About

My husband Jim had done a lot of cycle touring as a young man but we never considered doing it together until meeting neighbours who travelled this way.  2011 was our first exploratory trip from Cahor, France, along the Lot River and up to the Dordogne. We brought our own bikes and camping equipment and we were hooked! From then on, we have done a number of cycle trips in Europe, generally of 6-8 weeks duration. 

We don't camp anymore though I confess to missing that, but it is just more stuff to carry.  Our previous spring and fall trips have focused on following rivers - the Loire, the Moselle, the Elbe, the Rhine, the Danube - and canals - the Canal de Garonne, the Canal du Midi and others. So far we have cycled in France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Spain. 

In recent years we have focused on locations where we could cycle in the winter - January to March - so we could be home in our garden spring, summer and fall on the small island off the west coast of Canada. This has taken us to Spain the last two winters, first in Andalucia and then last year up through central Spain on the Ruta de la Plata to Salamanca. This year, we are going to Portugal with our new folding bikes which will make taking public transit more accessible if we want to hop around. 

We don't book our accommodation in advance except for at our arrival location, this time Lisbon. That gives us full flexibility to adjust to the weather (or the occasional illness), stay longer in places we love and choose our routes as we go. Winter off-season cycling means lots of accommodation choice, lower prices, fewer people in popular places and good cycling temperatures in our warming world. 

Even though we are in our 70's, we hope to keep travelling this way for some years to come. To us, it is the ultimate in independent, slow travel where you are alive to every sensory detail of your route and you have the satisfaction of using your body to get yourself from place to place, (consequently being able to eat what you want without guilt), feeling stronger every day, minimizing your tourism footprint and inevitably having real adventures and meeting great people. Hope you join us.