Europe Biking Trip

Back Stateside- The Saga Ends

2016-07-01T11:03:00.002-06:00

Hello all! Well we are back stateside. We just landed in Boston and made it through all the immigration and customs things. We also, after 6 weeks, have parted from one another's company and we are each on our own now. I am sitting in my terminal waiting for my flight back to Dallas, and I figured I would go ahead and write this post and wrap this blog up.

All in all today has been easy going and uneventful. We woke up, drove to the airport, and got on a plane. For our flight over the pond we luckily had our business class seats again so it was very comfortable. The flight was smooth and uneventful, aside from some great views of Greenland (characteristically all covered in ice, they rally got the names of Greenland and Iceland mixed up). Really otherwise we just sat around and watched movies.

This blog will mark my last post, aside from maybe uploading the time lapse videos (if they turn out good enough). For those of you who followed it, I hoped you enjoyed it. The trip was fantastic and this blog will be a lovely way to look back and remember it, and it has been fun to be able to share our stories with you. Thank you again and I wish you all the best and say good bye.

Iceland Road Trip Day 4- Wrapping up Iceland

2016-07-01T02:58:00.000-06:00

Hello all! Today was the fourth day of driving and our last full day in Reykjavik. All in all we did not have much driving to do today, so we woke up and decided to go play 9 holes of golf. We went to a little golf course in the town where we stayed that was mixed in with a handful of hot springs and bubbling gysers. The course was pretty and since it was in a mountain valley it had a lot of blind hills and turns, which made it interesting. The weather was also outstanding (it actually almost got warm)... Until the ninth hole when it started to rain hard. Luckily we were able to wrap up the hole and get to shelter before it got too bad. All in all it was a successful and fun outing and took up our whole morning. I should also clarify, when I say "we played golf" what I really mean is Ben played golf and I walked around hitting a bunch of balls that went wherever they pleased.

After finishing up with the golfing around noon, we loaded up into our little Jimny and made our way back to Reykjavik. We got into Reykjavik shortly thereafter and after dropping off the camping equipment we decided to walk around town again. Our first stop was to go and get a couple hot dogs. After wolfing them down we went to a little coffee shop to get out of the rain that had started to fall. Eventually the rain stopped so we just walked around town looking at little shops and stuff and laughing at how so much of the stuff for sale in Reykjavik as touristic things were just "designed" or "origins" in Iceland. It was hard to find something actually "made" in Iceland.

After spending a few hours doing this, we loaded up into our Jimny again and headed to our Airbnb just outside of Reykjavik. It is so nice to be in a house again with a real roof and a real bed... And best of all a shower. For the rest of the night we are just cleaning up, packing, and get ready to fly back home tomorrow. Anyway that is all I have for today, it was a nice relaxing final day in Reykjavik. All the best and until next time.

Iceland Road Trip Day 3- Black sands and black glaciers

2016-07-01T02:57:00.001-06:00

Hello all. Day 3 on the road and today we managed to stay on asphalt the whole day. This meant the driving was smooth and easy going. We woke up to pleasant, if slightly windy and cloudy weather. The first part of our day was just chugging down the road, there were some pretty views but nothing spectacular. One exciting part was that we did get to drive through Iceland's only underwater tunnel, but otherwise we just went. However the views really became amazing and the landscape very dramatic and active after we passed Reykjavik. We drove past some absolutely amazing views passing a bunch of hot springs, waterfalls, volcanos, and glaciers. We eventually made it all the way south to Vik and the black sand beaches (with the famous hexagonal basalt columns). The black sand beaches were neat, but they were not nearly as black as most pictures make them look... In truth they didn't really feel all too special. Check out the pictures below to see some of the great things we saw throughout our drive south.

After seeing the beaches and everything, we decided to head north again. We were not quite sure what we were going to do tomorrow but we knew we needed to be up more towards Reykjavik. On our drive north we decided to pull over and go walk up to one of the big glaciers we had seen from the road. It was really neat to get up and close to the glacier and climb on it. Though we did not climb too far or too much on it as it was terribly slippery (you know it being ice) and we had crummy shoes with no traction. Check out the pictures to see the glaciers (it is a lot dirtier than you would expect, but with erosion and black basalt that happens).

After the glacier, we pushed on north and eventually stopped for fuel and some dinner. During our dinner (some sandwiches from a Quiznos) we went over the map and tried to come up with what we wanted to do tomorrow. We decided eventually that we want to try and play golf tomorrow in Reykjavik, so we decided to push north further. We saw that on the map there was a cool attraction called the mud pot so we stopped there and it was beautiful and impressive. It was just fields of bubbling muddy hot springs. Very cool to see. We ended up liking the area so much that we decided to just camp there for the night.

So we are here in Reykjamörk. I am laying in the tent, it is 11:22 at night and it is still perfectly bright outside (24hr sun is weird). Anyway I guess I will try to get some rest now (though I have not been the most successful over the last few night), so best wishes and until next time.

Iceland Road Trip Day 2- In and across the Western Fjords

2016-07-01T02:49:00.000-06:00

Hello all. Day 2 of our driving adventure and so far there is a strong consensus between us that driving is far better than biking. Don't get me wrong biking is fun, but boy is it nice to be in an enclosed heated car when it is raining and cold. Another consensus is that Iceland is stunning. The views and landscapes are so dynamic and change all the time, just as you start to get used to a view it completely changes. Anyway now to the post, and again I am writing this on the day, but given the state of wifi and such I do not know when this will post or if the pictures will post with it.

We began our day in the sunshine, just as we had ended our last day. The 24 hours of light is bizarre. I woke up at one point in the night around 2:00am and it was still as bright as it was at 11:30pm when I fell asleep. When I first got out of the tent the sun was actually poking its head out from behind the clouds and it was nice and warm, but that did not last long and by the time we were making and eating breakfast it had gotten cold and super windy. Luckily though we got the camp all broken down and loaded up before it actually started to rain.

We started our day heading to the Western Fjords, where we had planned to sort of wrap our way all around them. Driving along the fjords was nice all the roads were mostly paved, but the road did follow every little peninsula and inlet which made the driving slow going. The weather also was not great, it was rather rainy and when we climbed the mountains it was super foggy. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing as it gave everything a very mystic and enchanting feeling. The pictures really do not do them justice, but they can tell the story probably better than I can.

After about three hours of driving we pulled into a little hamlet that had a small restaurant and ate some lunch. During lunch we decided that our goal of lapping the fjords and then the next day going to black beaches in the far south of Iceland was unrealistic, so we did some new planning. What we decided to do was loop back a bit and take a rugged mountain road across the peninsula to the other sides and then drop a bit to the south of the fjords and camp there. The mountain pass was amazing, slow going but super fun and some incredible views! Check out some of the pictures to get an idea of the majesty. The driving was super fun too with some rocky sections, some river fording, some muddy sections, and everything else to keep us entertained. What was also fun about the pass was that it was so windy at points that the wind was coming in at just shy of a 90 degree angle to us, so when I rolled down a window to take a picture or something rain would just fly straight through the car.

On the other side we came out onto a real road and it was like we had teleported to an entirely new region. I really cannot stress how dynamic the landscape is here. Sure it is all somewhat barren and desolate looking but it is all different kinds and levels of barren and desolate. I have taken so many pictures today, because every corner has something new and something beautiful. The driving for the rest of the day was pretty straight forward. It was mostly on paved roads and we just went in and out of the rain.

We ended up driving a bit further than originally planned because it was raining at our planned stop and the campsite looked essentially like a swamp so we pushed on to the next campsite a bit further south. We are having another simple meal of some pasta tonight. It is kind of funny how we are now traveling in the most comfortable form (in a car) and yet we have the least amenities of the whole trip. Anyway, tomorrow we will push on to the black beaches in the south. For now that is all I have so all the best and until next time.

Iceland Road Trip Day 1- From barren to desolate

2016-07-01T02:36:00.000-06:00

Hello all. I am not sure when this will post, but I have the time so I figured I might as well write about my day. I am also not sure I will be able to upload photos with this post, which is a pity because the photos really tell the story of the desolate and barren beauty of this place. Also without the pictures this post will be rather dull or lacking. Anyway with the disclaimers and such out of the way on to the actual post.

Today we began our driving trip across Iceland. As it stands right now we plan to drive sort of through the heart of Iceland on a dirt road and then make our way into the western fjords and drive around them, before heading to the south and going to the black beaches. It will be a lot of driving, but there will also be some incredible views. We have been told by many people that the western fjords are stunning and are not nearly as busy with tourists. So with that as our plan we set out of our AirBnB to get breakfast and get camping gear. We stopped and grabbed some good breakfast from a little cafe on the Barbour called Kaffivagninn. From there we went and picked up our camping stuff. This should have been simple and quick, which it was aside from loading the car. I was carrying stuff to the curb while Ben went and got the car. Apparently a meter maid was writing us a ticket and since Ben was there she was letting him leave but was yelling at him in Icelandic so he got in the car a bit flustered and then when came to exit the parking lot there was a car blocking the turn he wanted so he went the opposite direction. Well this meant I came out and saw no car and no Ben (mind you the parking lot was all of 500 feet away). Anyway Ben was trying to get turned around to get back to me and got stuck on a tourist road so we was moving really slowly, which left me standing with the camping stuff for ten minutes trying to figure out what in the world happened. Eventually it all worked out, just as I was starting to get really nervous and we had a good laugh about it all.

Finally, after loading up it was off to the grocery store for food then on the road. Well we ended up spending like two hours in the grocery store and the surrounding mall because we were looking for some travel mugs as well for coffee. But by about 11:30 we were on the road. We immediately started driving through the gorgeous countryside of hill, lakes, mountains, old volcanoes, old lava flows, geysers, and rivers. We stopped at one big geyser and actually got to see it blow which was awesome (though I was not ready for it... So no pictures). From the geyser it was straight to Gullfoss, a massive waterfall. This was really cool to see and when there are pictures you should check them out.

After Gullfoss we left the paved road and began our journey on the gravel road. This was really cool to drive through for many reasons. First, the changing road conditions really kept you on your toes, as the road changed from smooth gravel, to massive washboard gravel, to mud, to large rocks, to massive potholes, and to any other almost off-roading terrain you can think of (including one small river fording). Second, the views while driving around there were amazing, we drove between two massive glaciers so the terrain was fantastic. I cannot really do them justice so you will have to see the pictures. Third, the landscape changed a lot from barren almost lunar landscapes, to desolate Martian landscapes, to tundra, and everything in between. Really the driving has been great so far.

Tonight we are staying in Blönduos a small little town in the north of Iceland close to the branch off to the fjords. We will be tenting tonight so that will be fun, and we will be eating some basic pasta and sauce that we bought. We simplified our lives a bit for the next few days. Anyway I think that about wraps it up, I hope I haven't rambled too much but it was an exciting day. But alas I will leave you all now, so best wishes and until next time.

Vacation Day 8- The long day begins

2016-06-27T02:27:00.001-06:00

Hello all! Today we made it to Iceland! The morning/ Brittish part of our day was pretty uneventful. We woke up, got on a train, got to the airport then waited around until our flight left. Unfortunately, our flight was delayed about 50 minutes so we had to wait a bit longer than expected. But that minor inconvenience was made up for once we got on the plane and sat down in first class seats. Yep that's right we are flying first class. Well actually we paid for the upgraded economy class, but since it was full when we booked on our flights we are sitting/flying first class. It was a lovely flight largely thanks to being a big comfy seats.

Anyway we landed in Keflavik around 4:00 pm and after getting the rental car and everything squared away we started heading to Reykjavik. Even on this short drive you can already get a feel for just how different Iceland is from anywhere else, it is barren and just primordial looking. The driving was overall uneventful (despite it being the first time Ben drove a manual in about a year), although he did stall out once... On a flat spot, at a traffic light, in light traffic, after having been driving for 20 miles. But other than that one stall and some rough gear changes everything was pretty smooth sailing.

Once we were checked into our AirBnB in Reykjavik, we set out to find food. Following our hosts recommendation we went to a little fish shack nearby and had some lobster soup. It was delicious, but not very filling. Since we were not full we then went and walked to the best hotdog stand in Reykjavik. It turns out that Bill Clinton thought it was the best hotdog in Reykjavik as well, despite this it was still pretty good. From there we just started to wander the streets and make out way to the big church, Hallgrimskirkja. It was pretty cool to see and going up in the tower led to some nice views. Reykjavik is a town that really just sprawls and it is much bigger than I ever would have thought. See for yourself in some of the pics below.

After the church, we slowly made our way back to our AirBnB stopping for coffee and dessert along the way. It was a weird feeling walking around at 9 at night and it still feeling like day. Which brings me to the title of this post "The long day begins", I chose it because quite literally we will not see night until we are back in the States. So really our whole stay in Iceland is just like one really, really long day. This should be really neat to experience and supposidly on clear days you do get a bit of a sunset that just lasts for like a couple hours, before it starts to rise again. I am excited to see this, though it does mean we will not be seeing the Aurora Borealis on this trip.

Tomorrow we will be picking up our camping gear and heading out into the wilderness of Iceland. I am sure there are going to be many amazing views and great stories. However, that being said I am not sure how strong the data or wifi will be, so I will try to post but I may not be able to post anything until we get back to Reykjavik. So if I miss a couple days I apologize, and just be sure to check back on the 1st. That is all I have for now so all the best and until next time.

Vacation Day 7- Planes, Planes, and Planes

2016-06-26T01:30:00.001-06:00

Hello all! Today was a pretty solid day. We went to the Royal Air Force museum just outside of London. It was really very impressive how massive it was and how free it was. They have a little bit of everything from old canvas biplanes and gliders to brand new fighter jets. It was really an impressive museum. I will say though it was a bit confusing on how they grouped planes, missiles, and other armaments. There did not seem to be too much reasoning behind it in the the first and second large building. For example, you would be looking at a WWII bomber and scattered around the plane would be a random assortment of modern missiles and bombs. But even with the slight randomness it was still a great museum. Below are a few pictures from the museum, unfortunately most of them did not turn out well as there was some weird lighting interactions with the overhead lights and the camera on the phone.

We spent about five or six hours in the museum so it was pretty much our whole day, especially once you throw in the 40 minutes it took to get there each way. Tonight we are staying in a really very nice hotel right near Buckingham Palace that we got at a steal. Anyway that is pretty much our day... Oh aside from a delicious dinner we had at a nice Chinese restaurant near the hotel. The food was delicious. The service was fantastic. The tea was bottomless and delicious (I may have drank about three pots). I think that is now about everything from the day. Tomorrow we get on a plane for Iceland and I can't be more excited! I am mostly over my cold now too, so that is more good news. Anyway with that I think I will end this post. All the best and until next time.

Vacation Day 6- Burrowing into the Borough Market

2016-06-25T02:48:00.001-06:00

Hello all! Today was a bit more engaging of a day, I even took some pictures. Today we went and explored the Borough Market and ate our way through it. We had planned originally to go to the Borough Market briefly to grab something to eat in it and then go the the HMS Belfast (a WWII light cruiser permanently moored in the Thames that is now a museum you can go through) and to the Tower of London. Well we ended up spending a lot of time in the Borough Market eating some brownies, some roast goat, some cheesecake, some bratwurst, and then drinking a fair amount of hard apple cider. It was quite fun to walk through the market and see the different foodstuffs. All in all we spent around three hours in the Market... Which meant we could walk to the other sights we wanted to see, but not actually go in them or really see them. So that is what we did.

The HMS Belfast was really cool to see from the outside, it is a pity we didn't get to go in (gives me something to do next time). Also the Tower of London was not what I expected to be honest, but it was cool to see from the outside (this also would have been cool to go through). In hindsight we should have gotten started a bit earlier with our day... But we decided to just take it easy.

In other news, Ben got a haircut from a barber nearby, which did mean yesterday he had a pretty good little footballers cut. His haircut did make him look a lot more like a local, largely because literally everyone has the same style of haircut here with short sides, and a longer top with a bit of a comb back. Also my cold is getting better, so hopefully I'll be over it soon. For dinner we ended up going to Nando's again... It really is pretty darn good. All in all it was a good day, tomorrow we are going to the Royal Air Force Museum, which I am pretty excited for, since it supposidly has over 200 planes. Other than all that though that is really all I have to say so best wishes and until next time.

P.S. Come Sunday afternoon we will be in Iceland!!! Going to be awesome!

Vacation Day 5- A Tale of Two Museums

2016-06-24T02:55:00.000-06:00

Hello all. For starters good news, the bikes are at the bike shops and should be all squared away for shipping. Hopefully sometime next week they will begin their voyage to the States. With all that squared away, the bikes are truly done with now, which is nice. Other exciting news is that Britian is leaving the EU, so it will be exciting to see what all is going on around London today (I am writing this post the morning after Vacation Day 5) in that aftermath. Anyway back to the rest of our day, as getting the bikes squared away only took about an hour or so.

After taking care of the bikes we went to Exhibition road on the suggestion of the man at the bike shop who was helping us. Exhibition road has three major museums on it, all of which are free to enter. So we did some real museum-ing. First, we went to the Museum of Natural History. When we first got there we decided not to go in because there was a line that looked to be a couple hours long. As we were walking around the museum to go to a different museum, we saw a side entrance with a line of about 10 people and about five minutes later we got into the Natural History Museum... This find made the museum all the better. Much like the British museum this was a very cool museum, and we saw a bunch of stuff but I won't bother you with an exhaustive list (if you are curious, give it a Google). After the Museum of Natural History we hopped down the road to the Museum of Science. The Museum of Science was a very neat museum with some cool exhibits on various tech and machines. It was not quite as good as the Berlin Technical Museum, but it was still pretty good and I enjoyed walking around it all.

After the Museums, we made our way to the hotel and checked in. For dinner we ran out to a great little Thai place, and had arguably the best meal I have had yet in London. Aside from that though, that is pretty much our whole day, a lot of museums and a lot of walking. All in all it was a good day, I am still not over my cold but it is slowly getting better. Not sure what is on the docket for tomorrow but perhaps a massage will be in order. Come Sunday we will be in Iceland, so hopefully the posts will become a bit more exciting and have some nice pictures again. Anyway that is all I have for today so best wishes and until next time.

Vacation Day 4- British Museum

2016-06-23T03:09:00.000-06:00

Hello all. This is going to be a rather short post, as we spent about the entire day in the British Museum. I really do mean the entire day. We were in the museum from about 10:00 until 12:30, when we took a quick break for lunch. After our brief lunch, we were back at the museum and we stayed there until about 3:30-4:00. The British Museum was really very cool, so many artifacts and pieces... And it was free! We saw a whole lot of stuff, way to much to mention, so if you are curious about what all we saw give the British Museum a Google and you should be able to get a good idea.

After the museum we came back to our apartment, had some dinner (I had some yummy duck ramen), and got our laundry done... I know riveting. Sadly, I am still feeling the effects of my cold, so I am not too crazy about going all out and about all too much. I really hope I get over this quickly. Anyway like I said this would be a short post and that is all I have to say really. So best wishes and until next time.

Vacation Day 3- One last time into London

2016-06-22T03:01:00.003-06:00

Hello all. Today was another exciting and riveting day... I'm just kidding we were on a train for 4.5 hours. We woke up in Glasgow and killed some time in the morning just lounging around, I still am not feeling quite better yet, so I was not much interested in going and trying to see anything before leaving. We did eventually get out of bed and made our way into the town for some breakfast before our noon train to London. We had a pleasant little breakfast in a small basement cafe near the train station. After eating some porridge and yogurt (I ate the yogurt, Ben had the porridge), we hopped over to the train station.

We tried to get onto the train we were suppose to get on only to be told we could not bring our bikes with us... Which is a bit of an issue, so we had to go to the ticketing office. In the ticketing office the ticket man wrote us a note asking that we please be allowed onto the next train with our bikes (I am not joking he really just wrote a note). Regardless we boarded the 12:40 train to London, everything was squared away, and our note was accepted as good enough. The train ride was lengthy and all together uneventful, I did take some picture though so please enjoy the lovely English countryside.

Once we rolled into London we went to go check in to our AirBnB. This will turn out to be an interesting stay. We are staying in a little studio apartment all to ourselves, but we are the first guests in this particular AirBnB and it shows. The locks to the door did not work at first, there was no cooking equipment, many of the light bulbs are burnt out, and so on... Luckily we are only staying here two nights so it won't be the end of the world.

After checking into the AirBnB we ran out to the bike store that we had communicated with about shipping our bikes home. I will say this if you want to fear for your life and feel very alive then try biking during rush hour in London... It is terrifying and more than slightly mad. We did eventually make it to the bike shop alive and unharmed. The people at the shop were very helpful and they took our bikes and told us to come back in a couple days with the other gear we want to shove in with the bikes and they would take care of it for us, which is great. That means that Ben and I can both get rid of about half the things we are carrying in our bags for the rest of the trip.

After getting all this stuff squared away we went to dinner and had some "proper" hamburgers, in other words American style hamburgers. The burger were actually really quite good and the milkshakes were really good and thick. Since we were now bike less and I was tired we decided to get an Uber to drive us to our apartment from the burger shop. This was an interesting experience because I sat in the front passenger seat of the car, meaning I sat in the front left hand side of the car, while the car drove without my input. My brain was really confused for the whole trip as to where the steering wheel was, and what was going on... Because normally when I am sitting in that position I am driving. But alas we did eventually make it back to our "great" apartment and just settled down for the night.

Tomorrow we are going to go to the British Museum and see about finding somewhere to wash our biking clothes so that way they are not biological weapons at the end of their shipping experience to the States. Anyway that is all I have for you, I apologize for yet another bland post (if you stop reading the blog until Iceland on June 26th I would understand. We are going to be camping in Iceland so that will probably be more exciting, not to mention all the amazing landscapes and the fact that I had better be over this cold by then). Best wishes and until next time.

Vacation Day 2- I'm Sadly Sick in Scotland

2016-06-21T02:07:00.000-06:00

Hello all. Today was really rather uneventful, aside from taking a train to Glasgow from Oban we did not do much else. The reason for this sadly, is that I woke up feeling a bit sickly and as the day went on I got worse. To be honest I think the sickness may have begun the day before, but I was ignoring it and it wasn't all that bad. However this morning I was not feeling very well at all. We began our day with some breakfast and then went over to the train station to catch our train to Glasgow.

The train ride was quite nice and had some pretty views, but mostly I slipped in and out of sleep the whole ride. Once we arrived in Glasgow we first tried to find someone who could ship our bikes back to the States. This turned out to be a futile endeavor and after a couple hours and after we had visited all the bike shops in the area we decided to just head to our overnight lodging and deal with the bikes in London.

After checking in and getting squared away we headed out for lunch (mind you it was about 2:30 at this time). We went to a little pub and had some pretty good food. By this point I was really struggling... So we went to a pharmacy, I got loaded up on some Sudafed and throat drops and we went to our lodging. I then proceeded to pass out and just slept.

At 8:00 I woke up, and we went out to get some dinner. We went and had some yummy curry. Shortly after eating we came back and I again just went to bed. I know I live a very exciting life. It would appear that my body fought to keep going throughout the biking, but now that it is over and I think my body is getting some pay back. I am writing this post the morning after Vacation Day 2 and I am feeling somewhat better, but still not quite all the way. Hopefully after a day or two more I will be all recovered... Really I just hope I am all better in time for Iceland. I apologize for another rather bland post and for the lack of photos. I just realized that I did not take a single picture yesterday, I blame my cold. Anyway that is all I have for now, so best wishes and until next time.

Vacation Day 1- Lazy day in Oban

2016-06-20T01:32:00.001-06:00

Hello all. Today we had a pleasant day around Oban. We started the day off with a big Scottish breakfast that the proprietor of the hotel prepared. After breakfast we packed up our gear and headed out into Oban. Our first stop was the train station to buy our tickets for the next day and get our bike reservations squared away. After that we went to the Oban Distillery for the real reason of our stop in Oban... The distillery tour.

The tour was pretty good, but not great. Unfortunately, some seagulls had taken over the filling room and were particularly aggressive to people, so they were not taking anyone over there until they had been removed. This meant our tasting just took place next to the gift shop area and we did not quite get the experience of drinking the whiskey from the barrel. The whiskey was good don't get me wrong, but when it comes from the bottle it isn't as exciting when you have gone through the whole tour.

After the tour we went to lunch at a restaurant on the wharf. This was an excellent meal! I had some haggis with potato mash to start, followed with some fish and chips, and finished with some cheesecake. It was a huge meal... I am going to have to cut down on my meals with no longer biking many hours everyday. But then again I am on vacation...

After lunch it began to rain so we went to our next hotel and checked in. This time we are staying at a real hotel in the heart of Oban, no more guesthouses. The hotel is better than the guesthouse for sure, but it could still use a lot of work. Due to the rain we decide to just be lazy (we have kind of earned it) and just hung out in the room until dinner time.

Dinner was pretty good. We went to a Chinese restaurant (Sunday there wasn't much else open). It was pretty good, and the sweet and sour chicken was massive! Each ball was like a whole chicken breast battered (surprisingly lightly) and fried. Other than that though it was all pretty good. Really that is pretty much our day. We took a very lazy day, and tried to rest and recuperate some more from all the biking. Tomorrow we head on to Glasgow (on a train, woot woot). But anyway that is all I have for now, sorry it was not a bit more exciting. Best wishes and until next time.

Riding Day 26- Ben's bike bites back

2016-06-19T11:48:00.003-06:00

Hello all. I am sorry for not uploading this post earlier, quite frankly I couldn't be bothered to write it this morning. The wifi was spotty, the bed wasn't terribly comfy, and again I really did not want to write it. Anyway, I have some downtime now, and I am a bit more motivated so I figured I would update you all. Yesterday we had a pretty amazing day overall, despite a couple of pitfalls.

We started our day with a delicious and very filling Scottish Breakfast. The hotel we stayed at was rather nice, and having such a large breakfast included in the price was excellent. After filling up, we loaded up the bikes and got back on the road to Oban. For the first part of the journey we had a brief 6 mile stretch of riding on a somewhat busy road until we were able to pick back up the bicycle path. We were making good time and traveling at a great pace. It was easy to do so as the weather was beautiful (clear blue sunny skies and perfect temperatures) and the riding was pretty smooth. Luckily the road was not all too busy and cars seemed to actually show us a lot of consideration and gave us a lot of room. That being said at about mile 4.5 we were rounding a bend when Ben's bike decided that it no longer wanted to work like a bike and his chain just popped off, which immediately caused the bike to jerk to the left and thus into a curb and a few feet later Ben went over his handlebars and into a ditch full of peat, moss, and rocks. Luckily this crash looked and sounded a lot worse than it actually was. Ben was a little bruised but overall we got the bike fixed again and soon enough we were back on the road. His crash did give an older couple in the car right behind him quite a fright but after making sure he was ok they continued on their way. The riding after the crash was relatively uneventful aside from again some incredible views (see the pictures, I hope they do the views justice).

We rode for many miles (well really only like 47 miles), and eventually made it into Oban. Unfortunately, we did not make it into Oban in time to do a distillery tour. That being said though we did decide to stay an extra day in Oban, so we are doing/did the tour today. In fact due to the crash and the fact that the riding was so beautiful and the fact that it was suppose to rain for the next four days straight, we decided to just call the trip (well the biking portion of the trip). The riding was just absolutely perfect to end the biking trip on, and since we had made it over 1200 miles without a major incident, we decided to just call it a wrap. So that being said we decided to stay one more night in Oban, do the tour today, and on Monday take the train into Glasgow.

Oban is a pretty neat little port town, but sadly it feels really crowded, and it is clearly a very popular tourist destination for folks. We did make it out after checking in to our "hotel" (the quotes because it was a guest house, we had to share a bathroom, the wifi was spotty, the rooms were super old, and the mattresses felt like just sleeping on a set of sharp truck springs) and walked around the town a bit before going to get some dinner. We ate at a quaint restaurant in town that made a delicious seafood chowder, but a super salty beef pie, sadly.

Aside from the meal and our decision to end the biking portion of the trip, there is not really anything else particularly noteworthy from the day. All in all it was a good day, one crash, but otherwise a great day. Hopefully, I will write the blog post for today (June 19th) on time tonight or tomorrow morning, but no promises... We have a three hour train ride, so I may wait to do it on the train. Anyway that is all I have for now so best wishes and until next time.

Riding Day 25- lox, locks, and lochs

2016-06-18T01:26:00.002-06:00

Hello all! Three more days of biking! That is all that remains of this magnificent trip. I am both a little sad the biking is about to end but also really really excited for it to end... My legs look forward to resting. Today we had a solid ride from Inverness to Fort William, all in all about 70 miles and we crushed it.

We started the morning by waking up on a train somewhere in Scotland (you know a typical Friday). A little while after waking up we were brought our "delicious" "breakfast" in our train berth. It consisted of "eggs" and smoked salmon. The salmon was fine the eggs...not so much.

After rolling into Inverness and walking down the platform we saw our Scottish van driver waiting for us and he brought us to our bikes. So we mounted up again and made our way into the heart of Inverness. It was quaint, but personally I didn't think it was too breath taking of a city. Anyway we grabbed some real breakfast and coffee then did our shopping and went to a tourist information desk for directions to our bike path. The lady behind the desk was very helpful, but was mostly just really interested in our trip. It was slightly comical because at one point she asked how long do you think it will take to get to Ft William, to which I was thinking in my head well that depends on when we can actually leave from this information desk." Anyway we eventually made it out and found the start of our path in front of the Inverness castle (under construction, classic) and some statue.

The riding was excellent, the path we rode on was very well marked and either avoided roads entirely or only used small roads with hardly any traffic. We saw a lot of other touring cyclists too which was neat. The weather was overcast, a little misty, and cold... So we finally really got to use the cold weather gear we had been carrying since Rome. All in all the riding was uneventful aside from the absolutely jaw dropping views (Northern Scotland might be number 1 in my favorite places now). Just absolutely incredible views. We rode through mountain passes (yep some more epic hill climbing), around Lochs (we did ride by Loch Ness but no sign of Nessie), through glens, and around a bunch of canal locks. I can't really describe it so I am going to include a bunch of pictures (hopefully assuming this wifi holds out).

We eventually made it to Fort Augustus and grabbed some lunch. Lunch consisted of some hot sausage rolls (think hotdog on a bun) and a handful of Scott's pies (think lamb burger in a flaky pie crust). It was really good, but not quite filling enough in hindsight. After wolfing down some food it was back to canal riding, and a few miles later to some "tame" mountain biking. The trail was just a gravel road. Due to the speeds we were riding and the miles we were riding on the roads, it is likely this was some of the hardest riding for the bikes, but they held up (so far). We again had some outstanding views! I will let the pictures do the talking again, I hope they do it justice.

We eventually made it into Fort William no issues at around 7 pm, so not bad on time either considering we left Inverness around 10:45. We are staying in a hotel on the side of Loch Linnhe (I think). The hotel has a restaurant that made some pretty good dinner. I think that is about all I have for now though. Tomorrow we are heading out to Oban, so hopefully we get there early enough for a distillery tour. So for now I say best wishes and until next time.

Riding Day 24- Cheeky Nando's

2016-06-17T01:39:00.001-06:00

Hello all! Today we made it into London. An easy feat really since we just took a train into London. We decided to give ourselves a rest day of sorts, and since we had already decided to take a train the final way into London, we just went to the closest train station. All in all we biked maybe a total of 7 miles today. Let me also say that I am writing this aboard the Caledonian Sleeper train from London to Inverness, which does mean only cellular wifi and slow cellular wifi. As such I will not be able to have any pictures in this post at the time of first posting. I will try to update I as soon as I get the chance to, but that may not be until late tomorrow.

The ride to the train station in Sittingbourne was very straightforward, nothing remarkable really. Getting on the train was also straight forward. Riding on the train was a bit more interesting, because much like the French there is nowhere specific for you to put your bikes, so we just had them in the entry way. I do find it interesting that the trains in Europe are not more bike friendly (meaning that they do not have slots or spaces for the bikes specifically), but I suppose they just figure whoever a bike fits is good enough.

After arriving in London, we made our way to the train station we were departing from that night. There we got our tickets, stored our bags, and Locke up our bikes. Realizing then it was around 2:00, we decided we should get some lunch and right nearby was a Nando's. We felt obligated to try it out, we were not particularly excited but it felt like something we had to do. For those of you who do not know, Nando's is often likened to a Chick-fil-a... Let me tell you it is nothing like that. Nando's is much slower pace and tastes much better. Truth be told I thought it was actually really good. I had a grilled chicken wrap and it was great. After trying it, I can understand why so many people seem to love Nando's so much.

After getting filled up started to wander the city, since our train did not leave until 9 that night. Through our wandering we wound up seeing some pretty major landmarks. We say the West End area, the London Eye, Waterloo Bridge, Big Ben, the House of Commons, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square, and Piccadilly Circus. It is always fun to stumble upon large landmarks when you are just aimlessly wandering around, and it will be nice when we are back in London to really see it all.

After wandering around we made it back to the station around 7:00, since we had to drop off the bike with a courier at 7:30. Well we did drop of the bikes, but to say it was with a courier is a bit of a stretch. We essentially just put the bikes into the back of an unmarked van driven by a man claiming to be with the railway. The man was wearing high vis and he had a Scottish accent so how bad can it be. Oh and the best part was that this loading was all done in a small alley a street off of the train station... It was rather sketchy. Anyway we got that done and then ate some dinner (nothing noteworthy so I won't mention it) and eventually boarded our train. We have a small little two person berth with two beds. It is tight but not too bad. I barely fit into the bed lengthwise but I do fit, so I can manage.

Anyway that is all I have for today. It was a good day, hardly any riding and tomorrow we will wake up in Inverness and start real biking again. So for now I will leave you all. Best wishes and until next time.

Riding Day 23- The Canterbury Tale

2016-06-16T02:17:00.001-06:00

Hello all. Today was a pretty great day. The riding was all in all nice and easy, a few hill climbs and some wind, but really nothing awful. We started our day with a very large and delicious breakfast of cereal, homemade bread, jams, butter, different spreads, and fruit smoothies. In this one breakfast we probably ate more fruit than the whole trip combined, which made it even better. After filling up on breakfast, we loaded up the bikes, said our goodbyes to our hosts and went into the village of Deal to find our path. On our way to the path it began to threaten rain and since we were near a bike shop we decided to take the bikes in to get their rear brakes worked on and wait the rain out. While the bikes were being worked on we went to cafe in the main town and had two Americanos the size of two small bowls of soup.

When we got the bikes back, the mechanic had done all he could and my rear brake worked again, but Ben's rear brake was only working at about 20% efficiency (which is far better than it was). We set out from deal and made good time to Canterbury. The riding was nice small rolling hills on hedge rowed roads through fields. We made it to Canterbury around 1:00 and went straight to the cathedral. Just outside the gates to the Cathedral we saw a man on a road bike with packs, and he started talking with us. Turns out he was just starting a bike tour and he we from San Francisco. We asked if he knew if we could bring the bikes into the cathedral grounds to which he responded "well the person I am married to (his words... "The person I am married to" that just struck me as such a weird way to phrase that, why not just say husband or wife...) knows the head guy here, so I dropped his name and was able to". After this we talked a bit more then went our separate ways, and I figured I would just go ask the people at the gate if we could take the bikes into the grounds. So I went to the ticket office and asked if it was possible to bring our bikes on to the grounds for a picture since we had just rode from Rome to Canterbury. When they heard this they told us it was no problem to take the bikes and that we did not have to pay for admissions, which was great. Once inside I went to the information desk and told them we were here on the bike trip and asked for someone to help with a picture, the lady offered to help us, then she got a priest to come and give us a blessing.

I thought it was really neat and kind the way they took care of us and offered to help us. After the picture and the blessing they let us store the bikes on the Cathedral grounds as we walked around the Cathedral and the town of Canterbury. The cathedral was magnificent, see some of the pictures below.

Lunch was some delicious pulled pork sandwiches and pulled pork Mac and cheese (unfortunately I was really hungry so I did not take any pictures, I just ate it). After we finished lunch and got ready we made our way out again to our overnight stop. The riding from Canterbury was very hilly, and thanks to a handful of wrong turns we made it to our overnight stop just on time, as oppose to the hour early it looked like we would arrive. After arriving at our stop we checked in, chatted, then headed to a pub for some dinner, where we ate curry. It was good, not delicious, but warm and good.

Anyway I think that is about everything I have for today. We Are riding to London tomorrow, or more appropriately we are riding near London then taking a train into London. We have been told by a handful of people that the bike path to London is no good and almost impassible at points, and that all the roads are death traps. Many people recommended we get close then take the train in, so that is what we are going to do. Anyway I am tired so I am going to go to bed. All the best and until next.

Riding Day 22- Our Brexit into Britain

2016-06-15T01:12:00.000-06:00

Hello all. We finally made it to Britain! That means we have no more border crossings and it means we only have two more days until we make it to London. Having crossed the Channel now I feel like I can truly say "I have biked across Europe", which is pretty neat.

The riding today was "mixed", France was awful but the UK was amazing. Riding out of St. Omer, we ended up getting a later start than we expected and we left the house with overcast skies and a slight mist. It was suppose to only be 34 miles to Calais. It ended up being 34 as expected but the weather and navigation made those 34 miles tough, really tough. We had another headwind today... This time I think it was the strongest we have had yet. On top of the headwind, it rained a couple times just to add insult to injury. So the weather was already crummy. Then Google decided we should take the road less traveled (far less travelled). We were following our directions when we started biking down a dirt road through some fields. Well this road then turned into just a couple tractor tracks, which then turned into fields, which then turned into no sort of road at all. We literally spent a quarter mile bushwacking through really tall grass and wheat stalks to try and get through this "road" Google wanted us on. On top of the bushwacking we were also in really deep mud. Our poor bikes were finally starting to look clean again, and over the course of this 1 mile we just made them absolutely filthy and removed all the lube and oil we had applied to them. Looking back at it now it was quite good fun, but at the time with wet grass and mud... fun was not the word for it.

After making it through the fields, we made it to a gravel road along a canal and after cleaning the bikes with some sticks, we began to make our way to Calais. The wind along this stretch was really bad, easily sitting around 30 mph and gusting much higher. Alas though we battled on and made it to Calais. Then we simply went to the port rolled through immigration and then boarded the ferry. Aboard the ferry we went to the dining room, since we had not eaten since breakfast and it was about 4:00pm, and proceeded to gorge ourselves. The food was surprisingly good and surprisingly not terribly expensive. It was not cheap, but in comparison to the ferry in Switzerland it was the bargain of the century.

The trip on the boat was uneventful, aside from some big swells. In Dover we climbed up stairs to the top of the white cliffs with our bikes (this was really hard). At the top we were exhausted from climbing all the stairs with our bikes, but from there to Deal it was all nice smooth downhill biking and was great! We coved the 10 miles to Deal in no time, and made it to our B&B for the night. We are staying in a nice quaint little house and the host is really nice. She even let us use her hose to wash off all the French dirt and mud. All in all our day ended on a solid high note after beginning on a crummy one. Needless to say we are happy to be out of France and in the UK. Tomorrow we are biking to our midpoint between here and London, a village called Lynsted. I think that is all I have for now so best wishes and until next time.

Riding Day 21- And I would bike 1000 miles

2016-06-14T01:57:00.001-06:00

Hello all. Day 21... I can't really believe we have already been biking for three weeks, on top of that today we hit 1000 miles. 1000 miles... Just incredible. I had my doubts about wether or not I would really make it to that number, but I did and the end is in sight. Tomorrow on Day 22 we are leaving France, which means we are done with border crossings (aside from flying to Iceland and back home at the end of the trip). Anyway I am getting ahead of myself so back to today, Day 21.

Today we biked from Lille to St. Omer, an easy 41 miles... If only it were so easy. Well actually it would have been so easy if not for the weather. The riding was mostly flat, a few hills here and there, and the navigation easy (we made all of about three turns). But the weather made it worse, so much worse. We spent the whole day biking into a very strong headwind, a wind that made Day 20 feel like a cake walk. There were gusts that hit me that made it feel like if you stopped pedaling you would move backwards. On top of this wind we had quite a bit of on and off rain, which luckily wasn't too bad (because everything else was worse). All this being said, though, we made it to St. Omer dry and safe, so what more can you ask. The riding overall was not the most eventful, a few towns and a lot of farm fields. There were a few cool buildings along the way which was nice (see the one below).

I do not want it to sound like the day was awful, there certainly were some highlights. For example, breakfast was filling, large, and scrumptious. We went to a little brunch place in Lille that did eggs, bacon, pancakes, bread, and yogurt all for one big brunch meal. It was great and full of energy, the kind of meal we need for all the biking we are doing. The owner of the little restaurant was interested in our trip and enjoyed how much we ate. He even took pictures and posted them on the restaurant's Facebook page, which was neat (you can check it out on their page, the restaurant was called "Be Yourself", not really sure why they named a brunch place that... But that is beside the point).

Our host in St. Omer was awesome too. We had a great time chatting about tour cycling, beer making, beer drinking, traveling, Iceland, and everything else that came to mind. He made a delicious meal for us too of tortellini and veal. He also introduced us to a handful of good French beers, and one particularly amazing beer. It is made by a small brewery in North France and it tasted and smelled just like hickory smoked bacon cooking on an open fire in an old well loved cast iron pan early in the morning while you emerge from a tent in a dense pine wood forest with a slight chill and misty in the air. This was one of those beers you couldn't drink too much of, but boy was it just delicious.

I think that is all I have for now. It was all in all a hard, long day but it was good and ended on a big high note. Tomorrow as I already mentioned we leave France, so I will leave you all. Best wishes and until next time.

Riding Day 20- Riding uphill the whole way down to Lille

2016-06-13T02:23:00.001-06:00

Hello all. Day 20 and we rode into Lille. The ride from Brussels to Lille was suppose to be mostly flat riding with some nice downhill sections that we could just coast down. Well I am not sure what Google was thinking but this was not the case, or at least it did not feel like the case. But I am getting ahead of myself. We left Brussels around 10:30 in the morning. We had wanted to leave earlier, but the combination of some light rain and then just general laziness meant we did not. We headed out of Brussels following a canal to the south. It was relatively ok riding aside from the cobble stones, mud, water, rocks, sand, fishermen, fishing tournament, and gravel. Bike paths in Belgium really need some attention and some love and care. We arrived in the town of Halle just in time to see an orchestra begin to play in a small square in the street. This was really very neat to stumble upon this. Quite a lot of people were crammed into the cafes around the square to listen to the music, despite the cloudy overcast skies.

(You can barely see the orchestra in the background)

After listening for a little bit we moved on to find something to eat, since we had not eaten anything yet for the day. Unfortunately the only place open was McDonalds... So we ate there (beggars can't be choosers). It was fine, I had a couple of wraps so it was not completely just fried food. From there we started to head West. We stuck on the same road essentially all day just heading west, but there was a nice bike lane and there were a couple neat towns so I did not mind too much.

A few miles down the road the storms began to build and move in, which meant we started to bike into a fairly strong headwind. The headwind was brutal. It was sustained around 10-15 mph and gusting up to 20-25mph which just made biking so much harder. The flat parts felt like hill climbs, the downhills felt almost flat, and the uphill felt like much harder hill climbs. We were battling this wind the whole way. I would never have thought that wind could affect someone so much when they are on a bike... But it does, it really does.

We kept biking along stopping about 20 miles from the French border to throw on our rain gear because it was about to start raining. We had a few little showers blow through and then right next to the French border the floodgates opened and it poured. All in all my rain gear held up great (I might have looked funny, but I was completely dry). After this big storm it was just easily riding into Lille. We arrived in Lille a bit later than we had planned but it wasn't too bad.

We met up with our hosts and after dropping off the bikes and changing we headed out to dinner. We went to a nice Chinese restaurant and had a pleasant time talking with our hosts and their friend. All in all it was a good day and evening, and if it hadn't been so windy it would have been a nice day of biking. Tomorrow we head to Saint-Omer and the day after over the channel. Well that is all I have for now so I say best wishes and until next time.

Rest Day 2- Brussels, Bruges, and Brews

2016-06-12T01:09:00.003-06:00

Hello all. Today we met with my Dad in Brussels, which was fantastic. He is over in Germany for business this next week so he was able to drive over to Brussels fairly easily. It was great to be able to see him and to see Bruges and Brussels with him. What made it great was that he knows a lot of the history and fun facts, and he knows the languages, and best of all he had a car... So we did not have to bike anywhere. We began the day by going to a local cafe and having breakfast which consisted of a yummy omelette and some coffee.

After breakfast we loaded into the car and drove to Bruges... What a novel invention the car. We wanted to go to a place about 60 miles away and we got there in about an hour... Not in about a day. We also arrived cool and refreshed not sweaty and exhausted. We walked all over Bruges visiting a bunch of little monuments and buildings and such. It was really neat to see Bruges, but I was surprised how crowded it was. I know it is a popular place to visit and it was a weekend, but it was still very crowded in the little city. While walking around Bruges we ate a handful of Belgian waffles though, so that made everything alright. For lunch we went to the Half Moon brewery in Bruges. The food was good, but the beers were just alright. It is a pity, I was really hoping for some good brews in a small craft brewery in Northern Belgium.

After eating Lunch, we made our way back to the car and then started making our way back Brussels. We ended up driving past Brussels so we could check out Waterloo and see the monuments and the field where Napoleon was finally stopped. After a quick jaunt around the monument we went into Brussels and made our way to the Grand Place (or Plaza... The big fancy square). We had a nice time wandering around the streets there and seeing the buildings and eating a Belgian waffle. We did make it to the Manneken Piss for the obligatory picture. Luckily it was not too corwded when we got there but a few minutes later the flood gates of tourists did show up.

After seeing the Manneken Piss we made our way back to the Grand Place and had some dinner at a restaurant on the square. It was alright, but definitely touristy. After dinner the day was done, and we made our way to the car, got dropped off at the apartment, and then parted our ways. It was really nice to see my Dad and I had a great time spending the day with him. It was a nice break in the middle of the vacation. Tomorrow we are riding to Lille in France, so we will be making our second to final border crossing. It is going to be a 70 mile day so I am going to leave you all now. So I say best wishes and until next time.

Riding Day 19- Getting back on track

2016-06-11T01:57:00.000-06:00

Hello all. On Riding Day 19 we made our way back on track and biked to Namur. We left the house in the country around 8:30, after having the yummy breakfast that was set out for us. The biking was rather uneventful we simply just kept pedaling and making our way to Namur. The riding for the first large chunk was just nice easy riding, some long hill climbs, but then they were followed with longer downhills, which is always a nice way to do it. There were some nice views along the ride as well from atop the hills (hard to capture them fully though with a camera).

We made great time to Ciney, where we decided to stop for lunch. There appeared to be a big festival that they were setting up for in the main square, and throughout the whole lunch they were doing sound checks so that was fun (many, many minutes of loud noises, feedbacks, and other painful noises). Turns out they were having a big event to celebrate the beginning of the UEFA Euro Championships... I suppose we are just chasing UEFA events without realizing it. After lunch we continued to make our way to Namur, where the riding got a bit more interesting. The roads we were following quickly turned from asphalt to gravel to large rocks to mud and big rocks. In other words our poor little hybrid touring bikes loaded with 40 pounds of gear were having to do some real mountain biking. This riding was a lot of fun, but it was very hard and slow going.

Eventually we made it through all this technical biking and made it back onto asphalt roads. After about 10 miles of biking on the road we made it into Namur. Once in Namur we made our way to the train station, bought some tickets and boarded a train for Brussles with out bikes. We thought that the Belgian trains would have a special place for bikes, but not being able to find one we just quickly hoped on board and stood in the entry way of the train. This must be common because no one seemed to care, including the ticket person. So far in regards trains the Swiss had the best system for taking a bike on the train with you.

After making it to Brussels, we got to our apartment just southwest of the city center. For dinner we went to a pub nearby and had some good food and some good beer. It is nice to be in a place that can actually make good beer again.

Well I think that is all I have for now. Tomorrow is a rest day, not that we have been biking much since the last one. Also my Dad is meeting us in Brussels tomorrow, which is going to be fun. Hopefully tomorrows post will be a bit more exciting. So I say best wishes and until next time.

Riding Day 18- Google's biggest failure, and our greatest win

2016-06-10T11:15:00.001-06:00

Hello all. As you all know today we were suppose to bike to Namur... well we didn't make it. This morning shortly after leaving Bastogne we were following Google Maps directions and it was taking us on a crazy route through fields and muddy dirt tracks. About 5 miles in we were stopped at an intersection (I use this term loosely, as the "roads" were not really roads they were dirt tracks) trying to figure out how much we really wanted to trust Google. This has been one of the biggest failures by Google on this whole trip. While we were discussing what to do a woman called from the backyard of the house that we were standing by, asking what we were doing and if we needed help, in excellent English. After talking very briefly, her husband came over and then they invited us into their backyard to have a drink and relax, while they helped us find a better route to Namur. When you already think you are on a bad road and a local tells you, you do not want to go down that road... You listen to them. So Ben and I went into the backyard (this was around 11:00-11:30 in the morning) and this turned out to be an excellent choice.

Mia and Fernando by their Fountain (the couple)

We had managed to find the two nicest people in Belgium. When we sat down in their lovely backyard, they brought out first some delicious apple juice, made from their apples with nothing added, and some other multivitamin juice. A few moments later they brought out wine and some hors d'oeuvres. The couple were wonderful, we talked and talked about our trip and anything else that came to mind. We also learned that during WWII General Paton and his army launched their offensive on Bastogne from the very fields where we were now sitting and relaxing, which was a very neat fun fact. It was truly relaxing and enjoyable. This experience was what this trip is all about, these little run ins.

Around 12:30 we were setting up to get back on the road, when they offered to make us lunch. So we stuck around for lunch and it was delicious. After eating lunch, drinking some beer, and talking some more, we prepared to head out and start biking to Namur. We said our goodbyes and they offered to let us stay the night, but we thought we could make it to Namur. So we headed down the road, only to then realize it was a little after 4:00pm and we had roughly 60 miles to ride... This would mean that we would not get into Namur until around 10:30-11:00. So after going about 5 miles we turned around and rode right back to their house.

They very kindly agreed to let us stay with them in some nice big comfy beds and they prepared some dinner as well for us. We had a fantastic stay with them talking and learning about the region, Belgium, and the Flemmish area. The next morning (that is today) they made us a nice big breakfast (with and egg... So that was fantatic) and sent us on our way with a map and advice. Meeting Fernando and Mia really was an incredible experience and we will never forget it. We may not have made it to Namur, but I think we had more fun in the countryside around Bastogne, and we had a beautiful sunset.

Today the plan is to bike to Namur as planned then catch a train to Brussels so we can make our AirBnB reservation. That is all I have for now so I am going to let you go, as I have to start biking now (I am writing this during breaks on Riding Day 19, sorry for the delay in getting this written). So I say best wishes and until next time.

Riding Day 17- On the Road Again

2016-06-09T00:50:00.003-06:00

Hello all. Day 17 was a long day. It was suppose to be only 44 miles and it ended up being only 49 miles, but we did not get into our over night stop of Bastogne until 8:30 at night. Luckily we did not get in late due to any sort of technical issues or breakdowns with the bikes... We were just really lazy.

When we woke up in the morning it was raining and since we did not have rain gear, we just lounged around and waited for the rain to let up. At around 10:00 we finally left the apartment and made our way into the old town to get some breakfast. We found a little restaurant that had eggs and bacon on the menu, so that is what we ordered. We were not sure what we would get, but when we got a plate with two fried eggs and a mound of bacon we were very pleased.

After breakfast, we made our way out of Luxembourg City and headed towards Bastogne. Along the route there was a sporting goods store, and since a lot more rain was in the forecast, we stopped in to look at rain gear. An hour and a half later we emerged with brand new rain gear equipment into the sun.

My new gear

Ben's new gear

It was now around 2:00pm and we had travelled all of maybe 3 miles towards Bastogne, so we decided to buckle down and get some miles in before the next wave of storms hit. We made it about 10 miles before we could see the storm a few minutes away so we found a place to grab some sandwiches and then went to a different cafe (since it still hadn't starting raining) to wait out the storm. We got to the cafe and got some cappuccinos just in time before the flood gates opened and it began to downpour.

It rained very heavily for about an hour, but when it stopped the sun came out again and it was beautiful for the rest of the day. We started riding and really put in the miles. The riding was fun it was a lot of hill climbing (some rather intense hill climbs) and a lot of descents. We just made our way through northern Luxembourg and eventually we made it into Belgium. The riding overall was uneventful, just some pretty views and a lot of hills. The riding did reveal to us that in Brussels our bikes might need some professional help, our brakes are just causing a lot of issues (and at times just not working at all).

Once we made it into Bastogne, we met up with our host and then spent the rest of the evening chatting with him and drinking some nice local Belgium beers he had. He also cooked us a nice meal of some pasta and a massive omelette with bacon and cheese. All in all it was a very pleasant evening.

On Day 18 we are riding to Namur, which means a lot more hills and a 62 mile day lay ahead of us. So I am going to leave you now and get some rest. Best wishes and until next time.

Rest Day 1- 10 mile "rest" day

2016-06-08T00:28:00.001-06:00

Hello all. Today was our first rest day, that meant no alarm set, no plan to leave the apartment by 8:30, and no need to pack everything up in the morning. So naturally we were awake by 7:15 and out of the house by 9:30. We decided to walk into the old town to find some breakfast, and I mean real breakfast with eggs and such. After walking around for a while we found a little cafe that made a sort of English breakfast and had an egg "omelette" (eggs that were beaten then in the pan they didn't bother to scramble them around), some beans, and some sausage. After breakfast we walked about 200 feet down the road to another coffee shop for coffee and second breakfast.

Having eaten our way through the morning we decided to actually see the sights, and being the excellent tourists that we are we just started walking slightly aimlessly. After wandering around for a while through some streets and a park we decided to finally consult a map and find out where the attractions were. The first attraction we went to was this statue of some grand duchess by the Luxembourg Notre-Dame Cathedral. It was pretty neat, but what was really interesting was that this woman was standing by the statue while a man (obviously a boyfriend or husband) was taking some pictures, all while three men in suits with earpieces watched them. I was thinking that maybe this statue must be super important and they don't want anyone touching it, but when the couple left the men followed them spaced out behind. So clearly we had just seen someone either very important or very rich with their own three personal bodyguards.

From the statue we went to the cathedral. It was gorgeous inside and out. We walked around it for a while and went into the crypts which has another really nice chapel. The stain glass windows throughout the cathedral were exquisite.

From the cathedral we wandered around saw some monuments, saw the palace, saw another church, and made our way to the casements. The casements were a lot of fun, crawling around in all the old tunnels and little alcoves and such was quite fun. We spent a long time in the casements, wandering around and getting a little lost.

When we emerged from the casements it was about lunch time, so we went back to the two main squares and sat down for some yummy bagel sandwiches. While we were eating it began to rain a little bit, and when we were finished eating it began to downpour (luckily we were not biking during this storm). So to pass the time while it down poured we went to an ice cream shop and had some elaborate ice cream sundaes.

Once the rain finally let up we continued walking around for the next few hours. By the end we felt like we had walked up and down every street in the old town of Luxembourg, for a day that was suppose to be our rest day we walked around 8-10 miles. Once we were back in the apartment we set about to do some laundry. In our brilliance, and in our stubbornness we ended up putting all of our spandex, quick dry, and synthetic fabric into a drier for an hour at a very very high temperature. Luckily nothing was too wet so it doesn't look like there was any crazy shrinkage, but definitely some. The worst was we had wasted an hour and the clothes had just been superheated not even cleaned. So we threw it into the washing machine again and this time used google translate to make sure we put it on wash. While the clothes were actually washing we went out to a little diner nearby and had some delicious burgers, fries, and milkshakes.

After dinner, we came back and pulled our actually washed and cleaned clothes from washing machine. We then did a nice set of rope jerry rigging to set up a drying rack area for the clothes.

I think that is all I have for now. For being a rest day we really did not rest as much as we should have, but it was a fun and interesting day. We have a relatively easy day tomorrow of only around 50 miles to Bastogne, but I am still exhausted and it is time for bed. So best wishes and until next time.