Preparing for the trip

This whole thing feels like a long time coming. Preparations began shortly after graduation in May of 2016. Back when the trip was entirely conceptual, I spent entirely too much time creating a map with hypothetical pinpoints of where I would like to go in Europe. One country melded into another, and very similarly to my 2014 trip through Southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand, everything seemed so close together. Beginning with just the United Kingdom, soon enough I had a list of places I would love to see spanning across parts of North Africa, Eastern Europe, and the Near East. Pinpoints were soon connected and I had the skeleton of what could be something truly incredible. At the same time I was deciding between bicycle frames to build up, while nonchalantly perusing flights across the Atlantic. I put the first downpayment on my bicycle towards the end of September, quickly followed by the purchase of a flight to London for the beginning of September 2017.

At this point I became locked in. I was going to Europe, it now became a matter of amassing the gear necessary to make the cycling part feasible. Some things I had already, others I slowly accumulate through way too much online shopping, and an unhealthy number of trips to MEC.

My rough route has been polished a few times over to try and find a feasible route through the heart of Europe in a timely manner that may allow me to avoid the icy grips of winter for a year. My original plan was to stay in the British Isles until mid-August, but that changed once I realized how late that would put me in the alps region. The tentative plan puts me leaving the UK by mid-September, which, in accordance with Schengen restrictions puts me in Athens by mid-December.

The Schengen agreement is the glorious bureaucratic accord that allows unrestricted movement between twenty-six European nations, including Norway, Iceland and Switzerland. Unfortunately, the unification of this bloc also comes with an unusual politic, visitors may only spend 90 days out of any 180 day period in the Schengen Zone. This means, I must leave the EU within 90 days of my entry at Calais, France, or risk deportation, or a 1-5 year ban on my passport from re-entry into the EU. Fortunately, Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Cyprus have yet to fully ratify the agreement and retain their original visa policies, allowing a total of 90 days visa-free in each country. The Schengen Zone has impacted the way I have planned my route and in some senses, limited where I am able to go at the beginning of my trip. My current plan follows a ~4500km route from Calais to Athens, averaging fifty kilometers per day. At Athens I can either take a ferry across the Aegean to Izmir, Turkey, or take a ~1000km detour through the centre of Greece to the border with Turkey in the north-east. Theoretically, this plan should put me in Turkey before the end of the year, with the potential for ringing in the new year in Istanbul, or somewhere along Turkey's western Mediterranean coast.

Due to the understandable need to save up funds for such an endeavour, I have not gotten out on trial run tours to prepare myself for the main event in September. I was able to do a quick two day trip in late April fully geared up. I set off from Winnipeg and pedalled north along the east side of Lake Winnipeg until I got tired. I set up camp just inside the tree line, just out of view from the road. The next morning, I tore down camp as snow started to fall on my already rained-on campsite and began cycle the 100km back to Winnipeg. It snowed hard for the first two hours, letting off a little by the time I reached Lockport. This was a personal victory in a few ways, not only was I able to cycle the furthest I ever have in a single day, but I was able to do it loaded down with camping gear, and was able to repeat the feat the very next day in abhorrent conditions. In Europe I hope to avoid snow and freezing temperatures entirely (though I should be prepared for them), and hope to build upon the back-to-back 100km days in terms of endurance and stamina.