Academics are infamous for their project names and abbreviations, so, let’s call this #bikexit17…

As some people already know, I am starting a new position in October. I will be a lecturer at the University of Kent as part of the Programming Languages and Systems group. While I am pretty excite about the opportunity to work with a very interesting group, it reminded me of all the little annoying things I went through when moving from Lille to Linz. One of them was shipping my bicycle. Last time, I was already thinking, well, why not ride it instead of shipping it?

And that’s where we are this time around. I got a few holidays I have to take anyway. And, I could use a real offline holiday for a change. Especially, since I suspect the start in Canterbury to be a bit stressful.

It should be possible to do the whole trip with about 11 days of cycling. Currently, my plan is as follows:

  • Day 1: Linz -> Passau, a brief 90km to warm up (Sept. 9)
  • Day 2: Passau -> Regensburg, ca. 140km (Sept. 10)
  • Day 3: Regensburg -> Ansbach, ca. 140km (Sept. 11)
  • Day 4: Ansbach -> Mosbach, ca. 130km (Sept. 12)
  • Day 5: Mosbach -> Heidelberg -> Mannheim -> Worms, somesightseeing and ca. 90km (Sept. 13)
  • probably a day of rest

  • Day 6: Worms -> Koblenz, ca. 150km (Sept. 15)
  • Day 7: Koblenz -> Bonn or Cologne, ca. 70-100km (Sept. 16)
  • Day 8: Bonn/Cologne Maastricht, ca. 140km (Sept. 18)
  • Day 9: Maastricht -> Brussels, ca. 100km (Sept. 19)
  • spending a couple of days in Brussels and around

  • Day 10: Brussels -> Lille, ca. 130km (Sept. 21)
  • perhaps another day in Lille
  • Day 11: Lille -> Canterbury, ca. 130km (Sept. 23)

If I am passing by your region, I’d be happy to have some company along the way. Will probably start out with a friend to go to Passau, and might have company around Bonn. Flanders should also be a very nice area for cycling 😉

Since this is my first trip of this magnitude, I am also happy for any tips, recommendations, does/dont’s, you might be willing to share. Got already some, but wouldn’t mind more.

And, just to be clear: such adventures are drastically simplified by being able to travel without passport, or roaming charges. So, thank you EU. Thank you very much!