Cycling Across Europe Alone

this is my old bike my parents gave it to me when I was just nine years old and no matter how hard I try I don't think words can describe all the moments we spend together sadly 17 years later it is a bit too old to go on an adventure so I sent an email well a lot of them to be fair and to my surprise I got a response this one brand called Marine bikes was down to give me one of their bikes this is it the only problem was I would need to pick it up from their warehouse 2 500 kilometers away and well let's just say I couldn't say no to that [Music] oh [Music] Sunny English [Music] what do you think of this trip I like the way you don't really seem to know much about what you're going to be today we made it to the headquarters show you the bike that's a good looking bike do you like my bike even though Ned approved my bike there were still quite a few things that needed to be tuned before it was fully ready to survive such a long trip we were making progress but to be honest you would be surprised with how little you need to get through a full month on the road so before I knew it the bike was ready first test drive so far so good the only thing that's freaking me out is that the brakes are switched because we are in England so I might have to swap them I don't know if it's possible but we'll try [Music] I think we are ready tomorrow it's time to go and just like that the long awaited day was upon me [Music] thank you I think I'm ready 2500 kilometers here we go okay let's go [Applause] [Music] and we are off [Music] bye bye Corson here we go [Music] look at these views [Music] I can't believe I'm doing this the sun came out for us look at this perfect conditions [Music] [Music] this is the first proper climb oh man and this bike is heavy oh my God this is heavy while climbing up wasn't the easiest thing the descents proved to be a different story somehow I ended up on someone's property but luckily they have a button and it doesn't work come on what is going on oh it's moving thank you after spending the first day cycling through the peaceful Countryside of Southern England I was greeted with a very special view the next morning all right good morning it's cloudy today it didn't take me long to adapt to this new lifestyle honestly it felt amazing being able to carry all my belongings on the bike having the tent the stove and everything I might ever need to survive in one of the four panniers brought me so much peace of mind in some way it made me ReDiscover a slower pace of life one that felt very different from the hustle and bustle of the city spending the whole day just cycling through small towns and Villages felt like the best way I could possibly use my time in some way it took me back to simpler times where the only thing that really mattered was the wind in your hair and the joy of being alive but as much as I love the British Countryside it only took me two days to finish this chapter as I reached the southern coast from where I would take the ferry to get back to Europe's mainland I'm on my way to the ferry we're almost there it's 7 A.M right now and I'm wearing just a shirt I didn't know England was this good in the summer I think I'm the last one I thought I was on time but maybe I'm late hello yeah that's right that's it am I the last one yes okay okay perfect I thought I was on time bye-bye and we are off already can you imagine if I had lost the ferry oh my God [Music] as much as I loved England getting to France felt like a breath of fresh air as the scenery and architecture changed so much and as I got used to the bike I started going faster sometimes so fast I would surpass other cyclists on the road but regardless of the speech there was something truly special about seeing a new country from the seat of a bike it felt like I was discovering a hidden part of France one that many tourists never get to see well unfortunately we are not going that way we are going this way but I wonder what that is [Music] today's lunch is gazpacho I have no idea how to say it in English but it's basically a cold tomato soup which is very delicious when it's this hot outside and then we have one baguette as I crossed Normandy a very special place came to my mind so I did a quick detour to go see it [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Music] [Laughter] there it is you have to pay 11 Euros to go inside the church I'm okay with this View I tried to explore every little Nook of the island which almost felt like a movie set to be honest I think he's trying to laugh but he can't and even though the Abbey was insanely pretty the main reason for my visit wasn't the scenery itself but the food and not just any food I'm talking about the world's most famous omelette and God was it worth it foreign here it is [Music] it's all gone [Music] good morning everyone today is day six uh we already left lemonsa Michelle behind us and we are now heading towards 10 which is like 65 kilometers from here yeah let's keep going I can still see it look at it so beautiful this Trail along the river has been so nice to avoid the heat there's always shade and there's this Breeze oh it's so nice but I have no idea what river this is honestly I still don't know what the river is called but it didn't take me long to get to hen which by the way really surprised me with its picturesque facades foreign [Music] it is way too hot right now I think it's like 34 or 35 degrees Celsius so I think I'm just going to park over here and just rest in the shade and wait for the weather to cool down a little bit [Music] the next morning I met this couple who had just got married and decided to go on a bike trip as their honeymoon it's 8 50 in the morning and we have done 25 kilometers so far I need to join you guys more often hi this is Lee this is Laura hi can you get closer to each other [Laughter] so can you just explain what your plan is and what are you doing and we are trying to cycle around the world so we left from our house in Plymouth and south of England and when did you start uh four days ago way too hot already and where what are you expecting to get from this trip like this big trip abs thank you Laurie's getting some water from someone's Garden [Music] you got it is it fresh we then cycled for a few kilometers together as it's much easier to make progress when you have company but eventually we had to say goodbye and off they go I'm alone again foreign quick break I just want to tell you about the sponsor of this video which is quad lock so before starting this trip I knew I wanted to have my phone always accessible and that's why I reached out to gradlock and I'm glad they agreed on sponsoring this video and first of all you might be wondering why I need my phone here if I have this GPS computer right under it so let me just explain my point I use the GPS to have my route always on display mainly because my phone could never last more than like three hours if I was using it as my main navigation device but if during the day I want to find like a specific place for example a grocery store or a campsite or a Viewpoint that's when the phone comes into play and I can just use Google Maps to find those places besides that it's super useful to have the phone here if I want to film something while I'm riding obviously I would love to film everything with this main camera but that's just not doable so having the phone here allows me to just quickly remove it get the shot and then I can just put it back it's very convenient and very reliable so far the system itself is also super reliable I've been through all sorts of terrain as you can imagine and I never felt like the phone was going to fall off which is very important to me and the case itself is also very protective I I really like the way it looks it's very sleek and obviously they offer all sorts of mounts and cases it's not just for your bike but also for your motorbike car desk your arm basically anything you can think of so yeah thank you so much quadlock for sponsoring this video make sure you check the link down below to get 10 off on any case or amount of your choice and let's get back to the story I hanged all my clothes there they're just getting some fresh air I didn't wash them because there's no place to wash them here I call this like a air wash they just get some fresh air and then all the bad smells go away hopefully that's pretty much it I also oiled the chain for the first time I have no idea how often you need to oil your chain but I thought it was time and now I'll just cook dinner and then I go to sleep because tomorrow I really want to wake up early so I can avoid the Heat I'm trying to get into that bridge over there to cross the river to the other side but I'm not sure if bikes are allowed because it's quite a big bridge it's my surprise bikes were indeed allowed but let's just say it might have been the sketches stretch of the whole trip as it felt like I was riding in the highway with cars passing right next to me at over 100 kilometers an hour but as I got to the other side of the river I reached the west coast of France and I couldn't help but feel a sense of peace and contentment as I paddled along the Sea The Salty breeze on my face the warm sun on my skin and the gentle sound of the windmills in the background created an atmosphere that's hard to beat it's definitely low tide right now look at this as I followed the coast towards the South I met new cyclists each one in his own adventure and no matter how brief the interaction was or how different our Journeys were there was always a feeling of companionship connecting us [Music] campsite and find some shades [Music] sometimes my favorite plant is to have no plans at all unwind with no demand beforehand it always has a friend here hello [Music] further south I stumbled upon this weird Bridge which still doesn't make much sense to me but it was cool let's go [Music] we got blue [Music] it's so smooth show delighted home to have no enemy [Music] [Music] most days I found myself while camping not only to avoid the crowds and save some money but also to just be closer to Nature this was something I had never done before and to be honest I was a bit scared at first but then that fear slowly faded away as I discovered how special it is to wake up to birds singing far from the crowded campsites [Music] [Music] thank you foreign [Music] okay I'm all picked up and I'm about to leave for another day and of course I'm bringing my little trash can with all the trash and pills from yesterday's dinner so no marks are left behind besides my my feet on the ground but yeah let's go best part of riding a bike just avoid all the traffic look at this so much better here we go again another day another Ferry look at all the cyclists that are crossing the river taking the ferry was always a good opportunity to enjoy the views without having to work for it it honestly felt great doing some progress without having to paddle anyway as I reached the other side of the river I entered the medoc National Park which is known for its extensive pine tree Forest it felt amazing to get away from the crowded Coastline to just feel surrounded by Nature oh and I also made a new friend with whom I shared the road for a couple of days the good morning I'm learning a bit of French here with silver [Music] [Music] you like it really nice oh look there's a rainbow there rainbow since this region is full of cycleways I kept on meeting new people and I also came across some of the strangest bikes I had ever seen in my life okay so the bike lane I was following is closed because there's a high risk of Fire so I think I need to take the normal road which kind of sucks but it's the only option [Music] I think I've gone five liters of water today this kid is not a joke later that day I found out there was an actual fire going on in the forest which forced me to detour from my planned route okay so because of the fire I had to cycle for another 20 or 25 kilometers I'm not sure and it was already night time so it really sucked because I was on the main road and the cars were going really fast now I ended up in this Forest which I found on Google Maps and I'm just trying to find a place to spend the night uh but I can hear lots of people partying in the background so I'm just trying to get to this excluded beach near to a lake um but I've never been here before this is my first time in a forest at night all alone and I was expecting to be more scared to be honest but I'm actually doing okay I just want to get there as soon as possible because I'm tired it's almost midnight and I just want to sleep and yeah I think I'll just continue my search and hopefully I'll see you tomorrow good night bye bye [Music] foreign [Music] yesterday I got here pretty late um I think it was close to midnight I don't know why but I couldn't find a good place to sleep so I just kept going and I don't know I think I I I cycled for over 20 kilometers trying to look for a good place to sleep and once I got here I was just like I'm going to stay here no matter what if it's a good spot a bad spot doesn't matter but it turned out to be probably the coolest spot so far so beautiful I'm actually tempted to spend the day here because it's so nice and I can go in the water and I don't need to carry my bike over the sandwich really sucks so I think today is going to be a rest day [Music] [Music] as much as I wanted to take a day off the road was calling me and as I kept following the coast it didn't take me long to get to the very bottom of France I just made it to Beatrix [Music] there's mountains over there that's Spain we are almost there as I said goodbye to the last few towns in France and it's picturesque facades I also said goodbye to the ocean as this would be my last time seeing it until I got to the Portuguese Coast so just like that I made it to Spain I gotta be honest here this was one of the strangest borders I've ever been to because there was not a single sign telling you you made it to Spain I think it's because we are in The Basque country and for them this is all part of the same thing they they want to be independent so that's probably probably why they don't mention Spain North France but yeah welcome to Spain [Music] just making sure we are following the right path and look at all this uphill we are over here and we have to get here today oh God the first few kilometers were filled with tunnels which really helped avoid the heat but the uphills eventually came and let me tell you it is not fun when your bike weighs over 40 kilos but much like in life at the end of every long climb there's usually a reward and even though the views were nice the best part was finding this shelter at the very top of the mountain which felt like the perfect place to cook something for dinner it reminded me that sometimes the best things in life come when we least expect them this bike trip had its challenges but moments and places like these made it all worth it and as if this was not enough a few Wild Horses came by to say hello here in easement The Hop Hills were gone for now and there was a whole new country to explore the landscape had changed and it felt like a new chapter was beginning as I kept following the road I made it to Pamplona a beautiful city in the north of Spain and the place where I would join the famous Camino de Santiago so I'm officially a pilgrim of the Camino de Santiago at least for three or four days while walking is a beautiful way to experience the Camino I found that biking was the perfect way to fully appreciate the surroundings at a pace that was not too slow or too fast it allowed me to see more of the countryside visit more towns and cover more ground than I would have been able to on foot and since I was following the Camino I decided to stay at my first shelter which was nice to mix it up a little bit they also had some of the most generous payment policies I had ever seen in my life [Music] have a good [Music] good luck kind that last tell me there's a reason something upstairs tell me that you've been seeing what's going on down here [Music] why is it so hard to tell that when you could do a certain age you miss what you could have had don't really want it bad hope that you're right 22 and some change do you see this so I just got my first not one but two flat tires it was totally my fault I just passed over some spiky plants I thought it would be okay clearly it was not luckily I have two spare inner tubes so we should be okay let's swap them look these are the guys foreign hopefully there are no spikes left otherwise I don't know what to do because I have no more spares the next morning I woke up next to this guy who just had the most interesting story can you show me your wallet can I what show me your wallet my wallet there you go that's my wallet there's a some money inside there that's all you have right now that's all I have how much how much is that well this Lego up probably 12 maximum 12 euros so it's not it's not a lot so this is Steve hi everyone can you just tell me a little bit about your story and what you're doing um well basically I'm I started in Denmark and I did the Camino Santiago all the way from North and now I'm going back and then I'm going to walk to China and I do it no credit cards no bank cards no money so I just get donations on the way and I live as I go so I don't worry about a lot of things so and you told me you suffered a lot from depression yeah I did you you feel like you're past that yeah that's the point um with this travel like I feel like I'm less into the depression than I was before so like this traveled really helps a lot because that's why I say like sometimes when people are depressed they want to be alone they don't want to go out of the house yeah they don't want to talk to anyone and that's what makes you more depressed so this journey helps me a lot because you're constantly on the way you meet new people and you get like the feeling of life back you know yeah you want to do things and then you want to create things and you even want to make plans for the future again do you manage to eat every day hmm not every day it depends like maybe sometimes you get like food like maybe once in three days once in two days you have to go with the mentality like don't think about where what you eat when you eat and where you're gonna sleep you don't think about those things after hearing about a story I obviously had to make my own donation and you can do it too the link is in the description it was so nice to meet you good luck with your Journey YouTube all the best all the best to you too bye-bye bye-bye see you see you I do believe we don't cross paths by chance and after meeting Steve and hearing about his journey it was pretty clear why we had met all of a sudden I felt so grateful for having a bike that allowed me to move faster for being able to eat whenever and whatever I want and for all the Comforts I still had regardless of how simple my life on the route was alright the time has come if I wanted to stay on the Camino I would turn right I want to go towards Portugal following the eurovela one so I'll just go straight towards the South so goodbye Camino it was a pleasure [Music] we're just having our photo taken to remember valado Elite hey buddy [Music] good and so good morning oh I'm so tired oh my God I don't wanna psych for another day waking up to this it's just the best feeling ever [Music] sure foreign [Music] the only thing I know about this town is that it was where the Portuguese and the Spanish back in the days signed a treaty between the two saying that half of the world belonged to the Portuguese and the other half belonged to the Spanish uh not greedy at all but yeah it was a long time ago it's a pretty small village for such a big treaty it's so hot right now I'm just hearing the shade with the bike I've been here for three hours I think doing nothing but it's still super hot I think it's 38 degrees Celsius I just wanted to get home eventually I made it to Salamanca which besides having the most beautiful cathedral had the weirdest but also most efficient street cleaners going [Music] kind of you [Music] ah as the days went by I couldn't help but feel a growing sense of nostalgia as the landscape began to resemble the Rolling Hills of my homeland the sun-soaked fields and the clusters of olive trees that dotted the countryside brought back so many memories but at the same time there was a change of sadness as I realized this trip was slowly coming to an end soon this adventure wouldn't be more than a memory that's Portugal over there [Music] the Landscapes the people and the food made the last few days of this trip very special as I headed west through the valleys and mountains of the Inland I got to the famous road that spans across the country and connects the North to the South [Music] I just found this by total accident this is the house where the Portuguese uh dictator was born by total accident I kept on following the mondego river with a few incidents here and there but I was just too excited to be bothered by that as fun as it might be to travel abroad and discover new places there's nothing quite like the excitement of getting back home to what's familiar to us and after following the river for a couple of days I eventually made it back to the ocean which felt so special after spending so many days cycling through the barren Landscapes of Spain so glad I came this way and as I followed the Portuguese Coast I met Muhammad with whom I share the last few kilometers of this journey as we headed south we made it to the world famous nazare to go see the biggest waves in the world I think today is the flattest day of the year there's not a single way what do you think of the biggest waves in the world [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] set on the final day of this journey I look back on the 38 days of Unforgettable experiences and the incredible feeling of Freedom that comes with traveling on two wheels from the Rolling Hills of the English Countryside to the rugged Coastline of Portugal I still can't really comprehend how I did it all by bike I'll definitely miss the simple life of camping outside every day cooking my own food and relying solely on my legs to get anywhere there's something really beautiful about having such a simple life but perhaps the most memorable part of this trip has been the people I've met along the way from the friendly locals who helped me find my way when I got lost to the fellow Travelers who shared the road with me for a few days they all reminded me that we are all part of something much bigger than ourselves so as I say goodbye to this incredible Adventure I take with me a newfound appreciation for the world we live in and a sense of accomplishment that comes with achieving something truly extraordinary this journey may have come to an end but the memories and the lessons I have learned along the way will stay with me forever and I'm truly grateful for that [Music] the highest flooded my side of town the waters come alive like the sound I hope the pictures that I found follow your memory and drowned [Music] foreign

Channel: Bernardo Bacalhau

Views: 1,367,208

Keywords: bike packing, bike touring, riding a bike, eurovelo, camino de santiago, marin bikes, bycicle, europe, riding europe, ortlieb, quadlock, camping, wild camping, survival

Id: meOYaYv9DsY

Length: 41min 17sec (2477 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 28 2023

Reddit Comments

[u/diamity]

One of the most beautiful and inspiring YouTube videos I’ve ever seen.