Update: Around The World For Water

Hey everyone, this is a blog post from Rob and Tom, the guys that we are following around the world! Enjoy. Best of luck, lads.

“This is the first of what will hopefully be many updates from the road, and there`s lots to say seeing as though a week has already flown by, despite it seeming like only yesterday that we were cycling away from the Minster! The send off went extremely smoothly, far from the small family affair that we had expected, but it was great to have so many people outside the Minster supporting us. The 50 miles to Hull were pretty uneventful and we made it in plenty of time to have a picnic with our families and say the last goodbyes before we sailed away. There were surprisingly few tears – not because we don´t care about all the people that we are leaving behind but more because it hadn’t and still hasn’t sunk in what we were embarking on. The Netherlands was a great country to ease us into the touring lifestyle. The weather was perfect with a nice tail wind and plenty of clearly marked, smooth, flat cycle lanes across the country. We only cycled on the road once for about 5 minutes before we were shouted at by several motorists and directed towards the cycle lane that we had somehow missed!! We spent the first night at Rob´s Auntie and Uncles house about 50 miles north of Rotterdam, where we were spoiled rotten!

Germany has been a bit more challenging. Firstly there are hills (some pretty big ones at that) and secondly the cycle lanes are not so good, so our map reading skills (or lack of) have been tested. The weather has also been less kind with a fair bit of rain, particularly during the night. We both thought it was nice to lay in a cosy tent and listen to the rain outside – it gets pretty boring after 8 hours though! This being said we have really enjoyed Germany so far, the scenery has been lovely and the people very friendly.

All in all the first week or so has been great. We have soon adapted to the cycling lifestyle. Our saddles are worn in, the tent feels like home, peanut butter foldy overs have become a staple in our diet and we are keeping up a daily average of about 60 miles.

We have also experienced some great hospitality so far including a Dutch lady giving us lemonade and biscuits on a hot day, a guy called Frank letting us camp outside his house and cooking us tea and a lovely man called Stephan who’s house we are staying in tonight. That is about all for now, our next destination in Nurnberg, where we will be doing our first talk in a school close by and then it’s on to Austria!!”