Tag: denmark

Day 4: Bornholm Island

On By Sharron YaxleyIn Vikings2 Comments

The sun was shining! Whoot woo.

It was only 8 degrees Celsius, but at least the sun was out and we could see blue sky.

We did debate clothing – bare legs, covered legs? I chose to wear my long legged bibs, Tony wore leg warmers. We both donned multiple upper layers, and had other clothes with us to add or reduce layering.

Heading off up the dirt bike path we headed to Bornholm’s most famous sight, Osterlars Kirke.

We were too early to enter so decided to pop back at the end of our days ride.

A few photos of the exterior and watching the people tending the cemetery. Another exquisitely maintained cemetery. There is pride in their work.

Today there were a lot of churches. For an island of 37,000 people, there are many.

This is Østermarie kirke, circa 1891.

Windmills also featured today. This is Kuremollen and dates from 1861. It remained in service until 1960. Visitors can tour during summer.

We rode around the edge of Svaneke, a village we had ridden through yesterday. Climbing out of town we encountered some lovely horses and barn.

Two lovely vistas looking back to the coast.

Hallebrondshoj is a sorte muld, constructed in the Neolithic era, some 5,500 years ago, as a burial site.

Ibs kirke dates from the 12th century.

The route today was a mix of cycle paths, road, dirt trails. This section was lovely as it protected us from the very strong winds we were experiencing.

Looking towards Snogebaek and Dueodde, where we had ridden yesterday.

The next three churches….

Bodils kirke built around 1200
Vestermarie kirke circa 1885 after the former church was demolished. Why are there doors up on the top level of the tower?
Ny kirke, built in the 12th century and considered the youngest of Bornholms four round churches.

Cykelvej signs are what we have used extensively on the island. There are over 230 km of marked cycle paths. Very impressive and one of the factors that attracted our visit.

This sign was embellished, the first one we had seen like this. We turned left to head to Ro, and this section was great following what seemed to be an old rail line.

Gudhjem is the prettiest village on the island in our opinion. We descended steeply with many tourists walking slowly up the hill. I did think that will be an interesting climb out for us.

Gudhjem was established as a fishing village with smoked herring a product sent to Copenhagen.

There are an assortment of restaurants and gift shops and yes, we spied the gelato shop, as had many of the tourists. We are not great with queues and did not want the old leg muscles cooling down before climbing back out of the village.

A few photos of the village.

The chimneys are used for smoking herring

Looking at our Hammerhead (bike computer) map we spied a possible alternative climb out of town. It was heaps better as there were no tourists wandering around.

Sharron climbing up and out of the village

To finish off our ride we headed to the supermarket in Osterlars to source dinner and then back home via Osterlars kirke.

30 kronor got me in. The church was built around 1150 and is the oldest round church on the island.

Men and women used to have separate entrance’s but today all use the front door!

The external walls are an incredible two metres thick.

The beautiful frescoes were created in the first half of the 12th century. Not all church attendees understood written and spoken Latin so the images told the biblical stories of the priest. In latter years these frescoes were covered with whitewash and rediscovered in 1889, restored in 1960.

These steps were super steep, narrow, highly polished and slippery. I was wearing my cycling shoes, so an added challenge.

Climbing the stairs there are two step off points. At the top level you can see the foundations for the cone top, an incredible meccano like slithers of timber.

Lovely views out.

There is Tony waving as he minds the bikes.

This runic stone was previously used as a casing stone in the belfry. The inscription dates to 1025-1075.

88 km completed today and over 600 metres climbing. A very pleasant day riding despite some of the headwind challenges. We both enjoyed today.

Tomorrow morning we have one more ride left here, and that is to head back to Ronne to connect with our ferry to Germany.

Todays route.

Thanks for reading this blog, and look out for our continuing Viking odyssey adventures.

😊❣️🚴💪

Day 3: Bornholm Island

On By Sharron YaxleyIn Vikings6 Comments

We slept well in our converted barn. We had seen wild deer and giant hares outside. It is so very quiet and peaceful here.

The plan today was to check out another part of the island, and in doing so, complete a lap (including our ride yesterday).

Today’s route:

Starting at the green dot in Stavehol, we headed out along the dirt cycle way to the coast near Gudhjem.

It was cold. It was 6C and we had our winter cycling gear on.

Rain was a possibility with a 30% chance at 10 am, but only 0.5 mm for the day.

Along the north west coast the roads were super quiet. The cycle way is adjacent for the great majority.

Some lovely thatched houses.

Looking out to sea the waters look calm, but the waves were crashing closer.

There are lots of ancient artefacts on Bornholm. This one is a single monolith meaning Holy Woman. Each have an information board.

The Holy Woman monolith. The stones in the background are formed into the shape of a ship.

We ride through the village of Listed. Wondering where everyone is?

In the larger village of Svaneke is this lovely old windmill known as Bechs Molle (Bech’s windmill).

The rear of the windmill.

Bechs Molle was built in 1629 and is the oldest standing windmill in Denmark.

Svaneke harbour also quiet.

Lovely old wooden boat

Another monolith at the site of medieval herring fishing huts

Nexo is on the east side of Bornholm and has around 4,000 residents. It is the second largest town on Bornholm, centred around a fishing harbour.

The Gothic church stands out as a highlight, established in the Middle Ages, as a chapel for seafarers.

Dueodde is Bornholm’s southernmost tip, known for its fine white sand beach.

Riding back to the cycle path, takes us past an imposing concrete tower. A borrowed photo below shows two towers.

The Bornholm tower is the Danish Intelligence Service former listening post, active during the Cold War. Surveillance and listening activities began in 1948 from the brown lighthouse tower.

It is no longer active closing in 2012.

Closer up of the first tower, and where we sat and had a hot chocolate. This photo is also borrowed as there was no blue sky. We donned our rain jackets at this point as the spits of rain increased.

Through the windows of the museum you could see an old fighter jet.

The riding became a bit harder now as we had a very strong headwind. Winds of up to 35 mph had been predicted. It was a balmy 9c now. The rain also picked up, but more nuisance level.

Some sights along the way as we made our way towards Ronne.

Back in the capital of Ronne completed our loop of the island, but we were not done riding wise. We still had to get back to our accomodation.

Riding on the cycleway towards Akirkeby we noticed a series of carved and painted stones in a shrubby area. Stopping to look we found about 30.

The area is known as Slau’s Stones. Slau was a local farmer who upon retirement discovered new skills. He set up an area for cyclists to stop with rock table and seats. He then expanded searching for suitable rocks in his farm and then working what image could best be carved.

The pathway went past this lovely church at Nylars. It is a 12th century round church, originally designed for a defensive role. This church is the oldest of Bornholm’s four round churches.

Originally built around 1165 the church was dedicated to St Nicholas. The old Danish name for Nicolas was Nilaus and hence the present town name Nylars.

Another immaculate and beautiful cemetery and gardens.

Just randomly on the side of the road in a very small village was this….

More forest pathways.

We rode into Akirkeby and the highlight is this old church, built in the 1100s. It is the largest church on Bornholm.

Another random sighting. Someone who is clever with a chainsaw.

We stopped in Osterlars to collect food from the supermarket and completed our 103 km ride for the day.

The map below shows yesterday and today’s ride, so we have covered a good chunk of the island. One day to go here.

Although no great hills here, we have still climbed over 600 metres.

Another day is done on our great Viking Odyssey.

We sat down to home made spaghetti bolognese tonight and creamed rice that I also made, garnished with fresh raspberries and banana.

I do recommend our accomodation to any cyclists touring. It is self contained and a nice 2 km ride to a well stocked supermarket. If interested, please send me a PM or email and I will provide details.

Thanks for following and joining us vicariously. We do enjoy the messages so thankyou.

❣️😊🚴💪

Day 2: Ystad (Sweden) to Bornholm Island (Denmark)

On By Sharron YaxleyIn VikingsLeave a comment

Today we were to catch the first of many ferries on this trip to transfer us from Ystad in Sweden to Bornholm Island.

The map below shows Bornholm, with the blue dot indicating our current location.

To the upper left we have Denmark, to the north we have Sweden, lower left Germany and south Poland.

Being in the middle of the Baltic Sea means it’s windy and cooler.

We self check in at the port using an interactive machine and out pops our ticket, the security gate lifts and we head towards the ferry.

The ferry had just arrived and emptied quickly. When it was our turn we followed the motor cyclist to the far end under a ramp to store the bikes. Gathering our more valuable valuables (passport, plastic cards, bike computer, front and rear lights) we popped up to seating by a window in the front facing lounge.

It is a great set up with two good cafes and a cafeteria. We settled in enjoying coffee and a croissant.

The crossing takes 1 hour 20 and not a lot to see other than ocean. The waters are flattish and the passage calm.

We arrive in the town of Ronne and quickly ride off the ship following numerous large truck rigs.

Bornholm Island is Danish territory in the Baltic Sea, closer to Sweden and Germany than Denmark. The Island was surrendered to Sweden in 1658 but regained by Denmark in 1660 after a local revolt.

The Island is home to many of Denmark’s round churches and the discovery of ancient burial mounds suggests that it was inhabited by 3,000 BC

It has a populations of around 39,000 people.

Ronne is the largest town on the Island with one third of the population living there.

We do a short look and see around town.

The Church of St Nicholas dates from the late Middle Ages constructed in the late 1200s with many updates and renovations since.

The Citadel Battery is part of Ronne’s fortifications from the 1700’s. It was originally seaside, but land reclamation has it further inland now.

A small market was underway in this small park.

Heading out of town, having plenty of time up our sleeves we decided to take the dirt trails for bikes along the western coastline.

For the most part the trail was in good condition heading through forest. There were a multitude of other trails intersecting and criss crossing and there were an impressive number of people out walking, running and cycling.

It followed the Baltic coast line, in places providing coastal views. Nice white beach looking back towards Ronne.

On the edge of one village were these interesting pods. We were not sure if some were accomodation or all saunas?

I liked this rugged vista, with just a few houses tucked away.

A small fishing village and port, with smokehouses. Smoked fish is quite an industry still here on the island.

I liked this fisherman’s house
Kids having fun fishing. There was a bit of excitement as one had caught a fish and others gathered into help.
Quite typical colours of houses in the area

All was going well until we hit this section. Photos never do slopes any favours making them look far less steep. The section ahead increased to 22% gradient with loose and slippery dirt in between part seal.

I dismounted at 10% whilst I could safely as I knew I’d be in trouble otherwise.

I pushed my bike up watching the gradient increase and using my bike brakes to hold as I was walking on the gravel and slipping.

Tony got up before me and came back to help! He’s a keeper!

In the middle section are little steps with dirt.

Sitting at the top smiling. A little further past here there is a carpark and we met another cyclist who was on a mtb bike. He too pushed his bike. Nice bloke was with the Island police force, having originally been in the Danish military.

Hammershus Slot is one of the larger medieval fortifications in northern Europe and stand on a 70 metre high cliff. The medieval fortification was bult in the 13th century.

Saene Harbour was a peaceful harbour near Hammershus. It was all happening with a water training activity underway and a class of school children returning from a walk.

We headed along towards Gudhjem, passing through other towns and villages including Allinge.

It was not warm with the temperature around 8-9 C and a chilly wind. We were rugged up though so no difficulties there.

Some of the buildings along the way.

Still on gravel we found another steep section. Tony rode it, I did not as it was 15%. I did descend it.

Gudhjem is a pretty seaside town that we will explore more tomorrow. The next four photos are the section we did see.

Gudhjem is built on a steep hill overlooking the Baltic Sea.

We turned inland at Gudhjem heading towards Osterlars where we are spending the next three nights.

Looking back along the coast where tomorrow’s adventures lay. Rapeseed is plentiful here too.

Our lodgings are located within the property below. We are in a renovated barn. In the line of bushes to the right is a cycle path that runs between Osterlars and Gudhjem. We just needed to find the right opening in the hedge and head across their field.

After dumping most of our gear, we headed straight back out to the local supermarket for supplies to make dinner and breakfast.

This famous church is en route, and to be discovered more in the next two days.

Osterlars Rundkirke is regarded as the Islands most impressive round church, constructed in the 12th century. Originally the roof was flat, serving as a battle platform for hurling projectiles at attackers. The conical roof was added in 1744.

Today’s routes covering 64 km, 590 metres climbing.

That’s it folks for today. Thanks for joining us and check in again as we learn more about Bornholm Island.

😊❣️🚴💪

Day 1: Copenhagen (Denmark) to Ystad (Sweden)

On By Sharron YaxleyIn Vikings5 Comments

What a lovely sight looking out our bedroom window. Cargo bikes are popular here. We saw one man with triplets in the front but this one is delightful.

The day was looking great weather wise as we packed the bikes for our grand departure.

First ride was to Copenhagen Airport railway station to cross into Sweden. A lovely station lady helped us to buy the tickets including bikes.

The Oresund bridge is a combined railway and motorway crossing the Oresund strait between Denmark and Sweden. It is also the second longest bridge in Europe at 7.845 km in length. As such cyclists are not permitted on the bridge, and it is necessary for us to cross by train.

I have grabbed two publicly available photos of the bridge. I don’t have the capacity to get a nice aerial shot. I find it fascinating that the bridge heads under the water for a section. This design is great for keeping shipping canals over. It looks awesome in a photo.

We got off at the first station we could in south Malmo.

Malmo is the largest city in the Swedish county of Skane, and the third largest in Sweden but today we were more interested in navigating our way out of the city safely.

Some interesting architecture noted as we left.

The Hyllie water tower is quite imposing designed to look like a flying saucer. It is 62 m high, holding 10,200 cubic metres of water.

A restaurant operated for many years from the top. A striking visual at night when the tower is light up in blue.

Leaving Malmo was all on divided cycle paths heading into rural Skåne (the region name).

It was quiet, peaceful and the vistas predominantly agricultural with villages dotted around.

You can see a distant wind farm looking back towards Denmark
Cycle path along fields of wheat and rapeseed (canola)
Closer up of the rapeseed, brilliant yellow.

Great signage, multiple paths intersecting. The Sydkustleden is the one we predominantly followed today. It is a 260 km coastal cycle way. There are small sections on the road.

We stopped for morning tea at a local supermarket and found a cafe to grab a coffee. Coffee was around AUD $10. Prices seemed a bit cheaper than Denmark.

Bossy bird keeping an eye on us as we sat and enjoyed coffee and a little treat, perched on a cargo bike.

Riding along the Baltic coastline we became curious about the many defence fortifications, often every few hundred metres.

This was part of the Skane Line, a 500 km line of light fortifications constructed during World War II to protect the Swedish southern coast from Germans and Soviets.

There were two lines of defence. The concrete bunkers along the shore were armed with guns and light cannons.

The second line was 300 metres in where armed troops were behind barbed wire, some in more concrete bunkers.

There were 1,063 coastal fortifications, strengthened during the Cold War with the addition of turrets and 75 mm tank guns.

Decommissioning commenced in the late 1990s.

One of the many fortifications

Aside from the fortifications, the coast was a mix of rocky outcrops and nice white beaches.

Overlooking the harbour of Smygehuyk is a statue of a nude woman. The model was actress Uma Thurman’s grandmother!

I imagine this bunker housed troops.

In the distance we saw this ship, TT Line being the operators of the Spirit of Tasmania, but this is a different TT Line.

We deviated from the coast to head inland, up our only climb of the day into strong headwinds. The target was the village of Tullstorp.

Lovely vistas as we headed inland

Tullstorp runestone is a viking age memorial stone. The inscription consists of runic text on a serpent band that frames a central image of a ship and a beast. It is 1.7 metre in height . Apparently the images reflect the Ragnarok myth

The stone is dated to about 980AD and until the 1840’s was built into the medieval church wall. Its original location is unknown. Today it is located in a memorial mound in the local churchyard.

The church and surrounding cemetery was really beautiful. It is perhaps the nicest cemetery I’ve ever been in, with immaculately manicured and maintained gardens.

Leaving the church we headed a little further up the hill, then headed east again.

As we stood off the road on gravel, a car stopped and an older lady had a lot to say to us. We had no idea what she said but she didn’t appear happy.

Other than that, it was peaceful and quiet as we kept moving towards our destination of Ystad.

We arrived in Ystad earlier than we could check in so we sat in a park uploading photos.

At 3 pm we arrived at our accomodation at the old water tower.

This is a beautiful building converted housing numerous short stay apartments.

This is our accomodation, a detached small building just thirty metres from the tower in parkland.

The owner provided a key to store our bikes in the base of the water tower. She later wrote back and told us that the same key would operate the lift and offered that we could go up to the top apartment, level 6 then ascend the stairs to the top see the view.

We did that. What an incredible apartment spread over four levels with a spiral staircase and some 50 steps.

It was a 360 degree view and this one looks towards old Ystad and the harbour.

For dinner we walked to a local supermarket to grab supplies, as we have a good kitchen and fridge here.

It is very peaceful bar the black crows nesting in the surrounding park trees.

A successful first day saw us ride 98.5 km, leaving Denmark to ride the most part in Sweden.

Today’s routes.

Thanks for reading and joining us on our great Viking adventure 2025. 😊🚴❣️💪

Prelude

On By Sharron YaxleyIn Vikings4 Comments

We’ve arrived.

Once we retrieved our luggage we grabbed a taxi van for the 3.5 km to our accomodation.

That is the view out our bedroom window. Danish flags and cyclists. So many locals cycle past here. Great sign.

We went for a walk up to the coastline along the Oresund sea.

This is the Kastrup bathing area. An interesting structure.

Walking out you can see numerous area to sit, lots of access to the water, some higher diving platforms to the right.

It is only 10 C but there are people further along the rear wall sunbathing.

From the top looking towards the Oresund bridge we are to cross into Sweden.

We found a cafe that had a spaghetti bolognese for 169 kronor. We found that on the Danish menu. She charged 390 kronor for two. I pointed out 2×169=338 not 390.

She said it was because they needed to convert the kronor from the English menu…..I rolled my eyes, just too tired to argue but clearly not right.

So with the AUD $100 spaghetti bolognese eaten we walked home.

We were asleep by 6 pm, unable to keep our eyes open any longer.

We arose about 6 am. Periods of deep sleep interrupted by the confused, jet lagged body at various times.

First task was putting the bikes together. I’m a reasonable useless appendage as Tony prefers to be left to his own devices to undertake the task.

He does a great job, as usual and within a few hours they were ready for testing and any adjustments.

We have an early lunch with fresh bananas and baguette sourced ‘down the street’ and we head off on a 40 km loop.

First stop was the airport as the path goes by the runway perimeter. A Norwegian plane was landing.

Looking towards the seaside village of Drogor. I think this place sounds like a place from Game of Thrones.

Drogor was our first preference to stay at the start of the trip but I could not find anywhere to store our bike bags for the required period. Once place offered but requested three nights additional fees of AUD $900 .

Drogor is a very pleasant village.

Typical housing in the area.

Check out the peeping Tom from the upper level.

Our first mermaid was at Fort Drogor. I thought she looked a bit lost perched amongst trailered boats.

Looking from the fort back across the marina to Drogor.

Fort Drogor was active during World War I and II housing many troops in the underground rooms. Along the top there was evidence of the former battery armaments.

Looking back out the Oresund and a ship leaving, likely from the Port of Copenhagen.

I knew that Thomas Dambo had a troll installation nearby. Nothing is marked on maps but from his website could see we needed to head off road down a gravel path.

Tony noted the troll through the trees and we took a narrower pathway towards what he spotted.

Here he is. I am standing to one side to show perspective of his size.

Thomas Dambo has a Trollmap website where you can register and tick off trolls found. We did find this troll, I’m just not registering 😁

We followed a nice path through a forest, then around a headland that got a bit breezy.

A lovely area for kids to play before we joined back into busier roads around Tarnby.

First impressions are that we are super impressed with the cycle paths and cycle culture.

Todays route.

We are ready to roll out Day 1 tomorrow. It’s happening, it’s on! Tomorrow we cross into Sweden!

Thanks for reading and joining us on our latest epic adventure.❣️

So it begins….

On By Sharron YaxleyIn Vikings10 Comments

Anzac Day in Australia – a public holiday of remembrance. This is what Tony is up to. Not the best photo angle with the sun glare.

This is Tony’s touring bike now in pieces. Khaleesi is watching, apprehensive and she is always the part of our travels that we dread – saying goodbye to her for a period of time, and hoping she copes ok. I cry each time I say goodbye, wracked with guilt.

So it begins – again – another trip after countless hours mapping, planning, plotting. Where?

A man is assembling a touring bike in a garage while a dog watches nearby. The scene conveys a sense of preparation for an upcoming trip.

Hint! Ragnar we are heading your way!

Artistic representation of a Viking character, featuring a man with long hair and a beard, sitting with a sword, wearing a fur cloak against a red background.

I love the series Vikings, stories filled with the legend of Ragnar Lothbrok and his Viking family and warriors including his brother Rollo, the first Duke of Normandy, wife Lagaertha and sons Ubba, Sigard, Ivar and Bjorn. Then there is our favourite Floki! Hoping we do not make it to Valhalla on this trip though!

Scandinavia has long been on our bucket list, but compared to many other European countries, it is not the cheapest to tour through. Whilst we are both still working, it had to be this year or likely never.

Accomodation has been trickier to organise. Numerous places charge for electricity used, reading the meters at the start and finish. Others tell you to bring your own sheets. I am hopeful that I have booked all-inclusive accommodation including power and bed linen!

It was very difficult finding our anchor location in Copenhagen. This is where we leave our bike bags (used to transport them from Tasmania). One place asked for the equivalent of three nights accomodation – or AUD $900.

In the end I found a very friendly guy, just a short distance from the airport, who sent me about 10 photos of himself with cyclists. His name is Chaudhry and he is our champion!

I share some of his comms below as he made my day and went above and beyond most – so if anyone reading this is looking at starting a ride in Copenhagen, check out Chaudhry, who is located in Kastrup, very close to the airport.

A friendly communication from Chaudhry, a host in Kastrup, expressing his appreciation and offering a cozy stay for cyclists with bike amenities and a relaxing garden.
Screenshot of a message from Chaudhry, a host in Denmark, expressing his welcoming sentiments and assuring safety for travelers.

After many months of planning and plotting, this is our route. Five countries, 35 days cycling, 3,300 km plotted.

We will have 15 nights in Denmark, 10 in Sweden, 6 in Poland, 5 in Norway, 1 on a ferry travelling between Poland and Sweden, and separate to our cycling trip, 2 nights in Switzerland catching up with my son Ben and his wife Sharon, and hopefully friends Sandra and Ralph.

At the moment, our maps total 3,300 km but this always decreases due to bad weather and rerouting. Climbing is around 17,500 metres, but that is indicative as there is usually a variance there as well.

The proof will be in what we ultimately upload to Strava daily and tally at the end.

We hope to meet two Zwifters, Cecilia in Sweden, and Rudi in Norway. It is one of the privileges of cycle touring that we can get to meet people with similar passions to us. We treasure these catch ups.

A detailed route map showing cycling paths across Denmark, Sweden, Poland, and Norway, with notable ferry routes highlighted in red.

The straight lines in the map are ferries. We have a few. First of all to get to Bornholm Island in the Baltic Sea – ferry to and from, then the long overnight ferry from Gdansk (Poland) to Karlskrona (Sweden). We ferry from Sweden across to Norway, then Norway back to Denmark, and another from one Danish island to another.

All ferries are booked – hopefully correct days!

An interesting point in the trip shows on the map, lower right – and out and back line to the Russian border, otherwise known as the Kaliningrad oblast (region) . It is the westernmost part of Russia and a province separated from the rest of the country by the Baltic Sea, Poland and Lithuania.

The port city of Baltiysk is Russia’s only port on the Baltic Sea that remains ice free in winter. The oblast is an oddity resulting from World War II agreements.

We are cycling towards the border, on a narrow isthmus – how close, not sure. If we go missing, start looking there!!

We hope to see some trolls – such as the one in suburban Copenhagen below. Thomas Dambo is a Danish “recycle art activist” globally known for his giant wooden troll sculptures, made entirely from recycled materials.

He has trolls in over 17 countries, including six in Mandurah, Western Australia. They are seemingly off the beaten track and possibly not suitable for us on bikes, but we will see….

A large wooden troll sculpture by Thomas Dambo, surrounded by trees and near a reflective body of water.
A large wooden troll sculpture in a grassy area, with a boat tied nearby, surrounded by trees and buildings.
A detailed map titled 'TROLLMAP' by Thomas Dambo, featuring various marked locations across Denmark and parts of Sweden, showcasing the locations of giant wooden troll sculptures.
Useful map lol……I am sure we will have no problems whatsoever now finding them! We are going through (or near) quite a few spots marked with an x.

We will likely start to pull the clothing out this weekend – we take a spare bedroom each to sort our gear out on – but we have this part down to a fine art. It is more the other little bits and bobs – like toiletries, making sure we have enough of our medicines and so on. As long as we have the correct riding gear with us for all climatic conditions, enough script medicines, most other things we can source armed with a piece of plastic.

One item that always make the cut are spare derailleur hangers – they are super hard to source as bike companies like to make theirs unique per model. So we will have numerous spare hangers with us. It is an insurance policy.

For non-cyclists, the hangers protect the derailleur (the mechanism that moves the chain from one sprocket wheel to another) in case of an accident/spill/damage to the derailleur – derailleurs are expensive and hard to replace. Hangers snap and if you don’t have one with you it can bring your trip to a screaming halt! We have had to replace hangers on previous trips. Once Tony had a spill coming around an oily roundabout just out of Paris. Another time, my bike just fell over in the wind when I leaned it the wrong way off the bike. When I broke my ribs with my spill in Switzerland, the hanger also snapped.

My bathers always come along, and seriously, they are the best travelled, most under utilised item on each trip. I feel if I don’t take them though, surely that will be the time I want them!! I am taking a newer, heavier weight jersey this trip – but will have two additional small panniers on the front too!

Idea there is to not put as much on my rear pannier so I do not have to swing my leg quite as high up and over (the cause of my accident in Slovenia last year was when I did not quite lift my leg high enough, and we both came tumbling down and I got the massive hematoma – and still have a small lump there).

The next fortnight will fly by – I have been under the pump at work with Estimates coming up in Parliament, then a politician decided under the Request For Information Act to ask for over 125 documents (1200 pages) of a grant program I manage, so worked a public holiday this week to get on top of that as we were given four work days….then I need to sort rollovers (financial adjustments from one financial year to another) out before I leave – in addition to my normal day to day work.

I will be ready for a holiday – but then there is Khaleesi – the dread, the guilt as she is so much part of our everyday life. The balance between loving your dog and wanting to do holidays is not easy. On our last trip, one of her hairs was caught on my handle bar tape – so as I rode I felt I had part of her with me – not planned, just the way it is with her dog hair flying around at home I guess when the bikes were being packed.

That’s it for now folks.

Ooroo!

Hoping the weather gods are kind