Day 38 - Bumpy Tourism It was windy all night, but warm. I slept like a log but Emma was tossing and turning. It seems like usually one of us sleeps well one one badly in the tent nights, perhaps subconsciously on lookout who knows?! The day as a whole was a bumpy, very very
Day 37 - Bubble Tea Tourism That was a good sleep and long enough for the first time this week! And a great shower too. Not bad for a cheap hotel we chose to be close. Breakfast wasn't actually a buffet but ordering from a set menu, so we couldn't do as
Day 36 - Shop til you drop! Another new country! Once we'd left our outrageously hot hotel room (there was no way to control the radiator) and done a pretty pathetic job on the breakfast by our standards even though it was good, we set out for Aktau and a shopping spree. We needed various
Day 35 - When Kazakhstan is a 1 hour flight away [Only our second day with no Strava at all 😱] We had a very reasonable start to the day, the taxi not arriving until 10:30. So it was lie in and multi-stage breakfast for us (what else do we do when we have time but eat?!). At precisely 10:27
Day 34 - Fountains and Faff! The night wasn't as cold as expected, wrapped up as we were, and the views were awesome! I did a double-take while talking to Emma in her full black outfit and white helmet, only for her to teleport 40m ahead. Of course, it wasn't Emma but
Day 33 - We Apologise for the Inconvenience There was a funny scene last night when a German car tourer arrived and thought we were the hotel employees. It's a pretty chilled out place and there were open rooms, so we were in the process of showing the gentleman to his accommodation when an actual employee
Day 32 - We went for a bike ride! It was 12 by the time we'd finished our lie in, breakfast, tidying, drying, packing, cleaning..."reset phaff". We wanted to go to Armenia, which is 26km in the opposite direction to the airport. Given it was also a gorgeous day and 12 o'clock
Day 31 - It's Snowing! We had a lie in, knowing it was going to be grim and the tent was well hidden. After an extensive breakfast and pack up inside the tent we opened the door...to snow! Beautiful, but cold, very cold. The first climb was on snowy roads. Again stunningly beautiful, but
Day 30 - The Calm Before the Storm The nights are getting cold now. We've been on a 1800m plateau for some days and awoke to ice cubes in our water bottles this morning. Happily by the time we'd finished breakfast (and tea) in the tent, the sun had hit and the temperature very
Day 29 - The Great Bakery Raid This one is a long one, but a good I promise, stuff just kept happening! Also sorry for any typos - I typed a lot while cycling to try and keep up with the days events! After coming off of the road and back into a field at some speed
Day 28 - How the other half tours Breakfast had soup! I appreciate that does not sound like much of an exciting statement in itself, but when you've been eating the same food over and over, it's pretty exciting. We ate so much bread, helped by the other tourers here, that I think the
Day 27 - Water from the Sky We woke to the sound of rain on the tent. That was expected as we'd braced for our first wet day of the tour. But as we hit the main road again (it was another 170km of dual carriageway today) the rain stopped and then the sun came
Day 26 - Oh sweet tailwind! We spent a full hour this morning patching the existing and new holes in our panniers in preparation for the first wet day (first wet day?!) of our tour tomorrow. Then we got onto the dual carriageway and into a sweet, sweet tailwind! "Man we've earned this&
Day 25 - Turkish Water Fountains We awoke to the sound of thumping bass which was in stark contrast to the beauty of the surroundings. The bar on top of the valley edge had started up in preparation for the balloons. It's weird hearing cars drive up and voices nearby but knowing they'
Day 24 - Decisions Decisions... Just 10 minutes after our heinously early alarm we were on the bikes and heading out to see the balloons. We pitched up in the carpark of a hotel much posher than our own and wow was it worth it! Classic Microsoft Windows desktop background number one of the trip!
Day 23 - Caves, caves and more caves! There was no wind this morning - none at all 🎉🎉🎉. No headwind no tailwind just peace. Emma set off slightly earlier while I waited for the tent to dry a bit and I caught her after she stopped to examine some caves. We're in Cappadocia which is an
Day 22 - What happens when you scramble cheese? Given it was very windy, and that we'd eaten all of our breakfast for dinner (we told you - hunger issues) we got going quickly before our stomachs could rumble too loudly and were rewarded by a fantastic bakery and market opposite. The baker couldn't quite
Day 21 - Running on Fumes Much of the first half of the day was spent battling our usual nemesis, pedaling hard just to move downhill. Only today we were having some serious fueling issues. Perhaps because of the sprint finish yesterday or potentially the inadequate pot noodle dinner, we were both down on energy. After
Day 20 - Continually Generous Turkey It was chilly this morning before the mist burnt off. However, despite cold fingers slowing down the process, we got on the road at 8am as planned! The sun did not, however, manage to burn off the smog and it was pretty grim going into a dark cloud on the
Day 19 - Ben's Search for Food Inspiration Another big breakfast (chips AND onion rings), route planning phaff (trying to avoid cycling in cities/cycling in cities late but there's not many roads here basically) and we were pedalling again! Forgot what this trip was about for a few days there! The morning was hilly, and
Day 18 - Ferry and Phaff 0:00 /0:15 1× After another great breakfast we were ready to catch the ferry to Bursa (another town nearby) in order to skip out 100km of riding through some of the most polluted industry in Europe. Only we hadn't checked the schedule. 11am or 3pm. It
Day 17 - Chips for Breakfast! (Rest Day 2) Waking up and not having to leave immediately is luxurious while touring. Waking up in a comfy bed in a fancy hotel is even better (even if it is to your restless touring partner washing clothes in the sink 😆)! Breakfast at the hotel was awesome, and we did some serious
Stats Update 1 As we leave Europe, here are the current stats: Since Switzerland * 104h 50m moving time * 1499miles (2412.4km) * 15 days cycling (16 days total) Since the UK * 153h 15m moving time * 2258.5 miles (3634.7km) * 21 days cycling 📊Which all means we've done 16% of our proposed
Day 16 - We made it to Istanbul!!! We woke up expecting to spend another night before reaching Istanbul, but half way through breakfast we realised it due to rain hard the day after and it was actually "only" 205km to the city. The threat of cycling through the road spray in a city which hasn&
Day 15 - Holy Headwind After waking up in our rather beautiful campsite we had what felt like a rather relaxed morning, but one that was somehow also very efficient. Our systems are definitely getting slicker! The good news continued when we started with...with...with a tailwind!? Feels strange to say. We knew it
