Cycling UK Forum

Heh heh. Good enough library Steven. By hook or by crook I'll find a way to help. I like the charity you are riding for and I've 'wish listed' your book on Amazon. I've challenged myself: If I finish pollarding a little copse I'm doing tomorrow without falling out a tree I'll buy your book by Frida...

Sounds cracking! I'm self a self employed gardener so couldn't join you in person. However in spirit I'll be there checking out your blog. Fishing? I'm not any good. Foraging? Hell yeah! I wish I could contribute. Hey wait a minute: I might have a spare wild food book or 2. Let me know if you are o...

Between 2011 and 2013 I did a massive European tour and it was wonderful except that I spent all of my money. I started looking around for a cheaper and yet still enjoyable way to travel and I hope I've found it. This summer I'm attempting to cycle from the north of England to Gibraltar living on £1...

I've been to Ankara but no further east but I've seen quite a lot of Turkey west of Ankara. None of it was wilderness. There were always towns every few tens of km and garages where you can stock up and where you're usually treated to a free tea and a chat. Turks are friendly. That is, unless you go...

My mum's life is fuelled by worry and regret. Without both she'd be a different person. I was 40 years old when I set off on my 3 year, 22,000 mile around Europe. She told me all the ways I was going to die. Now that I've safely finished the ride she chastises herself for three years of unnecessary ...

In 2013 I found Sweden to be the second most expensive country in mainland Europe (after Norway). Despite wild-camping nearly the whole time, I still spent £20 per day on food, and that was only the most basic supermarket grub (no meals or takeaways and no alcohol). If your budget can stretch to alc...

When I was cycling there in 2012 I met a guy who was WWOOFing near Perugia. He said it was a great life, giving him plenty of cycling time, but that the Italians were incredibly conservative, especially when it came to which sauces went with which shapes of pasta. Just letting you know in case you f...

I don't know your route but don't miss out the cities, most of which were very easy to cycle in and out of, like Florence (nice, affordable campsite overlooking the city), Rome (OK, depends which way you go) and Naples (lots of cobbles on the way out), and the smaller ones like Perugia, Bologna, Are...

I cycled a similar route - to Amsterdam, straight across to Berlin, through Dresden to Prague. Definitely don't miss Berlin. For me it's one of the best capitals in Europe. The ride from Amsterdam to Hannover was particularly dull. After that it got a little more interesting but didn't really get go...

I cycled through Greece towards the end of June. It was very hot but doable. Also, don't underestimate the wind. Albania is good fun. The road surfaces, on the main roads at least, are not as bad as they used to be. Some of the country's main roads are not very main at all but with lots of traffic. ...

Now places that have become more mainstream and weekend stag night venues, whereas when i went there folk said "why are you going there sweep, it's so grey". I like your pioneering somewhat perverse approach - meant in the best possible way. Long live the weird. Yes, some of it is grey an...

The route on the map on the Dutch site starts in Cadiz, which I imagine would be a better starting point (Gibraltar is a toilet). But if you have to start from Gib then I'd avoid the main coast road to Malaga. It's a fast dual carriageway and even though I've seen cyclists on it, it looked terrifyin...

Eastern Europe, particularly Bosnia, Macedonia and Montenegro. Beautiful scenery, very cheap and nicely weird.

Just wanted to thank robing and sweep for recommending my book - No Place Like Home, Thank God - and say that it's now out in paperback from Amazon.

Cheers and thanks again,
Steven

Sweep wrote:I bought the book in the end and can thoroughly recommend it - interesting and also very often funny without straining for effect.

Thanks for the kind words.

Sweep wrote:Such wit, wisdom and soulfulness must of course be entirely due to your northern/Blackburn roots.