Circles

A Travel Update

Barry and Margaret Williamson

Here is our travel update, written at that time of uncertainty which typifies the gap between the end of one journey and the beginning of the next.

The theme for this brief overview of journeys past, present and future is circles. As we travel, we carry with us the words of TS Eliot: "We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started – and know the place for the first time." (T S Eliot, The Four Quartets). For more quotations, click: Wise Words for Travellers.

2006 was a busy motorhoming year for us, travelling and living in 28 European countries. We started from Greece in early May and found ourselves back in Greece for New Year, after circling as far as Norway's Nordkapp on its thousand-foot cliff at 71˚ 10' 21": the northernmost point in the world reachable in an ordinary vehicle.

In 2007, we left Greece in late March, after 3 months on a familiar beach, midway between the Venetian ports of Methoni (where we married in July 2004) and Koroni, at the foot of the Messinian Peninsula, in the south-westernmost corner of the Greek Peloponnese. It took a month and 2,500 miles to return to England in April through 14 countries including the Balkan Republics of Macedonia, Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Croatia and Slovenia. We paused for a day's cycling in Switzerland and again, in complete contrast, in Belgium, knowing then that we were on the last legs of the journey. For full details, click: Balkan Return Spring 2007.

A problem with the motorhome's automatic transmission on the Autobahns of Germany and Belgium vanished as we circled the slower and cooler roads of England, looking for maintenance and repair: for the motorhome and for ourselves. Barry's licence to drive a heavy vehicle was renewed, thanks to a successful medical examination near Cambridge; new touring bicycles have been made for us by Paul Hewitt in Leyland; an inspection pit awaited the motorhome's annual check-up and MOT at Motorhome Medics in Cheltenham; friends in Huddersfield, Bournemouth, Blackburn, Poulton-le-Fylde, Duckinfield, Sheffield and Glyn Ceiriog have opened their doors and their hearts to us; we have both been boostered against typhoid and meningitis; travel and outdoor equipment stores have been hunted down, evaluated and raided; self-storage has been organised, not for ourselves but to help slim the overweight motorhome and to ease the strain on more than one attic. And so the circling continues.

All this is but a precursor to our plans for a fourth round-the-world journey (RTW4), riding in aeroplanes and on our new bicycles. Snug storage has been found for the motorhome in a former Huddersfield woollen mill and we have found its replacement: a lightweight 2-person tent and primus stove! On RTW4, we intend ('hope' is a better word) to ride from Perth to Darwin in Australia, south from Auckland in New Zealand, across South America from Santiago to Buenos Aires and across the USA from San Francisco to New York. If we can pause in Bangkok, at Cairns (to spend time with good friends and webmasters Bec and Kev) and on a Pacific Island or two, then that will complete the circuit. Fuller details are given below, along with summaries of previous RTW's.

So what's holding us up? The answer is Margaret's 92-year-old mother, dramatically rushed into Blackpool's Victoria Hospital in the early hours of a May morning. Since then, she has been making slow progress through 2 levels of rehabilitation with her future still in the balance. She may find her way home in due course; she may find a place in a residential care home; she may find that 92 years are enough. We wait to see!

We hope that you are finding fulfilment on your particular journey through life: perhaps we will be able to share thoughts, opinions and experiences, as the year progresses. We look forward to that possibility.

With our best wishes for your summer or winter travels, depending on your hemisphere.

Barry and Margaret

Our previous 3 round-the-world (RTW) journeys consisted of:

RTW1. June 2000 to May 2001: London –fly- Singapore –cycle- Singapore –fly- Perth –cycle- Brisbane –cycle- Bundaberg –train- Brisbane –fly- Aukland –cycle- Auckland –fly- Fiji –cycle- Fiji –fly- Los Angeles –cycle- Key West –car- Miami –fly- London.

A full account of this journey can be found at: Cycling 12,000 miles Round the World; Cycling Across Australia; Cycling Across the USA.

RTW2. January 2002 to January 2003: Manchester –fly- London –fly- Cape Town –cycle- Cape Town –hire car- Cape Town –train- Johannesburg –fly- Sydney –car- Toowoomba –camper van- round Australia (16,500 miles)- Brisbane –fly- Auckland –train- Queenstown –camper van- Auckland –cycle- Auckland –fly- Los Angeles –fly- San Francisco –cycle- San Francisco –fly- New York –car- New York –fly- London –fly- Manchester.

A full account of the 6-month motorhome circuit of Australia is given at: The Big One.

RTW3. November 2004 to November 2005: London –fly- Delhi –self-drive car- Delhi –train- Madras/Chennai – self-drive car – Madras/Chennai –train- Delhi –fly- Singapore –fly- Bangkok –self-drive car- Bangkok –fly- Hong Kong –fly- Bangkok –self-drive car- Penang –self-drive car- Johor Bahru –taxi- Singapore –fly- Perth –camper van- Tasmania –camper van- Cairns –camper van- Brisbane –fly- Los Angeles –camper van- Denver –camper van- Los Angeles –fly- London.

For full accounts of parts of this journey, use the following links:

India and South East Asia; Australia; New Zealand; USA

Our proposed one-year journey for 2007/2008 has the following provisional itinerary:

RTW4. August 2007 to July 2008? Manchester –fly– Heathrow -fly– Bombay –train– Madras –stopover- Madras -train– Bombay –fly– Bangkok –stopover- Bangkok -fly– Singapore –stopover- Singapore –fly– Perth –cycle– Darwin –fly– Cairns –stopover- Cairns -fly- Brisbane –stopover- Brisbane -fly– Auckland –fly– Pacific Island(s) –stopover- Pacific Island(s) -fly– Auckland –cycle– Auckland -fly- Santiago –cycle– Buenos Aires –fly– Santiago –stopover- Santiago -fly– Los Angeles –fly– San Francisco –cycle– New York –stopover- New York -fly– London –fly– Manchester.

This itinerary will enable us to cycle in Australia (Perth to Darwin), New Zealand (North Island to South Island and return), South America (Santiago to Buenos Aires via Patagonia) and across the USA (San Francisco to New York). We can also visit Madras (Chennai) by train, and fly to one or more South Pacific Islands (Rarotonga, Cook Islands, etc) from New Zealand.

Taking delivery of our two new Hewitt touring bicycles from Paul Hewitt at his excellent cycle shop in Leyland, Lancashire.
Our 2 new Hewitt touring bicycles pose in the Welsh sunshine at Angela James's Slate Mine in Glyn Ceiriog.
Greece: Finikunda, the nearest village during our winter stay in Greece, had all we needed: shops, tavernas, friends and a small active fishing harbour.
Greece: For nearly two months, we enjoyed the peace and the emptiness of Finikes campground by the beach.
Macedonia: Margaret hesitates to enter the no-man's land at the border with Albania on the shore of Lake Ohrid.
Albania: The roads are often bad and this is one of the worst, in Shkoder near the Montenegrin border. Yes! We are supposed to be on the right!
Montenegro: The steep limestone mountains and deep blue lakes are heartbreakingly beautiful.
Bosnia-Hercegovina: Mostar and Sarajevo were cruelly damaged in years of war, while Europe idly watched, but their linking road is pristinely majestic.
Switzerland: While the St Gottard pass is still closed by snow higher up, the valley below remains warm and enticing.
Belgium: The end of a journey: on the edge of the North Sea in the typical seaside resort of Westende, near Ostende.