 kilometres from the Paris suburbs to the Belgian border. Rather them than me. Cobbles were a recurring theme as I cycled south along the Eurovelo 5 from London to Brindisi. It seems that any historic town worth its salt on […]
Having just read Good Vibrations: Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie Simon Barnes in Washington DC has added a review at Amazon.com; “The author tells a very funny story of his adventure, with Reggie his bike, as they ride from southern England to the south of Italy. […]
If you can remember back to early summer 2010, although I didn’t keep it a secret, my departure along the Eurovelo 5 from my home town of Reading to Brindisi in the south of Italy was low-key to say the least. I sneaked out of town early on the morning […]
Matthias Pleyer, organiser of the London Cycling Book Club which will be discussing Good Vibrations: Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie in under two weeks’ time (more info on club’s website), has just asked me to answer some questions for the website. His final question was as […]
I received an email from Pete in New Zealand earlier this week. He is a man with a great, or should I say ‘grand’ plan. He explains that he is soon to move back to Europe from down under and will be living near Turin, Italy on his return […]
I’m so glad that it is now March. It seems that someone has told the people who control the weather to turn off the fridge and as a result we are slowly shuddering into what feels like the very first days of Spring. Saying such a thing does […]
“I have just finished reading ‘Good Vibrations – Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie’ by Andrew P. Sykes (@CyclingEurope on Twitter) and what a thoroughly enjoyable read it was too I must say. It tells story of Andrew and Reggie’s six-week journey along Eurovelo route 5 from their […]
A new review for Good Vibrations: Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie; “I loved this book, you felt like you were travelling along with him, funny in parts and very inspiring to just decide to ride to Italy from the UK, I hope some day I am […]
The new film will be called The Hobbit – An Unexpected Journey and the first trailer has just been released. These two shots from that trailer remind me of my cycle to Berceto, high in the Italian Apennine mountains where I stayed at an idyllic camp-site near the […]
Reggie, my eponymous bike is going strong, especially after his three-figure Christmas refit at AW Cycles earlier this week (it’s worth paying for the parts and labour just to get him gleaming again). Alf Grant, a prospective UK to Italy cyclist who I met for a chat in […]
Another busy day on the shameless marketing treadmill of life. Waterstones in Broad Street Reading now have a copy of Good Vibrations in the shop. Great! Well, perhaps. It’s there because I delivered it this afternoon for them to look at. If you remember, I’ve already submitted a copy […]
I may have ten very positive reviews on Amazon.co.uk, but my Amazon.com readers have so far been silent. Until now. My first .com review has come courtesy of Yvette Lian who lives in Brisbane, Australia. She’s given the book a 4* rating and starts off as follows; Last […]
Do you remember the episode of Blackadder The Third when Samuel Johnson turns up at the palace with his new dictionary? (If you can’t, watch it here.) Edmund tries to catch him out by offering the wise doctor his “most enthusiastic contrafibularities“. Well, someone in Italy has offered […]
The Henley Standard writes: A teacher has had a book of his tales of cycling across Europe published. Mr Sykes, who teaches French at Gillotts School in Henley, rode 2,000 miles from his home town of Reading to Brindisi in the south of Italy last summer. Now he […]
Hi Andrew, I’m the artist that wrote to you about taking our 4 yr old on the EV5 next summer. First of all…I want to read your book, but Amazon says it’s not available to yankees! Good news: it is! You need to go to the Amazon site […]
Listen to my BBC interview about the cycle and the book via Audio Boo. Read the article that appeared in the Reading Chronicle. Watch a 25 minute film that combines the BBC interview with pictures and videos from the cycle. Read about my forray into the media world. […]
That sounds familiar doesn’t it? I have received this very nice email from Alf in Newbury. He sounds as though he may be one of the first customers for my new book (big news about that within the next 24 hours, hopefully) although if I knew how to […]
Unfortunately, I don’t live in Kensington & Chelsea. Perhaps if the book becomes a best-seller I might earn a million and move down the M4 to the big city to pursue a career as an author / Eurovelo consultant. You’re back in the room! Ah yes, shouldn’t spend […]
…the woman who had the idea of selling toys through the Internet was very proud of the fact that her website had ‘over 5,000 visitors’ per month. So do I! July 2011 has been the third most popular month since January 2010 (the peak by the way is […]
The University of Reading have given up on adult education. Not that they think the adults of Reading are so full of knowledge that they don’t need educating any more (if only that were the case), but it doesn’t make them any money so they shut down all their […]
Rachel, an artist from Grand Junction, Colorado has been in touch. Ever the teacher, my answers are in red; Hi, Love your blog Thanks! and I’ll have to get the book when it’s ready! Know any publishers? My husband, son, and I are considering doing the section from Colmar to […]
Sounds like a new surrealist film? No, just a round-up of the topics that have fallen into my inbox this week. Read on to find out more… I was wondering what crossing the alps was like? writes Henry Ulmann… Excellent! If you follow the Eurovelo 5 / Swiss National […]
Great documentary on BBC4 in the early hours of this morning – a repeat from 2009. The blurb says; “Author Rob Penn travels around the world collecting hand-built parts for his dream bicycle and charts the social history of one of mankind’s greatest inventions.”. It’s based upon his […]
When cycling to work this morning, I was thinking that if ever The One Show were to have an article about the Eurovelo 5 on their programme then surely I would be the person they would turn to. This was tossing over in my mind (it’s amazing what […]
‘Mattie’ in the Channel Islands is planning a trip from St. Malo to Athens. He asked on one of CTC’s forums for advice as to whether to take the Italian route (which would potentially use part of the Eurovelo 5) or the Balkan route (which would use part of the […]
“Estimated time of departure: 5th May 2011. We are cycling across Northern France, a bit of Germany, Switzerland (the high bits) and zig zagging down Italy (trying to avoid the high bits) to Taranto in Southern italy which is where Mary Ann lives. Hopefully friends and family will join us from […]
Not me. Not yet. I was just in Waterstones and located where my yet unnamed book could be slotted in the travel section. It would be in good company, just to the left of Paul Theroux’s ‘The Pillars Of Hercules’ (which I have on my bedside table poised […]
Carlo Levi wrote a book entitled ‘Christ Stopped At Eboli’, Eboli being a town on the west coast of Campania in Italy, south of Rome. The book title comes from a local saying and is referring to the poverty and exclusion ‘from the full human experience’ in southern Italy […]
Lisa Baum has been in touch following my post below about her trip to the Arctic Circle this summer; x Hi Andrew, Thanks again for your kind words and add on your blog. Your trip to the south of Italy sounded awesome, there are so many good trips […]
Mary Ann Coupland and her friend Sally are about to head off on the Eurovelo 5. They have set up a Just Giving page to raise money for Cancer Research UK. Here is there story in their own words; We are cycling from Boulogne sur Mer in France […]
The article below is from this week’s Times Educational Supplement. Interesting choice of a bike. Her website is here. This summer, geography teacher Lisa Baum will cycle from her school, Ernest Bevin College in south London, to the Arctic Circle, with the aim of encouraging more pupils to […]
Joe Durnall has emailed; I hope you don’t mind me emailing. I intend to ride the Eurovelo 5 to Rome this coming summer, and wondered if you could give me any indication of the costs of such a venture? I have all the kit (Bike, tent, etc..) and […]
Darren from ??? (his Facebook page only gives a few clues – Australia? Camden town? Somewhere where it has been snowing recently from his picture so anywhere in the UK?) has messaged me on said social network… Hello Andrew, I am a complete novice cyclist and am considering […]
The following is from the back of the ECF Eurovelo Map; Cadiz-Athens-Cyprus 5,888km “The Mediterranean area is very popular for tourists, but until now not so much for bicycle tourism. However, various initiatives have improved facilities, especially in Spain & Italy. And similar initiatives are in the pipeline […]
A group of soldiers is taking on the Eurovelo 5 in (what I consider to be) reverse. This is what it says on their Virgin Money Giving site; In March 2011 team Tartan Cassino will start their arduous challenge. The team will cycle from Monte Cassino in Italy […]
When I cycled to southern Italy along the Eurovelo 5 last summer (remember that?), I spent a relaxing hour or so in the French city of Metz on the morning of the 27th July. I sat in a café and knocked back two espressos to fortify me for […]
Not my next adventure I hasten to add, but it is someone’s; Hello, I stumbled across your site whilst researching this famous pilgrimage route. My name is James Anderson. I am an extreme sportsmen and adventurer and next summer I plan to run from Canterbury to Rome in […]
Iain Harper has just commented on the previous post and reminded me of his experience in Switzerland in September. I went to look at his pictures of Facebook again and found this one taken at the Oberalppass. Brrrr…. Where is your tent Iain? Ah yes, you stayed in […]
I caught the first five minutes or so of this programme last night on BBC HD… I was falling asleep at the time, despite the fact that the programme started at only 9.30pm! I blame the red wine that I had consumed in the afternoon with Johnny (see […]
My pan-European cycle continues to generate a fair bit of interest. Andrew from Leicestershire writes; A friend and myself are planning to cycle from Rome to home (Leicestershire) next year for the Loros charity. I was wondering if you could send me the exact route you took (plus […]
Doretta Vicini emailed a couple of days ago reporting back on her talk about the Eurovelo network to the Ciclomundi Festiva in Siena at the end of September; There were many interesting reports about long bicycle rides, as for example the one by the Swiss Claude Marthaler who also wrote several books, […]
If you happen to be passing through Siena today, 25th September, you could make a little detour to go and listen to Doretta Vicini who is talking all about Eurovelo at a round table discussion at the Ciclomundi Festival entitled “In viaggio lungo le strade della civiltà” or “Travelling along the roads […]
Here’s a little story that, in the past hour has had its denouement. Kind of… Before I set off on my trip along the Eurovelo 5, I made sure that I wasn’t going to be stung by any hefty mobile phone charges from Orange. I had recently upgraded […]
