Day 111
Location: Erzurum Miles on the clock: 6,985 After a couple of days of nightclubs, restaurants and repose in the affluent seaside town of Varna, I felt a little cumbersome as I climbed inland and up into Bulgaria’s hills. 15 Comments Day 82
Location: Varna, Bulgaria Miles on the clock: 5835 I felt ashamed after posting the dejected and pathetic rant about bad weather and Polish roads in my last blog. As if to compound this feeling, a day later the rain finally relented and I reached better roads with less murderous lorry drivers. Day 63
Location: Lublin, Poland Miles on the clock: 4820 During my last couple of days in Arctic Norway I noticed the leaves beginning to yellow and the temperature dropping close to freezing each night. Autumn comes early in the Arctic and I realised I would be chasing the tail of summer as it receeded south. Having befriended a generous bunch who work in the Alta cinema (and provided me with all the free popcorn, drinks and films I could have dreamt of) I was sad to leave the city. Day 42 Location: Alta, Norway Miles covered: 3,036  Tundra in summer After two days R&R in Alta I began the final push of my journey's first leg. The road turned inland and climbed sharply away from the stunning Altafjord and its gaspingly cold water. I soon found myself following a steadily growing river across a vast expanse of the snowless summer tundra dotted with reindeer and small houses, each with a parked snowmoblie impatiently awaiting winter.
Day 35 Location: Alta, Norway Miles covered: 2710  Lakeside supper, Sweden Sweden was good to me. The people friendly; the camping spots idyllic and abundant; the roads good; the traffic light; and (excepting a couple of thoroughly drenching days) the weather kind. Because food prices are high, and currently the pound doesn't exchange favourably, I found a way to counter the costs that could prove so caustic to a low-budget wanderer's wallet.
Day 22
Location: Ljusdal, Sweden Miles covered: 1720 I was swept out of Amsterdam amid a somnolent tide of Dutch commuters, bleary-eyed from celebrations having reached the world cup final the previous night. Trying, and failing, to imitate the perfect, straight-backed postures of those around me, I drifted alongside the waterways and followed the coast around an inland sea. As evening hovered I was very suddenly besieged by insects as they lurched into life after lying in the grass all day. They positively pelted me as I passed and lodged themselves severally among my arm hairs and fledgeling beard. At one point I noticed that my billowing breast pocket had filled with probably close to 200 crawling, writing black shapes which had struck my chest and fallen in.  Setting off with a cuppa... After six days and almost 500 miles on the road I've arrived in Amsterdam and am enjoying a morning off, my first since embarking. The going has been good and the Low Countries are delightfully flat making the riding fairly effortless and allowing time to enjoy the often peerless landscapes.
The countdown to departure is nearly complete. In just 72 hours I shall wheel away from home and embark upon the largest undertaking of my life. Four years of continuous travel on a rusty old bicycle named “Old Geoff”. I’m burning with anticipation.
The question most people have asked when they hear about my plan is "why". Why would I want to leave friends, family and home comforts behind and wheel my way blindly towards uncertainty, loneliness and risk? Well, I've churlishly replied "why not?" long enough and now it seems the time has come to actually answer this tricky question. Below are eight reasons in no particular order:
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