If you can’t ride with ‘em, go watch ‘em ride: Olympic-sized highlights from our Plan B summer
If you’ve followed our family bike tours over the years, you’ll know that we ride with the goal of cycling from one fun thing to the...
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Blog
Ed Gillis
Aug 96 min read
Slow but still sublime: Backpacking the pink-granite coast of Bretagne
“Hey Dad, look back across the bay. I can still see that boulder island we were hiking on two days ago!” “Yeah, Sitka, you’re right. And...
Ed Gillis
Jul 228 min read
Precipitous passes, neolithic emojis, and over-eager grocery-shopping : Hiking Hut to Hut on La Grande Traversée du Mercantour
Picture yourself lounging on the world’s best sunning rock: moulded perfectly to the curve of your back, with just the right pressure on...
Ed Gillis
Jul 77 min read
Plan “B” is for Breathtaking: our unforgettable, impromptu family backpacking tour around majestic Mont Blanc
For two solid hours, we’d been climbing up steep, rocky switchbacks to reach le Col Ferret - a 2500-metre-high alpine saddle separating...
Ed Gillis
Jun 233 min read
Our Europe Epic book is now available on Amazon!
Dearest friends: We are PSYCHED to announce the release of our second book - Bike Touring with Kids: the Europe Epic! It has all the best...
Ed Gillis
Jun 192 min read
Summer 2024: The Great Pivot
As the snow thawed and the long days of sunlight returned to the Yukon this spring, we busily plotted out our next family adventure –...
Ed Gillis
Aug 17, 20238 min read
Feeling wondrously small in Newfoundland and Labrador
Deer Lake to Anse-aux-Meadows, 694km (Tour Total 2,226km) “Welcome to the Big Land” reads the humongous blue highway placard at the...
Ed Gillis
Jul 28, 20237 min read
Surpassed by our sons on spectacular Cape Breton
Pictou to North Sydney, Nova Scotia, 556km (Tour total 1,532km) “I’m finished. I don’t think I can make it!” “Just one more kilometre to...
Ed Gillis
Jul 22, 20236 min read
“Au gré du vent” on les Îles de la Madeleine
Three island loop rides, 130km (Tour total 976km) There’s a certain feeling that comes with being wrapped cozily in your sleeping bag,...
Ed Gillis
Jul 20, 20235 min read
Bonding over Bikes and Beats on PEI
Moncton NB to Pictou NS, 350km (tour total 846km) When we imagined cycling across Prince Edward Island, Canada’s tiniest province, we...
Ed Gillis
Jul 14, 20236 min read
Mountain Passes, Rail Trails and Heads Bobbing Downriver : A wild ride through the BC Interior
Kelowna to Castlegar, 496km It was a challenge we’d never imagined. Standing underneath a rusty train bridge next to a highway overpass,...
Ed Gillis
Jun 20, 20231 min read
On the Road Again! BC and Atlantic Canada Tour 2023
Dear friends: we're back! As with all great bike tours, Dad dusts off the old Willie Nelson album (figuratively, on Spotify, of course)...
Ed Gillis
Aug 25, 202210 min read
Week 22: Packing it in Before Packing it up
Copenhagen to Oslo, 510km; final total (read on to find out!) It’s nice to cruise to the finish line. We usually punctuate our annual...
Ed Gillis
Aug 15, 20227 min read
Week 21: Not Ready for This to End
Klitmøller to Copenhagen, 491km; total 9,500km Denmark just keeps getting better. From what we see to what we eat, where we sleep to the...
Ed Gillis
Aug 7, 20226 min read
Week 20: Denmark’s Wonderful Cozy Feeling
Sylt (Germany) to Klitmøller (Denmark), 384km; total 9,009km It was pure misery. Or at least as close as one can get while on a six-month...
Ed Gillis
Jul 30, 20226 min read
Week 19: Pushing through Headwinds in Friesland
Amsterdam to Sylt (Germany), 870km; total 8,625km Bike touring, like life in general, sometimes throws you a nasty headwind. The...
Ed Gillis
Jul 23, 20227 min read
Bikes, More Bikes, Rainbow Buses and a Pet Crow: The Many Sides of the Netherlands
Duisburg (Germany) to Amsterdam, 440km; total 7,755km For a while, we thought maybe the marijuana just wafts permanently through the...
Ed Gillis
Jul 14, 20226 min read
Week 16: Riding High on Low Expectations along the Rhine
Kaiseraugst to Bonn, 640 km; total 7,315 km “I’d be okay with a little church vandalism,” was the only-half-joking suggestion one early...
Ed Gillis
Jul 6, 20227 min read
Week 15: Falling Apart but Getting By in Switzerland
Andermatt to Kaiseraugst, 425km; total 6,675km A bicycle is a pretty impressive machine - simple compared to modern wonders like iPhones,...
Ed Gillis
Jun 25, 20225 min read
Week 14: Sweet Adieu to the Mediterranean on the Albanian Riviera
Vlorë (Albania) to Corfu (Greece), 133km; total 6,250km “This is a very important event. Get these bicycles out of here.” Disdain is...
Ed Gillis
Jun 23, 20228 min read
“Together we will succeed”: Albania’s Remarkable Resilience
Week 14 - Dubrovnik to Vlorë, 548km; total 6,117km (new family tour record) As parents, one quality you hope most for your kids to...
Ed Gillis
Jun 15, 20226 min read
Week Twelve: “Once in a lifetime, every day”
Zadar to Dubrovnik, 434km; total 5,569km Most dads get goosebumps of pride watching their kids score a goal, rock a recital or (in the...
Ed Gillis
Jun 13, 20228 min read
Week Eleven: Hot and Chill in Croatia
Trieste to Zadar, 581km; total 5,135km “I love you, baby.” - Required Croatian marital expression Over almost twenty years of marriage,...
Ed Gillis
Jun 1, 20226 min read
Week Ten: Exchanging two wheels for two feet - Our Mid-Trip Backpackers’ Whirlwind
Venice to Venice (via Malaga, Rome and Naples by train, plane, bus, tram, taxi, Uber, Venice canal airport water taxi, and 29km on foot)...
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