World Tour
On the final day of March 2019 we set off from Telford, Shropshire to circumnavigate the World on our bicycles. We planned to cycle 24,000 miles and cross more than 30 different countries.
5 Years and 1 global pandemic later we returned to the Arc de Triomphe, Paris on the 26th May 2024 to complete our circumnivation of the world by bicycle.
The stories below document our journey around the world. You can also find our route and stats here.
We didn't enjoy cycling through Italy much which might come as a bit of a surprise given that Italy is the home of cycling. Unfortunately our route was a bit of a bust.
We’re hitting the road for a wet and rainy day today – and I’m not expecting it to let up! We’ve been lucky with dry days so far so we can’t grumble too much!
I've dreamed about visiting Venice! I never imagined for one moment that my mode of transport to Venice would be a bicycle!
Yesterday we spent the day totally chilled and today we explored Venice. What a beautiful place it is.
Crossing into Italy was a really exciting milestone for the trip! We loved Venice and Rosalina and on day we will explore South Italy.
The last 2 days have been my favourite in Italy so far. Just perfect. 🥰 🇮🇹
Yesterday we took a convenient rest day and let the grey clouds pass. Today we sat back on our saddles and pedalled for a beautiful 75 miles.
A few days ago we made tracks to Genoa. We decided to cycle into Genoa to an Airbnb. We knew it was a bit off route, but it turned out to be 12 slow miles each way 🤦🏽♀️
Here’s a quick update on how we’re getting on today! We are really cutting through the miles!
Cycling to Italy feels like an achievement in itself, but there‘s more to come, we have 22 other countries to visit. That blows my mind! We’ve cycled over 1200 miles and Stew‘s done a fabulous job of navigating all the way here.
Sometimes I fall slave to trying to create wanderlust and wanting to create an Instagram/Facebook page that does the journey justice because it is beautiful and no picture can truly capture the wonder and beauty of the counties we’ve visited.
“Not another day of beautiful blue skies along the Italian coast, I wish I was in the office” said stew sarcastically yesterday!
Just wanted to share our @airbnb room for the last two nights. We really needed some alone time so we were absolutely thrilled to find this place for £31/night!
We've been cycling for 8 consecutive days. What's nice is that it didn't occur to us that we had cycled for 8 days until Stew thought about the F1 he wanted to watch.
Stew said that’s the reddest my face has been since our first bike ride and the first time we climbed The Long Mynd, Shropshire.
Ain’t nothing more demoralising then pushing a headwind for 80 miles over two days. Working really hard for 7mph 😪
The lessons we learned on a cycle tour will stick with us for life. Here's one of them - the importance of people and forming relationships.
Last Saturday, Stew and I found a @warmshowers_org home on route, we made tracks to stay with Benjamin and his mother, Elisabeth. Benjamin was an absolute sweetheart and a brilliant, natural host!
Stew and I have had the most lovely few days! Here’s a bit of an update from Lyon, but there’s more to come! We’ve met some lovely folk!
Allor! We made it to Lyon! Lyon delivered more than expected, largely because we didn’t really have any expectations, but mostly because of the people we stayed with.
We have made it to Lyon! We did not make it here direct from Livry-Gargan, let me tell you - it's been a roller coaster of a journey
We took a bit of a detour on this day because someone at our Airbnb recommended we head to Briare for the canal, it was so worth it!
Things are really looking up for us after we were unwell! We stayed in Lyon last night with Patrick and Claire , a lovely couple! We are with them again tonight and looking forward to another pleasant evening.