Just enough time for a few tourist sights of North Cyprus

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This gallery contains 3 photos.

I wrote recently about last year’s visit to North Cyprus when I was looking at the potential for more cycling with some of the local cycling promoters and supporters. That write-up was dominated by the relationship between mountains and coast, … Continue reading

Velo-city Taipei cycle parade – the gallery (And the wedding!)

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This gallery contains 10 photos.

A week of intensive discussion about the global future of cycling is coming to an end. Visionaries, technicians, academics, business leaders – they were all here. But of course what everybody loves is a good photo moment and the annual … Continue reading

Taipei’s cycling fairy story – through the wardrobe to Narnia, or down Alice’s rabbit hole?

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My fifth time here in Taipei and the start of a great 10 days, Velo-city Global and Taipei Cycle Show back to back. It was a gleam of an idea four years ago, now it is a reality. But before … Continue reading

Reasons to be cheerful 2016 – cycling in North Cyprus

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In the middle of gloomy news and predictions for 2016 two of the media organisations I follow carried very similar stories of a small ray of sunshine in Europe. 2016 might be the end of a 42 year old conflict … Continue reading

Ljubljana, capital of Slovenia. European Green Capital 2016, delightful city and cycling capital.

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This gallery contains 5 photos.

I visited Ljubljana for the first time in December and I was absolutely charmed by the city and its environment. This means it is the perfect 2016 opening post for Idonotdespair.com because the city has been awarded the status of … Continue reading

2015 – favourite photos of the year

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This gallery contains 17 photos.

Several of the bloggers I follow are summarising their year with a few of their favourite or most viewed posts. I thought I would do something a little simpler by picking out some of my favourite photos of the year, … Continue reading

It’s not just about the bike lanes. A beautiful cycle touring day in Copenhagen.

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This gallery contains 24 photos.

As a cyclist it is so easy to be blown away by the waves of Copenhageners cycling to work and school along their wonderful bike lanes and forget to take a look at the city and its region. I haven’t … Continue reading

To Burgas, Bulgaria for more cycling chat and exploration

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I do not despair’s exploration of the wide reaches of cycling continued in October with a trip to Burgas on Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast. I was there for a project meeting as part of ECF’s European Bike2work project. This meant … Continue reading

A president said it and 19 Ministers agreed “nothing compares to the simple pleasure of a bike ride”

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This gallery contains 8 photos.

Those of my readers who also follow cycling politics in Europe should know by now that this was a huge week for the organisation I work for. On Wednesday we were in Luxembourg for the first ever EU Cycling Summit, … Continue reading

Dutch bicycles at home. A visit to the Royal Gazelle factory in Dieren, Netherlands

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This gallery contains 6 photos.

I recently published a short article on the ECF web site about my visit to the newly opened extension to the home of Royal Gazelle bikes in Dieren, Netherlands. Link by clicking the picture or here It was a thoroughly … Continue reading

From thought provoking to bonkers: Part 3. Arnhem’s giant pink party aardvark. Yes, seriously.

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This gallery contains 3 photos.

My short series of sculpture posts has done thoughtful treehouses in Bruges, love and affection in Oslo. So now we come to the grand finale. A giant pink party aardvark has apparently passed out on the sidewalk in the Dutch … Continue reading

From thought provoking to bonkers: Part 2. Love, affection, sensuality, play and respect in Oslo’s Vigeland Sculpture Park

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This gallery contains 16 photos.

This is the second of three short blog posts about sculpture. The previous piece and the introduction to is contained in a first post from Bruges in Belgium. The second post really works well as a photo gallery, because words … Continue reading

British cycle tourist in the Netherlands – what I’m really thinking

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This gallery contains 10 photos.

“Nice cyclepath”           “Oh look, lots of Dutch cyclists behaving normally”         “Bikes”           “Wow, driver stopped for cyclists”             “Windmill!” “Nice cyclepath”   … Continue reading