22. & 23. Cycling properly

In Belgium and the Netherlands is cycling a part of the culture. I love that. It’s so relaxing to ride here. Only the mountains are sometimes missing. I also just like these liberal countries. It’s funny: I believe that their liberalism could provide rather the seed of a new egalitarian society as a much more […]

20. & 21. Strange Island

Not just the English left-hand traffic confused me, but also the whole political situation in England. Even on the ferry from Santander to Portsmouth a Near-London-Grown-up meant to me that he once voted for Tony Blair, because he wanted to limit the fox hunt and wished to legalize Marihuhana (if that’s true, I have not […]

18. & 19. Stopover Santander but Europe

I’m somewhat relieved that I made it through the Spanish mountains and especially through the headwind. Approximately 113 kilometers I had to skip because of the headwind. Nevertheless, I rode 2033 kilometers from Tübingen about Pfäffingen (small Village near Tübingen), Strasbourg, Switzerland, Montpellier and Barcelona until Santander That’s okay for now. Hence it will be […]

14. & 15. Spain got mountains indeed!

One could say that Spain is the Switzerland of Southern Europe in my naive German perspective. In six days to ride from Barcelona to Santander is really heavy yet! My CouchSurfing possibility today is a physical education teacher and at the first moment she did not believe me that I went in two days from […]

13. Barcelona

I am in Barcelona now. First intermediate target I have reached. Wonderful city. But Barcelona is Barcelona and will always be Barcelona. And I need to ride on…

11. & 12. Overcoming Borders

The 75 kilometers between Narbonne and Perpignan (specifically Saleilles – I was not directly in the city of Perpignan) were really beautiful. I went along at a place where on the right and on left there was water and in the middle there was a cycle path. I dawdled a bit and then arrived again […]

9. & 10. Cosy through the heat

I let it come on just a little more cosy. Only 100 and 92 kilometers. I realized I need rather more than 6 hours of sleep. However, it makes a lot of fun with local people to talk and in that way to become a sense of the regions where I am. I am rushing […]

7. & 8. City, Country, Crisis

When I rode down from St. Genix to Valence and also later in the Provence, you realize unfortunatelyo rural decline. Including yellowed Le-Pen-Posters it is not difficult to see that this decline is partly responsible for the rise of right-winged parties. But the leftists has just failed as well. It is clear that the right […]

5. & 6. Riding not writing

Riding and writing at the same time is difficult . In the evening you have to watch football and further you have to eat some stuff . French stuff. Very good stuff. In Saint-Genix-sur-Guiers: Still one thought: In Monthey (Switzerland) there is a Tübingen Square. But in Tübingen there’s no Monthey square. That has to […]

3. & 4. Ups and Headwinds

My thesis is indeed that the Brexit was the absolute nadir of European integration. Shortly after the referendum I started my tour and now Europe is going up again. I hope my tour brings the turnaround. If only the right-wing populists overestimate themselves, then they will win. The left liberals lack this self-confidence. They are […]