Six hour blitz of London.

This is a bike lane. My vision of a successful society has these on every road. One fin on one ballistic missile could probably fund this vision. Unfortunatly there aren't enough blue lanes in London.

Scotland

Well it's my last night in Scotland after spending about a month touring and exploring this great country. My time here went by too fast except while I was setting up my tent in those biting midge clouds. The back-country Highlands and midnight sun reminded me of big open Alaska, but without the thought of grizzly bears in the middle of the night. The capital city, Edinburgh, is a must visit five star experience, you wont be disappointed. Cheers for haggis, single malt single cask whiskey,bag pipes from a distance, and kind people and good friends met along the way.

Every Tuesday for the last seven years, Ewan and his buddy Shane have been riding a different route around the country side. They were expert guides as they led me through every terrain type imaginable. A master of living, Ewan retired at fortyfive, and now spends his days riding bicycles, gardening, dancing, and hosting parties. I painted his iron gates in exchange for living the good life for ten days in downtown Edinburgh.




Isle of Skye. A place where you could crash your bicycle while being distracted by the views. Wait, I did crash my bicycle here and broke the back wheel. That sucked.


Now entering the Abyss for the next 6 hours


5,000 years and still standing

Scotland's Outer Hebrides Islands.









Dancing is fun now. Thanks Ruth


Glasgow




Wild camp near castle: Check

Sasquatch sighting

Too many good pictures Too slow of a computer to load them

The most important ones. Inbetween all the long cycled miles is the best part of the traveling experience. That is meeting exciting people along the way.

View EU Tour 2 in a larger map

Day 54. Ride Your Bike

View EU Tour 2 in a larger map

Incredibly Brave or Incredibly Stupid: A Month of Wild Cycle Touring through the Big Wet

I just left big wet Ireland. It really kicked my butt and gave me an entirely new and profound appreciation for being dry. The gusting wind seemed to never end and the pelting rain always followed closely behind. Was blown off the bike and crash landed on my feet the last day here. Well I have nine minutes left on the library computer and need to give this a bit more thought. But.. Started off in Dublin with some great hosts Brian and his wife Mary. It was a nice city to explore. Walked down the street with complete strangers engaged in conversation. Where else does that happen?

So rode from there across to the West coast. Wild camped in puddles and anywhere else at the last minute before the storms set in. Golf courses, old ruins, Westport House lawn, beachs, cliffs. The coast had moments of great beauty and I'll have to return someday.

Stroke of good fortune on one particular night when the local butcher invited me to stay with his family, saving me from setting up camp in the middle of a cricket field during a small hurrican. Last night slept in the ferry terimal diner, pitched the tent inside there and everything. It was 80 mph winds that cancelled my ferry to Scotland last night.

Month three here I come. Scotland, the land of the biting insect am told. The glass is half empty.

"As I went walking I saw a sign there and on the sign it said "no trespassing" but on the other side it didn't say nothing. That side was made for you and me"

I'm telling you these last three weeks I saw the kind of weather that likely inspired all those religous fantasy-based divine involvment stories of forty days of rain, walking on water. etc etc.