Tag Archives: bicycle touring

Touring on a bicycle, whether for work or play.

Living and working abroad: cash issues

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IMG_20160616_204029Trip update: For most of this week, I have visited the Darvell Bruderhof in Robertsbridge, East Sussex. This is open countryside, a land of rolling hills, green fields and woodlands. This is also the area of the famous battle of Hastings, when the Normans under William the Conqueror landed in England 950 years ago on the 22nd of October. The towns of Senlac (now called Battle) and Crowhurst claim to be the site of the battle, but there is more than enough history to go around. Continue reading →

Living and working abroad: cash issues

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IMG_20160616_204029Trip update: For most of this week, I have visited the Darvell Bruderhof in Robertsbridge, East Sussex. This is open countryside, a land of rolling hills, green fields and woodlands. This is also the area of the famous battle of Hastings, when the Normans under William the Conqueror landed in England 950 years ago on the 22nd of October. The towns of Senlac (now called Battle) and Crowhurst claim to be the site of the battle, but there is more than enough history to go around. Continue reading →

From France to England, 950 years later

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IMG_20160528_141407Last Saturday, I rested in David and Lucille Wilson’s home, napping between rain showers. They have carved a little piece of paradise on the edge of the Burgundy region of France, expanding the 16th-century Prebytère (vicarage) next to the parish church of Livry. Flower gardens, lawn, vegetable garden and a recently acquired neighbouring parcel grace the property. Continue reading →

Rolling on the Riviera

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On my way to Rome last Saturday, I learned that the usual places where I stay were filled. My friends were out of town. Happy Camping Roma entranceI booked a tent site at the Happy Camping Roma, across the Via Aurelia from my old high school. I had camped there in May 1986 (see the blog post for 10 May 2014), when it was still a primitive campground. Today it is a vast, modern complex with cabins, bungalows, dormitory “tent houses”, a pool, restaurant, bar and discotheque. Continue reading →

Sea Story: “Pri-Fly” (1967)

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1967-pri-flyIn the summer of 1967, I was given my one shot at leadership ashore while at the US Naval Academy. As a Midshipman Second Class, I was a squad leader in a cohort of other 2/c midshipmen (rising college juniors, for those needing a conversion) going through summer training. At the Naval Academy, the summers before our Third Class and First Class years were devoted to afloat training, the 3/c filling enlisted billets on ships and the 1/c trying junior officer roles. Continue reading →

Living abroad is not tourism: III. The Sojourner’s Permit

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IMG_20160510_180552Trip update: This week’s blog is the trip update. Besides riding between offices, I have packed a suitcase to mail ahead, packed and checked my panniers for the road. By last Thursday, all perishable food and opened containers were gone. With luck, next week I will run one last load of laundry (linens, bedclothes, towels) and sanitize the decks and countertops, defrost the refrigerator (leaving it open), turn off the electricity, water and gas, and lock the door on my way out. Continue reading →

Living abroad is not tourism: II. Establishing residence

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Sperlonga

Sperlonga

Trip update: Last weekend, I rode North along the coast to Terracina. My objective was to take the ancient Via Appia from Terracina into the Aurunci mountains past Fondi and Itri and back to Formia, about 70 km round trip. I had never ridden that section of the Via Appia, because I was always taking the coast road (the Via Flacca). Continue reading →

Living abroad is not tourism: I. Getting permission to stay.

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DSCN0368Trip update: On Saturday and Sunday, I took long rides into the Aurunci Mountains, which plunge into the Gulf of Gaeta. During World War II, these hills were the western end of the Gunther Line; the Sangro Valley, where I was last fall and winter, was the other end. Entire towns vanished into rubble and thousands of soldiers and civilians perished on that line during the last eight months of the war. When I lived here in the early 1970s, many square miles of the hills still contained minefields waiting to be cleared. Continue reading →

Looking ahead: Intercontinental 2016

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Trip update: Saturday before the Great Vigil of Easter, I rode out to the Castelli Romani in the Alban Hills. Basically, I got on the Via Appia two blocks from the hostel and rode south for two hours. IMG_20160326_123308I passed the aqueduct of Acqua Felice, where the earth has risen so much since ancient times, that people have turned the tops of the arches into storage cages. The ancient road led me gently up to the Regional Park of the Castelli Romani, where I had a splendid view of the Agro Pontino (the Pontine Plain). IMG_20160326_144615It was known as the Pontine Marshes, an inhabitable, malarial swamp, until Mussolini had them drained. The air was clear, thanks to there being no industry or traffic belching fumes on the holiday weekend. I could see the Tyrrhenian Sea 40 km away. Continue reading →

Bargains around the corner

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IMG_20160314_205426Trip update: Last weekend I finished moving into the new flat in Formia. Well, not new, considering that the building is several hundred years old, but freshly painted. By mid-week, I had replaced the burned out incandescent lamps in the chandeliers with LEDs and the brilliance lifts my spirits every time that I turn them on. Continue reading →