The boat from Iceland to the Faroe Islands takes about 20 hours. I was starting to get cabin fever by the time the islands first appeared in the distance so rushed out on deck to face the Atlantic wind with my camera. Sailing into the Faroes was an extraordinary way to reach the country. Probably … More Faroe Islands: The Kambskarð Story (09/11/17-13/11/17)
After escaping the Westfjords region I continued around the Hunafloi coastline, affectionately nicknamed ‘bear bay’ after the occasional polar bear drifts in here on an iceberg from Greenland. Unfortunately for the polar bears – hungry after a lonely time out at sea – they are usually met with a shotgun upon arrival. The Icelandic don’t … More Iceland Part 2: Winter in the Arctic Clutches (Stardarskali to Seydisfjordur 28/10/17-08/11/17)
I arrived bleary eyed at Iceland’s Keflavik airport at 4.30am, having picked the word’s most inconvinient flight time. The airport had a fancy ‘bike box’ in the car park (a dedicated space for bicycle assembly) where I hopped to get a little shut eye. I’d managed a grand total of 20 minutes sleep on the … More Iceland Part 1: Blinded by The Northern Lights (Reykjavik to Stadarskali 13/10/17-28/10/17)
My geography of the world is great in the places I have cycled, in other areas it is quite appalling. While I was working in Australia earlier this year I spent a good while staring at the map of North America wondering where I should ride when I got back on the bike. I was … More Canada: Autumn Scenes in Nova Scotia (Yarmouth to Halifax 06/10/17-12/10/17)
I felt very chuffed having reached Washington DC. I hadn’t quite cycled my bike to the water but it was as good as my coast-to-coast complete. I had no plans to visit the capital until very recently but I’m glad I made it here. DC is … More USA Part 8: Build The Wall! (Washington DC to Portland, ME 17/09/17-06/10/17)
I got off the Greyhound bus in Missouri and rubbed my eyes. It had been another long ride through the endless plains of Illinois, coming down from Chicago. I sat on my pack outside the St Louis bus station and watched an Amish family exit a mini van. The father of this family had a … More USA Part 7: The Hillbily’s Hills (St Louis MO to Washington DC 30/08/17-16/09/17)
After a month on the road with Lea it was time for a little holiday. Our dad & brother would be visiting our aunt in New England and we wanted to get involved on a little US ‘vacation’. I left my bike in St Louis but we boxed up Lea’s and hopped onto the morning … More USA Part 6: You say Vacation, I say Holiday (Chicago, New England & New York 12/08/17-28/08/17)
I felt sorry for Kansas. Prior to my arrival into the state, I had not heard a single nice thing about the place. Boring, backwards, uninspiring were among the most frequent adjectives people used to describe the state, both the landscape and its people. We’d had a … More USA Part 5: The Great Big Boring Plains (Ordway CO to St Louis MO 27/07-11/08/17)
There was one last famous rock display to squeeze in before leaving Utah. On my day off in Moab I cycled over to Arches National Park to admire the surreal formations with the swarms of other sweaty tourists. As you may already have guessed, there were a lot of Arches to snap that day… I … More USA Part 4: Company in Colorado (Moab UT to Eads Co 10/07/17-26/07/17)
There is no shortage of things to see in Utah and I squeezed in as much as I could crossing the state. The Brian Head wildfire was raging east of Cedar City and so headed further south. The road I wanted to cycle was closed and anything else around there would have been an unpleasant … More USA Part 3: Utah, You Rock! (St. George UT to Moab UT 27/06/17-09/07/17)
JKB's Bike Ride 