Fiona Mous

Mightymous

Fiona Mous

I started this blog a few years ago just before I went on a big adventure. I had a great time cycling through Vietnam in January 2006. Then in 2007 I tried to get over a mountain pass in Tibet, which did not go well. After this followed some leisurely travel to Australia (Christmas '08) and New Zealand (Christmas '09). But the leisure time is over. I’ve quit my job and me and my bicycle are going off to France for my personal little Tour de France.

I can’t wait to get back in the saddle although this time it is going to hurt I’m not as fit as I used to be! My friend Charlie will be joining me to discover the castles and wine of the Loire Valley for the first week. And after that I hope to journey down to the rugged and remote Auvergne and Languedoc regions and if there is time head to the Provence and maybe even include the famous Mt Ventoux summit.

So this blog is a record of this journey. Can’t wait to feel the wind in my hair and the burn in my legs!

The middle half - Queensland highlights

Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » Byron Bay January 14th 2008

Mightymous

As predicted... it took me a while to get back onto this blog. Too many places to see, too much travelling and having a fab time (or doing f@ck all :-) I left off in Sydney and before you know it I'll be back in Sydney again to get home. If you are wondering what I've been up to... really you should just check out any blog on here and start at the Whitsundays and work your way South... yes, I've been on the standard backpacking trail with the other millions of drinking, drugging late teens and early twenties! And no, I did not join in! But there is a reason why all these laid back backpackers go to places like the Whitsunday islands, Fraser Island, Noosa and Byron bay... They are stunningly beautifull places with ... read more

Sydney and the blue mountains

Oceania » Australia » New South Wales » Sydney » Bondi Beach January 2nd 2008

Blue Mountains

Mightymous

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Can you tell... I'm in Australia... So chilled out that I could not really be bothered to write :-) Also I'm very aware that most of you reading this are in cold countries... the UK etc.... where I understand the weather is foggy and dark... Well here things are a different story. The day I arrived in Sydney, boxing day, the weather that had been cold and rainy changed to sunny and hot. The sun is different here, much stronger and the temperature is pleasant... Yes, I've arrived in paradise where you can't help yourself and just want to spend time outdoors. So that's what I've done mostly hiking and swimming. Boxing day was spend strolling around Sydney, the following day I dragged Sasja to Manly beach... and instead of doing the normal ... read more

Hike and bike - the way to see Tibet

Asia » China » Tibet » Lhasa September 17th 2006

Mightymous

Can't stop grinning today... not because it is my last day in Lhasa (I always hate going home!) but because I spend today by myself on a bicycle going from monestery to monestery. Bliss :-) Okay, it took me a few days to get over having to abort the trek but hearing stories from others who left a day before us and were in the between the 2 passes when the bad weather hit and had to carry on... it was the right decision after all. I could not help myself and kept looking at the mountains the following few days... asking myself if it was snowing, would it have been okay, could I have done it... Oh well, the following days were pretty damn good! They involved a lot of walking up mountains together with ... read more

Coming down the mountain

Asia » China » Tibet » Lhasa September 13th 2006

Mightymous

F*ck!!! Excuse the language. I keep saying the word a lot, because I'm back in Lhasa! It was the weather not my health or fitness... Here is the story. We packed light and loaded the Land Cruiser with the gear, the cook and off we went. It was a lovely day with sunshine and the occasional cloud in the sky. First we dropped the gear and the cook at a farm farm house were we would meet up with our yak herder and yaks to carry the gear, we had a quick lunch there and went of to Ganden monestery to have a look around. It was beautifull, glued to the top of a mountain with many white and red buildings. It was very quiet and at 4500 m there were not many tourist to ruin ... read more

A Lhasa high - but going higher!

Asia » China » Tibet » Lhasa September 11th 2006

Mightymous

Wow, I feel like I've been away for weeks... and also a bit dizzy and out of breath! I got to Lhasa around 5 pm yesterday. Wandered around at the prescribed slow pace and absorbed all the new impressions; the people, the smells (not all great), had my first Yak food and settled in very nicely. Over dinner we discussed our options with regards to trekking. I was feeling the altitude as expected with the same symptoms I get during ski mountaineering (light headed, light nose bleed and easily out of breath) but nothing too severe. Still the thought of climbing from the current altitude of 3495 to 5250 over only two days seemed a bit on the extreme side. Still the decision was taken that if it could be done we would push ahead and ... read more

Great warm up (ahem)

Asia » China » Sichuan » Chengdu September 10th 2006

Mightymous

This time I did not enjoy a good 'piss up' before I got on the plane. So what better way to correct this oversight by drinking a riduculous amount after getting off the plane! I think this is not what they meant when they said to 'drink a lot' to prevent altitude sickness... It was great though :-) I highly recommend hitting the clubs in Chengdu. Babi II is where I spend the eve with a bottle of delisiously smooth Balintines (sorry have to plug it because is was a themed party) in the company of Han, Bob (sorry his Chinese name is just to complicated) and Shirley. Music was good, alcohol was abundant and my jetlag was perfect for the occasion. Just a note to all my girl friends... if you ever want to feel ... read more

8 days in Tibet

Asia » China » Tibet September 7th 2006

Mightymous

I'm going tomorrow. Flying from London through Chine to get to Tibet. I want to hike, but have no time to acclimatise. Am I a fool or just optimistic, will I be able to do it? I have run out of holidays but I really want to do this. I love slow travel so the only way to do it is to get there and then start walking. Most of the people that have been keep telling me it can't be done... this only makes me want to do it more than anything. So the plan, I get to Cheng Du on Saturday, get to Lhasa on Sunday, start the hike on Tuesday (from Ganden to Samye monestery). Get back to Lhasa on Saturday night and head back to my desk in London. Wish me luck! ... read more

Going 'home' - HCMC/Saigon to London

Asia » Vietnam January 5th 2006

Mightymous

Well now, this is strange I'm on my way back to London... It's been quite a few days so let me describe the last leg of my journey. On the 2nd of January I made my way to Ga DaNang (the train station) and 'checked in' my bike at the freight office, had some breakfast in a local cafe and then got in my slow train around 10AM. Funny how all of these things now feel as normal as taking the tube in London :-) Because I had not made it as far down to HCMC as I had initially planned this train journey was going to be much longer than could be considered pleasant. Oh well... I shared a hard sleeper compartment with another Dutch couple and 3 Vietnamese woman. With so many hours to ... read more

Final cycling destination - Hoi An

Asia » Vietnam January 1st 2006

China beach

Mightymous

HAPPY NEW YEAR! With a big grin on my face and a slight hangover have I just returned to DaNang. Cannot believe that I have reached my final cycling destination and tomorrow will take a train to the final destination of my journey: Ho Chi Minh City aka Saigon. Last time I wrote I was also in DaNang and it all feels a little bit like 'deja vu' (I'm even in the same internet cafe and got allocated the same computer. On the 28th December I left DaNang and headed for the beach. I reached My Khe (better known as China beach) within minutes after leaving the city centre. This is a beautiful beach and it streches all the way from Danang to Hoi An. So I decided to do away with routes and just follow ... read more

On the road again... :-) DMZ - DaNang

Asia » Vietnam December 27th 2005

Hue - Nguyen tombs

Mightymous

Hi all, it's been a while but I am sure you have all been very busy celebrating Christmas all over the world. It's nice receiving all the Xmas greetings from all over the place, Sydney to Staphorst (NL), Bangkok to Finland. I love this global community thing we all got going here! Well, guess what I got for Christmas this year... the most enormous case of food poisoning... and a lovely angel that worked at reception to help me recover. But lets pick up the story where I left off last time; DMZ. On the 23rd I got back on my bike. I went from Dong Ha to Hue (70km, 3 hours riding). With my I-pod gone blanc (yes, technology breakdown, first my camera, now my I-pod) the only thing I could do was sing myself ... read more

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