How I Lost My Bicycle Touring Virginity
A Journey Across Europe on Two Wheels
Two years ago I had just finished my cancer treatments and had never even heard of bicycle touring. If someone had said to me that two years later I will have cycled across Europe, I would have laughed.
But then came recovery, the urge to say thank you and raise money for the Royal Marsden, followed by COVID, lockdowns and lockdown boredom.
One lockdown night, when we were drunk and dreaming of traveling again, the idea of cycling to raise money came up. Somehow it developed into cycling across Europe — if you are asking people to donate money, you got to go big!
Instead of going away, the idea grew roots, and we began watching endless videos of bike touring on YouTube. We purchased a map of Europe and planned our route.
And on the 8th of August 2021, we began our journey from Nuorgam in Finland to the east coast of Spain.
Our original plan was to begin from Nordkapp in Norway, but COVID put a stop to that. On arrival in Norway, we would have had to isolate for ten days. This was not an option. So we started from the northernmost point of Finland instead.
