Only 4 months to go until I leave (which means 3 months of work!)! So here’s another update on how my planning is going for the trip. Covers some more thinking on the route, logistics, the website and some stuff about gear.
Posted in Asia, Australia, Europe, Planning, Route having no comments »
This is a post to verify my process for geotagging photos and embedding them into my blog!
I think I need to modify it slightly (by re-importing back into Lightroom for upload to SmugMug) so that the captions come through. Then the caption would show up like it does for the image in the middle of Cook Strait.. Otherwise it looks pretty good!
[xmlgm {http://dc-onabike.smugmug.com/hack/feed.mg?Type=gallery&Data=19828337_tLgttX&format=atom10} maptype=G_PHYSICAL_MAP]
Posted in Maps, New Zealand, Photos, Planning having 2 comments »
Instead of trying to do posts every now and then, I’ve decided to try and wrap up the information about some of the planning I’ve been doing into larger posts. This should give people an idea of where my preparation is at, and how much more I’ve still got to do.
Posted in Europe, Gear, Maps, Planning, Route having 6 comments »
This is a backup of my Route page, as it was before 20 October 2011.. The route had already changed a bit before then, and I think the route page needs more maps and less tables!
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Here’s the route from my winter ride around the top of the South Island.. Just playing with some mapping options..
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Here I was thinking that at least some of the planning for this trip might be straight-forward! I’ve just had the first (hopefully not of too many) spanner in the planning-works. Read the rest of this entry »
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I booked my tickets last weekend. I didn’t leave the house with that intention, but I happened to stop in at the travel agent and they had a good deal on.
My initial intention was to fly to Madrid and start from there. This was largely because Madrid is within 100km of being the furthest point on earth from Wellington, NZ. It turns out it’s a lot cheaper to fly to Barcelona, and I had been a bit annoyed that I wasn’t able to visit Barcelona as I’d heard great things.
So when the travel agent said I’d save ~$NZ600 (20% of the cost), I took the oppourtunity and am now flying into Barcelona. In case you’re interested, I’m flying Wellington > Christchurch > Singapore > Barcelona on March 16 2012.
So now I’ve got a few options to decide between:
– Get a cheap domestic flight from Barcelona to Madrid. This would mean I could continue my route as I was planning – including getting to the furthest point from Wellington. My timetable would be largely unaffected.
– Cycle from Barcelona to Madrid and continue on from there. This would add several weeks to my already tight schedule, and I’ve heard it’s a reasonably boring road.
– Head straight from Barcelona to the Pyrenees, through Andorra and on towards Toulouse. This would probably cut several weeks from my timetable, but would mean I’d miss Bordeaux. I’d love to get into the heart of the Pyrenees, and to check out Andorra. This is a quick indicative route: http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=299223
– Head straight north from Barcelona along the Mediterranean. My least favoured option- I want to check out the Pyrenees.
I’m leaning quite heavily towards the third option. I’ve obviously got a while to decide before I leave. Opinions welcome!
Posted in France, Spain having no comments »
This is the second, final part of my write-up about my 3 week cycle ride around the top of the South Island.. The first part can be read here, and photos are here.
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Here are some photos!
Posted in Photos having 3 comments »
This is a brief write-up of my 3 week ride around the top of the South Island in July/August.
Two years ago, I spent 3 weeks in winter riding the length of the South Island on State Highway 6 (SH6). This went down the West Coast, and the write-up can be read at Crazy Guy on a Bike here.
I felt it was time for another ride, this time with a more flexible route plan (while rewarding, I found the SH6 ride quite restrictive). There were several places in the upper South Island that I wanted to cycle, and tried to find a route to combine them all.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in New Zealand having 2 comments »