Bit short of handlebar space to add
Phone there. But with lots of time to get myself prepared will explore this , particularly the voice to notes

Good on you. It is easy isn’t it

For me doing it daily really is important. Otherwise the trip becomes a blur and I honestly can’t remember where we were and what we did. I have taken to making short notes on my iPhone during the day, using the microphone and the notes app. My phone is on my handlebars using a Quadlock. The notes and the pictures are a great help in the evening.

Had not thought of that , but if daily updates were held in suspense for some times, although eventually the journal reads correctly,, I am not sure about my own attitude to telling each days event each evening , which seems to me to be an essential part of this venture which is breaking new ground for using my bike. I might feel less committed and after a bad day be tempted to stop doing the day review, keeping the journal going feels important at present

One thing to note is that you can play and practice on the site without posting. At the bottom of the journal page there is a box you have to tick to make a post public. You have already found it or I wouldn’t be reading your posts 👍. Until you tick that box you can insert pictures and text and play around to become comfortable with the process, and then delete if you so wish.

I have done a journal exclusively using my iPhone as my iPad was so elderly it decided to quit very shortly after arriving in Europe last year. I have a new iPad now, so use it in the evening and use the iPhone for pictures during the day. My husband takes most of the pictures with his iPhone and we create a shared album that I work from.

You’ve got this! Welcome to CycleBlaze.

Thank you, Lyle! As you have written so thoroughly here, this is essentially what I went through with Grampies coming to my rescue about it all while I was in the Netherlands this year!

Roger, I am 9 years your junior, but my husband is “only 3 years” behind you. We are not long time cycle tourists, but Cycle Blaze is our “map and guidebook” for posts and sharing it all.

When you are bike touring, making conversation with anyone is always welcome with helpful strangers.

Roger, uploading pictures from your iPhone is essentially the same process as uploading from your iPad. Both are very easy.

To upload from an iPhone, when you are entering content, first touch the little camera icon on the toolbar at or near the top of the page. Once you have done that another screen will appear that is titled 'Insert Images' it has a paragraph of instruction below this describing what to do and then in a Green Text Box - are the words 'Choose Images'. Touch this and a selection box will open asking if you want to use a) Photo Library, b) Take Photo or Video or c) Choose Files.

I would suspect that the photos you've taken on your iPhone are in 'Photo Library' - that's where iPhones store them by default. Hit this and your Photo library opens, and you select the items you want to import, hit the ADD button at the top of the page, once the pictures load you can insert captions in the blank boxes beside the pictures if you wish, and then hit the green 'Insert' button and you should be more or less done.

This is essentially the same as the process on the iPad.

For what it's worth, I use an iPad to write our journals and to manage all of our pictures (taken on both a separate digital camera and my iPhone). Transferring pictures from your iPhone to your iPad is very simple. You simply use the Airdrop feature in the iOS operating system that operates both your iPhone and iPad and your pictures are almost instantly transferred from your iPhone to your iPad (or vice versa), and they are stored in the photo library chronologically (ie based on the timestamp of when the photo was taken, not when it was transferred)

I almost never take a picture with my iPad, as you've noted it is not that efficient, but the iPad is great for managing pictures and writing the blog. It stays safely stowed in the pannier during the day and the iPhone does all the image capture and navigation. The roles reverse at night.

Hope this helps.

I like your age related support for my 2026 plan .. and enjoy reading your journals. I am [email protected] , and if you are comfortable would like to be able to communicate directly rather thsn through these comments

roger

You can direct message us at shadybrook at shaw dot ca. Always happy to help.

your commrnts are much appreciated, my curiosity .. how does one best exchange contact details for any communication that is not a comment ona journal entry

I think that if you’re open and friendly you’ll find plenty of people to talk to. Just look for folks with panniers on their bikes!

Good that you found a way to train inside. I’ve always hated indoor riding but started using ROUVY last year. It definitely makes a difference. It makes indoor rides perhaps not quite fun but at least tolerable.

You will have a great ride. Ken and I are 86 and 88 and last year completed our 13th long distance tour in Europe. This year not so successful as I kept falling over. Recording your ride on this website really easy and I will look forward to following it

See my response to your forum post. And good luck with your tour, and bravo with your will to take it on!

Looking forward to following you on this adventure!