Trips

It is amazing to see the commitment of resources to construct a cathedral on the scale of the one at Salisbury. It took generations to build. Today we can’t imagine such an undertaking.

These country lanes are gorgeous to cycle along. There is practically no traffic on a weekday. I don’t even care where it is going as there will always be an Inn further along where I can stay.

Sure enough, a country Inn with thatched roof and all. The rooms are small, the bed is short, the shower and ceiling too low. There is no wifi. But it is charming and I am not complaining.

I’ve heard it is cold and rainy here in England but that is not the case for me. It is beautiful weather and the roads are fantastic for cycle touring.

Why bother with fences you have to pay for and maintain when you can have hedges for free. This is hedge central. Second only to New Zealand.

This roofing system is amazing. Perhaps not long lasting as some. Not sure about that. But thatched rooves are beautiful. They are common around here.

Opps a bit of fencing in the foreground! Every time you climb a hill you know you’ll be treated with gorgeous a vista.

What is it about old stone buildings? The fact that they are made with natural materials and last forever? That you can see the craftsmanship woven into the structure? That they outlast the need for them but remain as reminders of older times?

This is a typical country road in the Cotswolds. It would be difficult if there were big trucks or hoons but generally, today at least, there is negligible traffic.

Plenty of roadside fruit for cyclists.

England treats its history with respect. Things we would never know about are signposted and make for interesting reading at night.

Arriving in Bath. I am amazed by the number of folding bikes being ridden around. The next morning I see why. On the train bound for London several people have folding bikes tucked in beside them while I had to prebook one of the few places available for a full sized bike.

Out in the country in India the farmers scythe the grain crop and then need to thresh it. Some use passing vehicles to do this (to separate the grains from the heads).

We shared the road with the gypsies today. The men go in front with the goats. They have hooks on long poles to pull down branches. The women follow with donkeys and all their camp equipment and any baby goats.

A “must see” in Bijapur is Gol Gumbaz, the tomb that was the inspiration for the Taj Mahal. It was begun in 1626 and took 30 years to build. A 44m wide dome, the biggest in the world at the time and still intact. Its acoustics are so perfect that a whisper on one side can be heard on the other.

Girl in Kushtagi Karnataka.

We went down to Hampi today which is a fabulous place. But the particular road was quite toxic around Hospet. You can barely make Kim out in front of the third truck. As scary as this seems, the Indian lorry drivers take care of us and we are not complaining.

The elephant handlers in Hampi have got it all worked out. Slip them a coin and they give a subtle signal to the elephant and you get a blessing. It is a lot of fun.

Back on the quite roads again today. The roads are a bit crappy but 35c tyres do well. Punctures are extremely rare in countries where there is a lot of walking and cycling.

Big load shot. Small vehicle category.

There must be a festival tomorrow. This bull has been prepared for some big procession. They love their cattle. Quite a way to show it!

This is a common way of using a bicycle out in the village areas of India. The boys can carry a lot more than they could manage to have on their heads. They just wheel the bikes back to their homes.

Travelling down the west coast, each river bridge has to be inland to allow it to be shorter. So its fresh water and this makes for sand usable in concrete. Boats carry the hand-dredged sand to jetties.

It is always hard to get shots of eagles so I was very lucky today to catch this amazing bird just after I’d seen it swoop down and grab a snake.

Cycling in India reveals the ingenuity of people as they confront simple daily challenges. We have a common bond with them as we use our own power, we sweat, and we have our daily problems and successes.

There is nothing like a long bike ride after a long flight to get you into the time zone. Descending down to Bodensee through hops and apple farms I know I am almost there.

On the train NE to Nuremberg’ stopping at many stations, the number of bikes parked at each one is amazing.

Riding in Germany, indeed in much of Western Europe, one is regularly treated to surprises. Arriving in Wurzburg an example of that is this beautiful old bridge with statues of saints on each side.

The bridge was destroyed in WW2 and completely rebuilt. Now it is just for pedestrians and cyclists.

In the town square a woman basks in the sun.

Leaving Wurzburg. It is always nice to see other touring cyclists.

Crossing through forests to another valley. My frame is a test version of the Ritchey coupling system, rear cantilever brake, Tiagra shifters, Taiwan leather saddle. This is the first of three of these saddles I try and they all broke.

Heading west on bike paths past families doing what German families do..ride bikes.

After following a canal for some distance and wanting to get to the other side, there is a lock. While the cruise boats are raised to the new level the tourists eat ice cream sundaes.

In the forests surrounding Frankfurt airport I can hear the planes. It must be here somewhere.

It is the destination, but I have to ride another 15km to find the correct entrance. Mental note…figure out how to use a gps device!

Passing around the north shore of Lake Iznik the farm workers are chipping weeds in the beans.

Modern day Izmir is built where the ancient Roman city of Smyrna was. We came through Izmir in the middle of the day not stopping, and not wanting to have to stay in a big city.

In Foca the next morning. Last night it was getting dark when we arrived. The day was memorable for the worst dog chases I’ve ever experienced. In one case going past a service station, the staff did nothing to stop it. The other was a pack of four big wild dogs racing on the far side of a canal to get to a bridge ahead. We were all going about 20km/h in a headwind. A bus driver realized what was about to happen and intervened.

I’ve got a gps on this trip solely to count the climbing. The compass location is not right.  Later on I take it off the bars believing it is being interfered with by the metal around there.

There is no doubt about the charm of the Aegean coastal area. A hint of Greece. It’s the whole Mediterranean basin. Touring through here sure beats being in the pushy, hard, fast modern world.

In Balikesir this family of women seem to have bought a bolt of dress material and made their own clothes.

It is late May and the markets are full of cherries, apricots and strawberries. These cherries are AUD2.20 a kilo. We travel light and have the tops of our rear bags ready to take on board fruit.

In the evenings in the parks families come out together. The food is so healthy. This piping hot corn is served salted and given to me in some of the leaves to hold.

We don’t speak each other’s language but we both get around on bikes. He gave me a few of his spokey dokes. We rode around town together.

There are dozens of these exercise machines in parks along the Bandimar waterfront. Young and old, male and female alike use them. It is so inspiring. Turkey is the home of public exercise equipment.

A car wash provides the bucket, water and plastic broom for the end-of-trip bike wash.

IST (the airport) is a pleasant ride from the city. Faced with the choice of trying to find bike cartons in the city and getting the train to the airport or riding out and trying to find cardboard out there we opt for the latter. We have rope and tape and cable ties.

Having allowed 3 hours to be able to find cardboard and produce the packaged bikes it has worked out well. Some discarded computer boxes. Now the plastic wrapping machine is finishing it all off.

I love the timelessness of the rural parts of South India. This is heartland Tamil Nadu, SE of Vellore. A lot of this coast, and inland for 50km, is a delta having washed down from the western ghats, across the South Deccan.

The sugar workers are having a break from loading the cane onto a truck out in the field. Hanging out with me instead. We mutually admire each other’s things. They my bike; me their ropes and cane-knives.

Again, it is the timelessness and sustainability. On a bike we have commonality and a feeling is there on both sides. There is frequent head nodding. Often a group of workers will pause and we acknowledge each other.

I’m no expert on the temples but I always visit the big ones if I am passing by. Trichy is a major one. This is Rama and he is housed under a massive stone roof. The scale is overwhelming.

Along this coast, peacocks live in the wild like nowhere else I have seen. It is common to pass 6 or 8 sitting up on rock outcrops. Their calls pervade the environment.

Sri Lanka and India are quite close together around Palk Bay. It is protected water, not damaged for example by the Indonesian tsunami. It’s a peaceful calm area.

Kanyakumari, at the very tip of India. Quite a fuss is made about the oceans and seas meeting here and religious significance. There is an unavoidable feeling that, one way or another, this is a very significant place. Dawn is the time to be there and I have ridden the 20km from Nagarcoil in the dark.

The western ghats come to an abrupt halt. The west and east coastal strips meet in the super rich farmland around Nagarcoil. The women in the foreground are making small bundles of rice seedlings for  transplanting.

The big-load shot of the trip. The driver would have zero rear-view mirror access. This is plantation teak. Teak is a major rural industry in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

The last day has seen a big change as I’ve turned around to start going up on the west coast in Kerala. The western slopes of the massive mountain range, just inland, (they call them “hills”) has one zone of elevation in which rubber is the exclusive crop.

This is a map marked up with a matchhead at each overnight stop. The Chennai airport is SW of the city so I stayed near the airport and didn’t go into the city rather I headed to Vellore the first day.

It is much easier to (a) ride to the airport, along the way buying coir rope, a few bathmats and 10 newspapers; rather than (b) scrounge for cardboard in the city near the lodging, packing in the confines of the room and arranging and paying for vehicular transport to the airport. In preparation I am already carrying a disc protector, cable ties, tape and a 60m role of cling wrap. In the future I’ll use a locally-bought tarp instead of clingwrap.

I’m only half deflating the tires to protect the rims. I am trying to only use what I am able to buy on the way to the airport, and comfortably carry on the bike to the airport. For when there are no bike cartons at the airport.

A few good carrying loops in the rope at the top invite handlers to keep the bike upright. It would even be possible to make and take some “This Way Up” stickers for each side.

Near the end of the Ulm-Friedrichshafen leg with Bodensee in front. It is a special area for cycling with probably over 100,000 people riding the 200km right around the lake in a year.

Heading north again after two days at Eurobike. The point of this shot is that I am on the road, merely because of the signs to further-away places that allow me to not stop so often, but I am having to go through this road tunnel when, just to the left of the road, cyclists on a bike path have their own tunnel. So I got that wrong.

I have not taken the risk of booking ahead as I didn’t know where I’d end up today. It can be risky on a Saturday night, but it worked out tonight.

Today my strategy is to use the compass and constantly take N-NW options, trying to stay off-road. This turns out to be a good idea and I see a lot of beautiful peaceful places.

This is getting pleasantly remote from the type of main roads I was on yesterday.

It is pumpkin season, obviously. I never know if people buy them or if they are just there as a visual treat. They sure are that.

Central Heidelberg at midday. With major cities there is the option of using them as overnight stops or, alternatively, of setting up the days so you pass through during the day. The latter allows you to get a sense of the place as a working centre, with everyone going about their business.

The European roads are marked as either yellow or blue. Yellow means we can ride there. Blue means it is not only for motorised vehicles above an engine size, but there are minimum speeds required.

As I ride along I am looking at the compass plus the yellow and blue. A few years ago I accidentally got onto autobahns and the police arrived very fast. The good thing about riding the yellow roads compared to riding the bike paths is you can cover great distances without a lot of stopping.

There is a scary amount of blue on this sign but straight ahead is OK on yellow. Notice there is no shoulder and I won’t see any other bikes. However, my right to be here is respected and it is quite safe. A truck will slow to my speed rather than overtake unless it can get fully into the other lane.

It has to be a very high-resolution map to show all these places. Bike paths along river valleys and canal routes are easy providing that is where you want to go.

In several cases there is a bike path right beside the road and it would be mean to the drivers for me not to take it. Notice there is even a separate bridge crossing for bikes. That is typical.

If you are trying to cover 100-150km a day these bike path signs can be puzzling. They are mostly signs to tiny nearby locales and villages. I use my compass but if there is a big river to cross this can take me away from a bridge. It is still fun, just further to go due to route errors.