Prologue

And we’re off…nearly!

Discombobulation is such a good word really. And describes well the build-up to this year’s ride.

30 months in the making…makes it sound like a well-oiled well-planned expedition. But it is nothing of the sort! It was – funnily enough – quite well planned over two years ago…but then…things happen.

Most notably Covid of course. I remember flicking through a revised route to my dear friend Chris (who was originally planning to share that first quarter of the ride) suggesting a minor detour..to avoid covid-infected Northern Italy. Remember….that was really the start in Europe.

Just a quick detour through Switzerland and Austria….no problem!! To rejoin the route in Slovenia. Such a retrospectively daft idea! But we had no idea how much the world would change in the space of a month or two.

NZ weathered Covid well….all but locked up in our Covid-free paradise…and for 18 months or more there was simply no better place to be on the planet. 

So it was interesting to consider venturing back into the real world.

And surprisingly…discombobulating! 

Covid…or that despot Putin (will he, won’t he…?)

Add in a chaotic arrival in France to a house which had been subject to French builders for two years and not cleaned afterwards…..and a new bike battery which was faulty…and there always felt doubt about the trip would even get started..!!

…and then……add in abscesses….or splinters as I have called them before! Painful…yes…but the issue was I had four of them cut open back in NZ. Six weeks to recover! No problem. Except five weeks later they were not healed. So…I was worrying…that two dried peas…and two fresh ones….four such little things…..could buggar up a plan three years in the making!?

All those little things….adding up to the big question….should I…or even could I?

So…to the plan:

Cycle from France..to Athens…and back again.

Mad indeed.

…..through Liguria & up to the Italian lakes, across to Venice/Trieste…and down through Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania and through the little visited area of Northern Greece, down to Athens, around the Peloponnese peninsular, across Italy, and ferry back to Barcelona for the final ride up to Collioure.

Simple!!

…with two bikes. Me on one…and friends etc on the other. And I say that with an ‘s’ for I could not find anyone tolerant enough to do the whole trip with me! 

Two years ago…Chris was doing the first leg (to Trieste) Martin the second (to Podgorica) and Alan the balance two legs to Athens… and back to Collioure…with each leg being around 1,000km!

Alas….Covid changed everything.

Alan & Chris sadly had to pull out. Brother John toyed with doing a leg (but the vagaries of the farming calendar precluded such an indulgence)….but stalwart Martin stepped up and offered to ride the first two legs to Podgorica…..and then Iain and Shennae stepped up to the do the last two legs.

I was so grateful and excited…for each leg will be so different…& not just the riding!!

And given the handover from Iain to Shennae…(& time for a break on a Greek island) dear Liz might even join us for a week of R&R en route.

So that is the plan!

Covid, body, bum, bikes (& Putin) permitting!! (Actually…bum should probably come first…but enough of that!)

Nothing booked at all. The joy of travelling by bike.

Two tiny panniers. Two batteries. Two (interchangeable) free spirits. Let’s see what happens!!