In Holland & Belgium |
The tandem |
Since 1999 we have made at least one longish tandem trip each summer. On these web pages we describe them with photographs and a diary. They include eight trips in France, one in Holland/Belgium, two in Scotland and one in Ireland. We've also done many in England, of which only one is recorded here. The links and maps below will take you to the descriptions.
We find cycling much the most enjoyable way to explore a country. The use of a tandem makes the trip companionable and ensures that we both arrive at our daily destination with roughly the same degreed of exhaustion – which is remedied by a hot shower and a shared bottle of wine at dinner.
Most of these tours were completed on a conventional Dawes Galaxy touring tandem, but in 2005 we acquired something radically different: a custom-built tandem based on a Moulton APB. To date it has been a great success and we look forward to many more tours on it.
The pattern for these holidays is now well-established. Here are the main features of our tours in France:
August 2005: Lairg to Cape Wrath
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June 2001: Glasgow to John O' Groats
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We have done quite a few trips in England and Wales, but the only one that we have documented is this: Newcastle to Berwick-upon-Tweed, August 2004 - following the Sustrans Coast and Castles Route. This journey very nearly completes our goal to cycle the entire East coast of Britain. |
In June 2005 we took delivery of a custom-built Moulton APB-based tandem. A full description of the tandem and the project that led to it is available.
We believe it to be the first separable-frame Moulton-based tandem constructed in the UK as well as the first to be based on an APB. We decided to undertake this project following 15 years in which we have used Moulton AMs and APBs for almost all our cycling but had to revert to a conventional tandem (a Dawes Galaxy) for extended touring holidays. After several years of holidaying on the Dawes Galaxy, we decided that we would like a more comfortable and transportable tandem, while retaining the durability and efficiency of the Dawes. Alex Moulton's space-frame design and suspension seemed to us to offer a very good basis for a comfortable and rigid tandem that could be separated for ease of transport, especially on the many UK train lines where conventional tandems are now banned.
We are delighted with the ride, performance and general usability of the tandem. As our sole means of transport for tours of up to three weeks its reliability has caused us absolutely no concern.
