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...
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Blog
Ed Gillis
- Jul 28
- 7 min
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
- 6 min
“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
- 5 min
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
- 6 min
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
- 1 min
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, 2022
- 10 min
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, 2022
- 7 min
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, 2022
- 6 min
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, 2022
- 6 min
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, 2022
- 7 min
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, 2022
- 6 min
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, 2022
- 7 min
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, 2022
- 5 min
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, 2022
- 8 min
“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, 2022
- 6 min
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, 2022
- 8 min
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, 2022
- 6 min
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)...
Ed Gillis
- May 24, 2022
- 7 min
Week Ten: Biking from One Fun Thing to the Next - and Knowing When to Stay Longer
Varna to Verona, 387km; total 4,554km Wedged between two massive dolomite slabs, hands gripping with all their 12-year-old strength,...
Ed Gillis
- May 19, 2022
- 5 min
Flat and Chill vs Mountains and Awesome: leaving France’s Canals for Italy’s Alps
Paris to Varna, 531km; total 4,167km Maybe we should’ve stayed in France. For the past six days, we’d floated blissfully alongside...
Ed Gillis
- May 10, 2022
- 8 min
Week Eight: Castles, Caves and Fluent Conversation: Reveling in our Francophonie along the Loire
Saint-Brevin to Paris: 465km; total 3,636km Another week, another mad dash to a must-reach destination. This time, however, there was no...
Ed Gillis
- May 2, 2022
- 7 min
Week Six/Seven: Beautiful, blustery bike-touring with a teenager on France’s Atlantic Vélodyssée
Pamplona to Saint-Brevin-L’Ocean, 767km; total 3,171k “Il y a toujours ce vent d'inconnu et d'aventures qui nous talonne tous.” We were...
Ed Gillis
- Apr 25, 2022
- 1 min
Our first podcast!
Thank you Karin at 10Adventures for this super-fun opportunity to participate in our first podcast. We talked about our favourite moments...
Ed Gillis
- Apr 23, 2022
- 7 min
Week Five/Six: Our divine Semana santa on the Camino de Santiago
(Credit: Joce’s fabulous cousin @redsandsam) Santiago de Compostela to Pamplona, 784km in 8 days - a new family record! Trip total to...
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