Holiday preps

We really need to get prepared for our holiday... Exactly four weeks from now, we've rolled out of the Cycle Tours bus and will probably be putting up our tent on the first camping. Problem is that we took our bikes out of the garage only last week (with accompanying dust, spider webs and dry cycle chains). We made a very short ride to get an ice cream last weekend to test what had to be repaired or replaced, and as I'm writing Eise is working on his bike to re-grease his derailleur.

Today we went out to do some holiday shopping as well. Last time we went on a cycling holiday, we used canoe bags and home-made carriers, which was not always very successful. So this time we decided to buy some proper bags and because we couldn't choose between two sets, we bought one of each. One set are two good old Ortlieb bike packer classics (combined with a drybag) and the other is a neat combo of two side bags and one top bag from Vaude (Karakorum). So, expect some testresults after our trip! Both sets have less room than the large bags we used last time, so packing wil be quite a challenge. At least it will force us to take only the highly necessary stuff, something we're not really good at. We can put the tent, mats and sleeping bag on top of everything, but still... I've made a list uf "must haves" and "nice to haves".

Next to the bags I've also invested in a nice and light rain jacket (160 grams, seems impossible!) and a new pair of SPD shoes. I'm hoping these will save me some sleeping toes... So, I think we should have most of the stuff we need... We borrowed a really neat sheet sleeping bag which will fit two sleeping mats in special compartments and on which one sleeping bag can be zipped. So this little thingy saves us from bringing a second sleeping bag! Love accessories like that!

Hopefully the weather is ok tomorrow, so we can make a trip again. Would be nice to have at least a little bit of training before we leave!

Recumbent trip to France - holiday plans

Made an official start planning our summer holiday of this year today. We had some cautious plans to go to Japan again, but because of my new job I had to buy a car which seriously cut our holiday budget. But, no worries, we have other plans! Eise's parents have a holiday home in the south-western part of France (roughly 100 km. north of the French-Spanish border a few hundred meters from the Atlantic coast) and they are staying there in August together with Eise's sister (plus boyfriend and two kids) and Eise's brother (plus wife and three kids). Initially, our plan was to take our recumbent bikes and cycle to Moliets (where the house is located). Nice detail is that Moliets is about 30 km. from the cycling variant of the Camino de Santiago, leading from Haarlem (NL) to Santiago de Compostella (ES). Unfortunately, I don't have enough days off to cycle this route all the way from home to Moliets (at holiday speed, that is), so we decided to cycle the second part of the three-part route only (see picture). This second part runs from Tours to the French Pyrenees, which gives us about 600 km to cycle (we will leave the official route a little north of Dax). The plan now is to take a cycle bus from Amsterdam to Tours on August 15th and to cover the distance to Moliets in one to one-and-a-half week. There we will spend another couple of days and take a plane back from Pau to Amsterdam. We will leave our bikes behind so we can bring those back when we go to Moliets by car a next time, or perhaps we'll cycle the third part of the route next year, we'll see. But anyway, the bus is booked, we have the route maps and we still have all the cycling stuff from our trip four years ago. Looking forward already!