1. Three Countries in Three Days

(Day 1-3, 214km cycled)

What's a Good Start? 

Some might say not falling on your nose, others might say getting ahead of the peloton, then others might say, a good start is anything that tops your expectations.

It was kind of clear to me that my start to the tour would look something like this: 

I am riding on my bicycle, down the street from my parents' home, getting smaller and smaller, while my parents and my grandmother wave and lay in their arms, giving each other hope that I will return. Especially, since I kept the announcement of my trip on a low note before I actually departed, inviting friends to say goodbye wasn't really on the top of my mind. 

Out of the blue, my friend, Sven suggested, that I settle on a Saturday as my departure date and we should go out and ask more friends to join in for the first 20km of the ride. What a great idea! 

Thought. Said. Done. On the 08.07.2023, my mother and 6 of my friends departed on the grand journey to Togo. While everybody were having a great time riding on a glorious sunny Saturday, I struggled with the heavy 41kg bike and my lack of sleep because I finished packing at 3am the day before. 

While I had to say goodbye to my father and grandmother at home (because they couldn't join the bike ride), after 20km it was also time to say goodbye to my friends and mother (except one). 

It is hard to leave your family behind like that but the taste of adventure and the unexpected makes it only half as hard. 

I then continued onwards with Jan, cycling into the Eifel, him seeing me struggle getting up the hills at a snails' speed and me grasping for breath in the 32°C heat 🥲 In the evening, my brother joined us after 60 absolutely exhausting kilometres, at a camp and we had a great last night before on the second day of my journey I said my last goodbyes to my loved ones. 

So all in all, my start was amazing. Did I get ahead of the peloton? Absolutely not. Did I fall on my nose? Well, almost... that bike is heavy! 

But did the start exceed my initial imagination? Definitely. 

Thank you to the brave ones who sent me off personally and a special thank you to everybody who is supporting and sharing my journey and especially the cause to save diabetics. Either by sharing the story with friends and family, sharing the donation link or by donating themselves. 

Henry 

One thing I am so amazed by is how easy human interaction can be. It sounds so banal but let me get into that.

Second day of the tour. My legs hate me already. I hate my legs for being silly sticks instead of lethal logs that can stomp me up every hill, be it 2% or 20% incline. I depart midday, the heat is boiling me from the outside and the only thing keeping me fresh is the wind in my long, luscious hair. Okay the hair thing is exaggerated but honestly, wind = relief. The Eifel is renown for its hills and when there is an uphill, there is no speed, no wind, no joy. Only exhaustion, heat and pain. After having a few of those, I am desperate for lunch and a beer, but summer break apparently also arrived for gastronomies because all restaurants I pass are closed. Just when my mood hits a low, after I circled a closed restaurant that Google confidently marked as "open", an elderly, yet sportive man attempts an overtake on his half motorized road bike. My confidence hits the ground. Overtaken by an older guy, hungry and my only food in sight are berry-granola bars. At that moment I had rather not talked to anybody, let alone the humiliation in person that turns out to be Henry. Instead of passing me triumphant, and swiftly, he levels with me and starts asking me stuff. Exhausted, I throw some simple answers at him but he wont have none of that moody-ness. Persistent he asks me where I am going and squeezes my Togo-Story out of me. Eventually he invites me to a village-celebration that he is heading to and the chance for a fresh Bratwurst with Pommes makes me accept it. I got my Bratwurst after he forced me up an incredibly steep hill, me losing about 2 litres of sweat while he coasts up it on his electrically supported bike. 

Damn you Henry! And also thank you Henry for being persistent and engaging in a conversation. It made my day much much better. 

On a side note, that day I also broke in my rain coat in the first thunderstorm of the trip and finished in Bitburg, the city best known for its average Pils beer. 

Three Countries in one day? 

Contrary to the title of this entry, I crossed from Germany, into Luxembourg and eventually over to France in one day. 

The differences between the countries are apparent even if you miss the country sign next to the road. Luxembourg stands out from France and Germany rather than Germany or France making a bad appearance. Luxembourg is new. Roads are nice, nice cycle paths, newly built playgrounds and parks along the Moselle where I ride and most importantly vines with pompous vineyards. Germany and France are business as usual. Great cycle paths, until the just end without any reasons and car drivers who take the chance to risk your life for a 3 second delay in their arrival at the supermarket to buy bananas. Well... thats what you get for being a poor cyclist! Buy a car you hippie! 

Arriving in France brought a whole new chapter with it. Not only do the campsites not have toilet paper inside the toilets anymore, but also it will be my home for the next month or so. It is my chance to rediscover my French skills before I tackle Africa where everybody who holds something of himself speaks French now. 

More frighteningly, France is also home to the Alps. The Alps that separate me and Nice, where Sekovio Pierre Pepin has its HQ - the organisation that helps me collect and manage the funds for the diabetics project. The alps scare me because whatever suffering I experienced, will quite literally be tenfold when I do attempt to cross the Alps. I am throwing away wrappers or papers that I can spare in the aimless pursuit to discharge weight from my bags although I am already " travelling light". Well, as light as possible for 6 months... 

Here is a more detailed picture of what I packed.

It's still open whether I will take the flat, safe detour or if my ego gets the better of me and sends me over a hellish 800km with 13.000m ascend. 

With that said, some problems do resolve themselves. The first victim of this trip is my right slipper. It got lost somewhere on the way. Now I am a pair of slipper slighter. RIP slippers. 

In that sense, my right foot says peace out ✌🏻

Always remember that you can support my cause by donating to the organisation Sekovio Pierre Pepin. All the money will go into supporting diabetics in Togo and buying bicycles for the children in the village of Seko in Togo. 

Just follow the link here.

Tourupdate