heravanwillick

La Paz, 3625 meters above sea level and with a population of almost one million, marks our last stop in Bolivia. We are guests of a couple of cycling enthusiasts who spoil us with some delicious traditional lunches. In turn, I make an arretjescake for them. Arretjescake is always a

After two weeks of cleaning, sanding, painting and filling in exchange for food and shelter, we leave our WorkAway. We are really looking forward to getting on our bikes again. We start with the 20km to Sucre. A climb, but nothing compared to the climb that still awaits us in

We arrive in Coyhaique a few days before Christmas. The same Warm Showers host family where we stayed 1.5 months ago invited us to stay with them again. In fact, if they leave on holiday three days later, we can stay in the house as long as we want. We

At 5:30 the alarm clock rings. Our tent is next to the little bus station in Cerro Castillo (130 inhabitants). We have only 50 kilometers on the schedule, 207 elevation gain. We get up this early especially in hopes of riding these kilometers before the wind picks up. After all,

With bags loaded with groceries from Argentina, we cycle to the Chilean border. There the customs officer asks for the “papers” of our bikes. Papers? It’s a bicycle! Eventually he draws up a little document himself. Color: gray, brand: Santos, wheel size: 26″, year of construction: uuhm, 2015? Once our

After several days of rest at Rio Pico, while the rain poured down with torrents and the snow fell from the sky with large flakes, Paul and I decided to get back on. The rest days provided time for evaluation of the recent tough cycling days, self-reflection, reflections and deliberation.

Those who have been following my blogs for some time know that I always made my previous trips alone. It was my ‘first nature’, independence. All the choices up to me to make, every second. All the bears on the road up to me to chase away or conquer. Undisturbed,

Over 900km of asphalt, sand and gravel has passed under my wheels since I wrote the previous blog. That was in Chos Malal, where on the evening before departure Paul and I decided to leave Ruta 40 and explore the “ruta provincial. These roads are generally unpaved and their condition

The Ruta 40, that is the road we were looking forward to. The road that will lead us south along the foothills (and sometimes over the ankles) of the Andes. The road we could follow from Mendoza. At 5224km, it is one of the longest roads in the world. It

Inside it drips on the ground from the wet clothes, outside it drips from the sky. That’s not as bad as it sounds. Inside, laundry is hanging to dry over curtain rails and open closet doors, outside it is raining for the first time since we left Buenos Aires, right

PLUM VILLAGE A buddhist retreat had been on my wish- and to do list for quite a while. And here I was, at a two week retreat in Plum Village (founded by and home of Thich Nhat Hanh), some 90km east of Bordeaux in France. I wasn’t a ‘strict’ retreat

The world premiere of PEDAL was in Canada , October 2017, the Dutch premiere was last night in Heerlen. So now it’s time to put PEDAL online so everybody can watch it! The succes of this short film, that originated from a encounter between filmmaker Scott Hardesty and me at

*PANG KLANG YEEHAAAAA* in other words: I’M BACK! Recharged, rested, motivated, happy! Wild awake! Two weeks of non-stop camping, vast empty landscapes of steppe and desert, away from ‘civilization’, sun on my face and a book instead of my laptop; that turned out to be the recipe to regain my

Last april 6th, exactly 1 year after I rode my bicycle intro Germany at the start of my Europe-Asia trip, I received an email from Mustard, a Czech digital content agency. Škoda (car brand and sponsor of many bicycle events) would like to make a promo with me for their