Category Archives: Dublin to Nepal

Belgium, Dublin to Nepal, On Tour

Day 8: Ghent to Keerburgen 

The day off in Ghent had been nice but it felt good to back in the saddle. We left around noon as our end point today was my aunt’s sister Tine’s house near Keerburgen only about half a days ride from Ghent. A short trip back to the hostel for breakfast set us up for the ride out to Keerburgen which was flat and easy, if not particularly scenic as we were passing between right Brussels and Antwerp. 

 

one of the more interesting sites on the road to Keerburgen

 
Part of the route though, took us through the city of Mechelen. We didn’t have time to stop there but it seemed from our short ride through that it would have been a good place to spend some time.

 

waterfront houses

 
 

the cathederal at Mechelen

 
As we got into Keerburgen we started trying to navigate to Tine’s place with our road map and some chached Google maps. It’s started to look like we were going to have a hard time finding the place until we heard so one yell out “Hugo! Finn!”. Turned out we had passed by Tine’s husband Frank’s shop just as he was leaving. He gave us directions to his home and we got there soon after.

  
Tine and the family were so welcoming. They were having a barbecue and we enjoyed some tasty Belgian meats after a refreshing shower. Here also Finn was finally reunited with his Bivvy poles which had been posted from Ireland, a truly joyous occasion.

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Belgium, Dublin to Nepal, On Tour

Day 7: Bruges to Ghent

It was still raining in the morning as we got out of the Bivvys, but we were both feeling pretty good as we were only a short ride outside Ghent. Ghent promised two nights of sleeping indoors and our first day off the road. We ate breakfast quickly and moved on.
 

leaving the field in the rain

 
We had a brief encounter with the Belgian cycle network the day before, but it was only on the morning ride (flat, through more farms and towns) that we realised just how good it was. Not only are there cycle paths everywhere on almost every road or footpath, but there is an extensive cycle network throughout the county connect the towns and cities. It felt good riding in dedicated cycle tracks all day, and navigating to Ghent was easy with signposts specifically for bikes that directed you through quieter road.
 

bike routes in Belgium

 
A short while outside Ghent while riding along the banks of a river just before noon we spotted a group of three cycle tourers coming towards us at pace. As they got closer we realised it was the three English guys from yesterday, bombing it back to Hull in time for the ferry. We didn’t get a chance to ask them if they made it to their goal of Antwerp – they had quite a bit of distance to cover to make it back to Hull.
Ghent was far more active and lively than Bruges, which only felt busy on account of the amount of visitors. We cycled into the city centre and looked around for a tourist info centre. “You’ll find it just across the square” a local worker told us “just under the statue of Poseidon”. We got some wifi and checked mail, hoping to find if any of the Couchsurfing and warm showers hosts we had messages were able to host us. We really wanted to start of staying with someone from Ghent and were disappointed to find no one available (we had probably left it to late, only getting in contact with people yesterday.)

 

ghent was getting ready for a big festival

 
A hostel was nearby so we got a room for the night there and left to spend what remained of the afternoon poking around the city. An hour or so later in a coffee bar Finn got a response from someone on Warm Showers who could host us! Delighted, we got in contact with the guy, a local named Tom and met up with him.
Tom was the perfect first host, he had cycled in loads of different places and ran a sort of impromptu bicycle maintenance place out of the big old monastery he lived in with his girlfriend and served other people. We spent the evening talking to him about the various cycle trips he’d been on, comparing gear and routes and all that. 

 

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Belgium, Dublin to Nepal, On Tour

Day 6: Zeebrugge to Bruges

After a great nights sleep on the ferry in our cabin bunk we arrived at Zebrugge, Belgium. This was a bit of an occasion for us really. while the trip had begun six days ago in Wales, now that we had arrived on the Eurasian continent it felt like we’d really begun the journey. From here there should be no more outside transport, just the bikes and us to get to Nepal.

As we left the boat we came across an English guy and his couple of friends he was touring with. He claimed to have travelled by bike a lot through Belgium and assured that coming off the ferry we should take a right and soon find a sign to take us to Bruges. As it turned out this was not true and we were later informed at a tourist info centre that we should have, in fact, taken a left at the lights. The young guy at tourist info also gave us directions to Bruges that took us through Damme, an old Belgian town.

 

waitign for the bridge after the ferry

 
The route to Damme was lovely, long, flat road along a canal, which we found before too long after receiving the correct directions. We had a another group of English guys join us along it, three friend who had left from Hull on a two day tour to Antwerp and back. We cycled along with them until we arrived at Damme about an hour later.

 

route to Damme

 
Damme was a really lovely old style Belgian town which we wandered around for a bit. We had a coffee before getting back on the bikes on to Bruges.

 

After leaving Damme we followed the same Canal all the way into Bruges. The whole city of Bruges is a UNESCO WORLD heritage site, and it’s very easy to see why. The whole places is almost a charicture of old Europe: Canals, cobbles, spires, squares and narrow winding streets. It does make for a beautiful place to visit though and we spent the rest of the day wandering around the historic old town.

   
  
In the evening we we left the city and rode towards Gent keeping an eye out for somewhere to camp for the night. After riding through pretty developed countryside and getting a bit worried we wouldn’t find a spot we came across the perfect empty field, off the road with a row of trees to block the road. 
After dumping out stuff we went off in search of water. At every house we tried nearby no one seemed to be home. We eventually found ourselves poking around an apparently empty, what appeared to be something like an old folks home. Calling out for a while and not finding anyone we presumed the place was vacant. A tap nearby was perfect for filling up our bottles, so of course we went ahead and started to fill up.

Almost as soon as we started we heard someone come round the corner. A large, old Belgian poked his head around the corner and demanded, understandably, to know what we were doing.

We tried to explain that we were very nice boys out on a prefectly innocent cycle through Belgium, but he was not happy. “do you do this in your country? This is Belgium. Go immediately”. So sheepishly we left, and found water from our very kind lady a bit further up the road. 

As it turned out, in our hasty retreat from the angry Belgians place, the water filter we used to store water at camp had fallen from the bike. So, we went back and poked around again until we found it, making sure to let him know we were on the premises.

That night we slept well despite the rain that started soon after dark.

camomg in the field outside Bruges

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Dublin to Nepal, On Tour, UK

Day 5: Penistone to Hull

Chris and Sile, our neighbours across the road from our field for the night served us up a very generous cooked breakfast: rashers, eggs, sausages, beans and coffee. Whith such a feast in our bellies we raced on to the next town of Barnsley.

 

making friends in Barnsley

 
From Bransley we traced a nice route along back roads to what we presumed would be our lunch stop at Pontefract. Arriving in Pontefract we realised that, given the time it took us to get here (a lot less than we thought) it might be possible to get to Hull in time to change our ferry booking to today and get into Belgium a day early.

I called up P&O, they said it would be a €50 charge to change the day. Finn recommended we just try and get there and do the change in person. So we wolfed down a subway sandwich and pelted it out of Pontefract onto Hull. With four hours to get there and a bit less than 40 miles to cover we figured we would be there in no time.

 

the road out of Pontefract

 
Flat roads and tailwind brought us to what we presumed to be about halfway to Hull in a little over an hour. We crossed the River Ouse and followed the motorway onwards to Hull.

 

the motorway bridge

 
 

our bridge

 
We followed another B road until we joined up with the motorway, now just an A road towards Hull. The first sign we saw said we were still 16 miles from Hull and only an hour to get there. We raced as fast as we could into the city, check in closed at 5. 60 long minutes later we arrived at the ferry terminal sweaty, sunburnt and out of breath but just in time to change our tickets. And for only £10. 

 

waiting at the ferry terminal in Hull. Next stop: Belgium

 
When we got in the boat we found our cabin and the luxury of two beds, a shower and a power outlet. It had been a hard ride to get to the boat early but now, certainly worth it. Next stop: Belgium

goodbye England

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Dublin to Nepal, On Tour, UK

Day 4: Sale to Penistone

Now on the Trans Pennines trail to Hull the rest of the ride across England should have been easy. It was at first, the TPT helped us navigate Manchester by leading us through green parks and leafy suburbs. A brief Lidl pit stop was the only delay along an otherwise simple ride.

  
After our Lidl stop (which also included a completely unhelpful trip to a nearby outdoor store to get our tent poles replaced) the trail became a bit tougher. The route was to be shared with horses and after passing into Reddish Country Park the path became a sandy,  rocky trial that slowed the loaded bikes down. There were also stiles every couple of meters and after lifting our bikes over maybe the tenth stile of the day we decided that maybe the TPT wasn’t for us.

 

best part of the path through Reddish Vale

 
 

tuckered out after crossing Reddish Vale

 
After lunch we were to cross the Peak District and then find somewhere to camp at the end of the day on the other side. We gave up on the Trans Pennine Trail and instead followed the road over the northern pass. The Peaked Didtrict, despite having worried about crossing it,  turned out to be a pretty gradual climb, only to about 400m in the end.

 

start of the peak district

 
 

about halfway

 
 

the top

 
An exhilarating descent later led us into the valley of Penistone where we found a field to camp in after asking around. The people who lived opposite the field we camped in, a friendly couple named Sile and Chris offered us water. And then, after a short conversation during which we divulged our breakfast situation (porridge for me, pasta for Finn) offered us a cooked breakfast in the morning.

 “Well, if it’s not too much trouble…”

camping in Penistone

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Dublin to Nepal, On Tour, UK

Day 3: Flint to Sale

Our host told us in the morning that we should be able to pick up the Route 5 outside Flint, the town he lived above. We thanked him for the use of his field and rode downhill into Flint. We had a bit of trouble finding the Route 5 at first but got directions from a train station attendant in town and were soon on our way to Chester.

 

getting directions at Flint

 
The Route 5 to Chester was pleasant and uneventful most of the way. The cycle track was an old railway line that followed the canal so we had an easy ride all morning.

  
Part way along the trail I got talking to another cyclist who turned out to be from Chester and guided us into the city along a route that took us through the Chester race course.

  
We spent a little time in Chester looking around the old Roman town. We got some basic onward directions from the tourist information centre there that led us out of town on another nice cycle track.

 

getting more directions at Chester

 
We lost our bearing a little bit coming out of Chester but another passing cyclist put us on the right track to Frodsham, where we stopped for lunch. Here after a bit of wifi research over lunch we found out about the Trans-Pennine Trail, a cycle route just north of us that could take us all the way to Hull. 

We were recommended a nice route from where we were to the trail by a bike shop worker. Another short ride through typical English country side later and we had arrived at the trail.

 

   We joined the trail an hour or two after leaving Frodsham and it was just a long, straight path that skirted Manchester. Quite different from our afternoon ride of stopping for directions every couple of hours, now we were on the path that should take us all the way to our end destination of Hull.
 

straight, flat riding along the TPT

 
Around 7, a couple of hours after joining the trail we turned off to find somewhere to camp and came across a perfect secluded, vacant field almost immediately. Filling up our water at a nearby sports ground we settled down to a calm, sunny evening.

camping just off the TPT

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Dublin to Nepal, On Tour, UK

Day 2: Bangor to Flint

We had a few mishaps at the start of our trip. Finn had left the poles to his Bivvy bag back in Dublin, but we had brought a tent also that we could use in an emergency such as this. Well, we’ve had the tent for a while, too long it turned out as while Finn was setting it up on the first night the poles snapped. 

  
We also discovered at the end of the day yesterday Finn had a flat rear tyre. Fixed it in the morning, packed up and got ready to go…only to find it flat again. This time as we were changing it an coupl on tour came up the road and gave us a hand while letting us know a bit about the road ahead. Apparently there was bike route that would take us all along the coast of North Wales and into the uk. As they rode off we got packed up again and set off. After a while Finn had another flat. We gave up on trying to fix it, we had searched for whatever debris was causing the puncture and couldn’t find it. It was a slow enough leak so we pushed on to the next town to find a bike store.

 

first repair of the trip

 
The route the couple had suggested, the national cycle route 5, turned out to be really nice following the coast and then turning inland for a bit over rolling hills.

  
  
The route 5 brought us into the beautiful old town of Colwyn, we got lunch here and directions onward to a bike shop where we could get the tyre looked at.

 

the castle at Colwyn

 
The ride from Colwyn to the bike store was short enough and here we found the culprit: a tiny piece of gear cable, about the width of a hair. After it was all sorted we joined back up with the route 5 onward towards Chester.

 

getting the bike sorted outside Colwyn

 
From Colwyn the ride was easy and pleasant along the coast with a strong tailwind the whole time. We passed through beaches, caravan parks and old British seaside resorts.

  
We had hoped to get to Chester today but the difficulties in the morning had delayed us by quite a bit. The route 5 turned inland and at 7:30 we found ourselves riding through the settlement of Flint. A local very kindly agreed to let us camp in his field for the night and we settled down to lentil dinner overlooking the green hills of North Wales 

  

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Dublin to Nepal, On Tour, UK

Day 1: Dublin to Bangor

The sun was shining this morning so there was no way our ferry could be cancelled. I got everything packed, said some last goodbyes and went off to meet Finnian at the ferry terminal. It was a strange feeling leaving the house fully loaded, with the bike packed up as it would be for the next year. Every other tour I’ve been on has started after a plane journey where the bike is taken apart and all the gear forced into a checked bag. Cycling from my home with everything as it would be for the whole journey was new, and an exciting way to start the trip.

  
 

I met up with Finnian at the ferry and we checked in to the host that would take us to Hollyhead. A short while later we got off the boat in Wales and realised we didn’t really know where we wanted to get to today. It was about 5 when we arrived so we could make a bit of distance on the bikes. We swung by the library to get a bit on info before heading on.

 

deciding where to go in Hollyhead library

  
We hadn’t done too much research before we left (hadn’t even decided what port we would leave England from). A bit of time in the library and we decided to leave out of Hull and cycle across the north of England, we were quite keen to get onto the mainland and get going and this route was the most direct. From Hull a ferry ran to Belgium and that seemed prefect. For the time being though, we figured we could make it to Bangor before it got dark. we hit the road and followed an A route out of Hollyhead. It still didn’t really feel like the tour had stated at this stage, it kind of felt like we were still in Ireland.

 

this road could very well be in Ireland

 
It was an easy straight shot from Hollyhead to Bangor. At Bangor we stopped for dinner and then grabbed some supplies in the supermarket before heading out of town to find a field to camp in for the night.
The rain started to come down towards the end of the ride. Camping in a field in Wales in the rain…a not so glamorous, but probably fitting, start to our journey

 

crossing into mainland wales

 
  

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Dublin to Nepal

Gear for a year

We were supposed to be heading off today, Monday the 6th of July but woke up to this email in my inbox. 


Bad weather cancelled our afternoon boat and the 20:55 ferry got us in too late so we are off tomorrow instead. Bit of a bummer, but what’s a day in a year.

In the meantime here is a post outlining the gear I’m setting off with. I’m actually going to be interested to see how much of this changes over the year as we get rid of stuff that turned out not to be necessary and pick up things we didn’t realise we need. For now though, here’s the gear list as we set off.

  Clothes

  • Shorts x2
  • Merino t-shirt x2
  • Cycle Jersey
  • Long pants
  • Wool jumper
  • Merino mid layer
  • Down jacket
  • Merino socks x3
  • Merino underwear x3
  • Rain jacket
  • Rain pants
  • Shalwar pants
  • Sunglasses
  • Flip flops
  • Walking shoes
  • SPD Shoes (Shimano MT71)
  • Buff

Camping Equipmet

  • Bivvy bag (Terra Nova Jupiter)
  • Thermarest ground mat
  • Sleeping bag
  • Sleeping bag liner
  • Pot
  • MSR Multifuel Whisperlight Stove
  • Fuel canister
  • Knife, fork, spoon, cup
  • Head torch
  • Camelback Podium Water bottle
  • Water-to-go Filter water bottles x2 I have to make a special mention here as the guys at Water To Go heard about our trip and very kindly provided these water bottles. Being able to fill up on drinking water in the wild is going to make our lives much easier, thanks guys.
  • Camping chair (not pictured)
  • Thermal blanket
  • Towel

Bike tools

  • Inner tubes x2
  • Patch kit
  • Folding Allen wrenches
  • Electrical tape
  • Cable ties
  • Pedal wrench
  • Spoke key
  • Leatherman multitool
  • Shift and brake cables
  • Pump
  • Grease
  • Chain tool
  • Chain links
  • Spokes
  • Lubricant
  • Gorilla tape
  • Lock
  • Tyre levers

Electronics

  • MP3 player
  • Kindle
  • iPad
  • X-Mini Speaker
  • Plug Adaptor
  • Spare battery

Miscellaneous

  • Dry bag stuff sacks
  • Lightweight day bag
  • First aid kit
  • Toiletries
  • Insect repellant
  • Journal
  • Notebook
  • Pens, pencil, marker, highlighter
  • Flag of Nepal

So that’s a somewhat exhaustive list of the gear I’m bringing. We’re doubtlessly going to pick stuff up and drop stuff along the way but I’m feeling pretty well prepared for the start of the trip. Once again a big thanks to the guys at water to go for the filter water bottles, should save us a bunch of hassle.

Hopefully we’ll be on the boat tomorrow and can get this trip underway.

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Dublin to Nepal

Leaving on another tour soon: Dublin to Nepal

Hello! It’s been some time since the last update…welcome back. I’ve been quiet for the last year but expect that to end now. I’m heading off on another cycle tour so  there should be plenty of updates in the coming months.

 

I wont be solo touring this time. I’m travelling with a friend, Finnian Flood. We’re going to be heading off from our home city of Dublin and cycling a meandering route to Nepal. We’ve given ourselves a year to do it and leave in four days time, heading off to Wales to ride across the UK – a fairly gentle introductory leg to our trip. After the UK we’ll take a ferry into France and from there ride through Belgium, Germany, Austria, Slovenia and Croatia. From Croatia we turn inland again through Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan. By now Europe is behind us and we will be crossing Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan before entering China and our destination of Nepal.

 

At least, that’s the plan. You never really know how these trips will go but we’ll be following this general guideline. So expect more updates in the future. For now I’ve got a bit more last minute prep to get through. I’d like to give a more detailed itinerary but…well we don’t really have on. A general outline is all we really need to get going and once you’re going, well, its kinda hard to turn back.

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