Nick Thomas

NickTheTrick

Last year saw me gallivanting to South America. This year it's the turn of Scandinavia, and with me on a bike. I'm due to leave on the 13th May by ferry to Zeebrugge. Not very close to Scandinavia I hear you say?! Well the plan is to cycle via Belgium, Holland and Germany to Copenhagen then up through Sweden and the classic south to north route in Norway. 3 months i'm thinking... we'll see!



Travel Blog Posts


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NickTheTrick
January 14th 2013

After much cajoling I finally succeeded in persuading Tarryn that a climb up Kilimanjaro would be a once-in-a-lifetime (ok, well not too much persuading needed there), inspiring and magical thing to do to cap off our trip to Africa. I have to say I almost had second thoughts too when I started getting price quotes from various UK-based and local trekking companies. This was not going to be cheap, no back-to-basics carry everything yourself style hike like I'd done with Lukas in Peru. But in many ways I was glad, since not all memories were fond lugging a 20kg pack over the Andes. The clincher for Tarryn was getting her (our) own private toilet which I begrudingly agreed upon. Many days later perched on said toilet in Barafu camp with the wind gently flapping the tent ... read more



Idaho and Montana 2010

Published: January 13th 2011North America
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NickTheTrick
September 12th 2010

Happy New Year! Ok, but this entry is from 5 months ago, so need to rewind my memory a bit. August saw me off to the California for another interminable week of meetings with work. This time evenings if not the meetings themselves was perked up somewhat by the inclusion of our favourite Geordie, Barry (see pic), into the fold. Our hotel seemed even more stale than the last. My room view, fine, except for the never-ending car park that stretched forward below me and spanned most of my vision. That is Milpitas! Well one evening I went to visit one of my US workmates who kindly cooked for me and we chatted mainly about our other work mates - it was certainly nice to get away from the hotel for a bit! Anyway, fast forward ... read more



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NickTheTrick
August 3rd 2010

No story on these photos, sorry... Gonna put a write up of my recent trip to the US soon! ... read more



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NickTheTrick
January 12th 2010

I thought I'd chronicle a few days of snowboarding here in Bonnie Scotland for posterity in years to come. It's not every year we get snow like we just had in the last few weeks, and who knows what the following years will bring,,, the demise of skiing in scotland, or a shift in gulf stream and a new beginning? So we had about a foot of snow just at the back of Edinburgh, in the Pentland hills, usually the home of ramblers and mountain bikers, but for 2 weeks boarders and ski mountaineers were to be seen in the mix. I made it up on 4 separate occasions, one of which was after work, i.e. at night time. The snow conditions at from half way down to the bottom were perfect, a good foot of ... read more



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NickTheTrick
April 13th 2009

Route Map: http://www.bikemap.net/route/586153 Easter Monday was upon us already, and that meant just one thing: work the next day and therefore the homeward leg of the trip (ok that was 2 things, but one was a natural consequence of the other). We woke to find we'd actually pitched the tent under a rather precarious looking snapped tree - better not to think about what might have happened! The road south to Gairlochhead was pretty quiet and gently rolling till suddenly a very sharp climb just before the naval base. That was a real struggle on the tourer. By this point we were both feeling a little zapped so when a jolly looking cafe appeared to our right with a sign for breakfast we stopped sharp. Knocking on the door got no answer for several minutes except ... read more



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NickTheTrick
April 12th 2009

Route map:http://www.bikemap.net/route/586134 Day 3 started with an amazing dawn looking over towards the low hills on the south of the Crinan Canal, steeped in some eery low clouds. 3rd day fatigue was setting in, especially as clean clothes were wearing thin, but onwards we rode. Our first destination was out north along the flat flood plain to Kilmartin. There we breakfasted proper (did we have bacon rolls?) at the church cafe, and had a nice wander around the churchyard, admiring some very old Celtic tombstones. From Kilmartin the route wended its way uphill to the start of Loch Awe. Loch Awe is a long loch and on the day we passed extremely calm. The reflection off the surface of the water was almost magical, especially looking through the trees that separated the bank from the road. ... read more



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NickTheTrick
April 11th 2009

Route map: http://www.bikemap.net/route/586047 Morning Day 2 we woke to find a perfect sunny sky and an even more dramatic view of the valley and sea-loch perched as we were up on our rocky escarpment. I'm not sure why Mike was grinning in the photo, but I remember clearly that his grin was gone a little further down the road when we hit the first two big climbs of the tour (only 200m but still on a tourer this a slog). Near the top of the 2nd climb was the fantastic viewpoint down the Kyles of Bute. I waited up for Mike there (I should add now that Mike's currently undisputed King of the Mountains, but at least last year I had him on the tourers) then we rolled on over down towards Portavadie. Portavadie is nothing ... read more



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NickTheTrick
April 10th 2009

Thought I'd write up last year's trip before it fades away. Route map: Route map: http://www.bikemap.net/route/586038 Day 1 saw me and Mike get an early-ish (10am!) train from Edinburgh to Glasgow. On arrival at Queen Street we headed due south to hit the River Clyde from where I could sort of get my bearings. We hoped to track down national cycle route 75 which would take us all the way south of the river to Gourock. As we approached the north bank at one of the many bridges the skies looked a bit menacing - its well known it always rains on the west coast! The cycle route was easy to find - it was mainly under construction (should be complete by now!), so we were able to pick our way on the riverside path and ... read more



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NickTheTrick
October 20th 2008

No I've not started another trip it's ok. Am still mired in a new job. I recently discovered that Travelblog is very good for getting pictures picked up by Google. So here goes,,, the best pics I've got to offer. For any random people out there who surf on down these pictures, please leave a nice comment, and some money in the coffers if you want to buy any! Pics vary from approx 5M-7Mpixels. Sorry I only have jpegs so the best quality ones can get blown up to about A2 size. The panorama photos unfortunately are of lower resolution. They could get blown up to A2 width only. p.s. the panorama above is from my weekend away hiking the Aonach Eagach ridge in Glencoe! Thanks, Nick... read more



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NickTheTrick
July 10th 2008

Well the trip is now over. I'm back in Dundee and procastinating over preparations for a move to Edinburgh and the start of a new job on monday. My trip back home with coach, train and plane was incredibly hitch-free. I woke up on time from my hostel in Kabelvag (hard not to with my alarm set to Fight for Your Right to Party by Beastie Boys - it gives me heart palpitations when it goes off). I didn't fall back to sleep. I ate a nice breakfast. I got the bike ready for the 5km into Svolvaer. My bike didn't get a puncture or anything on the way. I found the bus stop. The bus arrived and despite everyone skipping the queue there was plenty of room for me and my bike. The driver didn't ... read more






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