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We've now been back home in Canada for a week. The last two weeks in Sweden were quite relaxing, with no biking at all. We had some fun at Liseberg, met friends and spent time with Andreas parents. On the way back, we had about 9 hours in Iceland, it was a splendid day, so we decided to rent a car and go explore a bit: Andreas summed up the most frequently asked questions about the bike tour in the Q and A below. Q: How far did you bike and for how many days? A: 3500 km during four months. After this we stayed a couple of weeks in Sweden. Q: How long in advance did you plan the trip? A: We started dreaming about a trip about four years before we left. Then six months in advance we made work arrangements to be free and started booking the first tickets. Around that time we also started accumulating the gear. Bikes we bought two months before we left. Q: Did you really bring the kids all of the way? A: Yes, the four and the six year old accompanied us all the way. Q: Which countries did you visit? A: We started by flying from Canada to Havanna, Cuba. Biked mostly rural Cuba for forty days. We flew to Milano, Italy and biked northern Italy for a month before heading north. We then biked through Switzerland and there passed the alps. Then on to France and Germany to finally reach Sweden. Q: What types of accommodation did you use? A: In Cuba we were had to stay at bed and breakfast's (38 nights) to reliably get food. We did a couple of nights wild camping when we didn't reach a village. In Italy we stayed in hotels (5 nights), appartments (4 nights), agriturismo (1 night) and the rest tenting mostly at campsites (25 nights). In Switzerland and France we only tented. In Germany we stayed in tent, hostels, and with friends. Q: Did you ever take a train or a bus? A: No, not during the four months before reaching Sweden. With this amount of gear it's just easier to pedal on. Q: Did you ever experience anything scary? A: Not really, crazy thunderstorms in Cuba and Italy when we were on the road. Q: What was you budget?
A: About $27000 CAD. $6000 for flights (Canada to Cuba. Cuba to Italy. Sweden to Edmonton). $6000 for new bikes and gear (we already had a lot of the bike and camping gear and technical clothing). $13000 for food and accommodation (four months. The time spent in Sweden was with family and friends and is excluded here). $2000 for vaccinations and travel insurance. Q: Is it safe to bike Cuba with kids? A: We found Cuba to be very safe. Few cars. Slow moving traffic. No dangerous animals. Docile dogs. Family oriented people. Local kids playing everywhere. No guns. No gangs. We even napped while the kids were playing with the neighborhood kids a couple of times. Q: Did you have any mechanical issues? A: Just minor things such as one broken bolt on the chariot and a snapped chain. The gear held up as expected. Q: How many punctures did you have? A: Four in total and all on Irene's bike. In Cuba we picked many tree thorns from the tires using a pair of pliers. Thanks to excellent tires they didn't puncture. Q: What was the best about the trip? A: Andreas: The feeling "we can do this" and to overcome the physical challenges. Irene: I can't pick a single thing. To bike over the alp was amazing and I always remember beautiful swims in the ocean, rivers, lakes. Q: Would you do this type of trip again? A: We would love to! Stay tuned. Our adventure definitely shifted gears, as we reached the "goal"; we are now in Sweden. I started to write this post the 3rd of August, it is now the 8th, but my phone which I blog from stopped working...Now I discovered it is MUCH easier to use a lap top and superb Swedish WiFi. Anyways, we arrived in Trelleborg, Sweden, on a sunny Sunday morning (July 30) after a rainy night on the ferry from Travemunde in Germany. It felt really strange to ride the bike off a large ferry onto the ground of my motherland. We had a few pieces of candy for breakfast, real classy, and wasted no time riding the short distance to my sisters house. It was so good to see her and her family again, a year since last time. I immediately felt that the bike tour was over as we sank down on real chairs to have breakfast. Not much more biking now, was the message I got from my brain...We had left our friends house near Hamburg the day before and biked about 80km to the ferry that day. The 10 hour overnight ferry ride was a big adventure for the kids, they stayed up until midnight playing in the playroom and then looking out over the festival in Travemunde as we left the harbour. Before we left Germany we got to spend a few days with our former neighbours and friends Torsten and Christina and their kids Jonas and Zoey. We invaded their nice house with our filthy bags and had a great, relaxing time. The days before that had been somewhat rainy, to say the least. Now we have spent a week and a bit in Sweden and have great visits here and there. There is not enough time as always and right now I am at my parents with a nasty cold while Andreas is at his folks with the kids. First time in 4 months we are apart for more than a couple of hours! Good for all of us..This evening I, mamma, pappa, went to concert held in a church; a relative of mine played the organ and piano and his wife, an amazing soprano, sang. It was beautiful. Now, photos! And please come back, we still have some adventures to look back at!! And here are some pics from our last week in Germany, most of days soaked in rain...
Thanks for comments on the blog, here and elsewhere! If we can inspire anyone to head out for adventure, that is just great. There may be many obstacles, perceived or real, to tackle before any trip. It is easy to think that “others” don’t have the same problems as oneself. I am not denying that we are very privileged and fortunate to be able to take several months off, but so are many others in the Western world. Worries about money, work or health can be enough to prevent us from doing what we dream of. Mind you, I (Irene) had no big dreams about biking around for months on end. But I and Andreas knew, five years ago, that we wanted to take a break from the busy work life to travel before kids started school. We had a timeline behind a kitchen door, which reminded us to take small steps bringing us closer to that. But, as it turned out, my break from work came unplanned 9 months before this very trip. It was a tough time but once out of the woods, we grew stronger and I am so happy we have this time together. For me, travelling is mostly about that. Adventure comes naturally if one is willing to let go of the well known. The Weser radweg started after Hann. Münden. We followed it for 280km and six days, including a rest day in Petershagen. The weather was great the first day then rainy for a couple of days but the route was beautiful, easy and almost completely car free on paved roads. It wasn't so flat as to be boring and enough winding to keep interest up. It was very popular, without being crowded. Andreas reports he has never seen as many tourers in his life as here. Many of them were retired people, quite often on e-bikes. Some were out for the weekend, a few we talked to on multi-month trips. Families on multi-day trips were rare though. Wonder why. Navigation was easy, with lots of signs along the way. That was good, because we had been a bit frustrated with confusing signs and bike routes that took the "scenic", 10 times longer route through country sides or villages. Sometimes that's nice, sometimes you just need to move a distance. On the Weser we got to both move and enjoy fabulous scenery. Biergartens, cafes and restaurants along the way left no one hungry as it seemed; we had picnics as usual. It was easy to find accommodation of all types. We stayed mostly at campgrounds, but there were also hotels, hostels and private rooms, directly on the route. The German hostels, called Jugendherberge, were affordable and to our surprise, summer is their low season. We stayed two nights in one in Petershagen to have a rest day. We got the question if the kids ever get tantrums and how to handle them on the road. Yes, there are breakdowns, fights, boundary testing and so on, daily. Bedtime (especially in hotels) can evoke a strong urge to run off to a bar or at least to the washroom with a bottle of Underberg.. Parenting is not always easy at home and not easier when away. The difference is, here we are constantly together and that creates more friction. The other thing is that we all follow the sun rather than the clock, and the sun goes down late in this part of Europe in the summer. Therefore we adults get little time to ourselves, and we’re not good at taking alone time while one of us with the kids. The easiest time is while riding, because there is lots to look at and talk about. Our playground lunches are when I and Andreas get some time to our selves while prepping lunch (and coming up with strategies to handle the next outbreak of defiant behaviour). We don’t always have the same ways to do things. Arthur can drive Andreas quite mad by being super cheeky while I try to not laugh. I get mad too but for other reasons. To decrease fighting we always encourage them to run off and play at campgrounds. Their “kid exploration” time bring the best out of them (and us). As for discipline, the classical time out is not always possible to carry out on the road, but there has been times when we had to put a child outside of the tent for a while. The tent is our home so we can’t have them go rampant in there. It is a very small place to stay in so everyone need to be quite disciplined about their movements. Four year olds are not know for their controlled movement pattern. When the weather is good it is no problem, we only have to sleep there, but lately it has rained quite a bit so we’ve had to eat and spend more time in the tent. Moods go up and down, of course, I tend to be happier when it’s cool, or after I get a coffee shop break, Andreas when it’s hot, or after we pass a coffee shop without stopping. The kids always want shade when it’s sunny and vice versa. As an emergency crankiness antidote we take dextrose tabs, those work magic on the mood – for a short while. Now I understand why my mom kept a large box of dextrose in the pantry when I was a kid..
We are happily surprised by how beautiful and nice Germany is. Lots of people see Germany from the autobahn; we see it from small roads, passing by rivers, meadows and forests. And castles…The villages are very picturesque and the people friendly. It is actually also a foodie haven, not just for bratwurst lovers. Bakeries are everywhere. And the brews…nothing like a radler (beer/citrus beverage) after a day on the bike. After the rainy day in Marburg, we had four days great cycling from to Hann. Münden. Andreas changed tube on my front tyre before we left; the rubber around the vent had given in. Then we biked through the beautiful landscape of Hessen. The bike paths winded through surprisingly large forests and farmland dotted with pretty villages. A structurally crucial bolt on the Chariot broke just half a kilometer after we had stopped to chat with a local. Thus we turned back to his house and he and a neighbour helped fix it temporarily. A woman came over and gave the kids a treat. Then we had a beautiful ride to Gemünden, where we found a nice campground for only 12 Euro. Next day too we enjoyed the scenery around us, and got the bolt replaced to a thicker to be safe, by kind people at a motorhome shop and continued. It was quite hilly, and looked a lot like Sweden, with both coniferous and deciduous forests, and signs of wild boars. We had a playground lunch in Bergfreiheit, a fresh air kur stadt. Few cars and lots of forest made for the extra fresh air. We came as far as to Ungedanken, where I got a flat tire again. After a tube change we only had a few kms to a campground. Alma and Andreas stayed up late in the rain that night to adjust a loose hub ball bearing and change the chain on my bike. Things are starting to wear out.. Next day we rode into a fun fair, including horse shows and farm animal sales. We stopped briefly; both I and kids could have stayed half a day, petting goats and guinea pigs. But we were aiming at reaching Kassel by the evening, and preferably Oberkaufungen and a friend of a friend, where we could camp for the night. We passed Fritzlar, another beautiful town. To aid in reaching Kassel, we had a quick pizza lunch in Gudensberg. We were then ready to speed up and reached Oberkaufungen by 7pm. There we had a good night in real beds. Thanks Susanne and Boris! And Katrin, who put us in contact! The pretty landscape, and the hills, continued the next day. We did not take the straightest way to Hann. Münden but probably the hilliest. Today, a rest day in Hann. Münden, a Medieval town full of those cross frame houses and surrounded by green hills. We are camping right where river Fulda kisses Werra and becomes Weser. We have just spent 4 days in the lovely kur town Bad Nauheim, Germany, visiting Meghan and Kris. It was such a good and occasionally a bit crazy time; oh team 4, Arthur and Helena...And if not before, we realised that we have missed the company of good ol’ friends. It was not without sadness we left this adorable family plus Kris mom who also was there. After Bad Nauheim we followed the Lahn bike path to a campground 28km away. The whole day was quite unromantic (Note to Kris, who helped us pick and plan: it had nothing to do with the route. It was beautiful. The villages with their old cross wood houses totally charming. It was us). We even questioned what we were doing for a while. Kids were cranky. Rain on and off. A muddy road ( only for a short section. A lady on a bike fell in it and laughed so it gave us a laugh too). Lunch in the rain outside a low-cost supermarket. Well, we said it before, it is not always glamourous on the road. Then an easy day to Marburg where we are today waiting out a rainy day in a Jugendherberge. Last night we strolled around town and admired the old castle. Back in time to June 25; after uphill comes downhill and after the Midsommar night at Bözberghöhe, at about 550 m, the road winded down through the Swiss fields and forests for several kilometers. It was the “no brake, no hairpin turns, just hold on and enjoy the 50km/h” kind if ride we deserved. We did 50 easy kilometers over the day, crossed over river Rhine on an old wooden bridge to Germany, had lunch at a playground (as usual) and then crossed over to Switzerland in the evening to camp by the river. In school we learnt that Rhein is highly polluted but now, three decades later, it seems to be a recreational haven. Our campsite was right by the water, and all day long we saw people of all ages swimming, floating or paddling down it’s gentle stream. It surprised me a lot, but I guess mankind have come a long way when it comes to water protection and industrial standards. The campground also had a large pool, perfect for the kids, and a large sandbox, so it was a good place to take a rest day, which we did the next day. The bikes got some TLC and I got to swim in the river. When I looked at the seemingly clean river, not seeing any litter around, I couldn’t help but think back at Cuba with some sadness, for both land and waters were sprinkled with trash. Most people dumped their garbage right where they were standing. Even if they were bathing in what could have been a beautiful ocean, they threw their beer cans, rum bottles, chips bags or whatever, right where they were, in the water. Larger collections of garbage was dumped in rivers, forests or just on empty lots in town. In most cities, Havana excluded, garbage trucks were a rear sight. Even if there was a shortage of goods of all kind, and lots of things reused because of that, the access to packaged food, drinks and disposables must have exploded the last 10 years or so. If the development continues, say that they start using disposable coffee cups (coffee on the street is served in glasses, rinsed between customers), I really hope they will work on the garbage collecting system. Perhaps a little recycling too. Next day, the bike path winded back and forth between Switzerland and Germany a couple of times before we all of a sudden were in France. Borders are easy to cross, but there are differences between the three countries. In Germany and France people more often greeted each other, and us. Switzerland was by far most expensive, and the people quite reserved. Everything was clean, you could lick a public toilet if you really had to. Speaking of which, eating out was out of the question so I can’t say anything about the cousin, but the bread and dairy were superb for sure. France then; where we biked through the fertile landscape of Alsace, surprisingly quiet villages, till we after just 6 days entered Germany without warning. I was not quite ready to leave France and last thing that happened was that Andreas found a scull pin in his tyre. Good thing we are not superstitious… We hope rain will stop and spirits soar as we continue up through Germany. In a couple of weeks we should be in Sweden.
We’ve left the Alps behind us a few days ago and I (Irene) miss them already. Climbing the St. Gotthard pass (2091 m) via the old, cobble stone road Tremola, was a cool experience. After the rest day at the cute campground on the mountainside in Chigoggna, we had two days of climbing up to the pass. The first day, following a late start, Andreas had trouble with the gears which cumulated in a broken chain shortly after Airolo. He replaced a link, and we managed to gain 788 meters over 23km that day before we decided to tent on a gravel patch, former site of a restaurant, 9km shy of the pass. There we met Hans, who’s about to open a bed and bike in Airolo and wanted to include our story on his facebook page. To our great surprise and delight he came back later with locally made cheese from his relatives farm. Next day we managed to get a relatively early start 9.15. The old cobble stone road climbed evenly with 20 something hairpin bends up to the pass. As we came higher, the wind blew stronger and colder. Alma was on the bike all the way up. That way Andreas had slightly less weight to pull. Still, very heavy and he stood up most of the way. For me it was a bit easier but still a good effort. Almost up we met Hans again, he had taken some great shorts from the new road. They showed the masterfully engineered road much better than our photos did. Finally at the top, by lunch time, there was a historic hotel and lots of tourists and locals out for a “Sunday ride”. It was cold and windy and very alpine, just the kind of place where you want to find a sheltered spot in the sun, and we did. There we ate and I probably fell asleep a while. The kids went on their usual “kid discovery trip” and were happy there were some patches of snow. Late afternoon we started the long descent and took several stops to admire the alpine landscape, before we came to Andermatt and a basic campground. The views were splendid. We needed some rest but wanted a more convenient place to stay, so next day we continued downhill to a place that indicated a campground on the map. It was not, but at least there was a clear and ice cold stream to wash off in, and a somewhat level place to tent. We had only trail mix for breakfast next day until we reached a village with a bakery. Bless the bakeries. Weather was hot. Mood was affected by lack of a real rest day. A dip in a pretty lake mid day helped and by the end of the day we were at a well kept camping in Sisikon, just by the lake Urnersee. After a rest day Andreas was restless again and needed to move. He was out on the bike a couple of hours, checking out the next, supposedly dangerous, road section and to get groceries. In the meantime, Alma and Arthur had fun at a playground and I read a book. We left the alps behind the next day and pushed through the massive heat to a place by Reuss river. The road was not dangerous. Most of it was bike path. Yesterday, hot again, but gentle road, with a wonderful mid day break by the river Aar, but then, an afternoon of uphill and a merciless sun. I had a bit of a collapse at the top of a hill, fighting a churning stomach, dizziness, shortness of breath. Not as serious as it sounds, and certainly to a degree psychological, but nevertheless very unpleasant. Such can a day in the heat on the bike treat you. Today, a sudden change in weather. It’s 21 C and feels quite cold. The kids did not want to leave their sleeping bags. We’re in a small trailer park like place in Bözberghöhe. Had a light and expensive breakfast from the bakery next door and will hit the road soon. I hope for a lot of downhill today. PS. Gotthard pass would have been hard to do without full leg strength. The day we left the crab place in Cuba, biking was very uncomfortable and Andreas helped me adjust the saddle height, tilt, cleat position on my shoes, oil the saddle (stupid leather saddle!) but the pressure on my right sits bone seemed impossible to get away from. It felt like a piece of cartilage had developed on it, I felt and heard it moving against the hard seat.
Around the same time, I started to get leg pain that felt a bit like sciatic nerve pain. Perhaps a nerve was pinched by some misalignment in the spine/hip, as my right hip also hurt and felt out of position. A physiotherapist I went to last year told me I have poor mobility in the thoracic spine, so I started to do cat/cow moves, glutes and hamstring stretches but the pain only got worse over the following weeks. I could bike, but my legs felt very weak and it was harder to walk than to bike. After about two weeks I felt quite sick, and Andres felt a bit weak too, so we took some rest days. Those days it was hard to lift the legs to walk up a step etc, and I had intense nerve pain at night. It tried painkillers but that did not help. The problems lasted about 3 weeks and disappeared gradually. I tried to not let the pain and discomfort get to me too much but looking back, it seems quite weird, and I have not had anything like it after. I still blame the saddle a bit. Or Zika?! Andreas is not 100% happy with his either.. Yesterday was quite tough. We climbed up towards San Gottardo pass in the Swizz alps. Some days ago we sent 10kg of stuff we can do without, to Sweden, to lighten up before the climb. But it was still heavy. In the end of the 40 km and 600 m of elevation gain, it felt as if even a small downhill was going uphill. So today we took a rest day at a small cute campground, Gottardo, perched on a mountainside. We did laundry, bike maintenance and swam in the pool. Andreas and the kids went for a walk. I was beyond tired, only edelweiss and apricot ice cream could bring me back to life. Tomorrow will be uphill only. When Andreas and the kids got groceries yesterday, I went back to memories from Cuba. An older man had just given Alma and Arthur a coin each, with a big smile on his face, and it reminded me how the people on Cuba adored the kids. People often sat on their porches and looked surprised and happy when they saw us bike by. Arthur shouted Hola! or Adios! and they got even more excited exclaiming aahhh lindo!, meaning “cute”. When they had the chance, they’d come up to touch their blond hair or even kiss them on the head. It was not just fun, it was a great advantage to travel with kids. Some travellers we met felt duped in various ways, we rarely did, probably thanks to Alma and Arthur. People just didn’t want to destroy for kids in any way, it seemed. Another interesting thing is, we always felt very safe letting the kids play outside with local children. It was obvious that communities were tightly knit and “everyone” looked after “everyone’s” kids. Older children looked after younger. At home we don’t even let them play at the playground alone, in the town of Sandino we took a nap while they played with a group of kids on the street. Even Cubans explained to us that Cuba is very safe for children, few cars and no “bad” people. That is probably a modified truth, but we felt very safe nevertheless. Some Cubans were quite worried that we took the kids out biking in traffic, urging us to be careful of all the "crazy" drivers. With a few exceptions, we found drivers very considerate and some days we did not see more than 10 or so cars. The fewer cars, the more horse or ox drawn “vehicles” on the road. Havana was a different story of course but we did bike there, without any incidents. Adding to the safety, Cubans don’t carry or possess guns, and even if rum is available everywhere very cheaply, we only saw one drunk, and that guy was considered “whacko” and told off by a 10 year old girl to stay off her mom’s ice cream parlour! Drugs are banned and we never saw any addicts either. Thus, fear not to travel around Cuba, especially not with children! Back now to the town Viñales. There we discovered how poor the Cuban wi-fi was. Almost every plaza had it, and to use it you bought a card with an access code. It was hard to connect to and many sites and apps were blocked. Alma’s disappointment knew no end when we couldn’t chat with her friend Hazel. Except for occasional banking and emails, we got a much needed e-detox. Viñales restaurants offered a break in the food monotony. It wad a bit costlier than we were used to, but so worth it. The town was touristy, but in the valley it was very quiet and beautiful, pictures describe it best. We did a daytrip to a cave that had a natural pool several 100 meters in. A “guide” followed those who wanted to go inside, in exchange for 2 CUC. It was an eerie place. Another day we took a super touristy horse ride through the valley, with the mandatory stops at a coffee plantation and artificial lake, we managed to escape the tobacco farm. Tobacco leaves do smell lovely when it dries on the fields though. The weather turned hot while we were there, and when we left, we reached the more authentic life of the valley. It was a beautiful, long 80 km day through tobacco fields and the mogotes, the typical mountains. We did not find anywhere to stay that night, and not much food, all we found was a small store that had crackers, canned tuna and water. In addition a woman gave us a bag full of mangoes from her tree. That night we pitched out tent a few hundred meters from the road, in the edge of the jungle, and had mangos and crackers for dinner. It was comforting to know that there are no dangerous animals on Cuba, except for the mosquitoes, they carry the Zika virus. There are also lots of annoying ants and on the friendlier side, green fire flies, I think they were actually beetles, very cool creatures that lit up the pitch black night. The heat continued, it was above 30 and we could not wait to get to the ocean. We had been in Cuba for over two weeks and not even been close to a beach! We chose to go to the Westernmost point accessible by road, Maria la Gorda, known for it’s clear waters. We had not been warned that that part of Cuba, at that time of year, gets a crab invasion of insane proportions. It started gradually with a few crabs crossing the road, tripping sideways, and ended with thousands, creating a rattling sound and covering roads, walls, even caused a restaurant to close. We spent a couple of days in a casa in La Bajida, among the crabs, to snorkel in the clear waters. We met a Swedish couple in Maria La Gorda and had a nice time chatting. When we left the crab place after a few days, the rain was pouring down and the road was transformed to stinky crab soup. Poor crabs, we could not avoid to crush them, but at least we did not get any punctures.
We are still in Italy, on the western shores of Lago Maggiore. It’s hot, sunny and we have biked our normal average distance of 46km today. We’re tenting at a campground and have cooked some fresh pasta and salami. We just also got a bottle of wine from our neighbours! We are all doing well right now, but we have had a bit of bad luck with the health lately. A week ago I (Irene) suddenly got strep throat while camping in Terme di Monte Valenza.. We had to stay there for almost a week. We had some amazing help from Andrea who worked in the bar, he drove us to a doctor and pharmacy, plus acted as our translator. Forever grateful! Kids were fine during this, there was a large park and playground on the grounds and even a free zoo – the kids were happy. But poor Andreas was alone with chores while I was out. Unexpected things like getting sick makes it really hard to follow plans. We skipped Corsica partly because of the inital sickness delay and partly because it was complicated to figure out the ferry routes and they were also expensive. Instead we just headed west thinking of going to Croatia that way. However, we liked northern Italy so much and moved real slow and when we started to count the time left we realised it would be hard to do Croatia, at least if we wanted to bike to Sweden. At the campground at lake Iseo we met an English gentleman, Mike, who reminded us to take it easy and that that place was not a bad on to linger a few days. He’s right, we’re not on a race. Both I and Andreas have had to adapt our approach to touring biking; I needed to get over my urge to stop at every historical site, beautiful church, charming coffee shop, cute bakery etc. Because as we move relatively slow, at about 15km/h, we need to get the hours in if we want to reach a campground in reasonable time. Andreas needed to accept that we cant get as far every day as was possible for him when he toured Europe 20 years ago. It took some time until we reached some middle ground and sort of routine. On transportation days, we focus on getting up in time and to bike to reach a place to stay in time. Thus, on travel days, we get up at 7 am and about three hours later we are ready to go. If the weather is wet, add an hour. Then, we bike a couple of hours, usually I interrupted by several nature calls. We get groceries once a day, usually in the afternoon, for dinner, breakfast and lunch the next day. We prepare simple lunches at playgrounds, so the kids can have some fun. Sometimes we linger for a few hours. Then the afternoon push to a place to stay. After camp is up, dinner cooked and eaten, shower, it is bed time. For all of us. Thus, traveling is now routine. Yes, with new views passing by and a new place to stay most nights but still with daily choreshy and structure to the day. A few times, we’ve found ourselves far from any accommodation when it’s getting late and everyone is tired and hungry. Wild camping is illegal in Italy and has never been an option when we’ve “run out of fuel”. We are ok staying the occasional night in hotels or b&bs, but sometimes, nothing is within reach. One such evening, when we had stopped by the side of the road, sighing over the 23km of busy road to the nearest campground, an older man drove up with his moped. With no language in common, a series of misunderstandings about pilgrims and water (we think) ended up in him waving to us to follow him. After a few hundred meters, he stopped at a farm with a large lawn and we understood we could pitch out tent there for the night. His granddaughter spoke english, and showed us the water tap, and then one after another family member came to greet us. Some spoke English and we started to understand that they were children, grandchildren or married into the family of the man. His wife gave us fresh eggs and we got to see their ponies and goats. Aa great and unexpected “farm stay”! The next day we were headed to Pavia, and could not believe that we were offered to stay the night in the apartment of one of the families from the farm. It was a beautiful place and we accepted the offer with gratefulness. An other surprising generous act came from a man from the U.S we met in a b&b. It makes me blush, but he paid our bill for stay and breakfast, without our knowledge. This one we will “pay forward”! Now after our little loop of 700km in Italy we are preparing for the Alps. Alma is thrilled we will reach an other country today! Switzerland..She is also very happy she got to take a morning dip today so I could finish this post that I started yesterday. But now we need to hit the road! A hot day to sweat through awaits..
Remember the cyclist how helped us find a room our first day on the road? The next morning, after our hosts prepared breakfast, told us about their lives, and gave us a few wonderful blooms of Cuba’s national flower Mariposa, we met the boy again. He biked with us for several kilometers, showed us the way out of town and onto the autopista. Unfortunately our poor Spanish made conversation difficult. That evening we arrived in Las Terazzas, a community up in the hills, surrounded by old coffee plantations and forested areas. We stayed there two nights, exploring the surroundings by bike. The casa family had a few pigs and one had new piglets in the morning. The kids were so excited. The piglets were cute, but I preferred the sunrise and the fruit filled breakfast served on the veranda. Beautiful jungle and serious climbs on the day we left the village. The weather was considered "cool" at 25 C or so. It was also dry as the rainier season had not started. However, we were not used to our new bikes yet. Andreas bike, loaded with all bags and with the trailer (Chariot) attached weighed about 85 kg. On top of that a 15 or 20kg child in the Chariot. Irene’s equipage, with the trailer bike attached, weighed 50 kg. Andreas had to walk his bike for the first time in his life, on one particularly steep section. In San Cristobal we let us be led by a local to a small hotel outside of town. Arthur turned 4 the next day, so after we spent several hours to find a bank and get more cash (we saw very few places that accepted credit card) we bought cake very similar to the Swedish “Rulltårta”. In the end of an afternoon of biking though the country side we reached the old “spa” town of San Diego de los Baños and found accommodation in what appeared to be the only casa in town. Various body parts needed a rest, so we stayed two nights despite the mediocre food; the elderly couple running the place might have done their best, but really, mouldy preserves?! How did those new top quality saddles treat us? Female version, not so well. Male, a bit better. But we had not reached the 400 km break-in distance so a bit soreness was expected. Almas main complaint was not physical, but the home sickness and longing for her dear friend Hazel. Many times per day she cried "I want Hazel!" or "I want to go home" or "why are we on this stupid trip". It appeared as if she was really suffering, and this was not easy to handle. Anyways, in this once probably pretty town, now run down, we met a man who was a geography and English teacher. He showed us his office/school library. We made a 20 CUC donation to the school, aware it might end up in his own pocket, boosting his monthly salary of 30 CUC (approximately what we paid per night for a room). At least he spent many hours sharing his points of view and showing us around. The following day, when we biked to Viñales, was a good example of what an average day was like: after breakfast, sun lotion and loading the bikes, Arthur jumped on the trailer bike and Alma in the Chariot. After about 15km, or 1 hour, we had a break, adjusted the saddle on the trailer bike and switched kids. The beauty of this order was that Arthur often fell asleep in the Chariot. We would start looking for a place to have lunch around mid-day. Then a switch of kids again. Quite often we stopped short after lunch for a siesta, sometimes in the shade of mango trees, which also gave us a free snack. When no shade to be found we used a light weight tarp to create some. The kids got some play time, their imagination turned coconuts, large legume pods, or whatever they found, into whatever suited the play. Then we had one or two biking sessions left before we looked for accommodation. In Viñales there were over 1000 casas!! We had heard about the tranquility of this place, but the town itself was very busy. And the weather turned hot. More about our adventures in beautiful Viñales Valley in the next post.
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AuthorWelcome to our family's 2017 bike touring blog! Who's going? Archives
October 2017
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