The trip

Since many years I have relatives abroad. Of course the thought of visiting them by bike have occurred more than once over the years and suddenly I've found myself in a spot where everything sort of falls into place for being able to do such a trip. It would be a shame not to explore the occasion.

The basic idea is to take the bike from Sweden to southern Spain, starting the 25th of August.

While looking at options on how to go about to do this I realized that I can also do something about my ever growing bucket list of sites to visit in Europe. I will travel with a main idea on where to go, but leave the exact routing open for last minute decisions along the way. Experience tells me that this is the way to do it. You will always meet fellow travelers, bikers tend to find each other, and a lot of nice people giving tips. Also I have an idea on the time allotted, but will not decide exactly in advance on how long to stay in each place. This gives a framework for the trip, while still removing the pressure and stress of a fixed schedule.

Some of the sites on my wishlist then:

• Miniature Wunderland in Hamburg
• Cathedral of Chartres
• Stonehenge
• Lost gardens of Heligan
• Bayeux and Normandy
• Santiago de Compostela
• Gibraltar
• Seville
• Granada
• Ronda
• The Pyrenees
• Barcelona

We'll see how many of these that I'll actually get to see. Probably there will be some others as well, not on the list yet.

Time-wise I have two months to my disposal (hence the name of the blog!) and the idea is to divide it in three legs and two longer stops:

• To Spain; some 14 days or so through Europe, going the western route including Britain and then ferry across the Biscaya to Santander in Spain
• Stop 1; visiting relatives in Alicante and doing a first service of the bike. Oil change and general stuff
• Southern Spain; Ultimately Gibraltar, but also including Seville, Granada and other major spots in Andalusia
• Stop 2; back to my relatives for some more sun, bath and a full service of the bike
• Back home again; a leg very much in the future, where I have no planning done whatsoever yet...

Accommodation is mainly planned as camping. Staying at hotels is rather expensive and I do have very good camping equipment. Another reason is that I've found camping a very good way of meeting people alike, getting good friends and tips. The day the rains come you'll probably find me in a hostels though.