There’s been a little pause in our travels. This break back in the UK was always in our schedule, primarily because we thought we only had a limited time in Schengen before having to leave (now not the case) and secondly to attend to some small remaining jobs after the mammoth effort of the initial departure. This means staying with my parent’s house and using it as a base to get some boring but essential jobs done.
Following our really informative and fun sessions at Birmingham Bike Foundry, we’ve got a couple of tasks to do independently. Parts have been ordered, for example a new rear brake rotor for Sam, and we’re waiting for those to arrive so we can get them fitted. An oil change is something that’s also due on the Rohloffs, which we will do before the new rotor is fitted to avoid the risk of contaminating it before we’ve even started. We certainly know our bikes far better than we did before and we are looking forward to using our new-found confidence.
In no particular order, there are also tax returns to complete, dentist appointments to book, travel vaccination boosters to arrange, and sorting some remaining sentimental items left at my parent’s house. We’ve managed to ‘opt-out’ of many of what we found to be the duller parts of life but there are still some bits that need sorting. As we don’t plan to return to the UK for a little while, getting things as tidy as possible before we leave is best.
However, being in a house for only a few days is very different to the last 4 months and we’re already itching to leave again. There’s only one way of doing that - get planning! With our newly found freedom in Europe there are more choices than before and we’ve got some thinking to do.
In general, the plan is to head to Morocco for the winter as, like the swallows that have already departed, we want to head to somewhere warmer than the UK. On our way, we plan to spend a little time in the UK visiting friends and family before crossing the channel. With Sam’s family in south-west France this will also be an important stop off along the way. We’re not sure how we’re getting there yet - either riding through France (along a different route to the EuroVelo 1/La Vélodysée that we rode in 2019 and was one of the inspirations for this big trip) or getting the ferry to Santander and travelling from there. It’s been amazing to lean into having fluid/no plans…but at some point you have to make a decision.
Of course our return to familiar haunts means that we’ve gotten in touch with friends and caught up with so many lovely people that we have missed. There’s also fun stuff squeezed in, including joining the Bike Buses in Worcester which even caught the attention of Chris Boardman and the Bikeability crew.
Right, back to planning what comes next…