It’s a big day for Justin and Emma: two New Zealanders who are leaving their home in London this weekend for a bike trip that will last at least 6 months and possibly a lot longer.
The journey starts with a ferry to north-west Spain. From there, they’ll cycle to Turkey and then decide if they want to tackle more exotic destinations like Central Asia or Eastern Europe before taking on China and South East Asia.
Despite these adventurous plans, Emma and Justin’s love affair with touring started with much simpler trips. On basic commuter bikes, they did a series of short trips along London’s inner-city canals and then longer jaunts out of London and along Hadrian’s Wall.
“We talked about the possibility of a bigger trip quietly at first. We were on a train in England somewhere and we sketched a rudimentary map which plotted our way towards Russia. We sat in the British Library with a pile of books about cycle touring,” Emma writes on their website, Rolling Tales.
“Our cycling trips became more ambitious, and we tested our enthusiasm for the idea by cycling the length of the UK (Lands End to John O’Groats) over three weeks in 2009. We saved, bought books on the topic, started researching bikes, equipment and possible routes. After 6 years living away from New Zealand we decided it was time to pack up London lives, quit jobs and go.”
All the best to Emma and Justin as they set off on their big adventure. We’ll be following along on their Rolling Tales website to see what fun they get up to.