About the author

Laura Moss

Laura Moss spent 16 months cycling 13,000 miles around the world. She is a director of The Adventure Syndicate and organises the annualCycle Touring Festival. Her husband, Tim, runs this website. Read more...

12 Comments

  1. 1

    sean newall

    Yasss cant beat living off the jam sandwiches! Agree with you on the tourist attractions usually being some of the least interesting part of a journey.

    Enjoying the journey and videos you have been posting. Its now going to get all the more interesting with you two starting the Asia section of the trip!

    Reply
  2. 2

    Kip

    I have saved up 7500 US to go on a three months cycling trek, starting off in most like Nice and down South to Cartagena; where I have to be in Ibiza for work for four days. Then I am going to fly from Ibiza to Amsterdam, and after work there for four days (work for a concert promoter), I am going to go Amsterdam to Prague through Germany (with many stops along the way). From there my intentions are to most likely either go to Italy or take a hopper to India, though I’d not be opposed to biking through the Balkans. My intentions are to eventually end up in Rio for the Olympics, My budget, though I am bringing 7500 US, is 2 Euro a day, and of course 50 each time, one night, in the bigger cities, to enjoy some good wine and food, or what’s the point. I can do snails and grass and ramen 10 days straight, but in Rome, or Prague or Venice or Rio, I want to go see a few locals hangouts and by the bar locals a round; im surely not going to invite them back to my tent free grazing in some wooded area and talk about my urine color from all the biking Ive done.

    Do you think I am taking too much, too little?> How much would you bring?

    Reply
    1. 2.1

      Tim Moss

      Thanks for the question Kip. As you can see in the article, we spent £700 (~$1,000) in the same time/place that you’re taking $7,500 so you should have plenty. If you’re taking too much then perhaps you’ll come home with enough change to plan another trip.

      You might like this article: How Much Does It Cost To Cycle Around The World?

      Reply
  3. 3

    Michael

    I’m hoping to do something similar when the weather warms up. I am an Australian currently working in England trying to save money for my own European adventure and am hoping to do on the cheapest budget possible in order to get the full experience and see everything I want to. I see that you wild camped throughout your voyage. I’m hoping to do the majority wild camping then bits and pieces in hostels or in paid campgrounds.
    How did you find the wild camping aspect of the trip? Did you have any difficulties in terms of being caught or finding places to camp? Were you camping in tents most nights or just setting up under the stars?

    Reply
    1. 3.1

      Tim Moss

      Hi Michael, thanks for the message. Great to hear that you are thinking about going on a big bike trip.

      In answer to your questions:

      Wild camping was great and we never had any real problems. Unless we were out in the countryside with no buildings around, we asked someone for permission first.

      We would find somewhere that looked suitable – a park or patch of grass – then find the nearest house/shop/petrol station/farm and talk to them. We carried a letter translated into the local language to help with this (“Hello, we are Tim and Laura. We’ve cycled here from the UK. Is there somewhere safe we can camp?”).

      Our default was to camp in our tent but, if the weather was nice or we were somewhere where it paid to be a bit more subtle, we slept under the stars.

      You can see a breakdown of where we slept each night here: http://thenextchallenge.org/map/

      And we have a database of hundreds of other long-distance cyclists here: http://longdistance.bike/

      I hope that helps.

      Tim.

      Reply
  4. 4

    Hiten

    Hye Tim ,I am Indian and I have been planning about my trip of Europe from Lisbon to Saint Petersburg at the end of this year .i want to know is it safe for a person going alone and how much per day did you travelled .

    Reply
    1. 4.1

      Tim Moss

      Thanks Hiten. Great to hear you’re planning a trip across Europe.

      As mentioned in the article, it cost us an average of £9/day across Europe. You can see more details about the costs of long-distance cycling in my article: How much does it cost to cycle around the world?

      As for safety, I suspect hundreds, if not thousands of people travel across Europe on bikes every year without having any trouble.

      Have a great trip!

      Tim.

      Reply
      1. 4.1.1

        Hiten

        Thank you sir. It’s really helpful. I will plan my trip as soon as I save enough .best of luck for your future journey. ?

  5. 5

    Loz

    Bike importance and luggage weight

    Hi I’m thinking of doing a coastal ride from Greece, Croatia around coast line of Italy and ending in Barcelona and if I can go the length around Spain to Gibraltar and Portugal.

    I have a few questions firstly the importance of a quality bike ? It may sound obviously that a better bike would be of greater comfort and durability. But I wonder as I can pick up an average relatively cheap bike in Greece would this do the distance?

    I was looking into hammocks, has anyone tried to sleep in these for long periods as they seem much more light weight and practical.

    What essential items did you take or wish you had in hienzsight?

    Reply
    1. 5.1

      Tim Moss

      Hi Loz

      Thanks for the message. Great to hear that you’re thinking about doing a big bike ride.

      I think you’re right that the most important things in a touring bike are comfort and durability. They don’t necessarily coincide with being more expensive though.

      I have no idea about bike availability/costs in Greece, but if a bike is rideable for half a mile then it’s probably going to be rideable for a few hundred miles.

      For the question about equipment, you can see our full kit list here. And there’s more information in the following articles:
      What we wore when cycling around the world (and at -20°C)
      The electronics we carried on our ride
      Anatomy of a wet weather cyclist

      As for hammocks, I’ve not used one but loads of people do use them for extended periods. I think the main issue is having to find things to tie them to every night.

      Best of luck!

      Tim.

      Reply
  6. 6

    Felix Bystedt

    Hi guys!

    Great post and thanks for all the info regarding costs and such!

    Me and my partner are looking to do a trip around Europe starting next spring starting from Sweden. We were wondering how well trained you suggest to be for such a trip? We are both in our early 20s and cycle to work every day, about 6 KMs but have considered started doing some longer distance cycling as a bit of training a few times a week to get ready for such a trip.

    Any answer is appreciated!

    /Felix

    Reply
    1. 6.1

      Tim Moss

      Hi Felix

      How fit you should be before starting on a cycle tour depends on your expectations.

      If you have limited time, want to cover a lot of ground and would prefer not to be tired and achey all of the time, then it would pay to do some training beforehand. Perhaps a couple of weekend rides of the sort of daily distances you hope to do on your trip, ideally with panniers or whatever luggage you plan to take.

      If, however, you are happy to just pootle along then stop when you’re tired and/or are happy collapsing in a heap at the end of the day, then you might not need to do any training at all. You’ll soon get fit on the road.

      I am very much in the latter camp!

      All the best,
      Tim.

      Reply

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