The Route
After deciding to join Rob on our shared adventure there was planning and preparations to be made. During a handful of visits to London we crafted a packing lists and charted our route. The first visit saw me cycling from Nottingham to London on a brisk January 3rd—a New Year's treat, defying the typical cautionary tales of cold weather.
Version 1
Our first draft of a route was basically Rob’s initial idea. Starting with a ferry to The Netherlands, traversing Germany, and venturing through Nordic countries, before zig-zagging through Eastern Europe and the Baltic Peninsula, before finishing in Istanbul.
I like the idea of starting at John O' Groats. I have never cycled LeJog or even been there before –having missed out during our NC500 tour after breaking my wrist in Durness– and in context of cycling the world, it feels like “home.” I mean, we are from the United Kingdom after all, you can check our passports.
With the new limitation of only 90 allowable days in the entire Schengen Zone out of every 180 (#fuckbrexit) the idea was we could spend three months in Norway alone; Meandering around every fjord and up and down every stunning incline, could easily take three months, with the added benefit that as we travelled north the warming weather would follow us. The idea being, that spending 90 days would “reset the Schengen clock.” That is until we realised the open borders is in fact defined by the Schengen Zone and not the EU, which includes Norway and Switzerland!
This meant Norway could only be travelled within the same 90 days limit, combined with all other countries in the Schengen Zone, making it too limiting for us to include with the rest of Europe.
I now have it in my head, however, that I would like to cycle for three months in Norway which I will have to save for the future, which also means if I do that I will have to stay outside of the entire rest of the Schengen Zone for 90 days before, and after, that trip! What a joke.
Version 2
With this limitation in mind, the only real option was to cut out Norway and take a more direct route through Europe to Istanbul. The first UK section and everything after Romania is not included in the Schengen Zone, so this meant the limitation would only be between entering in France and crossing the border from Hungary to Romania.
We had some stops we wanted to make, visiting friends across Europe and so the route was heavily defined by where those friends lived.
The Challenges of Compromise
I was a little disappointed with the planning process. While I felt I was very amenable, I found that compromise was not one of Rob’s strong points. Initially agreeing to start at John O’Groats, when Rob decided he didn’t want to we it Gretna, to save time but still include another country on our tally. When he didn’t like that, we changed it to Southport, our shared hometown. Then he wanted to exit the UK as quickly as possible rather than hang around, so we cancelled all of that in favour of riding from his final place of residence in London straight to the ferry port in Dover. But when it suited him to visit his partners around the UK, we reverted back to starting in Southport but not liking the time it would take to get to Dover, we reduced it by removing almost all of the stops I wanted to make.
Navigating these decisions with Rob brought forth an exploration of compromise dynamics. In the ebb and flow of planning, I found myself readily adapting to his preferences, even when it meant revisiting earlier plans once it better suited him. It's an interesting insight to the fluid nature of collaboration and, perhaps, a gentle reminder to assert my desires more firmly.
I love Rob. He is a wonderful friend and he knows how much I appreciate him. I have written about this in my tribute to Player 1, but this was a big part of our planning and it is important to share it.
I still felt like a guest on his journey, as if my input carried less weight and, perhaps, I worried that disagreeing too much might jeopardize our riding together.
Pace Planning
Navigating the Schengen Zone limitation posed a unique challenge for our journey. Rob wanted to ride to Istanbul and back within the 90 allowable days but using a data-driven approach, I delved into the statistics of my previous rides, revealing an almost astonishingly consistent average of 65 km per riding day, regardless of conditions, be it scaling The Alps, braving chilly November rides in Scotland, or navigating heatwaves along the Ligurian coastline, riding alone or in a group of six. Factoring in rest days and the unpredictable nature of a prolonged journey, it became evident that our Schengen days would only suffice for the journey to Istanbul, with no room for a return, let alone a venture back to Portugal.
After much toing and froing, and further disagreements, a decision was made, to agree to disagree. Rob adopted a more spontaneous mindset of "let's see how it goes." If progress is swift, we would return to Portugal; if we take a more leisurely pace, our journey post-Istanbul will simply remain outside of the Schengen Zone. This was something could agree with. As much as I enjoy analysing past data, the ride ahead introduced variables that defy prediction. The road awaits, we would discover our rhythm as we hit the road together and the possibilities are ours to discover.
Plans Decided, Ready to go
In the end, we settled on a departure from Southport and, while excluding many of my planned friend visits, we kept the most important stop at the Nine Ladies Stone Circle. This location has become a cornerstone of my birthday celebrations in recent years and would serve as a combined early birthday celebration for me and a fitting send-off for our journey.
In the most part, I didn’t care too much. All I wanted, more than anything, was to be on my bike and leaving. In just a few weeks my dream of many years had gone from just an idea, to being planned with a start date in mind, but that wasn’t enough. What I really wanted now, was for all the planning and talk to be over and to be on the road finally.