UK to Georgia by Bike
Lucy & Simon exploring the world by bicycle. Left the Channel Island of Guernsey August 2021 - arrived in Georgia Jan 2022 🚴♀️🚴🇬🇬🇬🇪
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Hoofdstukken
- Guernsey · 2 pebbls
- France · 65 pebbls
- Germany · 19 pebbls
- Austria · 5 pebbls
- Italy · 17 pebbls
- Croatia · 9 pebbls
- Montenegro · 8 pebbls
- Albania · 23 pebbls
- Greece · 32 pebbls
- Turkey · 47 pebbls
- Georgia · 11 pebbls
Guernsey
Leaving home on our world bicycle adventure.
Leaving Home!
17:20
France
Crossing France and heading to Bavaria with Simon's dad Greg.
Mont-Saint-Michel
Domfront
19:19
Last wild camp before Versailles where we have booked a camping cabin for a couple of nights of luxury in a real bed!
Photos Of The Week
Some photos from the past few days that we didn't get around to posting earlier.
Germany
Another Night, Another Camp!
Today was very hilly and hot. Some beautiful scenery, much of which we were too tired to photograph! Thankfully the last couple of kilometres were downhill and we rolled into Stuttgart this evening with sore legs ready for a good sleep.
Dinner In The Hills
After cycling up hill for the entire day today (thankfully not as steep as yesterday) it was nice to find this beautiful spot to cook dinner... And a bonus that a nearby farmer has let us pitch our tents on his land. We have another steep hill day tomorrow.
Photos From Today
A longer day than planned because the campsite that was marked on Google maps didn't actually exist... Though we've found another nice forest spot with fewer mosquitoes than last night!
9 Sept 2021 - 23:07
Really great cycle routes into Munich today and a lovely evening out for pizza with Elias and Ava. 🍕
Austria
14 Sept 2021 - 12:02
Photos From Today
15.09.21
Hilly Day!
Biggest uphills of the trip so far. We've gone up around 1100m already today and aren't at the top yet. Amazing views if it wasn't misty!
Italy
16 Sept 2021 - 17:34
Today
It is amazing that we made any progress at all today. Around every corner was a new view just as stunning as the last. We spent a lot of time just taking it in. Here are a few of our favourites.
Lake Garda
We've been on the road for a month and a day, we've pedalled more than 1800km and have 5 flags on our flagpole so far. Over the past week we crossed from Germany to Austria and on to Italy - a stunning route over the mountains with lots of steep climbs and descents. We arrived at lake Garda today.
Lunch Prep
We stopped to cook lunch in the shade today as our minds are always on finding a camping spot in the evenings. Its so warm outside that we'll eat or once it's cooled down ... And then a second helping for dinner! Yum! (L)
Croatia
Croatia
Good morning from Croatia! We met Lennart as we were checking onto the ferry, a dutch cyclist on his own adventure headed for Romania.
1 Oct 2021 - 13:02
Afternoon on the Beach
I knew I had been carrying a hammock for a reason!
Dubrovnik
The thought of tomorrow's rain pushed us further than we planned and we made it all the way to Dubrovnik today.
Montenegro
Mountain Views
Stopped for breakfast/lunch/brunch/last night's dinner and thought we'd share a few photos from this morning's climb.
Shkodra Lake
Lake Skadar National Park
While cooking dinner this evening a passing goat herder gave us a handful of chesnuts to add to our curry.
Water Refill
Running short on water this morning, we thought we'd fill up at the well before tackling the big hill. We would have put this water though our water filter or boiled it before drinking but found a cafe to fill up with tap water before we needed it.
Albania
Flamingos and a Plunge
We decided to leave the EV8 route today and do some exploring in Divjaka-Karavasta national park. An afternoon of woodlands and wetlands. We saw a couple of flamingos and I went for an accidental dip! (S)
Camping Tirana
I realised I had left something behind at the campsite in Shkoder a few days ago 🙄. We are hoping a campervan will be heading from there to here within the next few days and will be able to deliver it for us. Not a bad place for an unexpected rest day though! (S)
Hills & Headwinds
The climb this morning was steep and we had a strong headwind. We are setting up camp in a restaurant garden and will finish the hill tomorrow. We are keeping an eye on rain and lightning headed this way over the next few days.
Change of Plan
Our plan was to catch the ferry from Sarande to Corfu but we've arrived and found that the sea border with Greece is still closed (Greek medical strike) so we're going to stop here for a day then carry on to Greece by land.
Greece
9 Nov
A few weeks ago these chases by gangs of dogs were pretty terrifying but they happen so often each day that they are just a bit if a nuisance now. Our strategy is to get off our bikes and walk side by side with our bikes on the outside of us as shields. This is the first time I've been able to think about switching on the camera and getting a picture. Today's ride was quite busy and industrial in parts but we have found a lovely little cove to swim and set up camp for the night. Athens tomorrow if all goes to plan. (S)
Belt Drive
Very excited today as we replaced our chains with our new belt drives which arrived this morning. The conversion process was pretty straight forward and we've had a short test cycle around Athens' National Garden. Looking forward to giving them a fully loaded test tomorrow when we leave Athens in the direction of Istanbul.
Back On The Beach
And relax... It's such a good feeling to have escaped the noise and bustle and to be back beach camping again. Although the history in Athens was fascinating I am not built for cities and Athens is not built for bicycles.
We're laying on the shingle watching the stars and full moon and have just realised that we've been on the road for 4 months already. Tomorrow we will be sleeping on the ferry that will take us to Kavala where we will begin our last couple of days of cycling in Greece before arriving in Turkey. -S
20 Nov 2021 - 18:30
Getting up before the boat reached Kavala at 5am meant that we cycled further than we had planned. I\'m chuffed with that, and am trying to persuade Simon that we should get up at 5 every morning - he might take some convincing though!
The cycling was mostly flat with scenery which was quite different to what we\'ve seen recently in the Peloponnese and Athens area. The ferry has transported us from summer firmly into autumn. Rolling hills enveloped with beautiful colours and a chill in the air. We experienced the kindness of strangers yet again and enjoyed gifted tomatoes and Fanta with our \'Turkish pasta\' before setting up the tent at dusk in a valley, next to the river. -L
Turkey
Istanbul
The past 10 days in Istanbul have been in equal parts eventful, fun, and challenging. The day after arriving in the city a strong storm ripped through, damaging buildings and taking lives - we were glad to be staying in the shelter of an AirBnB rather than our tent that night. We had decided that this would be a good place from where Lucy could return home for a few days to visit family while I took time to catch up with some work, play music, and rest. I still do not like cities but at least the walls of the apartment could provide shelter from the bustle and noise like they did from the storm. However, the day after Lucy left I was evicted from the Airbnb without notice, by the authorities - from what I understand the host didn't have the correct tourism accommodation permit - this meant relocating myself plus two bikes and all our gear to a nearby hotel. A few days after arriving in the hotel I was visited by two men who needed to "inspect the curtains" of my hotel room - I suspect they may have been officials checking that I had actually moved out of the AirBnB!
It's not all been so dramatic though - I had a really great time sharing stories and playing music with Tobi and Louisa from ChainsAndChords who are on a similar cycle adventure to Lucy and me and who we have been following on Instagram for a few months. I also found some musicians to join with for a traditional Irish music pub session - the first I've been able to find on our journey so far - it's been a lot of fun to be finally playing music with other people again and definitely makes up for the accommodation drama!
In a few more days Lucy will be back to rescue me and we'll be ready to begin our journey along the Black Sea coast towards Georgia. It's likely to be a cold and wet few weeks as winter catches up with us but we plan to have another rest once we arrive in Georgia (maybe a small town this time!) where we will wait for the beginning of spring before continuing East. -S
On The Move And Happy
It feels so good to be back on the bikes! We spent all day saying this to each other and grinning. Although we are happy to move on, Istanbul has been one of our favourite cities of the trip so far! It's a place of huge variety; live music, ferries, beautiful mosques, bustling bazaars, busy nightlife, friendly people, chilled out areas with library cafes, and some smooth seafront cycle paths.
More importantly we really treasure the connections we've made here. Simon meeting other musicians at the Irish music sessions, and through busking and chatting with Louisa and Tobi from @chainsandchords , and the links we've made with fellow cyclists along the cycle path. And then yesterday and this morning Simon had a couple of lovely conversations in a mixture of Turkish Sign Language and British Sign Language with a lady who is Deaf who came to clean the hotel room - we enjoyed one of the longest conversations we've had with a non-English speaking Turkish person. It made our week. -L
Note, we also almost adopted this dog, or did he adopt us? He ran with us for 10km before ditching us for 2 other cyclists 😯
Happy Christmas
It seems a bit counter intuitive to be heading north just as winter arrives but we will be doing that for these first few days out of Istanbul. We have decided to take a route along the Black Sea coast so that we avoid the mountains in the middle of Turkey.
Today the temperature barely made it above freezing but with the sun shining and a gentle tailwind it was almost perfect weather for cycling.
We escaped the suburbs this morning and are back out in the countryside... Returning to being gifted tea by strangers and getting chased by dogs every 20 minutes.
Tonight we are back in the familiarity of our tent, being lulled to sleep by the sounds of a nearby flight path and the distant howling of wolves.
Happy Christmas to all who are celebrating, happy belated Yule to others, and happy weekend to everyone else! ⭐ -S
30 Dec 2021 - 17:35
When we planned our route for today Komoot told us there would be lots of very steep climbs. This morning Ilker warned us that the route we had chosen would be very steep. A number of people stopped us as we cycled out of Zonguldak to tell us that the road ahead was going to be very steep.
It shouldn't have been such a surprise when we found the road was too steep to cycle! We spent much of today pushing up hills. If nothing else it means our increasingly scrawny arms got a bit of a workout.
This evening we arrived in Filyos. Tomorrow we'll be heading to Bartin for new year and a day off the bikes.