The (original) Plan

August 20, 2023

Thinking over our cycling plans, they begin to seem a bit more like schemes. One scheme after Grampies Track the Tortes (2019) was to leave our German e-bikes with friends in Leipzig, and to return quite promptly to ride again. But life and Covid intervened, and we did not make it back until 2022. But we did go again (Grampies Search for the Meaning of Life 2022), and left the bikes again in Leipzig. That was fine, but when we wanted to return to Europe before being out 90 days, we grabbed the Bike Fridays and took them to England (Grampies Go To England and France 2022). And then when we needed someplace warm, we grabbed the Bike Fridays and took them to Portugal and Spain (Grampies Iberian Inquisition Spring 2023). The Bike Friday scheme was pretty good, because we could stash them back home each time, taking advantage of their batteries being designed to fly. But the Fridays' e-conversion otherwise proved quite flaky, and we do not quite trust them for another long trip.

So now we have another scheme, inspired by the Maher-Wearys, who stashed their bikes at a self storage in Lisbon, and then on another trip, in Toulouse. With this concept we feel we can cycle off from Leipzig for 3,500 to 4,000 kms and stash the bikes. Then we would return and carry on, repeating the procedure 3,500-4,000 kms further down the road. A final pick up, and we could ride off, perhaps back to Leipzig. Overall, it's a plan for up to 12,000 kms of cycling, encompassing three separate trips across Europe in one direction or another.

The plan encompasses more than a year, in which we would set off from Leipzig in August 2023, and ultimately return there in November 2024, having checked back in to Canada several times in between.

It's a bit risky, because if life gets in the way somehow and we can not leave Canada, we would find ourselves paying monthly rent on a storage locker somewhere, maybe for a long time. It's a gamble, alright.

Our idea for the first leg is to zig zag down through western Europe, ending finally in Valencia, where we would leave the bikes. The route covers the five countries of Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Spain, and spans 3,500 km, assuming we don't get lost, or distracted. About half the distance turns out to be in France, so I hope they are stockpiling the eclairs!

We originally booked our flight for August 9 into Frankfurt, with a train then to Leipzig. Read on 5 or so days to see how life can get in the way of the best laid plans, but on November 7 we should board a flight in Valencia for home!

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Tricia GrahamHad wondered why you weren’t off yet. It really worked well when we left our bikes in self storage in Munich
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8 months ago

Patrick O'HaraLooking forward to the next Grampies Adventure!
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8 months ago

Brent IrvineI wonder if it might be wise at some point for a few of us to share a storage spot for bikes to split the cost. I am getting tired of lugging.
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8 months ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesThat's a brilliant idea, maybe we can move it forward in a Forum topic. The simplest version is to coordinate the use of a storage locker, in some central place - Strasbourg?

At the risk of killing the idea by getting too ambitious too quickly, the storage spot could be a "pied a terre" where people could sleep over and launch hub and spoke tours. I think the Andersons once brought up such an idea, where the "terre" would be in Italy.
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8 months ago

Scott AndersonTo Steve Miller/GrampiesSorry. I’m sure I could never talk Rachael into the idea of sleeping in a storage locker. Interesting concept though. Glad to hear though that you’re giving up on the idea of traveling with your e-assisted Bike Fridays. I think that if/when we move on to assisted bikes we’ll get ones over there and stash them between tours.

And sorry we’ll miss each other in Valencia! We’re flying home on October 26th.
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8 months ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Scott AndersonOn re-reading what I wrote I can certainly see how the wrong impression was conveyed, on two fronts! First, while indeed we are down on the Fridays for "tough" tours, we are still enamored of their portability. So we plan to use them in Mexico, and we are thinking of Mexico as the place to go while waiting out the Shengen 3 month gap. To this end we already folded and stuffed the Fridays into their hard cases. This was a process that included a lot of "How do Andersons do this all the time with little or no whining?" (given the amount of disassembly and Tetris-ing involved). A new "glitch" is that while airlines generally permit 50 pounds for a suitcase, the e-assist gear jumps our weight to 60 pounds. That means that instead of denying that there is a bike in there, for some carriers (like Westjet, but not United) it is cheaper to have a bike than an overweight bag!

Thge second poorly written part is the bit that gave the impression that one might sleep in a storage locker (though we have definitely considered sleeping in the back of a closed U-Haul truck). No the idea was to rent a small apartment, and to to use it as a storage location, where one could also sleep.
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8 months ago

Marilyn DennisonHello from Ed and me in South Florida. I have been lax at reading about your journeys and am hoping to catch up in the near future.

Be safe and will catch up later.

Marilyn in Dania Beach, Fl.
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8 months ago

Larry MitchellInteresting thoughts on your e-assist conversions as we have had quite the opposite experience. We have now flown our e-assisted recumbent trikes on 17 different flights without any hiccups. We have also had 100% reliability with the motors and components (Grin Technologies kit). We were, however, questioned quite extensively on our last trip as the boxes were weighing 57 pounds each as the rear wheel with hubs weigh 10 pounds by themselves. So rather than fight the good fight and produce the written policies to Alaska Airlines, this next trip I will simply mount the old rims to the trikes for travel, put the hub motor wheel in our luggage and reassemble upon arrival. Boxes will now come in around 47 pounds. Alaska Aitlines’ policy states they will wave either the dimensions of the box or the weigh of a box for sports equipment. Of course the batteries are carry-on and we have never had any questions regarding them. I do pack each battery into a separate ziplock and have a printed copy of FAA policy regarding the batteries.

Looking forward to your journal and travels.
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8 months ago

Scott AndersonSay, your grand plan finally sunk in. So are you planning on starting out from Valencia next spring? When? And will you go to Mallorca? We could easily see you then if life and the timing works out.
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8 months ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Scott AndersonSo far the plan is to start in Valencia in early February, probably starting with a week or so in Mallorca, and then proceeding to circle the coasts of Spain and Portugal, doing a reverse Camino de Santiago, and ending by heading up the Atlantic coast of France to Nantes. Sounds like it should be exhausting, but loads of fun.
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8 months ago

Scott AndersonTo Steve Miller/GrampiesIt does sound exhausting. You guys are tough! Our own plan starts in Barcelona in late February and then catching the ferry to Mallorca (from Barcelona, because we plan to end there too nine months later). After Mallorca we’ll bike east to Malaga and then head north. So there’s about a month where we might overlap.
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8 months ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesTo Scott AndersonLet's get our current tours wrapped up and then we can monitor each others' whereabouts on the next ones. Keeping our fingers crossed for a grand reunion.....somewhere.
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8 months ago