Chat Zone for The Big Big Trip Journal!

[Andy in Germany]

Are you travelling in Europe? Let me know if you are passing through Freiburg...

 

[HobbesOnTour]

Are you travelling in Europe? Let me know if you are passing through Freiburg...

You may come to regret that offer!
I do intend to be passing through Germany, route as yet unknown, probably in the Autumn. Roccado might need a service in your workshop and I can be walking, talking proof of how far we can go on an old bike

 

[cwskas]

I was chatting to French people in Spanish in a German campground in Ecuador! I cannot describe just how chuffed I am with myself!

Sounds like just what the doctor ordered. What an excellent place it sound like.

The. Food!
I didn't stop smiling the whole time I was there. I was either eating, looking forward to eating or enjoying the satisfaction of a good meal well savoured.

A slightly more rotund yours truly

I thought those two comments might somehow be related!

 

[HobbesOnTour]

Hola!
Greetings from cold and wet Madrid!

For a first time flying with the bike everything went flyingly

Talk about culture shock on arrival!!

It's cold, damp and could be miserable but I bought some wine, chorizo, cheeses and had a feast in my tent last night. Oh! I ❤️ Spain!

I'm going to acclimatise (in every sense of the word), get out of Madrid and go looking for some backroads.

Hasta luego!

 

[Oldhippy]

Welcome back to Europe! 😁

 

[cwskas]

Homework for @cwskas

By homework, I assume you meant research.

Lento pero viene
by
Mario Benedetti

Lento pero viene
el futuro se acerca
despacio
pero viene

hoy está más allá
de las nubes que elige
y más allá del trueno
y de la tierra firme

demorándose viene
cual flor desconfiada
que vigila al sol
sin preguntarle nada

iluminando viene
las últimas ventanas

lento pero viene
las últimas ventanas

lento pero viene
el futuro se acerca
despacio
pero viene

ya se va acercando
nunca tiene prisa
viene con proyectos
y bolsas de semillas
con ángeles maltrechos
y fieles golondrinas

despacio pero viene
sin hacer mucho ruido
cuidando sobre todo
los sueños prohibidos

los recuerdos yacentes
y los recién nacidos

lento pero viene
el futuro se acerca
despacio
pero viene

ya casi está llegando
con su mejor noticia
con puños con ojeras
con noches y con días

con una estrella pobre
sin nombre todavía

lento pero viene
el futuro real
el mismo que inventamos
nosotros y el azar

cada vez más nosotros
y menos el azar

lento pero viene
el futuro se acerca
despacio
pero viene

lento pero viene
lento pero viene
lento pero viene



Translated by Google!

Slow but it's coming
the future is coming
slowly
but it's coming

today it's beyond
of the clouds you choose
and beyond thunder
and from the mainland

delaying is coming
what suspicious flower?
watching the sun
without asking him anything

illuminating comes
the last windows

slow, but it's coming
the last windows

slow, but it's coming
the future is coming
slowly
but it's coming

it's getting closer
he's never in a hurry
it comes with projects
and seed bags
with battered angels
and faithful swallows

slowly, but it's coming
without making much noise
taking care of everything
forbidden dreams

the lying memories
and newborns

slow, but it's coming
the future is coming
slowly
but it's coming

it's almost coming
with his best news
with cuffs with dark circles
with nights and days

with a poor star
without a name yet

slow, but it's coming
the real future
the same one we invented
us and chance

more and more us
and less chance

slow, but it's coming
the future is coming
slowly
but it's coming

slow, but it's coming
slow, but it's coming
slow, but it's coming​

 

[cwskas]

Greetings from cold and wet Madrid!

For a first time flying with the bike everything went flyingly

Talk about culture shock on arrival!!

It's cold, damp and could be miserable but I bought some wine, chorizo, cheeses and had a feast in my tent last night. Oh! I ❤️ Spain!

I'm going to acclimatise (in every sense of the word), get out of Madrid and go looking for some backroads.

Bienvenidos a Madrid, Señor Hobbes! En españa te espera una nueva y magnífica aventura ciclista.

 

[cwskas]

The Pan Am. Some people dream of riding this "road". I was one of them. It varies so much from place to place that there's no consistency. I like to stop and tell myself just what road I'm on to remind myself just what I'm doing ...... then look for an alternative

Then there was one of those moments of serendipity that always seems to happen. First, one familiar face, then another peered around the door. Simon and Vicki, the Austrian couple I'd met back in the Casa de Ciclistas in Medellín! Sometimes sticking to the big roads has its advantages! And having a big, ugly flag - that's what they noticed!

After what happened to me in Ipiales I had made contact to warn them (and also the Casa) but they hadn't enjoyed Colombia like I did and were already in Ecuador. Somehow, slowcoach me had overtaken them!

We set off together and there and 912 days into this trip I knocked something off my list that I'd forgotten about - cycling with someone else!

We learn things about ourselves when we cycle with others.

With a cheap, basic camping option near to the equator we stocked up in a town and found the place.
Another pleasure. Setting up camp with others. A totally different experience for me. A well experienced team it was interesting to watch the teamwork and organisation. My tent floor was very wet from this morning so needed a bit of time in the wind and fading sun to dry out.

Simon & Vicki set about preparing dinner for the three of us, I brewed coffee and later provided the vino tinto to wash it all down. My second vegan meal of this trip. It's difficult to describe how enjoyable the whole experience was. Obviously it's very enjoyable to have a good meal prepared and handed to me, but having company in what would otherwise be an empty corner of a field was quite the experience.

We chatted until well past my usual camping bedtime and were comfortably in our tents when the rain started. Home - with amigos!

What satisfying and unexpected timing to help you finish up Part One!

 

[cwskas]

I passed a couple of coach makers along the road

That carriage is quite a restoration or perhaps new project.

 

[cwskas]

Cayambe volcano
has a permanent snow cap . . . last erupted in March 1786 . . . at 4,690 metres (15,387 ft), its south slope is the highest point in the world crossed by the Equator, and the only point on the Equator with snow cover.

 

[cwskas]

The Equator!

It's just a line. But for me it represents the end of one thing and the start of another. I was so happy that I took this figary and instead of heading for Bogota and a plane I gave myself one more journey. An eventful journey, to be sure, but one that I'm not going to forget.

A day that will often be remembered I suspect and recounted with friends and fellow travelers.

 

[HobbesOnTour]

By homework, I assume you meant research.

I only meant to translate the bit in the photo
Well done for showing me up!

day that will often be remembered I suspect and recounted with friends and fellow travelers.

Remembered, yes.
Recounted, not so sure. It's only a line on a map after all. It only becomes significant for what it means - and that's just to me.

 

[HobbesOnTour]

That carriage is quite a restoration or perhaps new project.

Given that I passed two (or maybe three) of these places my money would be on new projects - but I know nothing about such things.

 

[CharlesF]

@HobbesOnTour I hope I haven't bitten off more than I can chew, I have started to whizz through the entire post, reading bits and looking at the photos.

So much has passed, I need to get a better grasp of the magnitude of your adventure.

Wish me luck!!

 

[Alex321]

@HobbesOnTour I hope I haven't bitten off more than I can chew, I have started to whizz through the entire post, reading bits and looking at the photos.

So much has passed, I need to get a better grasp of the magnitude of your adventure.

Wish me luck!!

I did that, after joining this forum last year. VERY well worth the read, even knowing something of what is coming with the pandemic.