OK, lots more photos. I just need to arrange them and comment on them a bit more.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/machka-...7630125688286/

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8423/7...68d10a14_z.jpg

Cycling out of Edinburgh, and stopping at an old mill for a bite to eat and to take some photos of the mill area ... :)

And of course these are our bicycles, loaded for touring.

The mill, just outside Edinburgh ...

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7256/7...d1ceeb7a_z.jpg

We started our tour 2 months ago today. :)

-- 3 weeks in Asia (Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan)
-- 3 weeks in Scotland
-- 3 weeks in the Netherlands and Germany

We'd like to check out Luxembourg and Switzerland (maybe a week in each if they are nice), and then get into France for the rest of our time in Europe. We might also possibly spend a little bit of time in Italy, but we'll have to see how things go.

We had thought about including several other places, but we've only got 6 weeks left in Europe.

When we planned this, I was thinking 3 months in Europe would be plenty of time to see lots of countries, but Europe as a whole is a big area ... bigger than Australia.


Incidentally ... about the weather ... after freezing in Scotland, we've gone the opposite direction here. It is HOT. For about 3 days now it has been HOT, HOT, HOT. Mid-30s to low-40s C (around 100F). A couple weeks ago, we were all excited if it stopped raining long enough to raise the temperature to 18C. Then we had about a week of sunshine and moderate temperatures (20-25C) which was lovely. Then all of a sudden the temperature soared. And of course, there's no air conditioning here.

Apparently a week from now we're supposed to be back to the moderate temperatures again. This is perhaps the last heat wave of summer here.

And much more full of stuff. Three months is barely enough for France, let alone the rest. But you can only do what you have time for. Don't miss the Loire Valley, it's flat and riding from Chateau to Chateau (and from a bottle of Sancerre to one of Saumur, and back) is excessively charming.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=268386

We were talking about where we would like to go in France. We've cycled there on two other occasions ... for me it was about 10 days in 2003 (I'm not sure how long Rowan was in France that year), and together we spent almost a month in France in 2007. But we've mostly kept to the north. Draw a line from Brest to Strasbourg, and we've been north of that.

This time we were talking about the Loire Valley. Neither of us have been there, and it sounds appealing.


BTW - we met in France in 2003 around about this time of year. We've known each other for 9 years now. :)

What a wonderful trip Machka! Thank you for taking the time to do the write-ups and post your photos.

Thanks. :)

Loch Lomond and Isle of Skye photos have been added. Yes, it was rather rainy in Scotland ...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/machka-...7630125688286/

HOT again today ... and we travelled by very hot trains and through very hot stations to very hot Luxembourg City.

We're sitting in a very hot hotel room in the centre of Luxembourg City awaiting the storm in the distance to stir up a breeze to float through our open windows ... anything to cool it down a little bit.

They say, however, that tomorrow is supposed to be more normal ... i.e. 23C for a high. That would be lovely.


It's the first time I've been to Luxembourg and it isn't quite what I expected. I expected something more like Edinburgh ... old and quiet. Now we've got to decide where we want to go tomorrow, somewhere out in the countryside.

In the last 2 months (just over 2 months), we have been to 9 countries: Australia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, England, Scotland, The Netherlands, Germany, and Luxembourg. No wonder I'm tired!!


But ...

Happy 4th Anniversary to Rowan and me today. :) 4 years ago today, Rowan and I cycled 100 miles, then gathered at Lake Annette, near Jasper, with my parents, cousin and his wife, and were married. :)


A few days before our wedding, we were camping in the Canadian Rockies, and were wakened suddenly by a very close lightening strike with the appearance of ball lightening. It certainly got our attention! Literally hair raising!

And we got something of a repeat performance last night with two very close lightening strikes in a row. Our anniversary came in with a BANG!

wow 4 years already :thumb:heres to many more

Thanks! :)

I have updated the story again ... it's been almost a week since I last did it ...

http://www.machka.net/RTW_2012/RTW_Europe_Main_2012.htm

A couple photos from a few weeks ago when we were cycling in Scotland ...


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7108/7...492537e8_z.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8445/7...8ff157be_z.jpg

The UK photo set is ... finished! We've only been on mainland Europe now for almost a month, and I've just finished UK. :) :)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/machka-...7630125688286/

Machka, just for future reference, the building you have tagged as Westminster Abbey 1, 2 and 3 isn't in fact Westminster Abbey, it's the Palace of Westminster. Some might say it is the exact opposite of a church, given that it contains the Houses of Parliament...

Thanks chasm ... when I get in there again, I'll change it.


We're in France now ... our 10th country on this tour. We had a really good ride today from Luxembourg southward, approx. 60 km. It was a warm and sunny day, with light winds for most of the day. We are slowly making our way southward in the direction of Switzerland. At some point we'll likely take a train. Not sure if that will be from here or further down the road.

The "Route du Vin" in Alsace" is lovely even if you're not interested in wine, and takes you much of the way from Luxembourg to Switzerland. The route passes through one gorgeous village after another.

http://www.vinsalsace.com/en/spip.ph...d_rubrique=708

Our Tent
 

A little bit about equipment ...

This is our tent, and we have spent about 20 nights in it on this tour so far.

We purchased it from a Decathlon in France in 2007, and spent about 20 nights in it then, including the time around the PBP. Between then and now we've spent a handful of nights in it here and there.

It is classed as a 3-person tent, but we find it a reasonably roomy 2 person tent. I don't think 3 people would be too comfortable in there. And has stood up to a lot of bad weather.

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/t3-ultral...d_6541067.html

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/media/654...et_2421343.jpg

Our Mats
 

We've got the Exped DownMat 7s ... purchased at one of my favourite outdoor shops, MEC! :) (Decathlon, where we got our tent, is another of my favourite outdoor shops).


I see that MEC does not have the 7s right now (they've got the 9s and the Ultralight ones), so here's an example from REI:

http://www.rei.com/product/780362/ex...-pad-with-pump

http://www.rei.com/media/pp/03138033...9a500a5d72.jpg

Our Pillows
 

Our main pillows are OzTrail Resort Pillows - self-inflating. We purchased them at a camping shop we happened across on one of our weekends away, exploring Victoria Australia.

We like these pillows, although we are both using something in addition to them because they just aren't quite high enough. In my case, I'm using another inflatable pillow we got with a large mattress we purchased for our big tent (car camping). I put both pillows into a pillow case, with the OzTrail one on top, and that works quite well. Rowan is using a drybag with clothing underneath his pillow.

http://www.oztrail.com.au/WebPage.gt...subgroup=SLEEP

http://www.oztrail.com.au/Temp/EML-RMP-A.jpg




I've updated the story, and have added a bit of an equipment review. If there are any other bits of equipment we're using that you wonder about, let us know and we'll tell you what we can. :)
http://www.machka.net/RTW_2012/RTW_Europe_Main_2012.htm

It's been a rather rough couple days ... we travelled by train yesterday to the mountainous area of Switzerland, and I had a bit of an accident with Rowan's bicycle while trying to load it onto a train. It was a schmozzel of a situation involving someone with all sorts of baggage in the bicycle area and, as often happens in these sorts of situations, a couple other people who wandered into the teensy, tiny bicycle area just to take up space and get in the way. But in trying to manouver around, remove panniers, and hang the bicycles, something happened (I think I tripped), and both the bicycle and I ended up falling out of the train just as it was about to set off. This, of course, caused train officials to come running and try to shove me and the bicycle back onto the train as quickly as possible and get the doors closed.

I have badly bruised and scraped knees, sore left wrist, and am generally feeling wrenched about.

I was very concerned about Rowan's bicycle ... considering I landed quite heavily on it as it, and I, slid off the train. But, although several things were, in Rowan's words, "disturbed", everything seems OK. Seems Rowan built a solid bicycle.

We arrived in the Alps in a cold pouring rain and howling wind, and hoped it would clear today so we could camp, but if anything, today is worse. There's lots of fresh snow on the mountain tops. We cycled about 25 km in those conditions (with very sore knees) to find a place to stay. Fortunately the place we found seems promising for a few days to recover before we return to France.

We're thinking ... Loire Valley, perhaps. Now we've just got to figure out how to get there! :D

Feel better fast !!

What did you bring in the way of bike tools, and first aid? Did you make any plans on finding medical aid in new places? Have you seen any bike shops?

Rowan has all the bike tools so he'll have to answer that question. We've got a first aid kit - a small commercial one, plus some extra bits and pieces like bandaids and Ozonol. And we do have medical insurance of course. As for other medical aid, most places have pharmacies and we've picked up stuff as we go along. In Japan, for example, we had to pick up stuff to sooth the itching and soreness of bug bites. That was a bit of a challenge, given that there was nothing in English ... we had to go by pictures on the packaging.

I've taken several First Aid courses as well, so I have some idea what to do in case of minor medical situations.

In this case, the scrapes are quite minor, but the bruising is fairly extensive, and there was some swelling ... so the afternoon after it happened, I spent a couple hours lying in bed with my legs elevated slightly. And in the process, I fell asleep ... which was probably also a good thing.

I am fairly well equipped with tools, and I will probably take a picture and post so you can get a clue. I have a ratchet set from MEC and a Topeak MTB tool box that includes a chain breaker, a Park Tool spoke spanner, a cassette lockring tool and a chainring bolt tool.

I am probably a little over-equipped with the ratchet set, but it is really handy when assembling and disassembling bikes at the airport, whereas the hex keys in the tool box are handy for on-road tweaks.

From what I saw of Machka's accident, when she tripped, the rear wheel of the bike slipped down off what was three steps up into the train (ie, we were manoeuvring the bikes up around 2-1/2 feet off the platform) and it dragged her with it. I think her knee hit the front wheel which was sideways, and collected the brake and moved it over against the headlight and front mudguard. The other knee ended up on the wheel, and the force was enough to shift the QR and axle out of the dropout on one side.

The Thorns didn't come with lawyers lips, and that is probably what helped saved any more severe damage to the wheel other than putting it out of true slightly. The return spring on the brake arm popped out, I put that back in, put the light and mudguard back in their proper places, and eased the cable off on the brakes because the out-of-true rim rubbed slightly.

Machka did some research on emergency numbers and any reciprocal arrangements with Australia on Medicare (our national health scheme), and so on, and put all that and a whole lot of other information on a huge spreadsheet which we have somewhere. The emergency numbers do change substantially between countries, so ours at home (000) or the North American one (911) are useless.

We also have a pretty good travel insurance policy, and we wouldn't travel without it despite the cost for this trip.

Anyway, there were plenty of people around should it have come to that.

The irony was that on another train that formed the first leg of the trip, we were lectured like schoolchildren about how we had put the bikes in the wrong carriage and that next time, we were to take note of... blah, blah, blah.

So we get to the connecting train and some jerk had put three of the hugest suitcases you'll ever see right in the bicycles-only part. It was entirely his fault that Machka was hurt, because he refused to move the cases to give us more room (well, until Machka got hurt and I started to get that murderous look in my eyes). And, no, I didn't swear.