2.5 months, a bit over 3000km and four passes over 1500m through the Alps. Though now I draw it on the map the blue bits (boats and trains) seem to be more than purple (leg power). Still, an excellent trip.

 

The trip started with a few very pleasant warm-up days along the Swedish coast and exploring the islands of the Gothenburg archipelago. A last chance to enjoy Sweden's legal right-of-all-people to camp across the countryside. We soon missed this Scandinavian hospitality. From Gothenburg we were on the ferry to Denmark.

Denmark was a week of solid riding that started to get us in shape and used to the routine of the road. We were really lucky with the weather as we followed the west coast and its wind, sea and sand. Lots of sand.

Not even the lighthouses are immune to the march of the dunes and ocean. But we loved the smurf villages of summer houses with their traditional thatched or modern 'green' roofs that blended beautifully into the landscape. We also made the most of these excellent shelters in the forests where it is free to camp.

After visiting London and presenting a paper at a conference in Oxford we started winding west through the Cotswald hills. Picture-perfect villages of which we have surprisingly few photos. We came out in on the coast for a couple of fun days in funky Bristol. Dodging fronts of rain we then headed to WOMAD.

Following the Avon-Kennett canal from Bath to Reading was a real highlight of the trip. Beautiful riding and we loved watching the canal boats. Great stuff SusTrans for the visionary work developing the National Cycle Network.

We crossed to France and abandoned the bikes for a couple of days to visit Lucas in Rennes. Nina was pretty excited to finally sight French pastries, and Lucas was excited to show them off! Then we picked up where we left off in Caen, heading along the D-Day beaches and across Normandy to Le Mont Saint Michel.

After heading south to Nantes with the train, we finally started east, chateau hopping along the Loire River. Riding through an ancient cave village was exciting, we were jumping with joy in beautiful Chinnon, and the food of course continued to be fantastic. Ah France.

Leaving the Loire and following another canal we finally reached Burgundy and some rather good wines.

A leisurely few days of wine tasting and storm dodging was our last leg in France, we headed to the Swiss/German boarder by train. There are a lot of big factories on the Rhine where the countries meet, funny that... Another train mission took us to Lake Constance and the foot of the Alps.

Arlberg Pass. The first, the highest, and the only one with fresh snow. After getting over this one we relaxed and enjoyed the amazing scenery and mountain air.

After following the Swiss boarder for another day we climbed up the Rechenpass and crossed over into what is theoretically Italy, but distinctly Austria. This region of South-Tirol was arbitrarily handed to Italy at the end of WWI. Bozen (Bolzano) is a funky city blending weissbier and sausages with pizza and gelato, a perfect mix. From there we made our way upwards again and into the mighty Dolomites.

The Dolomites can only be expressed in pictures, not words, what a way to finish the trip. The are rather steep though.

Then it was all downhill back into Austria, a last train hop to the boarder with Slovenia and the summerhouse.