This Friday we are looking at a personal blog from a woman who shares the story on how she got into, not just cycling touring, but also cycling in general. Anette from the blog named Anette and the Universe writes about her life in general and cycling has become an important part of that.

"It started as a blog for family and friends when I left Norway about 2 years ago and it became an important tool through my cycling holidays " says Anette. She continues "I do write about cycling, but I also write about other aspects of moving around in Europe getting used to new culture, customs and languages, and leaving loved ones behind and learning how to live more sustainable"

We have been looking at her posts from July and August in 2012 and March and April this year where she was on the road with her bike.

The birth of an idea

"I started from Slovenia last July, and my plan was to bike to Spain. I actually had never in my life cycled more than about 30-35 km in a day before but I just had this idea that it would work out somehow. " Anette tells us that the main inspiration for the trip was that she was moving to Spain and was not sure on how to bring her bike there, and so the idea of biking it over was born. "It struck me as I was researching prices on shipping the bike that I could `just` bike there.. That 2500 km if you break it down would not be impossible? -and then when I found the EuroVelo 8 route it all came together" Ironically after she got hooked on the idea she also realized that her city bike would probably not be entirely up for the task and sold it buy a bike more fitted to the task.  

The challenge

"To be honest I was mostly terrified about my own psyche. I was worried that I would not do well with being tired and would just call the whole thing off. I'm not a sporty person. I just wanted an adventure." And from reading her blog posts she most certainly got it. While in Italy Anette writes about the beautiful countryside, struggling with the July heat and enjoying food and wine. She quickly picks up her pace and rides impressive 100 km rides per day before she leaves the Po-plains and head south towards the French coast.  "The day i met up with EuroVelo 8 was such an emotional day, after biking after not very precise road maps it just changed everything when I finally could just bike and enjoy the landscape. All though there are parts of the route that's is not finalized it really showed me a different and more enjoyable side of cycling "

An experience of a lifetime

"The language-barrier was quite exhausting at times. I don't speak Italian, I don't speak French, and very little Spanish so when you travel in rural areas its much harder to find people that speak English. Although in hindsight this was also a big part of my experience  I learned a lot of French and Italian from my attempts to communicate with people. It was lonely at times but looking back at it I would not have traded the experience for anything in the world."  

"France was different, it was like a whole different chapter. More camping and more wine" laughs Anette. "Food is so important for me when I travel and I think that is one of the reasons this way of traveling suits me so well. At the end of the day I will enjoy some amazing local food and just indulge"

Caught in spring storms

This year she traveled parts of the EuroVelo 3, on Camino de Santiago but unfortunately she did not get all the way to her end destination. "I learned another cycling touring lesson on that trip, check the weather properly before. I felt like I was hardly moving most of the time. First I though it was because I hadn't done much cycling since last year but then I realized that it was actually the wind in my face. It was March and I was stuck the weather that contributed to the floods across Spain and the rest of Europe" Still she talks warmly about the friendly people she met on the Camino." It was an extraordinary experience, Spain is so beautiful and the Camino attracts so many wonderful people, walking and cycling, that not even bad weather will put you down"

When asked what her next project is she replies that there is no clear  plan but the Benelux countries might be next. "I've also never actually cycled in Norway either, I would love to do that too"