I decided that a long bike trip would be the best way to conclude my travels for the year and integrate back into society. Einstein credited coming up with his theory of relativity while riding a bike, so maybe a long bike ride will help me have a bright idea of what career direction to take in my life! Though I have a vague plan to do the trail from lands end to John o Groats, I most likely will not follow this path at all because what is the point of doing something that everyone else has seen and done, but it does provide a basis for a starting point.

I fell in love with travel by bike during my year studying in the UK. There is something comforting in being able to put everything you need to live in your saddlebags, get on, start pedalling, and just be able to go most anywhere. We live in a society focused on things, we define ourselves by the house we live in, car we drive, clothes we wear. But in reality if we weren’t so focused on our image, status, and opinions of others, the basic needs of human life can be met with a bike, tent, and sleeping bag (and a pillow if you really want to travel in style!), what else do you really need. There is an raw freedom about it, when I set off on a bike trip I can go with no plans, just start pedalling, pick a road, and end up where ever I get tired of pedalling. The luxury of bike travel in the UK is that you are never more than 10 miles from a pub and never have to worry about the basic survival of food and water.

I love the sense that anything could happen that comes with bike travel, it’s faster than walking so you actually can get somewhere, but slow enough that things are not passed by and over looked. You are in complete control of which direction you want to go, if a road looks fun or there is a site on the side of the road you want to see you can go, unlike traveling by trains or buses. I came across a comment in a book once, how the speed of bike travel is the same speed at which the soul likes to travel, and I fully agree.

UK blog posts

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