Introduction
The plan, such as it is
I've quit my job in London, moved out of my flat, and crossed the Channel with nothing but my bike and four panniers. For the next few months, I'll be living in the same two pairs of trousers and three tops as I cycle around Europe. Then I'm planning to return to London for a short break before flying to South China with the bike and continuing my travels there, and then going to North India to immerse myself in speaking Hindi.
That's the broad outline of the plan that I'm working with for 2025, with decreasing levels of detail and confidence the further into the future it goes. Within Europe, I have at least some idea of where I'm going - I'll start in Milan, following Eurovelo routes 5 and 7 south through Italy. From there, I'll take a ferry to Greece, spend some time wandering around (route not planned), and head north to the non-Schengen Balkan countries with the aim of using Trans Dinarica (which I learned about through the Cycle Touring Festival). Hopefully that should keep me within my 90 day post-Brexit EU travel limit.
This trip is my most ambitious to date, my previous 'big trip' being London to Berlin via the Netherlands, which I took at a leisurely pace over three weeks in April 2024. Among my many lessons from that journey is that weather really matters, and there's no escape from being cold and wet if your home is a bike and a tent. This time, I'm trying to plan my route to follow mild-to-warm temperatures. Dealing with heat will be new for me since I've never had a bike camping trip in warm weather before, but I'm open to changing my route as I go along. Like the Beatles, I'll follow the sun.
If you're curious what I'm taking with me, you can read my list here, but feel free to skip it if you don't feel like reading all the details. In short, I'm taking a bike, a tent, a sleeping bag, cooking equipment, and bike tools. I'm not here to race, but to understand the place I'm going through, eat good food, learn at least a bit of the language, and have fun.
Let's go!