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After two very cold days in Utrecht this was going to be a blog post about the resilience of the bare-headed Dutch cyclists riding around in a wind chill of minus 10 Celsius. Or maybe a quick update on the … Continue reading
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This blog post is a catch up from the end of 2017. I have a lot of content and galleries that I just didn’t have the time to publish last year, so I will be threading some of them into … Continue reading
This gallery contains 5 photos.
Three days to refresh and revive last week. I promise I was working, but a trip to Portugal in January to escape the Belgian winter is a real bonus. Even better was the location for two of the days – … Continue reading
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Wow. We needed this, A proper glow in the sky for a bike ride this morning, above cold frosty ground. It seemed so unlikely I had to keep a diary to prove that it was really happening. 7.45 am – … Continue reading
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The New Year’s Day ride is a tradition. A tradition of mine, and the founding basis of I Do Not Despair, as I first posted on New Year’s Day 2012. Special rides Cold rides Failed rides But 2017 didn’t really … Continue reading
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Trying to find a way to summarise 2017 I reminded myself that this year almost every blog post has a unique header photo – some interesting shots, but only used once. So for my personal journey down memory lane, here … Continue reading
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Even a tiny flash of sunlight from time to time! Happy Old Year, Happy New Year!
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I am posting a short gallery of photos from my trip to Croatia in November as a bright interlude to one of the most miserable weather spells I can remember. It’s almost official. According to the Belgian weather service we … Continue reading
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My first snowride of the season. For my nephew Oli it’s the first time he has ever seen falling snow – and his first snowride. Growing up in Singapore and Sydney doesn’t offer much snowy fun so this was a … Continue reading
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I have just returned from four days in the Basque Country, the land of steep sided valleys and green hillsides on Spain’s northern coast. I could start with a blog post about the interesting and attractive cities of Bilbao and … Continue reading
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I haven’t posted for a while so it is really nice to have somewhere new to write about. Last weekend I was in Zagreb, capital of Croatia, for a workshop with ECF’s Leadership Programme, our annual event for emerging and … Continue reading
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One of the simple pleasures of living in a foreign country is unexpected public holidays. I have discovered that I have a deeply entrenched internal calendar because I half expect a holiday whenever the UK has a day off, but … Continue reading
This gallery contains 9 photos.
While we were on holiday in the South of France recently I told our host that one of the rides I wanted to do was up a climb called Col d’Eze. “Why do you want to ride up that one?” … Continue reading
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“Well, anyway, it’s looking like a beautiful day Throw those curtains wide! One day like this a year’d see me right”* From the moment I threw open the curtains and watched the sun rise over the headlands reaching out into … Continue reading
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There’s no finer way to plan a trip to France than to watch a few hours coverage of the Tour de France. The tourist authorities of each region pay a small fortune to have the helicopters fly overhead and capture … Continue reading
I Do Not Despair 