The reality of travelling on dirt roads, generally, is that if they are not muddy then they are dusty. Most of the roads that we traverse in the Guatemalan mountains show evidence of the exceptionally heavy rains of the previous wet season – whole sections of road have been swept away by landslides – but [...]
Tagged camping, guatemalaI finally reach the Gunahabibicanes Peninsula and head straight for the National Park Ecological Station for information.
The station manager opens our exchange by offering to buy my bike. I explain that without a bike my life wouldn’t actually function and that it wasn’t really just a bike but also my companion and friend. He looks [...]
Belize hasn’t entered my plans at all until now and the only thing I really know about the place is that it is nominally an English-speaking country and that Belize City has something of a nasty reputation. Casting my eyes over my map, I see about three major roads marked in the whole country and [...]
Tagged belize, border crossings, dirt roads, wildlifeDusk. A grey sky over cleared burning fields. Howler monkeys hoot and growl from nearby stands of trees. A man walks along a foot path from the fields towards the road.
I pass a rough building constructed of wide weathered grey wooden boards. The shack is set in a muddy yard in which chickens, turkeys, and [...]
Planning isn’t always my strong point so, after visiting El Capulin, I return to Zitacuaro to pick up the things I left at the hotel and then have to cycle around 40 kilometres back up the same hill, past the butterfly sanctuaries, over the mountains, towards Mexico City. I leave Zitacuaro late and camp a [...]
Tagged hospitality, mexicoWhat I love about touring on a bike without a fixed plan is a life of constant contrast. Having started the day waking in my tent in the middle of field, I arrive in San Miguel de Allende in the afternoon of my birthday, with little idea of where I am – I am here [...]
Tagged hospitality, mexico, peopleLeaving Recowata, Jeff and Jason and I head in opposite directions. The boys make their way back to Creel while I set off towards Urique, 160 kilometres away. I camp alone, for the first time in over a month, near the highway and, in the morning, set off into a cold grey day. The weather [...]
Tagged mexico, mountains, people, snow and ice, winterI arrive in Flagstaff with serious business to attend to. My trusty bike has taken a beating over the last five months and my lower gears, despite some maintenance work at the Canyon, are no longer functioning. The chain won’t stay on the smallest ring under any kind of load.
Luckily, I have been set up [...]
The temperature plummets during the night and I wake to icy rain. I cook breakfast under the inadequate shelter of my fly and pack my wet things onto the bike. The road surface on the last ten miles to the highway is good and so I am soonback on tarmac with only fifteen miles [...]
Tagged a place to stay, arizona, canyon country, friendsI emerge from the desert dirt roads onto pavement.
After passing through the small settlement of Goffs, where I spent the morning chatting to a volunteer at the East Mojave Desert Museum, who kindly lets me download my photos there, I find myself on the Route 66, a highway which actually no longer exists, heading towards [...]