Throughout my journey I went back and noted some of the more memorable highlights however these pages don’t even begin to capture the enormous range of feelings I had as a bicycle tourist traveling through so many different countries and environments. I can’t put into words what it’s like seeing killer whales leaping out of the water, hearing glaciers calving, seeing volcanoes erupt, riding through a city with more than 20 million people living in it, walking amongst thousands of penguins, staying in villages so remote that I was quite possibly the first foreigner they’ve ever seen or spoken to, standing in the ruins of entire towns where tens of thousands of people died in landslides/floods/volcanic eruptions, seeing small children begging for change, seeing a grizzly bear playing with her cubs, seeing entire villages forced to live in tiny shacks on the side of a raised dirt road because their homes are flooded, having three guys try to rob me of everything I own, being waved at dozens of times per day by people living in what I’d been told was one of the most dangerous countries in the world, having these same people stop and offer me food, water and places to sleep, riding a bicycle up and over one of the highest passes in the world, having someone from one of the poorest areas in the western hemisphere bring a plate of hot food to my tent just to make me feel welcome, desperately trying to hold my tent up from the inside during a storm in tornado alley, getting chased by hundreds of stupid dogs and nearly getting hypothermia. The list is endless.

So why am I stopping? It wasn’t that long ago that I’d planned on continuing my trip through Europe, Russia, the Middle East and North Africa for at least two more years. I had my route all planned out, a fancy spreadsheet showing over a dozen different considerations for traveling in each country, the funds to make it happen, a fully functional bicycle and physically I was (and still am) at 100%.

I’m stopping for two reasons. The first is that I had to see about a girl. As things tend to happen, sometimes when you least expect it, I just fell head over heels for this incredible woman whom I’ve known for many years but only just recently came to appreciate for the truly remarkable person that she is. There’s no way I can let her get away. When it came time to decide how I wanted to spend the coming years it was a very easy decision.

The second reason would most likely have had me thinking about stopping within a month or two. I’ve seen so many amazing things in the last few years and have a huge appreciation for this planet and everything on it. Seeing the damage we’ve caused day after day, mile after mile through every single country I’ve ridden through is incredibly disheartening. Some people might argue that it’s not that bad and blah, blah, blah. It is that bad. When you are riding a bicycle through it for nearly 30,000 miles you see it, you taste it, you smell it and you hear it. There’s absolutely zero doubt in my mind that we aren’t systematically wiping out every other living thing on this planet and the thought of seeing more of it for another two years isn’t that appealing.

Sure I could jump ahead to more “pristine” areas but if I wanted to skip over things I’d just go on a cruise. So for now it’s back to Florida where I’ll work on building a new, more subdued life because if I’ve learned anything from the past 3 years it’s that everything is connected. I know I don’t need a bunch of things to feel safe or successful. I’ve also seen what it takes to support the developed world and what effect this has on the people forced to live in areas being exploited for production material.

Dear old Koga 3.0 will be relegated to just shuttling me back and forth from the grocery store instead of through strange and exotic lands.

To all my family, friends, admirers, supporters, teachers, hosts and would-be robbers: truly, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for making me a better person. To all the dogs: suck it.

Enjoying the view

Easy ride on the ferry. Slept right through the night so I guess the seas were calm. Having an all-you-can-eat breakfast was a mistake for them but I didn’t get too crazy.

Riding in the Netherlands is about a million times better than the UK if only for the fact that the roads almost always have enough room for cyclists and the drivers actually slow down to pass if it’s tight. Nice weather all day and the sun has even made a rare appearance. I guess it’s been raining here as much as it has where I was.

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And of course a windmill.

I love this old truck.

Awesome bike trails–so not used to this.

20 minutes waiting for this thing.

The ferry that got me back to the Netherlands.

The weather was decent enough today. A bit of rain in the morning and then it stayed dry for the rest of the day. No sun though. The route I ended up taking was perfect. Almost all the roads were small, local roads, traffic wasn’t bad at all except for one moron who thought he was in a rally car race and the hills, although plentiful, weren’t excessively steep. I did get stuck on a bridleway and had some fun sliding through the mud for about a mile. Even managed to see a bunch of cool little weasel things. Not sure what they were. Maybe ermines? Maybe Google will help me out when I get internet. (update: ermine it is).

Tonight I’m sitting on a ferry on my way to the Netherlands. It arrives tomorrow morning in Rotterdam at 8:30am. I spared no expense and got myself hooked up with a cabin for this overnighter. It even has a shower in it. Quite fancy I think. My short term plan is to visit Karin and Marten for a few days. They only live 40 miles or so from the ferry terminal so it’ll be an easy, flat ride to their house. Can’t wait to see my friends again. My long term plans have also changed. More on that to come.

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Bottom of the bridge.

An ermine.

Fast little guy.

My new Nashbar Ragster II Cycling Sandals didn’t last long.

As far as a touristy review of what’s it’s like spending a week in Lincoln I can’t think of a better place to stay. The city is just big enough to have the necessary mix of pubs/restaurants and attractions without being overcrowded. Even the weather cooperated and we had several days of sunshine. Some of the bigger things we saw were the Lincoln Castle, constructed during the late 11th century by William the Conqueror, one of the four surviving originals of the Magna Carta, the 11th century Lincoln Cathedral, reputedly the tallest building in the world for 249 years (1300–1549), a medieval Bishop’s Palace and several museums including one with a collection of very disturbing medieval torture instruments and another with one of the first tanks used in WWI.

Maybe the big highlight of the week was a ghost walk tour which we fittingly took on the evening of Friday the 13th. OK, the tour was pretty cheesy, it rained most of the time and we didn’t see a single ghost. We did walk over an area where they buried plague victims from the Black Death so it’s not like there wasn’t an opportunity for something to reach out from beyond the grave.

I’m not sure where I’m going next so the extra couple days will be spent trying to figure that out. The original plan was to ride around northern France before cutting up through Luxembourg into Germany and then onto Poland. I’m not particularly keen on spending any more time in populated areas of Europe which presents a bit of a problem because there aren’t too many unpopulated areas. I tracked down a map of population density and think I’ll reroute myself through to Berlin using that as a guide. We’ll see how that goes. I’m having this big problem as of late with not knowing exactly where I want to go. There’s more about that on this older post that I hadn’t published until today. One thing is for sure–I need to get somewhere where it’s not raining every day.

The rather scary Liquorice Park

Taking a walk in The Arboretum (park in Lincoln)

Sometimes I wish I could just stop time

Pottergate Arch, Lincoln

More houses in Lincoln

12th century Medieval Bishop’s Palace in Lincoln

Steep Hill street in Lincoln

Ruth making a call

Amazing what female teachers had to deal with back then

Me and some old bikes in the Museum of Lincolnshire Life

Old newspaper in the Museum of Lincolnshire Life

Ellis Mill

Enjoying some lunch

Inside Lincoln Cathederal

Lincoln Castle from the roof of the Cathederal

Lincoln Cathederal

It wasn’t the end of the world since its a train after all–not too many different ways it can go. The train station supervisor called ahead and had them pull it off further down the line and load it up onto a train heading back this way. The whole episode added about 3 hours to the trip. When we did finally arrive it was close to 8pm. Long day but we made it.

Lot’s more to see and do. I hope it takes a very long time for Sunday to get here.

Freaky looking dummies in the prison chapel

Lincoln Castle

Lincoln Cathederal

Arrow slot in the castle

Ruth standing guard

One of the main touristy areas in Lincoln

The waterfront in Lincoln

Yes, she packed this and that’s why her bag weighed 50 lbs

Typical English breakfast

After escaping the traffic in Bath I spent about half the day riding along an unpaved, rather bumpy bicycle path next to a canal. The canal was like a little city in itself. For practically the entire length there were boats tied up that people lived on. I wanted to stop and ask someone what it was like living there but the only people I saw were a couple guys and they looked a bit peculiar. A few of the boats were decked out with solar panels and little gardens on the roof. Most boats had a bicycle strapped on top presumably for trips along the trail back into town. I was dying to know where the septic waste ends up. The canal looked clean so it’s not going in there. One guy had converted his boat into a floating ice cream parlor so maybe there’s a garbage boat too.

After many miles along the quiet path it was time to jump back onto the roadway for the last stretch. The biggest disappointment was riding up a very steep hill for a quarter mile to avoid the busy A360 only to find out the road was closed because the military was doing some live fire exercises on the base I was hoping to pass through. Fortunately I didn’t have to go back the same way but it did mean I got stuck riding on the highway. And of course once on the highway it wasn’t long before the strong wind blew me a little to the side and my front pannier clipped the shrubs that grow right up to the side of the road. The pannier ripped off forcing me to stop and put it back on in the middle of the lane of traffic with cars coming up behind me doing about 80mph. Luckily I had about a 20 second break to pick it up and get going again before the first car came along.

Camped that night at Brades Acre in Tilshead. 6 pounds for the night, good shower (50p) and free wifi. Rode about 40 miles with 1436 feet of climbing.

Yesterday I finally got to see Stonehenge. Holy crap were there ever a lot of people! The line to buy a ticket and walk around the stones was so long I didn’t even bother. I ran across the highway, took some pictures over the top of the chain link fence and left. It was cool looking and all that but I didn’t feel bad for not joining the throngs of tourists shuffling around it. You can’t actually walk through the stones (except on a special early morning/late night tour).

Next stop was the famous Woodhenge. OK, 5 other people were there so perhaps not so famous. The ride there was fun because I followed some trails entirely off-road through some gorgeous countryside.

Last stop was the iron age fortress of Old Sarum (Salisbury today is also called New Sarum; Old Sarum was the location of the first settlement). It was one of my favorite smaller historical sites. Not even sure why I liked it so much. There wasn’t much left of the place but the informational panels were detailed and it was very clean even with the stupid dogs they let people bring with them. Maybe because I just finished reading the novel London, which talks about the area a little, I appreciated it a bit more. The same author also wrote Sarum (Edward Rutherfurd).

Nice weather all day but extremely windy. Camped right next door at a caravan park. Rode 23 miles for the day with 1303 climbing.

This morning I woke up and rode a mile from the campsite to a guest house in the city center. So next week (the 7th) is when I’m meeting my friend in Lincoln. I don’t want to be fresh off the bike with a pile of dirty clothes, long, shaggy hair and cuts all over my shin (long story) so I decided to stay here in Salisbury until at least the 5th. That way I can get caught up on my web site, answer emails, heal, clean up a bit, get some work done on my bike (minor shifting problems) and wind down. I would have stayed at the CG but they don’t have electric outlets available for tent campers and my laptop was dead. So were all my rechargeable batteries. I’m finding that having a solar charger doesn’t do much good in a country with no sun. It’s quiet here too; maybe I’ll get some sleep finally.

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This marked bike path by Old Sarum was terrible

I like this puffy house

My grassy ride to Woodhenge

"Bloody hell! You nearly shot me!"

Lunch.

Looks like fun.

Love the boats.

Cozy

Bath

Royal Crescent again

My one and only Stonehenge picture.

Looked very cool back then

Looking back up from the church

You can see where I was camped in the foreground

The front of the fort at Old Sarum

I did manage to cure my sore rear end even with constant 80% and above humidity. The trick was baby power, and lot’s of it. Little puffs of white power were probably visible to the drivers coming up behind me as I adjusted myself in the seat for the first bit.

Getting to Bath was easy enough thanks to a great cycle path that followed along an old railroad track. It was once I got into Bath that I ran into trouble. There was no easy way off the cycle track, at least that I could find, so I ended up riding past the campground and into the city. Then I had to circle back and ride up a long, steep and very, very busy road to get to it. I was not a happy camper when I got here. Then the lady tells me it’s $21.04 US to camp. Newton Mill Holiday Park was the name of the place.

Stonehenge tomorrow maybe. I’m way ahead of schedule and love it because it gives me a couple days to relax before I start my vacation.

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The bridge I crossed over into England.

My rear end is just killing me for the last couple days. I know it’s from my bike shorts never having a chance to dry out so the friction is just brutal. Feels like I’m sitting on a hot iron all day.

Camped here in Abergavenny at a golf course/campground (Wernddu Farm Golf Club). Unfortunately it’s very loud because the camping area is right next to a busy road, there’s a huge flock of sheep across the street and there’s been a helicopter flying overhead for 30 minutes now.

OK, today sucked. Nothing specifically happened to make it suck more than any other day. Yesterday didn’t help at all I’m sure. When you have a really good day immediately followed by a bad day I’m sure the bad day will seem worse than it actually is.

I have no desire whatsoever to keep bicycle touring here. I don’t even know if I want to tour anywhere at this point. For the last three and a half years I’ve had the unfortunate pleasure of seeing us turn virtually every inch of arable land into space for our cities, grazing animals and crops. It’s pretty freaking depressing. There are so many amazing things on this planet and we’re squeezing everything out.

I think at this point I’d just like to see any kind of light at the end of the tunnel. The problem is that people are all the same; myself included. This has been painfully obvious after traveling around a bit. We all destroy–some of us are just a hell of a lot better at it than others. The saddest thing is that we never learn from our mistakes. We just keep doing the same stupid things over and over again. Even when we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are doing something stupid we still do it–usually so we can make more money and do more stupid things.

I’m not sure what’s in store for me in the near future. We’ll see what the next few weeks brings.

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Cool old farm buildings

That silly Mood thing down at the bottom that almost always says Good–well check it today people. I’m in a freaking amazing mood. In general if I’ve been victimized all day by traffic, dogs or see nothing but farms I usually spend my time thinking about how nice it would be if there were 90% less people on the planet. Not today though.

The first thing to start off this great day was just an email from someone very special to me. She could have just hit random keys on her keyboard and sent that and I’d still be happy but I digress. Breakfast at the B&B was great and I managed to find my way out of Carmarthen without too much difficulty.

Sure it was pouring rain as usual but it wasn’t cold (60F) and the wind was blowing from behind me. I’d have to say at this point that I enjoyed the scenery here in Wales, just in the last 2 days, more than just about anywhere in England, Scotland and Ireland. It’s been a big change from my first day here when I wasn’t a huge fan. First of all there are actually trees and quite a few of them. All kinds of colors too; not just brown or one shade of green to look at all day. Not too many houses along the road either.

No one is ever going to believe this story either. So I’m riding along and this guy in a work van slows down coming toward me and stops. He asked where I was going and being a smartass sometimes I smiled and pointed straight ahead and said, “That way.” He laughed and I told him what road I was taking up ahead. Turns out I was heading toward his place so he gets on his cell and calls his wife to bring in their stupid dogs because they have a habit of chasing bikes. That’s never happened before. I never did see the wife or the stupid dogs clawing at the windows though.

After a somewhat grueling ride uphill I reached the very impressive 13th century Carreg Cennen Castle perched high atop a steep limestone precipice. The walk up was through a huge minefield but I survived and enjoyed my tour around the ruins. I was the only one there the entire time (because of the weather I’m sure). Oh, the minefield was the carpet of sheep crap literally everywhere. Rather nasty. I asked the guy about it and he said they use the sheep to keep the grass short. Something wrong with long grass that I don’t know about? Is it going to grow 60 feet high and obscure the ruins? I think I’d rather wade through grass than sheep crap any day. Anyway I loved the place and the views were incredible even with the poor visibility. Only 4 pounds to get in too.

There was a restaurant on site and I broke down and had a hot lunch there. As I was leaving my eyes wandered over to the desserts and wouldn’t you know it, rhubarb cake. I love rhubarb! I’ve never had it in a cake before but heated up with some ice cream it was too bad (rhubarb pie is way better).

I stopped at Black Mountain CG for the night. The shower block is out of commission but they let me use an empty trailer home that had a great little shower and electric to charge my laptop back up. The cafe next door even had milk for sale. I bought a beer to finish off a great day even though I’ve sworn off it. Other than the Guinness in Ireland I’ve been doing pretty well.

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First beer in a while.

Trying to dry my clothes.

For grazing land it looked pretty nice

Cool tourist office.

Another old fort.

Rain all day so bad pictures on my little camera.

My bike resting.

Carreg Cennen Castle

Looking back out the way I came in

The main courtyard

Very dark path leading down into a cave

Flowers growing out of the ruins

For peeking at the enemy

Damn sheep crap everywhere

There’s Carreg Cennen Castle on the bottom left

The scenery was pretty much just farms. Hilly farms, but still farms with lot’s of sheep and cows. Kind of disappointing actually. I thought Wales would be a bit more untamed. The weather was fantastic! Quite a bit of sun and hardly any wind. I was hoping it would last a couple days but a peek at the weather forecast killed that dream.

I spent the night in the town of Carmarthen. Not too much to see but it does happen to be the birthplace of none other than Merlin, the famous wizard of Arthurian legend. On my food shopping trip I looked for something Merlinish to take a picture of but couldn’t find anything. Rode a whopping 29 miles with 2773 feet of climbing.

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