It’s a cool drizzly Autumn evening in Bungendore. I’m stuck in the bedroom as Cherie has commandeered the living room for her online Italian class that she started this year. I can hear her say that she’s just ridden her bicycle to the supermarket to buy some prosciutto. That should come in handy later in the year when we head to Tuscany for a wedding.

So that gives me some time to set up my blog. I haven’t done a long tour since I rode down the west coast of America just prior to Covid invading our lives. Whilst I have done some shorter trips in the meantime it’s the long tours that I really like. It takes a few weeks to truly unwind and fully appreciate the rhythm of long distance cycling. It’s just you and the bike and the elements. It’s eating when you’re hungry and snoozing when you’re tired. It’s the weird and crazy people that you wouldn’t normally meet in every day life that invariably turn out to be kind, well meaning and good company.  It’s a test of one’s  physical and mental reserves and another test of my dubious directional skills.

I was planning to ride the second half of the Trans America Trail from Kansas City to New York with my mate Rob but he  pulled out due to something called work commitments. Whilst I’m happy to ride by myself I don’t fancy fending off brown bears by myself (I’m a faster runner than Rob) so I turned my gaze to Europe. Then I found another friend of mine was going to be in Europe and was keen to join me. John is truly living the life. He’s been cycle touring in Asia and New Zealand for most of the last 6 months and will be good company for the trip.

The plan is to meet in Paris and cycle for a week or so to Geneva where my 2nd cousin lives. After a few days there it’s a train trip to Zurich and then a westward route through Southern Germany to Munich and then south through the Dolomites and over the alps into Italy. From there it’s eastward bound to Trieste and into Slovenia. My friend Nigel is flying over from London to join us for a week long loop in north east Slovenia. Then it’s heading north into Austria and finally Vienna and home.