I first started bicycle touring in around 2008, when I was only 13 years old. My parents became interested in it and so the family holidays changed from being car based to being bicycle based. From 2008 to 2010 we went on roughly two cycle tours a year, including Cornwall, Wales, Brittany and Provence. And then we were old enough to start backpacking in the high mountains and so we moved away from cycling and onto walking in the Pyrenees and Alps and wild camping in the wilderness.
But the family cycle tours instilled a love for bicycle touring in me and my younger brother and so roughly 6 years later we were at university and decided to make the most of the long summer holidays and once again head out with just two wheels (each!) and heavily laden panniers.
In 2017 our older brother was getting married in Liverpool and so we decided to cycle the west coast of Ireland, attend the wedding, and then continue around the Baltic Sea. And then in 2018 we decided to set out again, but this time do a linear tour back to England. We flew out to Romania and winded our way back following the major European Rivers.
Bicycle touring posts: