It wasn't that long ago that many people had never met a foreigner in their lives. And that led to wondering how many cyclists from other lands that I had met on the road. It came to quite a few.

Other than those of your own nationality, and the nationality of the country in which you were touring (in other words, don't count Italians you met in Italy) who do you remember meeting? I've got to:

Germany, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, South Korea, Denmark, Spain, USA, Hungary, India, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, , Luxembourg, Norway, New Zealand, Holland, Poland, Britain, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland and Czech Republic.

Not, as I said, because I was in their country at the time but just because they were coming the other way on the road. And there must have been others.

How about you? And have you stayed in touch with any of them since?

Léo as always you pose a thought provoking question. 

My short answer is that in 40+ years of long distance cycle touring I’ve met very few foreigners coming toward me. A few English (all daft like me), an American, several overloaded Germans and a Quebec Canadian totally bewildered in France because the locals couldn’t understand his French. Oh...and a French guy called Sebastian.  I saw him briefly heading into the Kimberley wilderness 7 years ago. I’ve often wondered if he’s still there. There have been no news reports he’s missing or found.

And more recently, (four years ago) I crossed touring paths with a French-Australian who I believe is the fittest cyclist / runner and most gifted physics/maths intellect in existence. He lives in Adelaide. 

Ongoing communication? Only via FB with the French-Australian fellow. 

Hi Leo,

Interesting question. Does meeting people in a campground in Iceland count? If so, then Italy, New Zealand, Germany, and the Netherlands. Add to that Ireland and Belgium along the Loire cycle way, Brits in many places,and Spaniards in Provence. If one were to count the encounters at the Semaine Federal and Warm Showers, there would be more. 

I haven’t kept in contact with any but a few I met at the Sem Fed. That includes you, by the way, even though that was hardly a chance encounter as we had made contact through the old web site. Momentary meetings just don’t seem conducive to long term friendships whereas long conversations are.

Cheers,

Keith 

Off the top of my head: China, Holland, Belgium, Germany, France, Denmark, Sweden, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Russia, England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, USA, Mexico, Chile, Uruguay, Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil.  I'd need to go through our journals to come up with a real list.

We stay in contact with quite a few, either via FB, WhatsApp or email.

Love the networking of bicycling especially pages like these and serendipity of meeting on the road. We can answer the "have you stayed in touch". Our last trip 2015-17, we stayed with a Belgium WS couple who then 2 years later happened to be in Bangkok at the same time and we met up for a beer. We stayed with East German couple we met on the Friendship Hwy in 2007, who came and stayed with us in 2010 for a backcountry ski trip. We had a Kiwi couple that we met also on the Friendship hwy, come and visit us at home prior to his starting out on an RTW ride. In Prague we stayed with an American guy who stayed with us through WS in 2012 cycling the Idaho Hot Springs Loop, and at the same time a Swedish (the Biking Viking) guy who also had stayed with us happened to be in town and we all met up for ...yes a beer. In Capetown, we stayed with a family member of a South African cyclist who had stayed with us through WS and still are in contact with her.  There also happened to be in Capetown a British cyclist who stayed with us also in 2010...and of course, we met up for a beer. We also met a British cycling couple in Central Asia and a year later met up again in Ecuador, as we were going in opposite directions.

I'm so pleased when people have kept in touch.

Years back we stopped in Binford, a town in one of those northern USA states that you can't tell apart. The  only other camper was a Polish guy called Jan, which he'd taken to pronouncing with a soft J because Americans couldn't cope otherwise.

We had visited a missile base that had become a museum and we teased him that it was there because of him. (No, he said insistently, though seeing the joke, because of the Russians.)

We went our separate ways, he eastwards, we towards the west. A year later to the day, I got an email saying how much he'd enjoyed the encounter. And that led to my staying several days with him and his wife, who turned out to be a world authority on the brain, when I passed through Warsaw.

Another happy encounter, one of so many.

Let's give a think. North America: US, Canada, Texas and one Mexican without papers who wanted to ride with me as a cover of sorts. Asia-Pacific: Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand. South America: Argentina and Brazil. Africa: South Africa. Europe: England, Ireland, France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, I think all the Scandinavian countries including Iceland. 

In France riding the popular Loire Valley, MJ and I met no French riders. In the d'Ardèche Forest we met only French riders. By far the most international bike route I’ve ridden is the Pacific Coast route from Canada to Mexico. At some of the larger hiker/biker campgrounds there could be many different nationalities represented.

In 2019 I rode the Northern Camino de Santiago pilgrims route from the French frontier to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. While I met walking pilgrims from all over the world, the cyclists were all Spaniards and so very gracious and friendly as they all passed me day after day.

No lasting correspondence but I’ve put a few folks into my journals and few internationals have mentioned me in theirs.

While riding the ACA Western Express route; Scotland and England.  While riding the ACA Transamerica route;  England, Holland, Sweden, Canada, Korea, Japan, and Australia.  I stay in contact via Facebook with folks I met from England & Sweden.

Hey! what about those Canadians you met at St. Jean de Losne? They have the proof:

I never made a mental list of countries and don't recall staying in touch with very many people I met during bike tours.

My most vivid memory of foreigners was at a campground in Creston, British Columbia, Canada. I camped next to a French speaking mother and adult daughter from Reunion Island which is nearly the anti-pole to British Columbia. They were as far from home as possible on planet earth.