Why?- why not!
Where?- country info
What? - things I took with me
WHY DO IT?
During a thought-provoking bout of illness in
1996 (borellia induced pericarditis - inflammation of the sack around the
heart) I formed various plans of what to do when/if I got better. One such
plan developed over the following years into what jokingly became known
as the 'Tour de Liz' 2000.
Amongst other things the tour had to be in Europe,
fit in with prevailing winds, weather and my children's school term. I
had to find a solution to the childcare problem and people to cycle with
me.
The plan that evolved was to cycle from Gibraltar
to Skagen, Denmark in an 7-week window, starting on Easter weekend in Gibraltar
and getting home or to Skagen in time for my children’s summer holidays
at the beginning of June.
I had never been away from my family for more than a day or two and although we’d had several nice cycling holidays (circular or central base) I’d never done anything so mad (or bad and dangerous as some people thought) before.
The final planning and preparation for the trip was carried out in the first months of 2000. Living in Sweden, training consisted mainly of ‘spinning’ classes at the local gym and a few longer rides as winter weather allowed.
I had already gathered basic information for a
European ride from the CTC, Fodor’s guides, the German and Danish Cycling
Federations, tourist offices (found on the Internet) as well as other information
found on various web-sites. Certain specific information about cycling
on roads in Southern Spain was provided by the UK cycling newsgroup. An
internet route planner was used to calculate approximate distance of the
whole route.
During the previous year I'd found/persuaded
three different companions; two who would be with me for about two weeks
each and one who planned to leave after a week. The final 2-3 weeks I would
either cycle alone or take the train home.
In January, 2000 I felt I had enough information
to draw up a broad fortnightly plan for the whole ride and I confirmed
that my companions were still 'in'. As the idea of the ride was a
point to point, we planned very few diversions to look at interesting/touristy
things, but despite this I feel I cycled through some of the best bits
of Europe!
In February I booked my flight to Malaga, Spain
and on Saturday 22 April 2000 Dicte and I left Copenhagen airport bound
for Spain.