Cycle Touring long write ups about our cycle tours around the world, from a few days to a whole year and more.

Ah, the joy of riding with Peli, makes any ride utterly brilliant. There was fun, sun, smiles, up and down hills, oh and there was cake too. Funny how her legs wakes up - from "naa I don't wanna go riding" to "let's take the long way home" - after a hill :)

[gallery type="rectangular" size="large"...

Melbourne, Great Ocean Road, Grampian mountains, Metung, Mt. ???.

Highlights: Lovely walks, sailing the lakes, seeing old friends.

Day 389-391 - Jan 28-30 : Melbourne

The ferry from Tasmania arrived on time and it was wonderful to disembark and see Peli's great friend Fiona and her flatmate Ch...

Hobart, via many great places in Tasmania, Devonport.

Highlights: Fires, mountains, "non-crap" bread, hospitality, wombats.

Day 371-372 - Jan 10-11 : Arrived in Taz

walking the beachAfter a long night in the airport we were on autopilot when we picked up the rental car. The rental company told us they didn't h...

Glenorchy, Queenstown, Te Anau, Invercargill, Alexandra, Mount Cook.

Highlight: Yellow-eyed penguins, scorchio on Christmas Day, New Year in a puddle, mountain walks.

Day 349 - Dec 19 : Lake Sylvan

We got up early since the sun was hitting the tent with force and the hungry sandflies were wait...

Nelson, Christchurch, Abel Tasman Park, Nelson Lakes, Westport, Franz Josef, Haast Pass, Wanaka, Queenstown, Glenorchy

Highlights: Rain, knife making, pancake rocks, limestone arches, lakes and mountains.

Day 333-335 - Dec 3-5 : Meet domestic, the car

We still have a month left to enjoy New Ze...

Wellington, Picton, Ships Cove, Picton, Havelock, Nelson – 201km (Total 7137km cycled)

Highlights: Ferry, warmshowers, mountain biking the Queen Charlotte Track, bays, stunning views, broken hands.

Day 321-324 - November 21-24 : Ferry to the South Island

Queen Charlotte Track

After two days rest up north we took...

image

Hot Water Beach, Tauranga, Rotorua, Taupo, National Park, Pipiriki, Wanganui - 414km (Total 6895km cycled)

Highlights: Active volcanoes, ice cream, wonderful hospitality, hot mineral pools, rainforests.

Day 309 - November 9 : Bus ride from hell

We had booked a bus to Tauranga to gain a...

image

Auckland, Thames, Coromandel, Whitianga, Cathedral Cove, Hot Water Beach - 362km (Total 6481km cycled)

Highlights : Wild camping in Auckland, tailwinds, stunning views, new friends, hot water beaches and getting reacquainted with ripio!

Day 309 - October 31 : Leaving Auckland again

We...

imageAuckland, Helensville, Dargaville, Whangarei, Russell, Doubtless Bay, Kaitaia - 569km (Total 6119km cycled)

Highlights: Back in New Zealand, cycling with friends, Boysenberry ice cream, beautiful views and surprisingly good driving from lorries.

Day 293-295 - October 15-17 : Back in NZ

After b...

seattleSeattle - Aberdeen (via San Juan islands) - 1046Km (Total 5550km cycled)

Highlights: Beautiful weather, beautiful views, beautiful orcas and beautiful sunsets. A reminder of the joys of cycle touring!

Day 233 - August 30 : Train to Seattle

The Amtrak Cascades railway route is one of the very f...

all american road tripSanta Fe, via Yellowstone, Missoula to Portland, Or. - 0Km cycled but 2200 miles driven (Total 4570km cycled)

Highlights : Endless roads, Dinosaurs, Old Faithful, The two J's, Glacier National Park and back to our second home in Portland.

Day 210-211 - 5-6 August : Route 66

The All American Ro...

usa train santa feSanta Barbara - Santa Fe - 65Km (Total 4570km cycled)

Highlights : Train ride, great warmshowers hosts, Wiggos Gold in the Olympics, New Mexico green chilli, brilliant emergency staff.

Day 199-201 – July 25-27 : Train ride

We left Santa Barbara on the train towards Los Angeles, where we had a...

fourth july cup cakeThe Bay Area - Santa Barbara - 671Km (Total 4506km cycled)

Highlights : 4 July picnic, yacf pootle, more cake, finishing our Pacific Coast adventure, Sea Elephants, another great warmshowers host, Tour de France.

Day 179-180 - July 5-6 : Moving friends

We left the Bay Area after a fantastic fo...

cycle touring California golden gate bridge San Francisco Crescent City – San Francisco – 809Km (Total 3835km cycled) Highlights: Redwoods, bbq, sunshine, California Coast, Golden Gate Bridge and friends.

Day 155 - June 11 : California Über Alles

Nature called for Peli to exit the tent in the early morning and she spotted the speedy girls already up a...

cycle touring oregon coastPortland - Astoria - Brookings - 778Km (Total 3026km cycled)

Highlights: Rain, cheese, orca whales and, most importantly, being on the road again!

Day 141 – May 28 : Leaving Portland

True to form, we left late from Portland because we were chatting to our hosts Paul, Lena and Elo and couldn't...

keep portland weirdPortland to Portland - 129Km (Total 2248km cycled)

Highlights: FOOD, climbing Dog Mountain, wonderful warmshowers hosts, peanut butter, roses, Voodoo doughnuts, bicycles, four-legged companions, liberal lefties, making friends with Elo!

Day 127 – May 14 : Food galore

After a long flight from B...

Buenos Aries -135Km (Total 2119km cycled)

Highlights: Warmshowers, America Embassy, Masa Criteria.

Day 111-127 – April 28 - May 14 : Changing plans
The last few weeks in southern Chile and Argentina have shown us that winter is fast approaching: lots of rain and often very frosty, humid n...

San Carlos de Bariloche, Villa Traful, San Martin de los Andes -205Km (Total 1984km cycled)

Highlights: Chocolate, Crema de Mani ice cream, Le Tandem, lakes, ash and volcanoes.

on the way to villa traful

To see more photos click here to go to our gallery : Ruta de los Siete Lagos

Day 105-106 - April 22-23 : Pe...

We were cycle touring in Chile back in 2012, so this write up is a bit out dated, but it will still give you a good idea what to expect.

Click here to see all the blog post I wrote about our cycle tour of Chile

Maps
Google map is pretty good though don't take it for granted. OpenStreetMap is la...

Coyhaique, Villa Manihuales, Puerto Puyuhuapi, La Junta, Villa Saint Lucia, Chaiten, Puerto Montt – 263km (Total 1734km cycled)

Highlights: Very cold rain, well-deserved tarmac, long rides, Casa de Ciclistas, message in the sand from the French tandem, free camping and a warm bed.

Click here to ...

Cochrane, Puerto Tranquilo, Villa Cerro Castillo, Coyhaique - 220km (Total 1343Km cycled)

Highlights: Very rough 'corrugated' ripio, great weather, tailwinds, beautiful long climb and descent, no broken spokes, hitting tarmac again, and mislaying - then finding - another pannier!

Click her...

Villa o'Higgins, Puerto Yungay, Cochrane - 220km (Total 1016Km cycled

Highlights: Stunning views, tough hills, our first 1000km, hot water and hospitality from Manuel from the ferry.

Click here to see photos from our cycle tour on La Carretera Austral

camping chile Cycle Touring pootles wild camping

Puerto Natales, El Calafate, El Chalten, Villa o'Higgins - 85km (Total 790Km cycled)

Highlights : The fork finally arrived, we met some great people who kept us sane while waiting, rough off-road, hilly and tough single-track, rainstorms, beautiful and stunning wilderness, hanging glaciers,...

dhl delivered to brokerWe knew that shipping stuff to South America was surrounded by horror stores: parcels lost, returned to sender, and the inevitable long wait. We prepared ourselves for a long wait, but we were stunned by the utter incompetence demonstrated by a company which - we'd naively imagined - would have the...