in the years i was a student the long summer holidays were an ideal time to off on the bike and do some touring. The previous year i had bought second-hand a Raleigh Classic touring bike made from Reynolds 531 tubing, it fitted great and was a joy to ride, i also got a set of panniers, a Michelin map of Europe and a list of European youth hostels to guide me on my journey.

1989 Tour  Heading off after disembarking from the overnight Hull to Zeebrugge ferry i wasn`t too sure where i was going to end up, it was my first time abroad and everything was strange so i just took it day by day and learned from my mistakes, gradually as the days went by i started to get further south and more ambitious. At the back of my mind was the thought that my family would be on Holiday in Switzerland at Lugano in about a weeks time, so this slowly became my goal, however there was a problem, this was pre-mobile phone days and they would be leaving home on a coach trip taking several days to reach Lugano so they were out of reach and i couldn’t remember exactly what dates they would be staying in Lugano or which hotel they would be staying at but i decided to head for Lugano regardless.

The other big problem was that i had to get over the Alps…. The route i chose went through Luzern and Engleberg and then went over the Furka and Grimsel passes. I completely underestimated how big some of these climbs are especially on a laden touring bike and progress was slow. One of the passes was officially closed due to a landslide but i had been told it was passable on a bike, it involved carrying the bike a few hundred metres over the rubble then coming back for the bags. This porterage slowed me down even further on my way to Andermatt and i was running out of daylight and still a long way to go and pretty soon it was dark, amazingly on this very quiet mountain road a passing women driver slowed down and asked me where i was going….. i told her and she said i wouldn’t make it and said i could use her sons bedroom for the night as he was away on National service in the Swiss Army.

It was so kind of her and a massive stroke of fortune for me, i had a lovely evening meal and breakfast the next morning and only paid her what i would have spent at the hostel (it was all she would accept). I finally made it to Andermatt the next morning, after the Alps it was fast and easy cycling down to Lugano where i spent two days going from hotel to hotel asking if my family were staying there, eventually on the afternoon of the second day i found the hotel, i couldn’t believe it – they were still here!  i was told they were out sight-seeing down town somewhere so i went searching for them in the busy tourist places on the bike and eventually saw my Dad and brother walking along the promenade on the shores of Lake Lugano – they got quite a surprise when they saw me and again when my Mam and sister joined us later on, it was a memorable moment! to celebrate we all had a few drinks together later on that night in the main square in town and the following day we all went on a coach trip to Milan for the day. After that it was time to get back on the bike for the return journey, though my Mam having heard all about the perils of my journey over the Alps insisted on giving me the money for a train ticket from Lugano to Basle for me and my bike, to save me from any further epics in the mountains – i guess that`s what Mams are for.

1990 Tour  I set off on this tour with the aim of getting to Stockholm and deciding where to go from there. I spent a few days staying with the family of a friend i met on my cycle tour last year and enjoyed my time exploring the Swedish capital and area….i then headed south and Copenhagen was my next goal. It was about here that i learned that you could get a Ferry from Gedser, on the southern tip of Denmark, across the Baltic Sea to Rostock in Germany . Germany at this time was going through massive changes, reunification was taking place and the Berlin Wall was only opened in November 1989 and i didn`t have a clue whether i would be allowed to cycle from East to West Berlin but i wanted to try and as it turned out i there was no problem, i cycled straight under the Brandenburg Gate and spent an interesting couple of days exploring the city.