As promised here is the update regarding our one week holiday on sunny Zakynthos, Greece between 7-14 May.

Zakynthos is the southernmost and third largest in both size and population of the Ionian Islands.
The climate is mild mediterranean with heavy rainfall during the winter and very sunny summers.  Due to this the island has a lush vegitaion and because of this the island has been nicknamed Fior de Levante (flower of the east ) by the Venetians. Next to this the island is  famous for its nesting beaches for the Loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) and its rich flora and fauna.  A great place for biologist!
Not only the nature is of interest but also the varied culture of the island. Because of its stategic location it was the crossroads for numerous nations and cultures, ranging from the Romans, Byzantines, Venetians, French, England and now Greece. This resulted in very rich culture which is still visible today.

We staid in the Captains Hotel overlooking Argassi. We had an all inclusive package so we could enjoy the greek food all day long. Because we agreed to bring some things for the local travel agent we also got a room with sea view. Not bad I made a panorama from our view:

Panorama of view from hotel

The first day we took it easy and only visited Argassi and went for a walk along the sea. Argassi is a tourist town and mainly consists out of small supermarkets, souvenir shops and restaurants. The surrounding hills and the beach and the sea are full of life so we had big fun searching for fish, hermit crabs, anemones etc etc. And everywhere we went we were surrounded by the smell of flowers, hmmmm.
The second day we visited Zakynthos city. It is a nice little relaxed town with a small harbour and some small squares and shopping streets. People are living outside most of the time so there was a lot to be seen.

The third day we did a cruise around the island as we wanted to get a better idea about the island itself and we hoped to see some dolphins.  The weather was beautiful but very windy so we could not go around the island and could not visit all the nice caves they have. However, on the way back we were very lucky as the boat was followed by some dolphins and a few times we could see them very well.

The forth day we did a touristy bus tour as this was for us the only way to travel around the island. The island is big and especially the north east part is very mountainous so a car or scooter is necessary. We could have used the bicycle but then we would have had to camp somewhere During the bus tour we visited the most beautiful parts on the island. The first stop was on a hill above Zakynthos city offering a splendid view over the city and the harbour:

Panorama of Zakynthos city

Then we went up to the north. The north and north west are very mountainous and dry and here only specialised plants can survive. The only thing that can be cultivated there are olive trees. After a visit to a ship wreck, a monastry and after a small boat tour from Porto Vromi we headed south. The south and South East of the island is flat and humid with lots of farm fields, lemon trees and wine yards. And what is a visit to Greece without tasting the wine? So we also “had to” taste the local wines and we were very happy that we did not have to cycle back to the hotel :-p

The fifth day it was time to be a little more sportive so we made a bicycle tour along the south east coast of the island. The rented bikes were not that good, the weather was hot and the road more steep then we had expected so we cycled to a closer beach than planned. This proved to be  good decision as we were the only ones on the beach. We made ourselves comfortable in a small hut on the beach and had a great time walking on the beach and in the warm sea searching for all kinds of plants and fish. And when not we were relaxing and listening to the music on the Greek radio   

The sixth day we wanted to cycle to the sea turtle reservate at the south end of the island. Following a quiet road through the lush south part of the island we reached the Kalamaki beach without any problems. We went into the shallow sea hoping to see some sea turtles as in May and June they lay there eggs at this beach. And we were veeeery lucky as we saw on adult Loggerhead swimming closely past us

The seventh day we visited Zakynthos city once again for some tourist shopping and also to enjoy the greek coffee specialities like Freddoccino or Frappé, hmmmm.
We hope to be able to visit this island again one day as 7 days is to short for visiting this beautiful place. Like always, one picture says more than a thousand words so don’t forget to have a look at the pictures. You can find them here.

In two weeks we will attend a wedding in Germany i we will make many pictures for sure so stay tuned!
All the best, Magda and Marc

Sorry, sorry and even more sorry for the complete lack of updated the last year but it was a very hectic roller coaster ride.

So time for a short summary:
After my promotion I started to look for a Job in Poland as I wanted to live together with Magda , my girlfriend (yes yes, she is the one who was writing comments all the time during my world journey). Finally I found a job as  Incident handler at Capgemini in Katowice. However, to get the job I had to move to Poland within two weeks which was A LOT of work. But thanks to the help of all our friends all went fine and we are now living together in Tychy with our cat, Panthera.

My new job takes up most of my time and when not we are both busy in the appartment and the garden as there is still a lot to be done.
Next to this we spend a lot of our time on something bigger: WE ARE GETTING MARRIED ON 28.08.10
So now we are running around doing reservations, paperwork (how they looove stamps in Poland), logistics etc etc. Great fun but we don’t have that much time for cycling and other things at the moment.

Cycling? Yes Magda didn’t get the traditional ring for our engagement but a great bicycle put together by Stephan. Thanks a lot!
So from now on we will cycle together aaaand not only in Poland but also abroad. One month ago we went for a great holiday on Zakynthos, Greece. It is a beautiful small island, famous for its flora and fauna and we did do many trips, by boat, on foot and on the bicycle.

The rest of our free time we wil use for attending the weddings of our German friends; there must be something in the air this year Nonetheless I am sure we will make many nice trips in Poland and also in Germany this year.
I promise that the update with Zakynthos will come veeeery soon so in the meantime don’t forget to enjoy the pictures of one year living in beautiful Poland! You can find them here.

All the best,
Marc and Magda

Sorry for the looong silence but it took a long time to get a new router (more than 2 months) and by then I was either learning for my PhD-defence or visiting Poland (more below).

Anyway, a lot has happened so let’s start.

First of all I want to announce that I survived 5 years of PhD-work and my PhD-defence with magna cum laude. Not bad. So I am a Doctor now, hoooray!!
A big thanks to all my friends and family who supported me through all these years! I am sorry that I could not give you the attention you all deserved and the mess I made in the office at times. My colleagues build me a nice doctor cart (a German tradition) and I had a BIG celebration with my friends afterwards. You can find the pictures here. They are mostly unsharp as I had forgotten to tell the Polish photographer to use the flash

As you all know I like to travel so even during my preparations for my defence I travelled to the alps with my friends Mark and Jeroen to do some ‘’light” mountaineering. The weather was great, the mountains were steep and we did some great hiking near Kruen in the south of Bavaria. We visited the Wettersteingebirge and Karwendelgebirge and because of the loose rocks climbing was at times very tricky. But the views were as always unbelievable. The hardest trip was to the Meiler-Huette as we chose the difficult ascend and it was true. We had to climb almost 800 meters without a track, so it was real rockclimbing. The rocks were slippery and unstable so it was quite tricky at some places and the drop was looong. But we made it to the pass and were rewarded with a beautiful panorama. After we crossed the remains of an old glacier we could enjoy some good Bavarian food and beer in the Meiler Huette at (2374m). You can find the pictures here. More will follow soon…

Afterwards I had a short brake before traveling east, all the way to Tychy in Poland. Magda (my biggest blog fan and more) invited me for the wedding of her brother and I never say no to an invition, especially not to a polish wedding. The marriage was in the Catholic church (a big thanks to Magda for telling me when to stand and sit) and afterwards there was a great party with LOT’s of wodka, delicious food (kloesti, sausages etc, hmmm), wodka, dancing, wodka, funny games and mooore wodka. I had a great time with Magda and her family and I was second in the “carry a lady” contest. It was not that difficult as I had carried a heavy backpack in the mountains a few weeks before. Lady or backpack, what’s the difference

Then Magda and I went to Zakopane in the Tatra mountains in the far south of Poland and had a beautiful but cold time down there. I wanted to do some mountaineering but things turned out different as most passes etc were already closed because of snow. Nevertheless we managed to do some nice hikes and although the pictures are not the best (I need a new camera) they still show the beauty of the Tatra Mountains and the typical buildings from that area. More pictures can be found here. I will go back there for sure If they only had heating in the hotel…

Next week I will visit Magda again and hang around in Tychy so who knows I will make some more pictures. In the mean time enjoy the pictures and the panorama’s I created using Clevr.

So stay tuned!
Marc

Sorry for the looong silence but I don’t have internet at the moment as my router has died. As soon as this is fixed there will be a BIG update with pictures of my hiking holiday in southern Bavaria near Mittenwald and pictures of a Polish wedding I will attend next week thanks to Magdalena
So don’t despair and see you soon!

Marc

A short post but the content was A LOT OF WORK. Because….
The roadbook is finally ready! Hoooray!
So what is in there:

All the gps data of the places I staid for the night including recommendations for hotels
All the gps data and altitude of the passes I had to cycle
Information on where to find shops, water etc
Information on the roadconditions (2007)
Information on the Kora around Kailash (Tibet)
And MUCH more!

Feel free to use it if you are planning your next tour or want to read the details of my journey but please give a little credit (a link) to this site as it was A LOT OF WORK to gather the data. Here we go:

10 countries (I count Tibet as a country)
9 months
10.234 km
3807 km extremely bad bumpy offroad (37.2%)
Avarage speed 14,4 km/h
Cycled 29 higher passes, 14 between 4000 and 5000m and 6 of 5000m and more (Mont Blanc: 4811m)
Lowest temperature: -25C (Tong La, Tibet), highest temperature: +50C (Karakum desert, Turkmenistan)
Lowest altitude: -31m (Caspian see, Iran), highest altitude: +5660m, Droma La (Tibet)
41% of the time I camped

And last but not least I had to fix 3 punctures, endured 4 days of foodpoisoning and 6 months of stomach problems

My final google earth file is almost ready so stay tuned for the next update!

Marc

As I am preparing my next project I’m also looking for better ways to charge the batteries for all the electronics I carry. The home-made battery charger is OK but very fragile and I had lots of problems during the trip.

Not anymore! Thanks to kind sponsoring by Zzing I now have a very fancy, beautiful battery charger! Thank you Zzing team

So how does it work? The package is delivered in a stylish wooden box and contains the Zzing and the components to install the Zzing on the bicycle. The Zzing itself can be easily removed using a mounting system so you can take it with you.
The Zzing contains an accupack (5x 2400 or 2700 NiMh) which charges all kind of equipment by using an USB-Out located at the left side on the front. In the middle you can find a bright LED light so you can use it as a torch. On the far right it has a power-in, which connects to the dynamo (hub -or rim).

When you’re cycling the power can be used directly to charge all kind of equipment but because of the accu you can also charge when you’re not cycling. Additionally the Zzing can be charged using an AC-adapter so it is also very neat to have when you stay in hotels irregularly when backpacking

The following weeks I’ll buy the cables etc to charge my mobile phone, camera, AA batteries and GPS over USB and start testing. I’ll also torture the Zzing in Bayreuth the coming months on offroad tours to test if it would survive the harsh conditions encountered during my journeys.

So stay tuned!
Marc

During my travels I always use a voice recorder as I am to lazy to keep a diary. The last week I finally listened to all of them and I want to share some of them with you. They show the hardship and adventures (including bureaucratic ones) I had during my travels and my opinion about the people and countries I travelled through. It is all very personal and sometimes my opinion is very colored (see India) so don’t feel offended. I hope you all get an idea what makes me ‘tick’ as a world cyclist and what kind of experiences you get when cycling over the world. The recordings are in dutch.

Have fun

Why I prefer to cycle:

Russian soldiers at the Afgani border:

Fighting my way up through the storm on the Kyzal Art pass (4289m):

Small sample of the incredible Chinese Buro-crazy :

Beautiful hell of Tibet, climbing the Lhakpa La (5252m!) in an ice-storm:

First impressions of Nepal-paradise after 1.5 months icecold and remote Tibet:

Crazy India, an example after 24h waiting on the train and finally getting my bicycle:

Cycling in Mombay, India, on a big road and how to find a hotel :

The website had some small updates today. I added my previous travels and some sponsor links and removed some small mistakes.
Furthermore I uploaded the Google Earth KMZ file with all the locations where you can find water (W) and food (F) between Tabriz and Theran (Iran). I hope it will be of some use for the highway cyclists.

As I have received various complaints that the web address was hard to remember I decided to move. Thanks to Solid Hosting I will move to a new address soon: http://www.itchywheels.nl. My very own domain, hooray
Moving will take some time and as we will upgrade the site to a newer version there might be some downtime of this website. But it will be back leaner and meaner than ever
In the meantime feel free to enjoy my previous travels through Scotland and Ireland and Jordan and Egypt. It is both in Dutch and English.

Have fun and don’t forget to check now and then!
Marc

A lot has happened since the last update so here goes.

The last weeks I have been busy organising all the paperwork after coming back to Germany. I had to renew my insurance, work permit etc etc. Lots of work but peanuts compared to the central asian burocrasy

Furthermore I worked on my talk and after sorting through 5000+ photos it is finished now. I already have some talks planned. You can find them on the lefthand side under ‘Talks’.

The google earth file is almost ready and I am now finishing up the last bits. I want to geo-tag my pictures so you all can see the pictures in google earth but it will take some time.

So stay tuned for the next update!

Marc