The final blog......arriving home!

Even though we had planned to sneak back home on a Monday morning,we were still intercepted by fiends [this should read "friends",but this is probably as true a description of Morgan ,at least in terms of cycling].Here is Morgz leading us up the last hill. Only 400mtrs from Home !

As we had been away so long some folk had no memory of us at all, and were not at all sure they liked what they saw. Campbell is already a cycling "fiend ";[ he was the youngest cyclo-cross competitor at the Borrowdale shepherds meet.] Well,the assembled audience outside our house [Mum,Lucy,Morgz and Campbell,Jane and wee Johnny,Lena,Pauline,John,and the postman ],were treated to a fine display of our aquired cycling skills. Both of us fell over in the ford right outside our house,Jon first ,then me.....very slippy it is !and soaking wet we were. Luckily for us the actual moment has not been captured on film .

Arriving home was all a bit of a blur...where's Mum gone? Young Johnny has materialised from non existance before we went away...how did that happen?

This is a map of the trip.We left on 26th July 2009,arrived home on 1st Nov 2010,and cycled a total of 29,215 kms, [even though a Kazak border official told us that a bicycle "is NOT a means of transport "] .The train bit across Russia was probably about 6000kms [and if we hadnt taken it we would only just now be leaving Russia,which as it is definitely winter there now is probably just as well we did ]

What have we learnt.? That the world is a truly wonderful place ,and people EVERYWHERE are incredibly kind and generous.We all should insist that it is looked after better ,and shared out more fairly.

We may have to get back on our bikes and check out some more of it ..........

THE END.

Arriving in the U.K

Whilst Jane contemplates the muddy waters,Jon fields the incoming calls. Gary is trying not to think of 'work tomorrow'.

Nic and Jon arrive on British soil for the first time in 15 months. Can you detect a hint of anxiety?Is November a wise time to return.?Or is it just fear of another days riding trying to keep up with Jane and Gary?And whats all this driving on the left hand side business?

Gary can get down into this 'photographers squat,'but at his age it is no easy matter getting up again.Eventually we were able to proceed.

Luckily the beautiful countryside of the north pennines made us glad to be here.

Cycling up towards Alston after our last night of camping ...[we had an early night after a social afternoon session at The Elks Head with some family and friends,just to ease us gently into the culture of this strange country ].
Nic is glued to the left hand side of the road.!

Old enough to know better? Obviously not.

It will probably come as no great surprise to learn that after cycling 28,580kms,instead of getting on to the ferry at Imjuiden when we got there ,we found that we really had been stupid enough to commit ourselves to a lunatic extra circuit of the Netherlands,at the end of October,for no very good reason at all [a.k.a Jane and Garys half term cycling holiday].This was despite warning them that their idea of joining us somewhere in “northern Europe” could be the very worst holiday idea they had ever had.But as there’s no fools like old fools, here is Gary’s version of events.






Some might say that, having got to within 100m of the Newcastle ferry at IJmuiden, it would be mad to then turn round and head off for one final week of cycling in The Netherlands. We are very glad, however, that Jon and Nic came up with the ridiculous plan to finish their adventure with some flat-land wheeling and to invite us to share in their adventure.

We met them on Sunday morning and immediately set off northwards, into a brisk northerly wind. The hail was only intermittent but we were glad it had stopped by the time we set up camp in lovely quiet woodland near Bergen.

Cycling on the flat may sound easy but there is no respite, no downhill. There is also a mental challenge as you can see your road disappearing miles into the distance – as was the case on the 30km Afsluitdijk across the Ijsselmeer.

Big Hans is as big as he looks!!!! Gary hasn't shrunk any more....


One bonus of joining Jon and Nic for the week was that we got to meet Hans and his brother. Hans first met them in Mongolia and lives in Groningen. His brother Simon farms at Blokzijl on one of the original farms on the new polder created around 60 years ago. They were both really welcoming and Hans joined us for the ride south to his brother’s farm.

We had by now experienced the amazing cycle-friendly nature of travelling in the Netherlands but at Gronongen we got a feel for the first time of how popular and ‘normal’ cycling is for the Dutch. We continued south against what had now become a strong southerly wind until we finally reached Amsterdam. Eating, drinking and culture replaced pedalling for a day or so before we had to head back to the ferry.

More people on the way home

Here we have Hans...He lives in the North east of Holland (sorry the Nederland!!) We saw him last in Mongolia where he told us that we would pass his house on the way home and that we must stay at least 2 nights.(we haven't told him yet but we have to leave in the morning!!).. so that is where we are now.. doing this blog.. ( we have to do it as Hans says he can"t manage to do any work until there is another blog to read!!) so here we are 4 beers down and trying to do a blog in Holland (sorry the Nederland!!) (sorry Hans)

Jan and his wife Marij [and Timmy the terrier !].Last time we saw Jan was in Kazakstan... again he said that we would pass by his house on the way home and that we should stay at least 2 nights (so we stayed 1). Well after Jan left us he did get to Mongolia but had an accident damaging his sidecar and his good leg (the right leg is made of wood!) so air ambulance etc to Ulan Battar then a flight home.. everything ok now... next years trip being planned at the moment. What a lovely stay we had......and first waterbed ever.Thank you Jan and Marij.....[the eggs were delicious]

Those of you who have been following the blog will remember Niels and Hanna.. They invited us to stay too.... so we had a wonderful evening hearing some of their tales of their past travel. [The charging moose story is very good...especially Hanna's laughing at the sight of Niels running for his life !]... we will have to stay with them in the future to hear more... Great stories and great people

DIY ferry in Holland ( sorry the Nederland) wind the ferry across and back.. at least it kept us warm.

And now the start of our Holiday.... 27500km then a weeks cycle touring round Holland (sorry the Nederland) with Gary and Jane.[the titanium twins] . We don't know who is the madder, them for coming out at this time of the year with this type of weather to go cycle touring..... or us for not taking the ferry that they got off to go home.?.... You decide... anyway we are having a great time.

Germany in the autumn.

On our way through Germany we remembered that we actually had some friends!! Yes even living in Germany.... so here you have it, Mike and Julia with Jon on a little walk through the woods around Heidelberg. They looked after us very well ,feeding us up, showing us all of the best sights in the area and educating us on the measuring of the distance from the earth to the stars ( heavy stuff).Michael took us on a "gentle 10km " bike ride.It took 37km's to complete and included an obligatory 33min time trial up Heidelberg's biggest hill. We also had some of the best weather..... sunny and hot.

Catching the last of the Autumnal sun on the banks of the Rhine

Jon seems to have got an obsession with his boots... he spends hours and hours gluing them together.,cutting old inner tubes up to make patches... and now after buying some polish in Lidl, he is changing the colour from brown to black!!!It is not necessarily an improvement.

As you can see the weather stayed as sunny and hot... Here Nic is enjoying an Ice cream again on the Rhine.

What a great surprise... Andrew came out to meet us in Dusseldorf.. we had a night in a hostel.. a bit of wine.. then a walk around the city.. We then went our separate ways, Andrew North and us West.

Krakow to Brno

Some of these cycle path markers can be a bit confusing! Where to go next? Its made worse by the fact that we dont have any maps of the cycleways.... so we dont know which one to use, or sometimes which one we have been on,or where we are ???? What a pain it can be.. (Nic says I must not rant!!!).Sometimes going round in circles is vaguely amusing.....

How are you supposed to ride up this? Craig???

Uuum. Obviously there is no point in getting up too early . It is much more sensible to get your coffee made for you and then stay inside your warm sleeping bag,at least until it gets light.

Having the tarp has made camping in the forests on wet nights relatively O.K....

Hooray.!! Petr and Simona welcomed us into their lovely home in Brno, a great place to live. Of course we got maps,[and a marked route to follow from Petr ],as well as food ,beers and bed.Luxury.....and great to see Petr again after too many years !

Petr said we would get sunny spells. This is it.[the only spell in 4 days ]. You have to make the most of them.........

Brno Czech to Hiedelberg

Jon and petrol..... pyrotechnics at its best.. every morning Nic gets the sound... whumph... then the whole of the tent is lit up by the flame from the stove.
Jon thinks its fun!! Nic is still asleep.

Look at that!! even after a year or so just cycling nic is still supple enough to swing her leg over the bike.. amazing... and at her age!!

The fruit pickers dream. Along all of the roads or tracks, the apple trees are full of ripe fruit. Fill your bags with lovely apples, plums, pears or sweet chestnuts. Its wonderful

Early morning mist.

The days have been bright and blue recently, but the mornings can be quite cold, especially down by the river. So all the clothes on in the morning, then off in the afternoon. (well not all of the clothes off!!)

Beautiful forest trails by the side of the Nekar river.

crackers in Krakow by clare nic and jon take no resposibility for the content

Love was in the air when I met up with jon and nic meandering through Krakows botanic gardens
Having a fond farewell outside another famous monument nic and jon parted company
Jon decided to direct a short movie while........
nic went to study aquatic life
Then we all decicded to live at wassel castle

Kracking Krakow

This is what happens next. We have to make up our own route across frosty muddy fields and rivers [I don’t know why I let Jon take my bike across this bridge when he had just dropped his in ] , to get back to what might be the right road.

The Tatra mtns in Poland look fantastic now. There’s a bit of fresh snow…..they are really good fun with a proper rugged ridge line to follow [highly recommended !!!]

Extra Wheel. As we had popped into the factory that makes our trailor on the way out, so we popped by to show them how well it had done on the way back. Instead of a mere refurbishment, they gave us a new one ! How kind is that. This is Pavel inspecting our old one.

At last. Our Krakow tour guide [Clare } finally meets up with us. ! After borrowing Nic’s glasses [ none of us ,Jon included ,can read much without them any more …sad!!!] she plans our fun for the day.[Note the private balcony at our hostel….stylish living or what ?]

Krakow by night. Last night there was a multi media music and lighting extravaganza in the very impressive main square. Now we have done some “culture” we can concentrate on icecreams and idle wanderings.

Tomorrow as our tour guide is deserting us ,we are heading off too…..west towards heidelberg in germany via Czech . Our ferry home is booked …..by our tour end agents gary and jane,.!

Ukraine to Poland

Another coffee dear? After leaving Kharkov we pedaled west across rural Ukraine, helping ourselves to apples and walnuts which line the roads, getting water from village wells ,and kilos of peppers from roadside sellers[everything is sold by the bucket load so we had peppers with everything for 3 days ]until we begun to have a proper appreciation of just how big the Ukraine is. Every day we indulged in a civilized “real”coffee break mid morning….using our Kelly kettle which is good fun [as well as ultra efficient at boiling water].

See if you can find Jon? After looking so wonderful the sunflowers all go through a dismal period of morbid introspection; fields of brown drooping heads. You can’t blame them as they will shortly have their heads cut off, and you truly do not want the J .Bargett lecture on sunflower harvesting techniques.[ which I suspect is not as factually correct as it sounds ].

Just a normal morning. Jon is up making coffee and Nic is still sensibly feigning deep sleep in her snug sleeping bag, in the tent pitched right next to the very meandering Dnister river.

Just normal Pyrotechnics. No wonder we never see any wolves or bears. Every morning and every evening there’s a bit of a “wooooomphf”,and everything is lit up .This is the only bit of stove procedure that Jon enjoys. I suspect him of being over generous with the priming petrol.

Poland. Lots of mountain bike trails in the hilly Polish countryside. Of course we can’t resist them, even when they are a bit technical for panniers, and we don’t know where they are going either.