With close to no notice, the unscheduled life of wilderness was over, and the everlasting African plains were suddenly substituted by the green mountains of Switzerland. Covid definitely knows how to ruin a party.
Their last months of travel were spent in both Angola and Namibia and that’s what we will mostly talk about today. After all, the world is still out there, waiting to be discovered, once we are allowed to do it again.

Angola seemed to mark the definite return to tarmac roads. What were your first impressions of this country?

The change in the beginning wasn’t that big, but after a while we were surprised about the poverty in rural Angola. We expected the standard of living to go up, but we felt like people got poorer and poorer the further we got from the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. Then in Luanda, we realized that there were many rich people in this resource-spoilt country as well, but the gap between rich and poor was humongous.

Being from Portugal, I’m particularly interested in Angola. What have you learned about the history and culture of this country while you were there?

The history of this “young” country is dark and full of wars and death. That’s why we were even more surprised about how positive the attitude of the Angolans was. They tried to look forward and felt like their country was finally developing. We learned that in Angola there are many tribes with different languages and that the current borders divide the territories where these tribes previously lived together.

In Portugal we know Luanda to be a city of huge social and economic discrepancies. What was your experience in this city that is considered to be one of the most expensive cities in the world?

Yes, that’s what we witnessed in the capital. Before we reached the center of the city, we had to cycle through the slums of Luanda. People in these suburbs have no running water, no electricity and maybe one toilet per neighborhood, so the living conditions are horrible. Then in the city center we saw sports cars, yachts and skyscrapers which represent the rich oil companies and its employees.

Angola seemed to have some of the most breath-taking landscapes you have cycled through. What were your favourite places in the country?

We really liked the beaches and the mountains going inland. It was a nice change to see real mountains after all the jungle in Western Africa and in the central part of the continent.
The Serra Da Leba mountain pass and the view from Tundavala were our highlights in Angola.

What are your favourite Portuguese words?

Cerveja, comida (comer), obrigado. Our Portuguese is/was very limited.
– I feel wee need to work on this (Inês)

Your time in Namibia seems to have been a bit all over the place. Before the world turned upside down, what we the most amazing things you have witnessed?

When we crossed the border into Namibia it was already clear that something will happen to our trip, but we didn’t know what exactly would happen and in which timeframe. The most amazing thing we did was visit the Etosha National Park. We were almost the only tourists and we saw more animals than we were supposed to in this season. Thanks to a friend of Adrian we could also see a rhino just a few meters away and therefore saw more animals in Namibia than in the last six months of our trip.

After just a few days in Namibia you were “shipped back” to Switzerland. How weird and nice was it to have a guaranteed shower, flushing toilet, internet and all those things we take for guaranteed back?

It was actually not that strange to be back, since home is never weird or foreign. It was nice to have all the luxuries we craved for many times in Africa and not have to change places every few nights. The highlight was definitely to see all our family members and friends again after all that time away.

Is there anything that has changed in your daily routines or thought process since you came back?

Adrian: I try to eat more sustainably and healthier. My view of the world has changed and I try to be more conscious of the decisions we make here in Europe as I can see its consequences for underdeveloped regions as well.
Fabian: I appreciate many things more than before the journey and I am more relaxed. In addition, I do sports more often as well.

What are you doing to gain upper body strength so you don’t look so disproportionate?

A bit of push-ups and pull ups, but it’s definitely not our strongest part of the body. Fabian does a lot of climbing, so he definitely has more practice for the upper body.

Finally, the million-dollar question: what happens now? Will you go back and finish?

We are both more or less back to work and try to socially integrate in Switzerland. As soon as the situation in southern Africa calms down and the Covid situation allows uncomplicated travelling again, we will be back in Namibia and finish the trip for sure.

The post [EN]Cycling Cape 2 Cape: Angola, a rushed Namibia and an unexpected pandemic appeared first on Mudanças Constantes.

Today we will go through the Africa of Kings and Kings – I don’t think Queens are a thing there – where coronations still happened and each territory has its leader. Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon and Congo were the backdrop of their last four months and that is exactly where we are traveling today.

In the last interview you seemed a bit disappointed by the lack of traditions and identity of the countries you had been in. Did this change during the last months? You seemed to have discovered a different Africa now.

Yes, in the countries like Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Ivory Coast, we unfortunately have not seen much culture. Of course we heard drums during the night many times, but we expected more before we started this trip.

In Ghana the culture of the Ashanti is still very strong and they have a lot of influence nowadays. Ghana is a developed country in comparison to its neighbors, but proudly kept its traditions.

Voodoo has its origin in Benin and is still celebrated in some regions. Unfortunately, it was the rainy season during our visit and at this time, the ceremonies pause. At least we have seen a shrine and talked with some locals about their traditions.

In Nigeria we were surprised about the various cultural aspects of daily life. Nigerians are very proud of their country and each tribe of its origin. Most people wear traditional dresses or at least a traditional hat. Then there are the kings or sultans in most regions, which still hold a lot of power. We stayed with many kings during our time in Nigeria and we loved it. They were always very generous and interested in our journey. Through them, we learned a lot about the culture and what their key responsibilities are.

One of the things that surprised me the most was your encounters with Kings. How did these interactions go and how does this hierarchic system work?

In most countries we passed, there was a chief of the village and in some countries those chiefs are called kings. From what we could observe, in Nigeria, the kings were the ones that had the most power. The king has a kingdom and he rules it according to the traditions. They have no political power, but guide the people in all sorts of matters. They sit on their throne most of the day and have a palace with lots of workers.

The interactions were always different and very interesting. The most surprising fact was the generosity of all the kings we met. They always invited us for food, provided luxury accommodation and even wanted to give us money for the road.

When I was writing the tittle of this post, I almost wrote “The Africa of Kings and Queens”, but the truth is that I never saw any queens or women leaders in your posts. From your experience, what’s the role of women in West/Central African society?

Actually most Kings we met in Nigeria they have a Queen and call them like that. The only thing is that they are basically powerless and are supposed to stay in their palace and take care of the kids. Most kings have several wives and there is no limit to the number of wives or children.

In some villages we have seen women as the head of the village and they were respected without any question. In general the role of women in West/Central Africa is very important, since they take care of the household, the kids and most of the time they are responsible to earn most of the money as well. Unfortunately, it seems that all this effort is not appreciated enough by the men and society. Hopefully this will change in the future, since more and more girls are entering school nowadays.

You have been attacked by bees, visited by butterflies and chased elephants and monkeys. Tell us about your wildlife experiences and if your views on animals have changed.

Unfortunately, there at not many wild animals left in West Africa. We hardly saw any animals, not even monkeys. In Central Africa this changed a lot, since the population density is even smaller than in the West. Gabon for example has large populations of elephants, chimpanzees, gorillas and other mammals. Due to the dense rainforest and the inaccessibility of most regions, it is hard to spot them in the wild.

So, basically one has to visit a National Park to see any animals, since all the others are already gone.

If there is something I love about your Instagram is seeing the resourcefulness of Africans. What were the most prodigious cases of “African engineering” you witnessed?

Every day we saw how they fix their cars, trucks and motorbikes again and again. Their patience and talents are enormous. They fix everything, because no one can afford new equipment. We have seen people fixing completely destroyed TV’s, phones etc.

In one sentence:

Benin: The country of Voodoo
Nigeria: Immense population in a diverse country ruled by kings and sultans
Cameroon: Mountainous, diverse country in the hearth of Africa
Gabon: Dense rain-forest with lots of wild animals and high prices
Congo: Diverse landscapes, rather undiscovered interior and underestimated due to its huge neighbor (Dem. Rep. Congo)

Compared to the rest of your cycling journey, were there any different/harder challenges that you had to overcome in the past four months? Which ones?

The fight against Malaria stayed and we had several infections again.

We had to give all our energy and focus to get the visa for Nigeria. Finally, we got a business visa thanks to the help of a friend who works in the country. For a long time, we were not sure if we could actually enter Nigeria, since most travelers skip this huge country.

In Nigeria we were attacked by some villagers while camping. This was definitely the scariest moment on the entire trip.

The border crossing between Nigeria and Cameroon was challenging, since the road was steep and difficult to overcome with our bicycles. We had to push uphill and downhill.

I’m always a sucker for a good landscape. What were the top three breath-taking places from the last months?

Mambila Plateau in Nigeria, the Jungle in Gabon and the Congo River basin in the Republic of Congo.

Africa has been your “home” during the past year. Is there anything from this continent (an attitude, an ingredient, a quote…) that you are definitely going to bring back with you to Europe?

Yes, definitely! We want to bring the hospitality back to Switzerland, since that is not a big part of our culture. Almost every time we have a problem there is a solution to this problem and this is great in Africa. All Africans told us: “Be patient, there will be a solution!” This optimism is awesome and it wouldn’t hurt if more people thought like that.

You can follow these guys on Instagram and their Blog.

The post [EN] Cycling Cape 2 Cape: The Africa of Kings & Kings appeared first on Mudanças Constantes.

Since we last met – and I apologize for the long hiatus on this series of interviews – Adi and Fabian cycled Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo and are currently in Benin.

Following them is not only great to increase my knowledge of African geography (can’t wait to play Trivial Pursuit again) but, above all, it’s an open window to this region of Africa that only comes on the news when some sort of big tragedy happens.

I’m sure West Africa is far from being one of your “dream destinations” and that’s one more reason to let them show us a reality we wouldn’t otherwise know.

Let’s start with the mosquito in the room: Malaria. Both of you have had it several times. How are you still alive? How do you feel when you have it and how do you get rid of it?

Of course, there are people dying from Malaria, but mostly if treated too late or not at all. Normally, we feel weak, have strong headaches and eventually fever. Therefore, in case we experience those symptoms we do a Malaria quick test, which is available in every little village. For the treatment, there are several drugs with more or less the same contents in it. After 1-3 treatments with those drugs, we normally got rid of Malaria. Sometimes, after one treatment, the symptoms appear again and one has to do another treatment.

I’m sure you have been learning a lot about the West-African culture, costumes and beliefs. What are the biggest stereotypes and misconceptions you saw debunked?

Actually, the culture in West Africa is slowly dying! We expected to find more dances that are traditional, costumes and music. Unfortunately, we hardly witnessed any of that. Even in the remote areas, we stayed with villagers and did not see that kind of culture. Of course, the people love the local music, have some superstitions and in some areas, there are secret societies. Therefore, Africans definitely do not dance half-naked around a fire and hold a stick in their hands making monkey noises!

On the same topic, what has surprised you the most?

The hospitality is incredible and surprises us every day!

I believe that in Africa, more than anywhere else, it’s the people who make the places. Tell us about two or three unforgettable moments of kindness you lived during the past months.

In Mauritania, we explored the inland by hitchhiking for a change, leaving the bicycles in the capital. During these days, we encountered great hospitality and once a family even invited us for a meal, after giving us a ride. In addition, afterwards the father organized a free transport for us to the next town.

At the Gambia River, we stayed a few times in small villages without electricity or running water. The experience in one village was special, since we installed our mosquito net in the middle of the village on a platform. The chief of the village introduced us to the whole village, showed us the school and even organized a trip with a pirogue to see hippos.

During the rainy season in Liberia, we asked a family if we could stay with them for one night and they immediately accepted happily. After dinner, the eldest said we must try the African chicken and he ordered his sons to kill a chicken for us. One hour later, his wife served us another delicious and spicy meal with chicken and rice.

Now that we have learned about the people, let’s go back to the places. Landscapes, beaches, natural parks… which places have struck you as the most beautiful?

• Sahara Desert in Mauritani
• Wild Chimpanzees in Guinea-Bissau
• Beaches in Guinea-Bissau and Ivory Coast
• Fouta Djalon Mountains in Guinea
• Elephants in Mole National Park in Ghana

A lot of scary looking food has been featured on Instagram lately and you also seem a lot skinnier. What is the staple food in West Africa, what’s the worst thing you have eaten and what gives you energy to keep going?

Especially Fabian has lost around 12 kg since the beginning of this trip and looks quite different. As we are doing a lot of sport and were sick a couple of times, Fabian’s body transformation does not surprise us. Rice is definitely the staple in West Africa. Since Ghana, maize is extremely popular and is available in various variations. The worst thing we have eaten is probably rice with a pepper sauce, which was so spicy that we could hardly eat it.

We eat a lot and accept everything as an opportunity to get energy, even if it’s undefined bush meat or unfiltered water.

Looking back to the time when you were planning your trip, how do you feel it compares to what you are actually living now? Does it correspond to your expectations? Were you naïve or realistic?

It is more or less how we imagined it. There is a difference in a way that is hard to explain. We definitely expected more rain and the humidity to be harder on us. Additionally, we thought there would be landscapes that are more interesting and bigger changes between the countries. We were probably naive in thinking to reach South Africa in 600 days, as we realized that we need more time to discover all those countries along the way.

You have passed by areas that suffered terribly with Ebola. Are there still traces of the disease and can you see its impacts on the society?

Yes, definitely! In Sierra Leone, we met many families who were suffered severe losses because of Ebola. There are many orphans and we saw street kids who will hardly have any future because they cannot afford to go to school. We are sure there was an impact on society, since so many people died. It is hard to see how it is now; we would have to stay longer in the country to get a general picture.

I’m the first one to say “nowhere is as dangerous as media portrays”, but you have passed by several war-torn countries and you will pass many more. Have you ever felt “at risk” and do you take any particular safety precautions?

We actually never felt unsafe so far. The most dangerous aspect is always the traffic, but otherwise we felt extremely safe always.

Has this trip changed your core views on life? Did it change your perspective on what you want to do once this chapter comes to an end?

Time will tell! It is too early to look back, since we are still in the middle of this amazing adventure and it will probably take time once we are back home to reflect on every aspect of this trip and life in general. Maybe we have more clear visions when the next interview is due

The post [EN] Cycling Cape 2 Cape: Into the heart of Africa appeared first on Mudanças Constantes.

The past months have been a cycling version of “Paris – Dakar”, as they have crossed Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, and Senegal and are now taking a break in Cape Verde (wish I could join!).

By what I saw on social media, cycling Africa really seems like a whole other level of challenge. Stronger language barriers, thousands of kilometres of emptiness and kind people seem to be some of the differences. Let them tell us the rest.

Starting in Morocco, which is a country full of life, diversity and things to see and do. Do you want to tell us about your itinerary, favourite cities (and why), landscape, food, moments…

We took the ferry to Tanger and then cycled a bit along the coast, before we cycled inland to Chefchaouen. At this point, we had to cross some hills in the Rif Mountains.

Afterwards we visited Rabat, Casablanca and Marrakech. After crossing the High Atlas Mountains, we reached Quarzazate and then Zagora. From Zagora we cycled the only main road to Guelmim and then through Western Sahara.

Our favourite city was Marrakech, because of the beautiful medina with all its riads and shops. There are many tourists, but it is still quite interesting to eat the food and discover all the crazy things happening at the main square.

Landscape: High Atlas Mountains

Food: Desserts

Moment: Once, a fisherman invited us for dinner and we camped next to him. Even though he was extremely poor and had nothing, he offered us food and water. Unfortunately, we had no common language and communication was difficult.

To reach Morocco was an important milestone for us. This meant we reached Africa and therefore the second chapter or our trip, which we both looked forward to the most. When we entered Morocco, we immediately realized there were changes and we had to adapt quickly to the traffic, culture and climate.

How was it to cycle Morocco? I feel like it’s the kind of country that would attract a lot of cyclists or bike lovers. Any tips in particulars?

Morocco is very popular for cyclists from all around the World. It is no secret that this large country offers various landscapes and people are friendly and hospitable. Wild camping is possible everywhere, local food is cheap and delicious. We loved the most northern part of the Rif Mountains and then the immense High Atlas mountains after Marrakech. The desert was interesting as well and is not as boring as we thought in the beginning.

After Morocco, you cycled for thousands of kilometres in the desert. How do you cope with several days without seeing anything or anyone? What distracts you?

We realized that people have a wrong perception of the desert or at least the part where we cycled. We were surprised about the amount of people living in the desert. Every five kilometres, there was a mobile phone antenna with someone taking care of it and many people living along the road.

Some anglers live next to the steep cliffs in simple huts. Of course, we did not see many people, but every day we had at least a settlement or fuel station where we could buy water or snacks. When we had strong winds or boring landscapes, we listened to music or audiobooks.

You seemed to have some memorable moments in Mauritania. Tell us more about this country that is a complete question mark to most people.

We did not know anything about this fascinating country as well. Mauritanians are extremely friendly and interested. Hospitality is extremely important culturally and we had very warm encounters with locals. The country is rich in resources like iron, gold, nickel and fish, but still ranks among the poorest countries in Africa. Political and ethnical problems make the development hard.

Mauritania offers various kinds of landscapes. On one side, there is the desert with huge and endless sand dunes. In the inland there are rock cliffs and green oasis filled with palm trees and dromedaries.

Somewhere along your journey, you have decided to take a train in the desert. Why did you do it and how epic was it?

At some point in Morocco, we decided to explore the inland of Mauritania without the bicycles. As we cycled a lot in the Sahara we didn’t want to cycle the same route twice in the desert of Mauritania.

Then we read about the iron ore train, which connects the coast to the inland. This was the perfect opportunity to explore the inland by public transportation and take the crazy ride on this train.

The ride was adventurous, since we had to climb the waggon ourselves. Of course, the waggons were full of powdered iron ore and we had to sleep on a huge pile of it. Completely covered in black powder, we looked like miners when we arrived after a long night on the shaky and windy train. Afterwards, we had to wash all our clothes and sleeping bags several times.

Up to now, what were the main difficulties you found in Africa? How did you overcome them?

The biggest problem was to find good food and water in the Sahara and Mauritania in general. In the shops, they only sell things like cookies or sweets, which are tasty, and we like it, but when you cycle you do not get a full stomach from that.

Now that you have reached Senegal, are there any outstanding differences between this country and the previous ones you travelled in (in Africa)?

We expected a big change when crossing the border from Mauritania to Senegal, but it was not as extreme as we imagined. The most prominent change was that all people had dark skin in comparison to only a minority in Mauritania. Additionally, there are more people living in Senegal and the vegetation is greener again.

In Mauritania, there were not many large villages or towns. In Senegal, there was a village every couple of kilometres and mostly full of people. People in Senegal, especially women wear colourful dresses every day. The dresses are more formfitting and a bit more revealing than in the previous countries.

Now, the part I really care about: how’s Cabo Verde?! What are your plans there besides not doing anything?

Cape Verde consists of ten mostly diverse islands and all of them offer different landscapes and things to do and see. We definitely relaxed quite a lot by our standards, but hiked a lot on Santo Antão and Santiago too. There are many different trails for hiking and the ones we did were beautiful.

Surprisingly, the islands we visited (Santiago, Santo Antão, Sao Vicente) are quite green even though there is almost no precipitation all year round. Local farmers are able to harvest bananas, coffee, avocados, papayas and mangos. In Santiago, we relaxed at the beach in the small village of Tarrafal and enjoyed the local cuisine.

When are you going to be back on the road and when are you planning to finish?

After two weeks travelling around Senegal and two weeks in Cape Verde we are really looking forward to cycle again. The plan is to go back to cycling after more two days in Dakar that means around the 21^st of February. We really need to clean our bikes and organize our gear again.

Our original plan was to arrive in Cape Town in the beginning of 2020. However, we realized that most Visas on the way there are quite expensive and we did not plan a lot of time in some of those countries. In addition, we want to travel around the countries too and really discover each country and use the Visas we get. We do not know exactly when we will reach Cape Town. Maybe spring 2020.

Can I meet you in South Africa? Just checked and there are very cheap return flights from London (direct!!)

Yes, this would be awesome!!

Follow these guys in:

Blog: www.cape2cape.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Cape2Cape.org/
Instagram: @cycling_cape2cape

The post [EN] Cycling Cape 2 Cape: The beginning of Africa and loads of desert appeared first on Mudanças Constantes.

In this post I want to go through the best and worst moments of the European Tour and try to grasp what is the next year of cycling going to be all about.

Since we last spoke, you crossed France and Spain. As usual, I would like to ask you about your most remarkable days in these two countries.

We crossed Andorra as well

In France and Spain, we liked the hospitality and the simplicity of the daily life and therefore enjoyed staying with locals a lot. In France, one of our favorite days was visiting the Dune of Pilat, which was just amazing. While visiting the Dunes we met a German couple travelling by car and ended up spending a nice evening together.

As we love mountains, we went hiking in Andorra and we had a blast. The mountain landscapes are just remarkable. Landscapes in Spain were hilly as well and we liked the strenuous climbs. Many times, we had problems to communicate with people and wished to speak some Spanish. I guess we have to get used to this for the next few months anyway.

How was it to cycle through the Pyrenees? Can you share with us your favourite landscapes and moments? And the hardest parts of it. I think you do now qualify to do the Vuelta a España!

It was nice to actually cycle a real mountain pass for a change. We had lots of climbing in previous countries, but it was always up and down and never long ascents. When you climb a mountain pass, to cycle uphill is hard and demands mental strength as well.

However, the downhill is the best part and we really enjoy doing nothing and cycling down with high velocity. The mountains surrounding the roads in the Pyrenees are beautiful and we recommend it to any cyclists. On the other hand, we did not like cycling through the busy roads and towns of Andorra.

During these last 8 months what were the hardest moments to overcome. Is there any decision you regret making? Any lesson which resulted from it?

The hardest moments were the days were we had constant rain and it did not even stop when pitching the tent. Sometimes, we only felt comfortable again, when we got in the sleeping bag inside the dry tent with some good food. There are many small decisions we would make differently and we learnt a lot along the way, but major regrets we don’t have so far.

It’s official: You won’t be in Europe for at least one year. What do you think you’ll miss the most and least about our continent?

Familiar languages, friends and family, good roads and of course chocolate for sure. Daily work stress and concerns about saving enough money for retirement, annoying tourists and fast food we won’t miss that much I guess.

Now, crossing into Africa, and after talking to people who are also cycling there, what are your biggest concerns?

The biggest concerns are regarding visas of Nigeria, Angola and other countries. Additionally, we are not used to some of the climates. Especially, the rainy season around the Equator is going to be challenging for sure. There are diseases we have to be aware of and even take medications for a long time (Malaria). In addition, it will be hard to be surrounded by the poverty and environmental pollution in some areas.

And about my concerns: are you going to be doing wild camping in Africa?! With WILD animals?

Yes, as long as we feel safe and nobody is warning us, we are going to do it.

How much of your budget have you dedicated to bribes in Africa?

Nothing, we have time to wait and hopefully patience

Of course, it is possible that we cannot get around it, but we will try to limit the amounts of bribes.

In two months, where are you expecting to be?

Senegal

To finish, I’d like you to give us some quick answers. A bit of a throwback to the last 8 months. You can have different answers

Choose:

One landscape: Scotland (F&A)

One city: Copenhagen (F), Edinburgh (A)

One road: Sierras de Cazorla, Segura y Las Villas Natural Park (F), Road between Pozo Alcon and Guadix (A)

One host: Toulouse (A), Nantes (F)

One camping dish: Lasagna with fajita bread instead of pasta slices (F), Pasta with Cheese and Salami pieces (A)

One proper restaurant dish: Seafood in La Rochelle (F, A)

One TV show: We watch movies from time to time: The 12^th man (A), Ace Ventura (F)

One thing you are proud of: I still have the reindeer antler from Norway with me (F), To not carry anything useless form Norway to Spain (A)

One thing you still have on your bucket list: North of Scotland (F), Cycle the Norwegian coast (A)

Last moment thought and Bonus Question: where are you going to spend Christmas and New Year’s?

We do not know yet, but chances are quite high that it will be somewhere in the Sahara.

Follow this guys in:

Website: www.cape2cape.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Cape2Cape.org/
Instagram: @cycling_cape2cape

The post [EN] Cycling Cape2Cape: The End of the European Tour appeared first on Mudanças Constantes.

Just to place our readers in time (and space) how many kilometres have you cycled until now and how many countries have you crossed so far?

We already cycled more than 9’400km and crossed 11 countries on our way. The distance we covered is a bit more than 30% of our total distance until Cape Town.

Besides green hills and grey skies, what are your impressions of the UK & Ireland? And what were your highlights of this leg of your trip?

The UK and Ireland have much more to offer than hills and bad weather. During our time in this part of the world, we saw forests, stunning coasts, amazing cliffs and steep mountains surrounded by lots of lakes.
Our highlights were the Cliffs of Moher, Lake District National Park, Edinburgh as a city, the Highlands and the coast of Southern Ireland.

Did you find many differences between each region of the UK (England, Wales Scotland, Northern Ireland)?

Yes, especially between England and Wales. Wales was extremely hilly and we had to climb some crazy steep roads. England was more densely populated and had fewer forests than Wales or Scotland. In Scotland, there were less villages and roads, but some roads were busy because of the tourists going north to Loch Ness. The landscapes are more sparse and hilly as well compared to the other regions.

In Northern Ireland, we were not sure if we already crossed the border or not. Since there is no real border and the landscapes look similar.

Cycling is now a huge part of your life. How is your daily routine?

Wake up, eating breakfast, pack all our equipment including the tent, cycling (sightseeing), cycling, cycling, eating lunch, shopping for dinner and breakfast, pitch tent, unpack all our equipment, eat dinner, write diary and sort out pictures/videos, eat dessert, read books, eat another dessert, brush teeth, sleep.

Nowadays technology is a great part of traveling. What are the apps you can’t live without? How do you entertain yourselves at night when camping?

Instagram, Facebook, maps.me, untappd, couchsurfing, whatsapp, Warmshowers, park4night, strava, audible. In the evening we sometimes watch movies we have on our external hard disk, read books on our eReader, listen to audiobooks, chat with friends and family or just talk.

Compared to when you left Switzerland, do you feel any physical changes in your body? Have you changed your diet in order to balance your body’s high demand for calories?

Fabian lost some weight since the start because he didn’t do much sport before we left. We both have more muscles on our legs for sure. Our diet contains more carbs and we add some salts and minerals to our water while cycling. We eat many sweets as well, because we can (that’s the dreaaaaam!!!). We definitely should do more stretching, since we feel very stiff sometimes. More or less regularly, we try to do push ups to train our upper body muscles as well.

These first months have been full of visits and company of friends and family. Has it been good or you can’t wait to be on your own, wild and free?

We have mixed feelings about this topic. On one side, it is nice to see friends and family, on the other side we enjoy being alone in the nature and completely free or any meeting point or time.

Up to now, what was (or were) the times you were impressed the most with the kindness of people?

We were quite surprises about the kindness and openness of German and French people. Many people approached us while buying food and asked what we do and where do we intend to go.

How are you finding the behaviour of drivers regarding cyclists? Do you usually feel safe? Any message you want to leave here to the drivers of the world?

So far, the drivers had a considerate behaviour towards us and left enough space between themselves and our bicycles. We generally felt safe all the way. Of course, there are times where the road is narrow and we feel a bit tense. The most dangerous situations are when drivers cut us off after overtaking us and try to park their car immediately after.

To wrap this up, when are you planning to reach Africa and how are you going to have internet there so we can keep in touch?

We should reach Africa in the end of November. We plan to buy local SIM-cards to update the blog regularly and of course to stay in touch with you. We are in touch with other cyclists who are currently in West Africa and exchange information concerning different topics.

Hope you enjoyed this new interview and for the next one, these guys will be in Africa already <3 . Follow them in: cape2cape.org and @cycling_cape2cape

The post [EN] Cycling Cape 2 Cape: The UK and Ireland Tour appeared first on Mudanças Constantes.

One of these awesome people I’ve met is Adi. We met in Borneo for no longer than one day but we kept in touch for what it has been, today, more than one year. And now he’s doing one of the most incredible things I’ve ever heard of: A trip from Nordkapp (North Cape) in Norway to Cape Town in South Africa by bike.

Isn’t it the coolest thing ever?

And because I like to share cool things with you, I’ve partnered up with Adi to have a monthly (more realistically, maybe every 3 months) update on their trip here on Mudanças Constantes. To kick things off, an interview about the project and how they are making it happen.

Let’s start with the introductions: who are you guys? Names, cities, age, jobs, horoscope signs, weird tattoos… Give us a quick bio!

We are Adrian (28) and Fabian (29) from a small village in Switzerland called Buchrain. We both quit our jobs for this adventure. Adrian was working as a research assistant in aquatic research and Fabian worked as a wood construction technician.

And a little curiosity: Adrian has a tattoo on his foot with the outline of Switzerland.

Now that we are acquainted, how the hell did you come up with this idea? Have you done any long bike trips before?  

The process started a while back, maybe 3 to 4 years ago. We started to think about a long bike journey first and then later decided to go from North to South instead of going West or East. Upon this we did a test tour 3 years ago in the Baltics for about 2 weeks to see how it feels and if we would like to do this of traveling for a longer period of time. This trip was the longest bike trip we both did, up to this point. Eventually, we started planning the Cape 2 Cape trip with more details and now we are finally about to start.

What does it take to prepare a trip like this? For how long have you been planning, what have been your main difficulties at this stage?

The detailed planning started last summer and it got more intense in 2018. We planned the possible route, equipment, insurances, visas, bank accounts and other administrative things. The main difficulty was to find out if it would be possible to arrange the visas on the way and where. Up to this day, we still don’t have much information on how and where we can get visas for most African countries.

 Do you have your plan all sorted out? Or do you have some room for changes?

We just created a preliminary time plan and route to have a rough idea about how long it could take us. On the way we want to be flexible and change the route as much as we want, according to new information of locals or just the daily mood.

If you want to check our detailed planned route click here.

Right now, what’s your route? Number of countries, kilometres, days, dates…

We will fly to Tromsø and then go as far North as possible by ferry, a 16 hours ride! On the North Cape we will start cycling South through northern Europe, do a detour on the UK and Ireland, then cross France and Spain before we cross over to Morocco. Afterwards, we will cycle the west coast of the African continent until we reach Cape Town. We plan to cycle more than 30’000 km crossing 30 countries in about 600 days.

And what are you looking forward to the most in your trip? And the least?

While I (Adrian) am particularly looking forward to see Ireland, Scotland and Africa in general, Fabian can’t wait to experience the African culture. We are both concerned about the headwind in general and kids throwing rocks in Morocco (something we’ve heard about).

I’m a bit of a loser when it comes to bikes, but what’s your equipment? Talk to all the cyclists out there!

There is a lot to think about when it comes to the equipment for such a trip. I won’t go into details, since we will put all the equipment and the corresponding brands on the website. We are using rear panniers, handlebar bag and a huge dry bag on top of the rear panniers. A tent, cooking materials, sleeping bag, and air mattress are basic equipment we both need every day. Each one of us is carrying between 30-40 kg and in Africa we will have to carry even more.

If other crazy bike fellows want to join you on the road how can they reach you?

There are many ways to reach us. Facebook,  Instagram,  or using the contact form on the website .

And finally, with this huge adventure ahead, are you particularly nervous about anything?

Adrian: I get a bit nervous when I start thinking about the rainy season in Sub-Saharan countries as the “roads” tend to change into impassable trails.

Fabian: I am not very excited about the mosquitoes in Scandinavia and the humidity in the Tropical regions in Africa.

And that’s it! Hope you have enjoyed getting to know these brave guys and their awesome project! Keep up with them through social media and go give them some love!

Hopefully in the next months we get a second interview to know their stories! Have an awesome trip guys!

Boa viagem

The post [EN] A trip of a lifetime: a bike journey from Cape 2 Cape appeared first on Mudanças Constantes.