About

Retyrement on 2 Wheels.

We are Ann and Michael Hutching. Although relative novices to the world of cycle touring, we have both been commuting cyclists in our home city, Auckland, for many years. We have also enjoyed a number of New Zealand's cycle routes, mainly in the North Island. Our most recent jaunt was a three day sojourn on the Rimutaka trail- a beautiful trail of three parts: the wet, the wild and the windy. If that makes it sound overly challenging or unpleasant, it wasn't in the least. Even the final section around the coast was quite manageable despite the need to cross several very wide shingle fans and contend with extreme wind.

In 2016 we decided that it would be nice to try some 'joined up' cycleways and opted to cycle a combination of Eurovelo 6 from Roscoff to Passau and then south along the Inn River to the Reschenpass and Italy. From Lake Garda we cycled along the Po to Turin and then south through the Pedemonte to Cuneo. We finished by cycling along the Mediterranean from Ventimiglia to Finale. An appropriate finishing point after 3 months in the saddle.

In 2018 we decided to try a circumnavigation of France via the Rhone route from Geneve, the canals from Sete and Toulouse up to Bordeaux and the La Francette cycle route from La Rochelle to Caen and Ouistreham. Crossing over to the UK we cycled on a heatwave stricken Sustrans route to mid Wales via Bath and Bristol. After a week's break we then trained north to Carlisle where we cycled Hadrian's wall, relishing the cool, as far as Newcastle. From here we caught the ferry to Holland and followed the Maas/Meuse route across to Belgium and then back into France. We took the Meuse as far as Verdun where we trained across to Strasbourg and cycled through vineyards down to Basel. From Basel we trained to Munich and then cycled along the Mungfall to Saltzburg. From here we followed the wonderful Alps to Adriatic route, finishing up in Venice after 4 months and around 4,000 kilometres.

This year, 2019, our plan is for a shorter trip, from Copenhagen south to Slovenia, via Berlin, Prague and the Eurovelo 6 to Budapest.