I'm a mathematics PhD student with an interest in bike touring. Just returned from my first tour - 2 weeks from Berlin to Lepel (Belarus), an amazing experience!
For more about me, visit my website: www.cyclotomic.org.uk

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After some breakfast with coffee and mosquitoes, we get back on the bikes and drag our weary feet on down the Donau towards Bratislava. We stop for a first break in Hainburg/Donau, where we buy some supplies and meet some Australian bike tourists on the way to Belgrade. The road continues along the Donau to the former border - which is now nothing more than a few empty houses, leftovers from the past. Near Bratislava, the path crosses the Donau over a massive highway bridge and then gets lost in the city of Bratislava. After getting lost on a tiny path [View Full Entry]

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Great expectations and a long ride are on today's programme: leaving from Vienna, we want to make it all the way to Stará Turá in Eastern Slowakia. Of course, it takes ages to get everything ready: I still need some supplies (and my bike which had a broken spoke repaired!) from the bike shop which doesn't open until 10am - neither does the outdoor store where I still need to get some fuel for the Trangia. While Richard goes out to buy some food stuffs, I go on my treck of the various shops to get everything we need. Finally, around [View Full Entry]

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Last day on Iceland! We'll spend it in style: after killing ourselves cycling around the place for (almost) 2 weeks, today is going to make all of it worthwhile - especially yesterday's torture ride to get here. In the morning, again we are woken by rain. So, again, we decide to do the reasonable thing: sleep in, and wait for the weather to come to its senses, and stop the rain. And it works! At 11am, we are, once again, the last people on the campsite, but the rain has stopped, and so we can have a nice dry breakfast, pack [View Full Entry]

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What a rude awakening! Starting from 6am, rain starts gushing on the tent, and the wind shakes the tent, even has us worried that the whole thing might take off. We try to get some more sleep - the bus doesn't leave until 9 - but by 7, there is no point, so we get up and start packing up, all the while trying to keep the tent from taking off. Breakfast is cancelled, since there is no point trying to make coffee in that kind of weather. Plus, the bus leaves from the petrol station, so we can just get [View Full Entry]

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For the first time, we our of the tent before 9 - because it's too hot! The sun is burning on the ten, and soon there is nothing to take off anymore, we have to get up. Hendrick and Carlo also soon come crawling from their tent, and starting getting some basic supplies ready for a bus tour into the interior, before heading on towards Skaftafell. We have some coffee and breakfast, then get back on the bikes, and follow the ring road back to Vík. The road first passes through rolling green hills, but soon lava fields are all we [View Full Entry]

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In the morning, we're woken up by - rain! For the first time in over a week (aside from day 1 in Reykjavik), it's raining! So we decide to do what any rational person would: continue sleeping, and wait for it to ease off, which it does around 11. So we carefully pack up everything, have breakfast at a covered bench and table nearby, and head down to the ring road. Seems like our idea worked: tail wind! And no more rain! How much better can it get! At this speed, we'll be in Kirkubæjarklaustur in a matter of a few [View Full Entry]

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After yesterday's fun day of headwind-cycling, we decide to try and use the headwind - which seems to be the predominant direction the wind here - to our advantage. Since we had planned to get to Skaftafell, and then take the bus back, why not turn this on its head, take the bus to Skaftafell, and then cycle back along the south coast with tailwind? As it turns out, the bus stop is also directly at the campsite, so we don't even have to work hard to catch the bus - simply pack up, and make sure we stand ready at [View Full Entry]

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As yesterday, we have a good sleep in, and are again one of the last tents on the camp ground by the time we finally crawl out of the tent. Good thing the sun doesn't shine too much in Iceland - that way you can sleep as long as you want without getting roasted! While I start packing up the tent, Nadine goes shopping for some groceries. On her way to the store, she already notices that the wind isn't with us today... On the way out of town, we stop by the petrol station - I need some new burning [View Full Entry]

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After a good night's sleep, we are woken up by the lawnmower, cutting the grass all around us. When we open the tent, it turns out that we are the last ones on the campground! No need to rush though, first we have some breakfast and the ever-important cup of coffee, before we start packing up again and get ready for our first full day of cycling after the break. The road leads south along the same road the bus brought us yesterday. The scenery isn't too impressive - mostly fields, and pastures, alternating between cows, horses, and sheep. The wind [View Full Entry]

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Another day, another try: the alarm rings at 7, and we drag ourselves out of our sleeping bags. Stefan and Elinborg said something about breakfast last night, but they don't seem to be up for it now - there is no sound in the house. So we pack up, and start moving everything out of the house. We even find the back entrance to the cellar, to get at the bikes. Once everything is loaded up, and the bikes are ready to go, Stefan and Elinborg appear. But time is short, and we really want to catch this bus today - [View Full Entry]

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