Author: Zapfly

Meet the Iceland 2010 team: Dave

| Zapfly

As I will be spending sometime in the saddle with Dave and Angelique, I thought I would dedicate a blog entries to each of my teammates.

Dave has been fond of travelling distance and the outdoors for most of his life. He completed his first 1km swim at the age of 8.  He also walked halfway across Hong Kong Island the same year after forgetting his school bus money.  He completed his first ultra walk of 160km at the age of 14.

Dave has since done more than 30 multi-day organised ultra-distance walks and runs.  This includes over 10 finishes of the annual Nijmegen 4-Day Marches in the Netherlands where he is a Gold Cross Holder and member of the KNBLO (Royal Dutch League for Health and Fitness). He has the IML Silver Medal and is also an enthusiastic hiker.

Having proven himself in supported walking events, Dave has made the decision to return to his roots, by giving cycle touring a go.  Indeed, prior to training for this trip, the only bikes Dave has used in the past 5 years were bolted to a gym floor.

Ultimately, Dave is hoping to gain experience of a new mode of long distance travel, bike touring and maintenance, with some tips on photography thrown in for good measure.  Most importantly Dave is hoping to raise a good amount of money for a worthy cause while adventuring round the marvellous Icelandic landscape.  You never know, he may just see his first erupting volcano.

The cloudy road ahead

| Zapfly

In the next month or so, I and two friends will be attempting to cycle around Iceland.  Usually, there would be the standard helping of trepidation by friends and colleagues at the idea of cycling over a thousand miles, around a desolate and sparsely inhabited island.  This year is more ambitious than I had originally intended due to the continued eruption of Eyjafjallajökull.

Indeed, the repeated action of the volcano and the broad level of information I am receiving from various sources (some more trusted than others) means that I am none the wiser as to whether we will be able to fly to Iceland and then circumnavigate it without being either blocked by the volcanic activity or halted by falling clouds of ash.  Conundrums and tribulations aside, this is all adding up to be quite the adventure.  Usually, if I were only concerned about my own travel, this would not be an issue as one can more easily roll with the punches when you are solo.  However, with the much appreciated company on this trip, along with the variety of start points for the journey, I need to make sure that I am not going to waste anyone’s precious vacation time.

I must admit to being more than a little seduced by the adventure ahead.  Each year, I like to have something new, something that sets each challenge apart from the previous ones.  Last year, it was covering thousands of miles alone.  This year, Eyjafjallajökull is throwing all sorts of variables in my path.

I have read various reports from other cyclist and newscasters reporting back on the eruptions as they happen.  The official word was that they would be over within the next couple of weeks and that the prevailing winds would prevent any falling ash from inconveniencing us as we make our way clockwise around the island.

In addition to the complexities of Eyjafjallajökull erupting, its three previous eruptions on record have each been associated with a subsequent eruption of Katla.  So far, there have been no signs of turbulence beneath Katla’s surface.  However, having last erupted almost a century ago in 1918, vulcanologists say that a new blast is overdue.

“So far there have been no signs of the re-awakening of the Katla volcano but a lot of things can still happen, so we are monitoring it quite closely,” Dr Einarsson said.

Here is an image that caught my eye.  My cycling companion Dave summed it up best when he said something along the lines that we needed to make sure we had all a decent breathing mask in our bags.

So, after all the procrastination, this is what it is all about:  The angry gods of the underworld spewing out its ash and magma.  In a strange turn of events, after thinking that Iceland would be bereft of tourists, I have been reading about how the volcanic eruption has heightened tourist figures as people come from far and wide to see the angry mountain humbling our Western way of travel and life in general.

Please note: None of these images are mine.  They have been sourced from fellow photographers on the net.  If you would like me to credit your image or remove it, please email me or comment below

Cycling for the Kids First Trust

| Zapfly

Each year I like to raise money for a worthy charity when I undertake my annual cycling challenge.  This year I have chosen Kids First Trust after speaking with an old Raleigh International friend of mine, Gloria, who also happens to be the CEO.  The Kids First Trust is a children’s charity that makes kids the centre of all their actions, such as developing core skills and competencies as well as providing vital funding support for a variety of needs.

If you would like to find out more about Kids First Trust, you can visit their website: www.kidsfirsttrust.org

I believe that the money we raise from this year’s cycle ride will go towards one of the Kids First Trust´s Playground partnerships.  More on this soon.  In the meantime, you can donate to this extremely worthwhile cause via my fundraising page on Just Giving.

If you want to find out any more information about the Kids First Trust, here are their contact details:

Tel: 020 7837 0044
Email: info@kidsfirsttrust.org

Join their Facebook Group

Just before I scoot

| Zapfly

Finally, the night before I leave for foreign shores and my mind is awash with so many small details.  I think I am missing the virtue of the bigger picture here.  Just spoken to my good friend Leslie on Skype.  She is currently at home is the US after an operation.  Apparently, they are not quite so well equipped in Rwanda.  Anyway, I digress.  It was great to her from her and it got me to thinking just what an adventure I have stretching out ahead of me.  My cycling buddies from last year’s trip, Pete and Mary, were also on the phone tonight, wishing me luck with the tour.  I really wish they were joining me.

This weekend was my dear friends Caroline and Duncan’s wedding, in wet and windy Devon.  It was the best wedding I have been to in ages.  So many friendly faces and a lot of gossip to catch up on.  I think Caroline’s mother thinks I am nuts and there I cannot fault her.  However, comfort zones are there to be lived both inside and outside of.

Now, time to go to be as I have a very long first day of cycling ahead of me tomorrow.  I reckon about 90 miles through central London down to Dover.  Apparently, the rain will fall hard so I envisage a tough day in the saddle.  Something interesting to sink one’s teeth into.

So far, people have been pretty generous on the old charity donations.  I have raised almost  £750 on my Just Giving site.  Child’s I Foundation, the charity I am raising money for posted a story about me on their blog today.

Thank you to Innovation Norway!

| Zapfly

Today, I was extremely fortunate to speak with some of the extremely lovely people at Innovation Norway.  A friend and former colleague of mine from Head London, John Parnell, put me in touch with Heidi and Christine at Innovation Norway, who are part of the team responsible for amongst other things, the excellent Norwegian tourism website, www.visitnorway.com and also a WordPress blog for Visit Norway.

After discussing my trip, Christine placed me in touch with Knut, who runs the Tourism office in Tromso.  Together, they have been able to shed more light and help me more in one day than a week of internet trawling and book reading.  Christine has been sending me lots of useful advice about where to go and what to see.  I hope to visit Sámi Adventures, which is hope to spend some time with some indigenous Sámi people and envelop myself in the Sámi culture.  Christine also recommended that I stop in Kautokeino and visit Juhls’ Silver Gallery.

My aim is to meet as many locals as possible and gather a better understanding of the Norwegian and Sámi culture.  I only hope my photographs due justice to them.

The icing on the cake was Christine’s very kind offer on behalf on Innovation Norway, to help me on the return leg of my charity cycle ride, by sponsoring my flight home.  So, here’s to you all at the Innovation Norway, thank you so much for all your help and generosity.

Here are some useful Norwegian websites for the northern region of the country:
www.visitnorway.com/uk – Innovation Norway’s comprehensive website
www.visitnorthcape.com –Finnmark Tourist Information website
www.visittromso.no – Visit Tromsø’s website
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kautokeino – Wikipedia information

One week and counting…

| Zapfly

Time is ticking away as the ensuing departure date is now less than a week away.  Even though I have been preparing for this trip for ages, I am stick racked with anticipation.  Concerns of the overall requirements of the ride interlaced with daily issues such as shopping, whilst not having my kit stolen or finding somewhere to camp.  All in all, there are many issues to contend with.

In the grander scheme of things, I hope that this ride is a success.  By this, not only do I mean achieving the loft target of cycling 2800 miles to a vary sparsely populated are of the world but I also mean raise finds for the charity I have dedicated this ride to, Child’s I Foundation.  So far, I have raised just under £350 on my Just Giving page, which is a good start.  I hope that as I continue, people read about the various adventures I am likely to have en route as my blog will be maintained by Tom from Child’s I, in my absence.  I would love to hit my target amount of £2,500, so please keep reading this blog and make a donation if possible.  All of the money is destined to help kids in Uganda.  I am paying for all of my own expenses on this trip!

I have been testing all of my kit prior to my departure and so far, so good.  I have to make sure I can maintain my MSR stove as I know occasionally they can gunk up.  The biggest challenge will be to decide how much stuff to take along with me.  In the first couple of weeks, the temperature will hopefully remain in the warm twenties.  However, the further I travel up the spin of Sweden, the cool the weather will become.  Indeed, the figures I have seen for night time temperatures for Nordkapp and the north coast of Norway, even in mid summer, are around 4 degrees Celsius.  The weather is also likely to me inclement but that should only add to the drama of the journey.

It would be great to hear from any one if they have experience of travelling in this part of the world as so little has been written about it.  That said, hopefully my blog will be a useful place for other people considering this journey as a portal of information in due course.

The Road Ahead

| Zapfly

Seven weeks today I shall be off on the first day of my ride to Nordkapp. To say that I am a little trepid at the thought of it, would be a huge understatement. In the interim, I have to gather together all the kit I will need for the trip. Going that much further north than last year, the temperatures might drop to near zero on the coolest nights north of the Arctic Circle. However, the average daytime temperature should be somewhere around 15 degrees Celsius.

My soul wish is that I do not experience the amount of rain encountered last time. I anticipate that I will be camping far more frequently due to the sparse population in many of the places I aim to cycle through. In fact, chances are that I will end up free camping most of the time. This means both good and bad things. On the plus side, there is nothing quite as liberating as finding an isolated spot and camping out for the night. If you like peace and quite, and I do, this is just the ticket. On the other hand, laundry, washing and conversation will all be far more complicate.

Part of the route I will be following will take me through Germany. Unless I take a rather lengthy detour on my way northwards towards Denmark, I will have to traverse Hamburg. Not that I dislike the city, cycling through large conurbations tends to make life all the more tricky with cars blazing past you and getting hopelessly lost.

It would necessitate the need to carry yet more kit that requires recharging. On that note, I had the first stab at a kit list yesterday. By Jove, I’ll be carrying a lot of gear. That’s the consequence of doing this solo I suppose.

A couple of people have indicated their interest in joining me on the ride. I’d love to have company. The more I think about it, life would be so much easier with another person present. For example, shopping; I will have to leave my bike, albeit chained up, along with all my panniers, which do not have locks, attached to the bike outside of the shop. In smaller towns and villages, this should not present too much of an issue. However, in a larger metropolis, I’m not sure it will be there when I emerge from buying groceries. Then there is all the end of day chores. Last year, Pete, Mary and I shared the cooking, laundry and tent pitching, which worked out really well. It won’t me a problem, probably something I get used to very quickly. Just that after several houses cycling; it would be nice to share the load.

All that aside, I am completely focused on the ride. I cannot wait to see the places that lie ahead of me. From all the cyclist’s blogs I have been reading, it should be a trip of a lifetime. So, now I must marshal my forces and complete preparations for the next Long Way Up ride.

My book, a presentation and Gok

| Zapfly

What a month it has been! So much has been happening since the end of February. My principle focus has been on completing my first book. I am so close now that I can smell the ink drying on the first draft. My book is all about my cycle ride last year from Lands End to John O’Groats. I will be utilising the Blurb platform to publish it. It is a mixture of journal and landscape photography. Watch this space.

Other news includes all the preparation for this year’s cycle adventure, London to Nordkapp. I aim to be off within the first half of June. I have decided to cycle along the North Sea Route for part of the way. This will take me through England, over the channel to Belgium, then on through The Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and eventually, Norway.

En route to John O'Groats

I gave a presentation to the good people of the Child’s I Foundation last week as I shall be supporting their cause for this cycle adventure. I hope to have a few bloggers filling in for me whilst I am away. Relaying information from the various corners of northern Europe should be an interesting challenge but something to relish rather than fear!

I will start to post more information about the route in the next week, along with preparations and training. Ending on an exciting note, I did a shoot last week for the Gok Fashion Fix show website that will appear on the Channel 4 platform. Hyperlinks will be available from this Tuesday / Wednesday.

Dangerous animals en route

| Zapfly

Courtesy of BabyDinosaur on Flickr

I think I have decided upon where I am going to journey this summer.  Although I love Iceland and would love to circumnavigate the island, my original desire to cycle to Nordkapp is captivating me more.  I love the idea of travelling through Europe’s last true wilderness.

Due to the nature of where I intend to go, it will be necessary for me to wild camp on a regular basis.  To this end, I have been looking further into what treats may lay ahead for me if I pursue this course.  As I delve deeper into researching my route through Scandinavia, I have started to uncover something that I had not contemplated before, dangerous animals.  It was actually in conversation with a Swedish friend last night that alerted me to the perils that I might encounter on the road.  The list runs from nuisances, such as mosquitoes hordes, which are particularly prevalent in the north during the summer.  Although they are most active around dawn and sunset, I will be north of the Arctic Circle for a couple of weeks, truly in the land of the Midnight Sun.  So, this means that if I camp along the way, I am likely to be under attack most of the night.

Other insects that may provide me with issues are Gadflies, with painful but mercifully non-poisonous bites.  In addition, Sweden is home to large plagues of wasps, so I will need to be careful with any foodstuffs that may attract them.  A more serious issue will be ticks, widespread in southern Sweden and northern coastal regions.  Ticks can transmit Lyme’s disease and more serious TBE (tick-borne encephalitis) through a bite.  I have the choice of either staying inland with the mosquitoes or on the east coast with the ticks.  Tough choice…

Sweden does have a venomous snake, the European adder.  Fortunately, the snake is not very common, although ubiquitous throughout Sweden except for the north.

Then there are the top two mammals on the bloc; the brown bear and the wolf.  This worried me considerably as I will be headed through the areas where both species are most commonly located.  I did take solace in the fact that bears in Sweden have killed no more than a handful of people since 1900 and that wolves have not killed a human being since 1821.  This information was marred by the accompanying caveat of how to deal with a bear encounter in the woods.  Evidently, the done thing is to walk slowly away from it whilst talking loudly.  This I could probably muster.  The tough bit is what to do in the event of a bear attack; the answer, to play dead, protect your head and make yourself as small as possible.  However, once could adopted the opposite approach and start screaming as loud as possible at the creature, jumping and making oneself as large as possible.  Always a worry to be presented with such conflicting options.

I just read an article that brown bears mate between May and June. During this period bears are active both at night and during daylight hours. Young males are searching for females at this time and cover long distances in their search, while last year’s cubs are making their first independent forays into the world.  I am likely to be on the road towards the end of this period, so I will be vigilant.

To round up then, I will have to be acutely aware of various animals including the brown bear, wolf, moose, wolverine, lynx, the very rare Arctic fox, reindeer and perhaps even the golden eagle.  Don’t misunderstand me, I’d love to see all of these animals, just from a safe distance and not whilst trying to sleep in my tent, completely along in the absolute middle of nowhere.  Then, I may take issue with such beasties dropping by for a snack, which could ultimately turn out to be me!

File:Saami Family 1900.jpg

Putting all of this jeopardy to one side, one of the truly exciting parts of the expedition will be once I reach Lapland, or Sápmi, on the northern side of the Arctic Circle.  Here lies the ancestral home of the Sámi, or Lapps, indigenous people of the region.  The Sámi people are among the largest indigenous ethnic groups in Europe.  They are renowned for tended their herds of hardy reindeer for millennia.  I aim to visit an old Sámi settlement to find out more about their culture and way of life.  I may even succumb to the touristy urge to stay in a traditional Sámi tepee. It should all make for some stunning photography.