The last three weeks didn’t exactly go according to plan for us. We figured we’d be in Spain by now but this trip had different plans for us. We’re currently in the Cévennes region, a bit South of Alès! It was hard leaving Camping Robert and its private beach at Lake Paladru, but we did and continued riding west. The Isère region was full of excellent riding, full of little pilgrimage and GR trails. We quickly reached Valence - gateway to the Ardèche region - where we had our first warmshowers host! Warmshowers is a community of cyclists that offer each other just that: a warm shower and a bed or place to camp. Perfect for bigger cities like Valence that don’t have any campsites. It’s also free! Funnily enough, our host wasn’t home so we didn’t get the full-on social experience, but at least we had a place to pitch our tent. After a mix-up with the address, we finally arrived at the right house, rinsed off with a very cold garden hose shower, and enjoyed the garden all to ourselves — tucked away from the buzz of the city. ...

Leaving the Doubs River behind us, we continued south and finally found ourselves in the foothils of the Alps! We were particularly looking forward to this next étape in the trip: the Jura mountains. They stretch along the French - Swiss border, the highest peak of the region being the “Cret de la Neige” at 1720m. Our legs definitely felt ready after the Vosges. So we started climbing into the alpine! We were just about to leave the last few houses behind us when we double checked the map and realized there were no rivers or streams anywhere to be seen on route. Not a problem we were used to yet - there was water everywhere in the Eifel and Vosges! We really wanted to camp up there so we rang the bell of a random house, asking to refill our bottles. Fully loaded with a couple days of food and 4 liters of water each, we finally started the ascent. There goes ultralight. The blistering hot days (35 degrees) made water all the more important. ...

Hello there! It’s been a while since we posted here but for good reason… We’ve been out riding our bikes! Lucky us. But it’s been tough! The last two weeks were no pony camp… 🐴 We left Cochem and traded the Eifel hills for the German highlands. And they didn’t disappoint! Let’s take a quick step back. We’re currently following the EDT - an off-road bikepacking route that crosses Europe from North to South. We hope to follow it down to Portugal, with some of our own detours along the way. ...

We’re in Cochem, Germany after these first 2 weeks on our bicycle trip! It was a weird thing, locking up the door of our house, just to hop on our bikes for this big journey. It felt like we were about to do something meaningful. Our great neighbours hugged us goodbye, took the first picture of our trip, and off we went into the heat wave. That first day was a whopping 35 degrees, not ideal, but we weren’t about to postpone anything. ...

Tomorrow is the day! We’re about to leave on a big trip: we plan to ride our bikes around Europe for 6 months. It feels unreal that this thing is actually happening. We couldn’t be more excited! We have 6 months. Ahh, the luxury of time. The idea is to make lots of detours and explore the French and Spanish interior while we’re there. There’s no real destination, we’ll take the path less pedaled, camp in wild places every night, get our feet dirty, explore the little towns along the way, and get to know the locals 🏔️ 🌄 🌊 ...