from Trabzon we follow the coast of the Black Sea

a vibrant city on the border of Europe and Asia

police escort on the highway

skyscrapers, highways and 4x4 SUVs

Tel Aviv, Saturday October 7th of 2023 ; It is 6 o' clock in the morning when the air alarm goes off. There is a knock on the door of our apartment: "Get out of the room!" We realise this is serious.

back in Skopje, 38 degrees, acclimatizing 

normally it’s dry and hot in June

November and December 2022 we are at home, spending valuable time with our family and friends. On 28 December, we get on our bikes again, heading south, facing the sun!

At the end of September, we cycle into Poland. The wooden houses are replaced by stone houses. The landscape is hilly and we cycle into autumn. Campgrounds are already closed in mid-September.

By bus we went from the North Cape to Rovaniemi. There we spent 4 days camping and visiting Santa Claus. Then we took the night train to Helsinki. Make a hole in a rock with dynamite and you have a terribly beautiful church.

the ship’s horn of the Hurtigruten 

In Oslo, we leave the bikes, tent and most of our luggage behind and expedition boat the Ocean Atlantic is our home base on Svalbard for a week.

We leave hospitable Germany with a visit to Sylt. Germany's northernmost island and what a feast to end with.

The few days of rest in Kostverloren have done us good, the storm has passed and we are ready to cross new borders. Braving one more hailstorm, we leave the Netherlands and pick up the North Sea cycle route (EuroVelo 12) again.

For years we have been living towards this one moment: our new life, traveling around the world on our bikes with the North Cape as our first destination; the beginning of a dream come true; a beautiful and exciting adventure. And then suddenly the moment arrives: it is April 1, 2022.