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The Streets of East Berlin Photo Gallery
Berlin is full of colour and life, always changing, never boring – a photographer’s dream. I can’t remember how many times we left our camera at home, only to see dozens of great photo opportunities flash before our eyes. Nevertheless, here are our favourite photos from the times we actually remembered to bring the camera along. See the gallery…
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Heading for Canada, ehy?
Yep, it is finally time to leave Europe and cross the Atlantic for Canada. So long and thanks for all the baguettes…
You will find our new home beyond Heart’s Desire, beyond Crooked Lake, beyond Malignant Cove and beyond Upper Dyke Village. Once you get to Bear River take the quiet road to Grosses Coques and look for our place at the far edge of town where the grickle grass grows. Note: if you end up at Burnt Head you have probably taken a wrong turn at Sissiboo. Read more…
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Our Top 5 Rides in Europe
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The Interior of Portugal
As we continued on roads littered with the spiky fruit of the chestnut trees, we realised our days were falling into a familiar pattern: wake up in the dark for a frosty tent pack up… swear at the frosty weather gods for our numb fingered agony… sweat it out on mountain roads… climb up a ridiculously steep hill into a cobblestoned town… find a bakery to liberate some of our little sugar covered friends… praise the beautiful blue skies and apologise for swearing at the weather gods earlier on. Read more…
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Desert to Snow – Spain’s Sierra Nevada
Not far from the ornate and lavish interior of Seville, where the stylish and bohemian turn boulevards of orange trees into 24 hour catwalks, dingy apartment blocks and cheap housing sprawl through a tangle of highways. Winter is fast approaching in the south of Spain and it is set to be a cold one. Beyond the tangle we cycle east. Read more…
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Belgium & the Search for the Holy Grail
Belgium’s beaches are hardly impressive. Their ‘mountains’ barely climb over 500 metres altitude. Their canals and maize fields can become repetitive, and their climate has a fetish for rain. So why bother to cycle in Belgium when you can make up your own Tour de France next door? Two words: ‘bicycles’ and ‘beers’. Read more…
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Island Hopping in Arctic Norway
The scheduled two hour ferry seemed to drag out to eternity, as the ship zig-zagged its way through the high swells. The novelty of the up and down, and side to side soon disappeared. The dogs were sliding across the floor, our books and corn chips began tumbling off the table, and Zoa became the first to stumble for the toilet. Read more…
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BirchBarkBobAnanda – a Dumpster-Diving Superhero
Smoothie time... A Collection of Dumpster Fruit. Photo from BBB.
It didn’t take long to realise that BirchBarkBobAnanda (BBB) is not your average can of soup. With his homemade panniers made from advertising banners, birch bark covered bike frame, hand made windproof jacket and tires from the dumpster of a bicycle store, he is the living embodiement of the phrase ‘Reduce/Reuse/Recycle’: an everyday superhero, sent to fight waste and the insanities of the modern world. Read more…
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Warmshowers Photo Contest: Bronze Medal
For those of you who are wondering what on earth a ‘Warmshowers’ Photo Contest is, don’t worry, it is not as erotic as it sounds. Warmshowers is an online hospitality organisation, similar to Couchsurfing or Hospitality Club, but instead aimed primarily at touring cyclists. Read more and see our 3rd Place Photo…
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Updated: Cycling with Dogs Resources
A comprehensive look at all of the wonderful and wacky ways of combining dogs and bicycles.
Choosing a Ride for Your Dog:
Boy, Ball, Bike and Dog. Photo courtesy of www.flickr.com/photos/photochiel/
- Paws to the Floor: Run Fido Run
- Dogs on Wheels: Fasten Your Seatbelts
- Baskets and Carriers for Small Dogs
- Choosing a Two Wheel Dog Trailer
- Comparison of Two Wheel Dog Trailers
- Customise a Trailer: One and Two Wheel Options
- Longtail Cargo Bicycles
- Try a Trike: Dogs on Three Wheels
- Get Rolling: Tips for Easing a Dog into Life on Wheels
.Cycle Touring with Dogs:
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5 Things Not to Say to Your Girlfriend (ever…)
Living and cycling with someone 24 hours a day is a recipe for some tense moments and periods of silent animosity. As I have found out, one man’s refreshing honesty can be another woman’s insensitive asshole. Here are 5 verbal blunders I should have thought twice about saying. Read the list…
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Poll Results: Will Paco let Jack onto the Fat Boy pillow?
46% Absolutely not, he is an angry little conqueror like Napoleon
46% Yes, but only during happy hour
8% Of course, he is an evolved dog who has transcended the material world
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Berlin: In the Home of Angels
Photo Courtesy of Ben and Maria
“Berlin is a passionate, rebellious, unconventional and extremely liberal city. A survivor of several wars. It is resilient like no other city has shown to be. It bends over, stretches, and transforms itself in a disorganized manner, driven by nobody’s master plan.” Maria Angeles Capellades
There will be no more self-imposed hardships and no more tales of woe. Not, at least, for the next six weeks. We are no longer pedaling with grim determination, struggling with iced over tent poles, or battling cold weather. Sorry, we are comfy and snug in the home of angels. Read more…
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November in the Baltics: Beware of Radioactive Thieves
Apparently there are many reasons not to travel in the Baltic Countries, but the main one is radioactive thieves. “You might get mugged…. Don’t leave anything unlocked…. Be careful where you camp…. The drivers are crazy…. They dump nuclear waste by the roadside….”
We pedaled off the ferry into Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, on a chilly autumn morning with pitch forks in hand, prepared for the worst. Besides some bundled up old ladies, the car-free cobblestone streets were empty… phew! It was a Sunday morning and the gangs of radioactive thieves must still be asleep, hunched over broken vodka bottles. Read more…
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November in the Baltics: Another Saga of Serendipity
Armed with a free map of the Baltics and a free Baltic guide book (both kindly donated to us in Sweden), for once we were well informed tourists. We could drop obscure historical facts into conversation as if we were highbrow intellectuals, and navigate with the sonar efficiency of a bat. Or so we thought. Read more…
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A Week in the Life: The Arctic Autumn
If you imagine Norway as one big electric guitar, we awoke in Tromso, somewhere at the top of the fret board, feeling like a nicely strummed E Minor. After a year spent mostly wild camping around Europe, it felt luxurious but decidedly odd to be sleeping in the comfortable symmetry of boxed walls. Where was the night-time dip in temperature that made you curl a little deeper into your sleeping bag? Where were the angry squeals of wild boars rampaging through the forest at 3am? Instead we were fighting for space on a cramped single bed and fell asleep to the sounds of the mattress gymnastics from the floor above. Read more…
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Containing Christopher: Budget Cycling in Norway
As we departed the Arctic Circle and entered Sweden through mountains freshly dusted in the first snowfall of autumn we were pretty sure of one thing. It was late September, and with nighttime temperatures consistently below zero, Scandinavia’s six month snow season was set to begin any day now. Surely we would be the only fools to cycle here at this time of year? Wrong. Meet Christopher. Read more…
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Pilgrims and Drunkards: Cycling the Camino
A new chapter of our journey began at the buzzing French-Basque town of St Jean Pied-de-Port. Literally translating to ‘foot of the pass’ in Pyrenean French, it is the last resting point for pilgrims before the arduous Roncevaux Pass over the Pyrenees, the natural frontier between France and Spain. A well worn route throughout human history, it has been treaded by ancient traders, Roman legions, and Napoleon’s soldiers. These days its main traffic is from shepherds and a growing trail of adventurous souls seeking an inner and/or outer journey on The Way of St James pilgrimage, more affectionately known as the camino.
Just how arduous was the pass? Would we find enlightenment on the trail? Read more to follow our journey across northern Spain…
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The Crash
The first thing I noticed upon regaining consciousness was her underwear. A faceful of silky whites and a non-sensical stream of German words welcomed me back from the haze.
“Sprechen sie English?” I muttered.
The woman crouched in front of me in a short skirt effortlessly switched languages and played the role of calm, reassuring nurse, questioning and comforting me. Read more…
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