Yeah Were Tough... Real Tough... No I Swear...

Spain: Here We Come

Yes yes, for all of you who thought we would not make it this far, we have made it to the border of Spain! Take that society. We are now staying at the lovely apartment of Kris's aunt in Anglet, right next to Biarritz. We had a pretty rough last few days: woke up in pouring rain at a disgusting campsite, Curlylox lost his wallet, all our clothes were wet, etc. Yes I've come to realize after speaking to my father that this blog has looked like we have had such an easy time of all this, but that is more because I thought we would spare you of some of the less romantic aspects of this trip and instead paint it as a lovely trip across Europe. No no, we will not tell you (yet) of the physical ailments, or the rain the does not cease, or the dirty dirty clothes that at points I swear have created new organisms never discovered, or the intense heat that makes you want to lose your mind, or the 200 km bike rides that make you want to never get on a bike again, or the money you see drain from your bank account just in order to eat enough not to fall over on your bike and kiss the road, or the flat tires, or the untrue tires, or the brake failures, or the honking of horns, be them bad or good, that play with your nerves, or the highways with cars whizzing past you that make you realize you are going way slower than you could, or the pot holes, or the road kill, or the intense smells of cow and horse and goat, oh and just biking at least 80 miles per day ...no no, we will not tell you of these things...

Instead, here are some lovely pictures of the beach and smiles! YAY!!!!!!!!!!

Thank You Turid and Marte!

While in Paris we all received beautiful care packages with a new shirt, boxers, socks, and headband, courtesy of Gronlie`s sister and mom. You made our day with those care packages, and we thank thank thank you!

Dont think - Just Swim

Though we were depressed to leave Paris, we quickly made all kinds of progress, yesterday we biked around 170k to Alex`s place right outside of tours, where we are currently enjoying the sun and his lovely pool after a great breakfast.

With the help of a French friend we met along the way, we made it here; he took us halfway from Blois. Thanks!

Here are some pictures, enjoy!

Dont Think - Just Bike

Well ladies and gents, it's time to "partir." We are about to leave the beautiful city of Paris and get back into the rhythm of sore butts and uphill battles.

Thanks so much again to Alicia for having three smelly guys (but good looking I must say) stay with her for the weekend. Thanks for all of our friends who saw us this weekend, and yes, we will cry today on the road for you!

Here are some pictures of our last night here, can you tell which one is when Kris realized we have to leave tomorrow and I have to console him?

A Special Thanks To Our New Host, and those who helped us along the way!!

We are now at Alicia Karpetsky's place in Paris. Needless to say... its quite nice of her to take the three most smelly men in all of France into her home!

here is a cute little picture of us with Alicia, thanks again you wonderful person you!

Can You Guess Where We Are?

Thats right! France and... we have reached Paris! Lets just say that France is a lot "hillier" than the other countries we've faced thus far, but we made it nonetheless.

Here is a short itinerary thus far of the trip:

1) July 13, Goteborg Sweden to Halmstad - 154km
2) July 14, Halmstad to Copenhagen Denmark - 165km
3) July 15, Copenhagen to Koge, Denmark - 60km
4) July 16, Koge to Vordingborg, Denmmark - 74km
5) July 17, Vordingborg to GroBenbrode, Germany - 81km
6) July 18 - Rest Day (Injuries)
7) July 19 Rest Day (Injuries)
8) July 20, GroBenbrode to Bad Segeberg, Germany - 96km
9) July 21, Bad Segeberg to Wischhafen, Germany - 99km
10) July 22, Wischhafen to Bremenvorde - 97km
11) July 23, RAIN AND PAIN, Bremenvorde to Cloppenborg (hotel :)) - 99km
12) July 24, Cloppenborg to Nordhorn - 94km
13) July 25, Nordhorn Utrecht - 196km TEN HOURS ON A BIKE PEOPLE
14) July 26, Utrecht to Breda - 87km
15) July 27, Breda to Herentals, Belgium- 73.4 km
16) July 28, Herentals to Wavre - 75.89km
17) July 29, Wevre to Hirson, France - 128km
18) July 30, Hirson to Mareuil-sur-Ourcq - 153km
19) July 31, Mareuil-sur-Ourcq to Paris! - 88.23 km

Total Kilmoeters thus far: 1795 km

We will now enjoy the weekend and shuffle off on Sunday... or perhaps we may never leave Paris, we'll see...