After just two weeks I already dropped all the plans I made regarding the next two months. While I am not quite sure about where to go, I am most certain that I will not be going to Northern Europe any time soon.
The reason for this is that I had mostly bad weather the past two weeks. Statistically speaking this doesn’t mean that it will still be bad in a few weeks, but I came to realize just how much more I enjoy traveling in warm weather (and let’s be honest May and June are always rainy in Central/Northern Europe).
There is a certain beauty in sleeping under a clear blue sky, washing oneself in the sea without almost freezing to death and waking up without realizing that your tent is wet and you have to wait for it to dry …
Anyways … I don’t want too complain to much, all I am saying is that I prefer the alternative and so I am going to go south. Currently there are two ideas floating around in my head:
- ride down to the Pyrennes and from there through Spain to Morocco (from Morocco either straight down through Africa or by ferry back to Italy and then the Balkan)
- go to Marseille and from there head east towards the Balkan (which would also mean that I could get a chance to meet up with my buddy Chris on his world tour, before we go separate ways for good).
Both alternatives seem very intriguing and each has it’s advantages. I’ve only seen Spain’s coastline to the east, which is not ideal for bicycle touring, so I would love to see more of the country. Crossing the Sahara Desert from Morocco during July seems a bit hard, but I guess it would be doable. My only worry is the conflict between Western Sahara and Morocco. Skipping out on Spain would mean that I have lots of time for the Balkan, but I wonder if maybe two months are too much, because of what I have already seen.
UPDATE: I decided I am going through Italy, Slovenia, Croatia and then through the Balkan as planned. I won’t be meeting Chris though, because his plans changed aswell 