Unique Cycling Tour...Riders Wanted

[smith4188]

Between 2011 and 2013 I did a massive European tour and it was wonderful except that I spent all of my money. I started looking around for a cheaper and yet still enjoyable way to travel and I hope I've found it.

This summer I'm attempting to cycle from the north of England to Gibraltar living on £1 per day. The majority of my food will come from fishing and foraging. It will take around 100 days. Normally I cycle alone but on this year's ride, without the campsites, bars and restaurants of my previous rides, it might get a bit lonely and so I'm looking for a handful of people to join me on this unique tour.

I appreciate that few people can take three months out of their busy lives but the timing of this tour would be ideal for students, the retired or anyone who is stick of daily life. The trip will cost less than it would to stay at home and you'll get the opportunity to attempt something that has (I think) never been done before.

If you're interested in joining me, or keeping an eye on the trip, please visit http://www.rideandseek2015.com/. It would be great to have you along!

 

[tournut]

Between 2011 and 2013 I did a massive European tour and it was wonderful except that I spent all of my money. I started looking around for a cheaper and yet still enjoyable way to travel and I hope I've found it.

This summer I'm attempting to cycle from the north of England to Gibraltar living on £1 per day. The majority of my food will come from fishing and foraging. It will take around 100 days. Normally I cycle alone but on this year's ride, without the campsites, bars and restaurants of my previous rides, it might get a bit lonely and so I'm looking for a handful of people to join me on this unique tour.

I appreciate that few people can take three months out of their busy lives but the timing of this tour would be ideal for students, the retired or anyone who is stick of daily life. The trip will cost less than it would to stay at home and you'll get the opportunity to attempt something that has (I think) never been done before.

If you're interested in joining me, or keeping an eye on the trip, please visit http://www.rideandseek2015.com/. It would be great to have you along!

Hi wot time in summer. And how you getting bk from gib.

 

[Arrowfoot]

Op, the charity that you selected is highly rated. Well done.

 

[steveindenmark]

I am a little confused and hope someone can help.

Is the Isle of man classed as the North of England?

If the riders are going to survive on £1 a day, how do they get to mainland Europe?

Its a great idea and wish I could do it.

 

[smith4188]

I am a little confused and hope someone can help.
Is the Isle of man classed as the North of England?

The exact start point isn't decided yet. I will be starting from the Isle of Man. It may be Liverpool for others. I don't expect anyone else (except a resident Manxman) to start from the Isle of Man. That'd be stupid. If people join me at any point I'd be happy.

If the riders are going to survive on £1 a day, how do they get to mainland Europe?

That's something I'm working on.

Its a great idea and wish I could do it.

C'mon.

 

[smith4188]

Op, the charity that you selected is highly rated. Well done.

Is it? They're not very good at answering emails.

 

[Brains]

Unless you are also going to be using the charity of others, something like a couple of shredded tyres could blow the entire budget.

Having lived for about a week in Europe during the summer on foraged food (we ran out of money), the thing you need to be aware of is what crops come into season and when and where they are grown.
Sweetcorn gets very very boring (and provides very little in the way of calories), potatoes are good, if you can find them.
You might want to time your departure to coincide with what crops are being picked, the left side of France has a lot of grape vines, and mid summer the grapes will be too small and bitter to eat.

By the way: Avoid seagull, it's basically inedible.

 

[smith4188]

Unless you are also going to be using the charity of others, something like a couple of shredded tyres could blow the entire budget.

Having lived for about a week in Europe during the summer on foraged food (we ran out of money), the thing you need to be aware of is what crops come into season and when and where they are grown.
Sweetcorn gets very very boring (and provides very little in the way of calories), potatoes are good, if you can find them.
You might want to time your departure to coincide with what crops are being picked, the left side of France has a lot of grape vines, and mid summer the grapes will be too small and bitter to eat.

By the way: Avoid seagull, it's basically inedible.

I'll be taking the usual spares, including a tyre. But yes, if my bike goes over a landmine no amount of spares will save it. The charity of others will only be accepted if it's freely offered, except when it comes to water, which is (almost) free. I'm not allowed to go seeking charity. If the cycle self-destructs, I'll find another way. I hope it doesn't get that bloody-minded.

There may be a perfect time to start (although I doubt it for all four countries) but this is a window I have. Doing it entirely foraged has never worked for anyone I've found online. But £1 per day will provide flour, salt, sugar, oil, stock cubes and chilli and maybe more. Add in fish, leaves, fruits, nuts, cacti as I get to Spain and I reckon I can find a way not to starve to death. I might even eat well. But I could be wrong.

And thanks for the heads-up about seagulls but I've heard about their fishy qualities. What I only learnt recently is that city pigeons carry chlamydia. In any case I'd probably have a problem killing a bird (hypocritical though that is as someone who eats meat). I reckon it's going to be fish, seafood and plants the whole way.

Also, potatoes could only be had by thieving and that's not allowed either. Fancy coming along?

 

[smith4188]

Hi wot time in summer. And how you getting bk from gib.

Sorry, didn't see this reply earlier. I (hopefully we) leave northern England mid-June and reach Gibraltar at the end of September. I'll be staying down there for the winter but immediately after the ride I'll be heading east through Malaga, which is a city with a cheap airport from which to get back to the UK at that time of year.

 

[tournut]

Sorry, didn't see this reply earlier. I (hopefully we) leave northern England mid-June and reach Gibraltar at the end of September. I'll be staying down there for the winter but immediately after the ride I'll be heading east through Malaga, which is a city with a cheap airport from which to get back to the UK at that time of year.

Dont understand why 100days to gib, your going to spend most of the time looking for food, can be walked in that time. Or you stoping off in places for few days?. Good luck. At least if you get a few people to join you , you can pool your money to have a good meal.

 

[smith4188]

Cheers! It's 100 days because it's about 6,000 km (3,700 miles) sticking to the coast, where the fish are. 60 km per day should keep us moving without burning up too many calories and leave enough time to forage and fish.

 

[Blue Hills]

Unless you are also going to be using the charity of others, something like a couple of shredded tyres could blow the entire budget.

Having lived for about a week in Europe during the summer on foraged food (we ran out of money), the thing you need to be aware of is what crops come into season and when and where they are grown.
Sweetcorn gets very very boring (and provides very little in the way of calories), potatoes are good, if you can find them.
You might want to time your departure to coincide with what crops are being picked, the left side of France has a lot of grape vines, and mid summer the grapes will be too small and bitter to eat.

By the way: Avoid seagull, it's basically inedible.

This demands that you tell us more surely - did you ever write it up?

 

[bigjim]

September, October is good in France. I've dined off blackberries, raspberries, figs, grapes, plums, apples and pears. All growing wild at the side of roads and canal etc. Amazing the amount of food that has probably seeded through the action of birds or the wind, Nobody mentioned roadkill. I am sure there is a host of food growing wild everywhere but we don't know what it is. I do know that dandelions are very nutricious though.

 

[Brains]

This demands that you tell us more surely - did you ever write it up?

No never wrote it up.

First time was in the very north of Scotland below Cape Wrath, chucked out the back of a land rover in the middle of the night and given 3 days to get to a grid reference, we had no food, no preparation and it rained the entire time.
We aimed for the sea, found a bay, built a shelter and tried to catch fish but gave it up as no idea how to do it, and no equipment, we then collected shellfish, but came to the conclusion that energy expended was greater than energy intake. We then caught a seagull and after a lot of effort in de-feathering it, gutting it (luckily one of the lads had had a Saturday job at a butchers) we roasted it over a fire. The result was a very small bit of meat for each of us that was greasy fishy and actually inedible. We did not kill any more gulls. We found out later another team that were mostly Omani's had managed to catch a sheep, and knew what to do with it. (They had to pay for the sheep later when the Shepard was found)

The other time was in the Swiss Alps, the cost of everything was so high that we simply ran out of money and with 4 days before our train home we needed food.We found a lot of sweetcorn growing and cooked it, we think later that it may have been cattle feed, as it tasted revolting, was incredibly tough, and did not seem to provide any energy.
On the outskirts of several villages we found allotments and discretely dug up potatoes and carrots, hopefully in such a way as not to be spotted by the owners.And that is what we lived on for 4 days in the Alps and two days back on the train, potatoes and carrots with sweetcorn. We had to hitchhike from Dover to home as we did not have the train fare

 

[MarkF]

The concept of foraging and fishing to provide fuel for many miles of arduous cycling a day (when not foraging and fishing) appears flawed to me, although I admit to knowing FA all about foraging and fishing.................it sounds a great idea though and I will look forward to the reading very much.

I keep trying to find the thread where someone was planning to cross Spain on £4 per day, I thought that was just about do-able, but £1? You can consume a huge amount of calories, in hot arduous cycling in Spain, I am struggling to see how you can fuel yourself adequately to make sensible progress possible.

The positives are that I've crossed France and Spain very cheaply and agree no money is needed for accommodation and, I've not spent £1 on any cycle repairs, maintenance consisting of pumping air in the tyres and oiling the chain.