UPDATE MAY 2024!
We will not be able to add new blog posts for the time being to this website. We will still be writing and we will be adding our new "content" to this online folder. You can access here
Panniers and Montañas
Starting in Santander, heading South for warmer weather in Morocco, North to Iz’s brother’s wedding in Sweden, and finally (if we’re feeling sensible) back home to the UK.
We are Iz and Zoe. We are now full time cycle tourers. We are both vegan and concerned about our impact on the planet. Our journey is plant powered and flight free!
Many people have wanted to keep updated with our adventures and misadventures – we have created this blog for you! Please excuse the clunky design – we have never made a website before, and we are mainly doing this from our phones.
We’re aiming for one post every month over the year. We will be writing about the background and preparation for the trip, the highs and lows of cycle touring, and a sprinkle of bike nerdery for anyone interested!
We hope you enjoy reading. And please send us DMs! I would love to hear from you through WhatsApp / Signal / Telegram / even email.
Blog
A return to the rocks - February 2024 - By Zoe
I needed to have a break from cycling so that my knees could recover, and so I left our very hospitable hosts in Lisbon and took an overnight bus to Madrid and then another bus to Benidorm. I had arranged to volunteer at the Orange House climbing hostel in Finestrat in return for free accommodation. I had to remove both wheels and my seat and wrap my bike in bubble wrap to get it on the bus which made moving my bike and all my things around very difficult!
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Warmer Weather - February 2024
Thank you for the support for this blog! We have been loving documenting our journey. It is lovely to hear from family and friends who have received the words we're putting down in this small corner of the internet.
We are writing this month's entry from Taroudant, Morocco - we made it! We are reunited and are now back on the bikes together in this beautiful country. A final sprint to Tarifa, and before we knew it we were in the Sahara desert pasting together mud bricks with mud.
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New Year, new country, new plans - January 2024
If anyone was concerned from reading our last post in the depths of Winter that we were not living the cycle touring dream we hoped for, please fear not. We are now basking in sunshine and living the dream - separately for now! Due to injury we've had to make a few changes to the original plans. But soon we will reconvene at Tarifa, ready to make the voyage over to Morocco...
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Let the cycling begin! - December 2023
On the 7th December 2023 we set off from Nottingham railway station and took a 36 hour ferry from Portsmouth to Santander. Joining us for the first week, Matt (our first special guest!) met us in Portsmouth. We zig zagged between the coast and inland, depending on where we could find Warm Showers1 hosts...
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The Journey to the Journey - November 2023
Before setting off Iz’s family spent an early Christmas weekend together – neither Iz, their brother or his partner were going to be in the country for Christmas day after all. Snow settled down on the Sunday morning and they went sledging down the hill at Wollaton Park. A true White Christmas!...
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Preparation, preparation, preparation - August 2023
From the 1st August 2023 Iz had schedules to stick to, no need for alarms, no paid work or exams to revise for. Four whole months to get ready for an adventure. Chilling. Right?...
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How we got here - July 2023
Just a few days before I set off I realised even my mum wasn’t sure why I wa sdoing this trip! Feel free to skip to the next section for the cycling-y bits. But if you want the background please read on! (...)
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