Category: Croatia

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Cycle Touring Videos

Cycle Touring Videos

 

Welcome to our Cycle Touring Videos from our France to China cycle trip, Canada trip and other cycle trips. I hope you enjoy them. The photos and videos are shot on a GoPro Hero 2, a Lumix GF1 camera and an iphone SE.

Safe travels!

Kelly & Michael x

France to China by bike Cycle Touring Videos

  1. France
  2. Italy
  3. The first 5000km (France to Iran)
  4. Iran
  5. Turkmenistan & Uzbekistan
  6. Kyrgyzstan & Kazakhstan
  7. Kazakhstan & China
  8. A Day in the Life of a Cycle Tourist

Other Cycle Touring Videos

  1. Canada
  2. Snapshot Canada: every 100km across Canada
  3. Farewell Canada
  4. Cycling the USA
  5. Cycling Nicaragua

The Cycle Touring Videos

France to China by bike Cycle Touring Videos

France

This is where the journey began at Sty Foy ski station in the Alps! We were working a ski season in the French Alps, when Kelly was in a ski accident, and was no longer able to ski, run, walk, or do anything, except cook and eat. The doctor advised her, that cycling would be good rehab for the knee… and so, with that, the idea of cycling to China was born. With absolutely no experience, next to no planning, and several injuries, we headed off – feeling… confident! Lucky for us the first few days were all down hill, followed by the rest of the week conquering 2 mountains passes. Read more about our cycle trip through France.

Italy

When we made it to Italy, we knew that we would be able to make it the whole way to China – despite what others thought. This was the first country we cycle the whole way across. Read more about our cycle across Italy.

The first 5000km from France to China

Unfortunately, we lost all our original video footage from the first half of our trip. This happened at some point during the trip, but we didn’t realise until we got home, and by this time it was too late to do much about it. We did however manage to retrieve this video about the first 5000km cycling through France, Italy, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia, Greece, Turkey and Iran. Click on the country name to read more about our cycle trip through those countries.

 

Iran

We didn’t know what to expect when cycling through Iran, but as soon as we crossed the border from Turkey, we were welcomed by friendly and extremely generous people. A day didn’t go by where we weren’t given gifts of fresh fruit, water, smiles and waves. One of the hottest, but also one of my favourite countries on the cycle trip.

Turkmenistan & Uzbekistan

We were only able to get a 5 day transit visa for Turkmenistan, which meant 5 days to cycle 600km across a very hot desert on a very bad road. Luckily, we made it to the border in time. After Turkmenistan was Uzbekistan. The most challenging country during our cycle trip. Bad roads, injured dogs, boring scenery, a killer headwind, but some amazing people. Read more about our adventures in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Kyrgyzstan & Kazakhstan

When we arrived into Kyrgyzstan we were greeted with smooth highways, beautiful scenery and lots of cows, oh and mountains. We made it to Bishkek, and then from there cycled into the last Stan of the trip, Kazakhstan. Read more about our adventures in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan & China

The last few days cycling in Kazakhstan were cold! We were looking forward to getting to China and exchanging our bikes for backpacks. The cycle into China was easy, however the bad pollution lead us to hitchhike to Urumqi. Once in Urumqi we sold the bikes, and made our way to Beijing as backpackers. Read more about our China experience.

A Day in the Life of a Cycle Tourist

Ever wonder what it’s like to be a cycling nomad? This video gives a glimpse into the life of a cycle tourist, while we cycled through the Kazakh desert, during our France to China cycle trip.

Other Cycle Touring Videos

Canada

The cycle journey started on 27th June 2016 in Vancouver, British Columbia. We then spent the next 3.5 months cycling 7000km across Canada to Halifax. The cycle trip took us through the Rocky Mountains, the Prairie lands, the lake lands of Ontario, French Canada and finally the Maritimes.

Click here to read about our cycle trip across Canada.

Snapshot Canada: every 100km across Canada 

We decided to take a photo every 100km that we cycled across Canada. The idea was to put the photos together as a slide show in the hope that it will give a perspective of how the Canadian landscape changes coast to coast. I think it definitely puts the prairies and also Ontario into perspective in terms of distance. The road quality also changes drastically. In total we cycled 7000km across the country.

Farewell Canada: Cycling Canada to the USA

After spending the winter in Halifax, we were ready to start the next leg of our cycle trip, cycling to the US! This video is about our last week in Canada, cycling from Halifax to the US border.

Cycling the USA

Michael and I, entered the USA in Maine, then headed down the coast to Boston. We spent about 3 weeks cycling in New England, before heading West to New York state. From there we had a ‘slight’ change in plan!

Cycling Nicaragua

We spent 6 weeks cycling around Nicaragua in Central America, during the wet season. Friendly people, awesome beaches and some surprisingly cycle-friendly paths and roads.

 

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Croatia on a bike with a Mike

Croatia on a bike

Beautiful Croatia

Croatia on a bike was supposed to be our ‘rest’ time. It didn’t quite turn out that way. We arrived into Split very early on a Friday morning, and there were people everywhere. It was supposed to still be the low season. If we were in Split in the low season, I never want to see it in the high season. A beautiful port city, but full of cruise ships and day-trippers, and it seemed that they arrived by the hundred. It was not the easiest place to cycle, and we ended up just pushing the bikes through the crowds. We only spent the day in Split, and then caught the afternoon ferry to Stari Grad on Hvar Island.

Unfortunately, wild camping in Croatia is strictly illegal, and it’s not uncommon for police to issue on the spot fines of 150-900 euro for wild camping. For that reason we decided it safer to stay at official camping sites. Only a small set back to exploring Croatia on a bike.

Croatia on a bike
Dubrovnik

Island hopping

We had planned to stay at a campground in Stari Grad, however when we arrived, we discovered the entire campground had been abandoned. This was the only campground in Stari Grad. We decided to cycle 10km to Jelsa, in the hope that the campground there would be open. We arrived at Kamp Mina, an absolutely amazing campsite. For about 6 Euro each we got to pitch our tent right on the coast, with amazing views, plus hot showers.

It was great to not have to worry about water, toilets, or being asked to move on. We decided to stay here for 3 nights so we could explore some of the island on our bikes without having the panniers attached. Good thing we did. The following day we decided to cycle to Hvar Town. 25km each way consisting of several steep 10% inclines. This is when we discovered how much easier it was cycling without the panniers and extra weight.

Cycling across Hvar Island

From Jelsa we cycled across the island to the small town Sucuraj. The cycle across the island was probably one of my favorite cycle days. The weather wasn’t particular sunny or warm, but there was no wind, and the views were stunning. We cycled along the main road of the island, which seemed more like a cycle path than a main road. Cyclists out numbering cars by the dozen. It was great, even with the odd 10% incline. This was the same day we realized just how many German-speaking tourists there were in Croatia. We discovered how popular it was to explore Croatia on a bike.

Usually when travelling people assume I’m English, Australian or French (apparently I sometimes speak Spanish with a French accent). Never in my life has anyone asked whether I’m German (I assume this is because I’m relatively short, with dark hair). Stick me on a bicycle, put me in Croatia (with a tall, skinny, bald guy) and everyone assumes I’m German – strange!

Once we arrived in Sucuraj we caught the ferry back to the mainland at Drvenik, and stayed at a nearby campsite in Zaostrog (also full of very friendly Germans). The following day we had planned to cycle all the way to Dubrovnik, a whole 120km, however the weather changed for the worse. Not only did we face many challenging, steep inclines, we were also battling gall force winds, and were consistently racing an on-coming storm.

Bosnia for lunch

We made it in and out of Bosnia, just before the storm had caught up with us. After 88km we decided to call it a day and camped in Slano, about 30km outside Dubrovnik. That night was probably one of the worse nights of the trip so far. Strong winds reaching over 100kph, heavy rains and consistent thunderstorms. It was hard to believe just a few days earlier we were cycling in beautiful sunny, clear blue skies.

Bosnia
Bosnia crossing (10km)

Here comes the rains

Around 5am we woke to discover that water was seeping in through the bottom of the tent. Under our camping mats a pool of water had gathered. It turned out we had pitched the tent where the water couldn’t drain. We gave up on sleep after that and took shelter in the small outside communal area, and attempted to dry out our stuff. The rain continued until midday. When it did finally start to ease off we decided to make an escape. After a horrible night we decided to book ourselves into a guesthouse in Dubrovnik for 2 nights.

Yes, I’m a Game of Thrones fan!

I’m afraid I’m one of the many people that are hooked on the HBO series, “Game of Thrones“. I’m currently making my way through the books, and downloading the latest episodes whenever the chance arises. For those of you that don’t know, the Old Town of Dubrovnik is King’s Landing in Game of Thrones. Exciting stuff (for me anyway)! Regardless of this, Dubrovnik is a beautiful (though not very cycle-friendly) city, with amazing views of the harbor, the Adriatic Sea and the nearby islands – it definitely beat my expectations.

After we left Dubrovnik we continued south down the coast towards our next country, Montenegro. Unfortunately the weather still hadn’t improved, with more storms being forecasted for the week ahead. Let’s hope the weatherman is wrong! And that wraps up our experience of Croatia on a bike!

Croatia on a bike
Sunset at one of the campgrounds on Hvar

Croatia on a bike stats

Accommodation: 5 nights in official campsites, 2 nights in a guesthouse

Kilometers cycled in Croatia: 300km (“mas o menos”)

Kilometers: 1300km

Days in Croatia: 8 days (7 nights)

Total days cycling: 24 days

Average spendings per day: 16 euro ($23AUD)

Bureks consumed: 4

Punctures: Still 0 (though I’ve probably just jinxed it – and jinxed it I did)