Today I went to a genuine Turkish barbers. I know it was genuine because it was actually in Turkey, in the far east of the country, in a little town called Dogubayazit. Although it's close to the Iranian border and in the shadow of Mt Ararat, I doubt they see many tourists. I was long overdue a haircut, and while…
After a couple of nights camping at Glencoe we headed through Fort William and on to Fort Augustus at the foot of Loch Ness. I have fond memories of Fort Augustus from many, many, years ago, sitting at the locks of the Caledonian canal sharing a bag of chips with my, then, girlfriend. It was lovely to return almost a…
What better adventure for a 4 year old than to go camping and toast marshmallows on an open fire. That was the plan for our wee trip to Glencoe a couple of weeks ago. There aren't many campsites around that allow open fires, but the Red Squirrel Campsite in Glencoe does, and you can't ask for a better location given the…
Morale was high as we hit the road on day 4. Surprisingly, my legs felt good and my backside wasn't sore. Once again we grabbed breakfast from a Boulangerie, then the first hill of the day took us up to Boisemont, before a lovely downhill to the River Seine. This was the point where I followed the map turning left…
Pushing off at 9:15, we managed to go about 200 metres before stopping for a breakfast of coffee and baguettes at the local cafe and boulangerie. We finally left Forges-les-Eaux around 10am, just as the wind picked up and the rain started. The ride though was good and the roads were quiet all the way down to Gournay-en-Bray. Here we…
With our departure from Newhaven delayed by an hour we had enough time to tuck in to a Premier Inn breakfast. The bikes were loaded on to the back of the car for the 4 hour ferry crossing, which passed fairly quickly. Most of that time was spent stood in a queue trying to get served poor quality cold hot…
The day is finally here. I thought it was going to be an emotional send off, but not so. Being a wee bit late I was keen to hit the road, and my daughter was keen to feed the ducks on Serpentine Lake in Hyde Park. My wife had happily agreed, or so it appeared, to haul our overnight bags…
So with my London2Paris cycle just around the corner, I thought I'd take a quick kit pic and go through what I'll be carrying. I've never done a cycle like this before, so who knows if this is excessive. Kit (Starting top left):
The palace of Versailles — opulent, luxurious and regal. The royal chateaux and gardens are just 12 miles from the centre of Paris which makes for an easy day trip. Once you’ve finished touring the palace be sure to wander through the gardens, past the grand canal to the Trianon palaces and Marie-Antoinette’s estate. It was wonderful to see the…
Well, that's us on our way home now - we're sitting in Doha airport reminiscing about days gone by. We'd like to say a big thanks to everyone that's helped & supported us, and made our ickle adventure possible. A special thanks goes to all the confused locals who pointed in vague directions when a white man shouted badly pronounced…
The miles are in and counted, and the results from the Indian & Nepali judges are: 4334 Kilometres Covered 650 Rupees of Fines (about 8 quid) 240 Litres of Petrol (about 150 quids worth) 30 Cuts & Bruises 24 Lost Bolts 14 Road Blocks Avoided 9 Minor Crashes 8 Litres of Oil 2 Road Kill 1 Major Breakdown and a…
Namaste from Kathmandu - So we've made it alive and in one piece ... and what an adventure. We left Mamallapuram about 10 days ago in the pouring rain - weather proofed the rickshaw with a tarp and hit Chennai, where we got totally lost for hours, driving through huge puddles and getting soaked by spray from overtaking busses. The…
Washed and clean, now out for beer. More stories when we find an internet caf. tomorrow.
