Morlaix to Pontivy

We took trains from Ponterson, near Beauvoir  to Morlaix - due to having to stick to trains allowing bikes we only arrived in Morlaix at 7:30pm. A taxi driver gave us directions out of town - wanting to give us a shortcut he actualky directed us down a path with a thousand stairs! This doesnt work for heavy bikes so we abbondended plans for leaving town at night since it was now 8pm. We booked into a cheap hotel and had supper at a nice Restaurant: La Marmite.

The next day we attended the town market and also spent 2.5 hours sorting out our Orange mobile phone issues. At about 12:30 we statted the days cycling and then it started raining - and its still raining 3 days later... we did 54km and then wild camped in the middle of nowhere. Next day we just did 10kms to the nearest campsite in Carhaix and enjoyed the awesome surroundings in the rain :) the following day we did 77km to Mur Le Bretagne. This was easy going - except for the rain and a mad white horse that didnt want to stop following us - I realised I cant out cycle a horse, but now I am certain of it. Today we did an easy 26km to Pontivy, and now we are just in the tent hiding from the rain - we did have delicious lunch at a local place Beef Stew the french way - I wont try and spell it.

Leaving the uk as the royal baby arrives

After much struggling with internet in France we lost a couple of blog posts so this is just a quick update.

We arrived in St Malo, on the Emerald coast - the water is truely Emerald green and the coast line is packed with sail boats - and there exists a peacefullness. On out first day we cycled to Cancale, and the following day to Beauvoir, which is 5km from Mont st Michele. The first day (25km) was tough as we hardly could sleep on the ferry, the second day was easy (64km)...

We spent time being tourists at Mont st Michele, and watched the tide coming in in the very dramatic fashion it does there. The tide rises 10cm in 4 minutes!

In the meantime we also fell in live with ENGLISH Mustard - we have always liked mustard but now we are absolutely addicted!

We spent 2 nights in Beauvoir at a delux campsite where we could swim and charge our phones etc! We camped in the back garden with the other cyclists, and met some cheerful Americans with cruiser style bicycles, retirees showing the youngsters how its done.

At Mont st Michele Colette took some beautiful photos, and we shared a chocolate crepe in the night and smuggled in our own drinks ;) mont st Michele is something special. Its got a mystical feel to it. Reminds me of Harry Potter fame.

London scenic route cycle

I just rode 23,6 kilometers! Check it out on #strava: http://app.strava.com/activities/68695519

Family time in London

We were spoiled rotten by the Jackie, Andre and Cobus. We saw a Burlesque show, saw deer in Richmond Park and had quality time on the bank of the Thames. Jackie showed us how walking is done! I am very sad to leave my sister behind even though they twisted my arm to stay a day longer - it didn't take much twisting. It was great to see how Cobus has grown as a student of art and life - daai mannetjie is slim! Got an A+ for his book - which is very much above my brain cells - eks baie impressed! First year done in style, and passed so easy :) Aard seker maar na sy Ma. Hy het ons ook entertain met sy plate speler, old school is cool, hy se die kwaliteit is baie beter - is maar moeilik vir sy geeky tannie om te verstaan, maar ek moet se dit klink baie lekkerder op die plate speler.

Wasdale - Lake district Camping

We camped for 2 days next to the most beautiful lake at Wasdale.
This is next to Scafell Pike, England's highest mountain. We took a hike to Brentmoor Tarn, and all had a swim in the lake.

Introducing the Weed Killers

Our third day we cycled an easy 54km to Seahouses in North East England. I (Jo) set the pace, as I knew my super awesome huggable loveable sister and her two artistic souls, Andre and Cobus,will be at the finish to meet up with us. We only had 2 flats, but no patches was required. Seahouses was really beautiful with a glassy flat ocean and the Bramburgh castle for views.

Later the evening Jackie and the guys arrived in their Hippie style Weed Killer van, we laughed, cried and braaied! Nothing unusual for us crazy lot.

The day an aero and 3 bananas saved my life....

Day 2 cycling from Dunbar to Coldstream 68km. Where to start...what a day. All started well untill we hit the first real tough hill. Suddenly the beautiful view was forgotten as we had to push our bikes to the top off what must have been at least a 30% incline. That was just a the beginning, after more hills we finally found our rhythm...bang...flat tyre..back wheel. We had to unpack everything remove the wheel and tyre did a patch but still couldn't inflate the tyre so a new tyre it was. That was just the beginning in total we had 5 flats. Only 3 patches left after day 2. As we reached Paxton everything was closed.. Sunday afternoon. We decided to carry on to Coldstream after a quick phone call confirmed they had a Co-operative food that was open till10pm.All off a sudden we felt very  co-operative to do the additional 14 miles! Lucilly the last bit went well.
After some food we found an public field right next to a bathroom that looked perfect for our first night of wild camping... we pitched our tent and went into the bathroom to freshen up, and took all our essentials in with us. Next thing we hear someone outside, anxious to use the bathroom, being very polite we let her go first, leaving our stuff in the bathroom... only thing is, when she exited the door auto locked for the night... leaving us astounded and stranded. Shock, shock, horror, horror. Long story short, the Scottish people are super friendly and after some asking around we got the care taker to come and bail us out, and he even pointed us to a better free camping spot and came to check if we are ok the next day!

Camera Obscura & Whiskey

We spent a day in Edinburgh doing some touristy things, I (Jo-Lene) have visited many museums and interactive displays, but I must say Camera Obscura has probably the best interactive displays I've seen. Very cool full of amazing optical illusions, a mirror maze and a 'vortex pipe' that was really weird. Then we did a whiskey tasting which was very informative ;-)

Dunbar camping day 1

Day 1. We cycled 67km! With great excitement we set off from Edinburgh at 6am on saturday. We started that early especially to avoid traffic. In Cape Town we almost never cycle in traffic because off the risk off being run over.With the help of the bike hub app we navigated right along the Holyrood park and had some lovely views of Arthur's seat. Most off the route was along dedicated cycle trails and we had very little traffic all the way there. We had one flat tyre on route that self sealed and only needed some vigorous pumping :-) getting to Dunbar the most important thing was to find food. Cycling to the local Asda involved some dodgy directions from google maps that turned out to be exactly right. Lesson: never cycle all day without a proper meal break...result 6 rolls, 15pieces of cold meat and some egg mayo did the trick. The second campsite had one last spot left for us and Bobs your uncle!

Monster, mountains and massacres

Edinburgh is a beautiful city. Buzzing with people at the moment as we are having the most amazing weather. Yesterday we went on a Scottish Highlands tour. Wow no more to say than amazingly beautiful.  Rolling green hills with patches of thick forest dotted with sheep and hairy coos! Rob our tour guide had us in stitches most of the time and in vein tried to teach us some galic? My favourite must of course be the boat trip on loch ness see pictures below... did we find Nessie or did Nessie find us??
Driving through the moorland and Glen Coe also a sure highlight. Total desolation. Lots of touring cyclists on the way have us itching to start cycling ourselves. But not long to wait as tomorrow this time hopefully we will be lying in our tent with a cold drink and a smile on our faces.

Arrived in 1 piece with all pieces

Wow here we finally are after months of planning. Feels a bit unreal and not without a little bit of drama....started with insomnia on our first flight from ct to dubai. This did not come as a  complete surprise (even after some stilnox tabs) and we already made up with a proper nap:-) On arrival in Dubai my brand new camera all off a sudden rejected the memory card. In the process off figuring out what the problem was Jo-lene tried to see if the card doesn't fit into her Samsung phone. As she fiddled she accidently switched her phone on and blissfully unaware entered 3x incorrect pin code= blocked phone. The second flight from Dubai to Glasgow was a lot more pleasant. As we entered the luggage area immediately we saw the bike boxes going past! What a relieve!  All the preparation of paid off well as we quickly assembled the bikes only to find that the train station is a couple of km from the airport...not quite ready and dressed to start cycling immediately we walked there with some very dodgy directions from passers by. After a long hot walk we were on the train and only then I realised that travelling by bike is like travelling witk kids or as a disabled.... you need lots of space and easy access. Long story short we save and sound in Glasgow Vodacom online sorted our blocked phone problem. Tomorrow its a short train ride to Edinburgh cannot wait!