647 km (402 miles) over 6 days between Apr. 12, 2021 and Apr. 17, 2021. Read the full account on CycleBlaze here.
Wild camped all the way in rather cold conditions.
International travel was out, so I decided to ride up through the East of England, from the Bedfordshire Ouse to the Yorkshire one and over the Humber bridge.
1,053 km (654 miles) over 18 days between Aug. 26, 2020 and Sep. 12, 2020. Read the full account on CycleBlaze here.
Spectacular alpine scenery and the spectacle of me attempting to lug my fully-loaded bike up some truly unreasonable gradients.
In the midst of the chaos of 2020, I found a window when the coronavirus regulations would allow European travel and I could fit in a cycle tour. Starting in Munich, I made my way into Austria and travelled the length of the country through some of the valleys and high passes. After a brief sojourn in the wine growing country around lake Neusiedlersee and across the border to Bratislava, I finished up in Vienna and home.
1,402 km (871 miles) over 15 days between Aug. 11, 2019 and Aug. 25, 2019. Read the full account on CycleBlaze here.
Poland, Czech Republic and Germany: A journey back to the west through Mitteleuropa
In 2019, I visited Central Europe on my summer tour. Taking a train into the heart of Poland, I returned to the west by a meandering route through hilly Bohemia. Beyond the beer and bombs of Plzen I crossed the width of the old East Germany, to make it back to the west in Kassel.
1,281 km (796 miles) over 16 days between Jul. 20, 2018 and Aug. 4, 2018. Read the full account on CycleBlaze here.
Taking the rivers Doubs, Neckar, Würm, Rhine, Mosel and Sûre across the Jura, Black Forest and Pfalz
The target of my tour of 2018 was to visit my friend Ben in Tübingen, where he was teaching. I wanted to combine France and Germany, so thought I would set off from somewhere in Burgundy, cross the Rhine, then check out the Black Forest. Unfortunately I dramatically underestimated the hilliness of that region, with exhausting consequences. Finally, in some record-breaking heat (some days were 41°C), I followed the Rhine back to the north and the Mosel into Luxembourg.
830 miles (1,336 km) over 17 days between Jul. 15, 2017 and Jul. 31, 2017. Read the full account on CycleBlaze here.
A meandering journey through the lakes, pines and gravel roads of inland Sweden
For my first major tour overseas after a long hiatus, I decided to see if I could get my home-built machine (the “Blue Shift”) right through the middle of Sweden. Most tourists either stick to the coasts, or go east-to-west from Stockholm to Gothenburg.
139 miles (224 km) over 3 days between Jun. 9, 2012 and Jun. 11, 2012. Read the full account on CycleBlaze here.
Across the Cambrian mountains, crossing the intriguingly named Green Desert (Elenydd)
I originally did this mini-tour, inspired by the Roughing it in Wales journal, back in the Summer of 2012.
From mid-Wales I traveled across the Cambrian mountains, crossing the intriguingly named Green Desert (Elenydd) and the sparsely populated hills on border with England – wild camping all the way.
527 km (327 miles) over 11 days between Mar. 9, 2011 and Mar. 19, 2011. Read the full account on CycleBlaze here.
No camping or cooking, but a fair bit of emergency bike fixing were required.
My very first international bike tour, where I attempted to ride from Dunkerque to Luxembourg on a very cheap bike bought in Oxford. No camping or cooking, but a fair bit of emergency bike fixing were required.