heravanwillick

on our way to the andes

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 …

on our way to the andes Lees verder..

On my knees…

It’s been well over a year since my beautiful, cold, challenging, heavy, sunny, rough, wonderful bikepacking tour in Spain and Portugal. I got back half January after two months of ‘riding rough’, but somehow I didn’t hear about that boat laying quarantined off the Chinese coast till the end of …

On my knees… Lees verder..

Rock, mud and pigs

My previous blog ended with my encounter with the intriguing José. The retired director who chose to live simply and study Peruvian natural medicine. Before I left he drew me a map to find a hot spring near Alhama de Granada.   I entered over the ‘camino de los angeles‘ …

Rock, mud and pigs Lees verder..

Bleak and windy Andalusia

That bikepacking is quite different from biketouring is a fact I’d gotten a taste of during the summer. My motivation for this switch was mainly because of the possibilities bikepacking offers to go deeper into (pristine) nature, to visit places where us humans haven’t intervened too much yet and find …

Bleak and windy Andalusia Lees verder..

Less kilos, more mud

Seated in a comfortable lawn chair, I catch the last yellow rays of sunlight at the end of a hot day. It’s been 35 celsius today, no wonder sweat dripped down my body as I was racing around town this afternoon delivering meds. My broken sacrum has fully healed and …

Less kilos, more mud Lees verder..

A rocky road

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 …

A rocky road Lees verder..

La vida en España

Saturday night, two weeks ago, I got up at 2 a.m. in Utrecht and at 2:30 sharp I got the text ‘I’m here’. My friend and fellow (bicycle) traveller Human had offered to give me a ride to the airport for my early flight to Spain. To our surprise and …

La vida en España Lees verder..

A long climb

THE STATE OF ME It’s been three months since I told you ‘how I burned out riding a bicycle‘. And it’s been over five months now since I broke down, and I finally feel like the end is almost in sight. Since a few weeks I’ve been sleeping a little …

A long climb Lees verder..

PEDAL

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 …

PEDAL Lees verder..

To become a real cyclist

It feels like I’m cycling in Central Asia. The landscape is wide and wavy with brown and green tones and a lake here and there. I’m in Connemara. From Killarney I headed north. The first days it was raining continuously. It’s still damp, but apart from some drizzle it’s ‘dry’. …

To become a real cyclist Lees verder..

Céad Míle Fáilte

I arrive in Ireland by ferry in the late afternoon. My only plan for the day is to get away from Rosslare city and harbor and find a place to pitch my tent. In England people told me the wild camping would get easier getting to Wales and even more …

Céad Míle Fáilte Lees verder..

As if I never left

It has only been two weeks since I got on my new bicycle in Tilburg to head south. First into Belgium, then France, England and Wales. Now I’ve arrived to Fishguard, my last stop before getting on the ferry to Ireland. Only two weeks and I’ve seen and experienced so …

As if I never left Lees verder..

Looking back now….

It’s been four weeks now since I landed in the Netherlands. Yesterday I did my first presentation about the ride from Alaska to Costa Rica. Now it’s time to also write about how, looking back at it, I’ve experienced this trip. But I also want to explain some practical stuff …

Looking back now…. Lees verder..

Southern warmth

In my last blog I wrote about my ‘speed-course: tourist’. In the recent weeks I’ve been able to enjoy the normal daily life in Mexico and with the Mexicans. After a day in Mexico city in which I visited ‘Saptel‘, a helpline for people in psychological need, and strolled around …

Southern warmth Lees verder..

SPEED COURSE: TOURIST

If you turn your holiday into your daily life, it’s no longer a holiday. Twelve years ago I got on my bicycle for my first cycling trip. My motivation: independency, to see the world, curiosity, challenge and to grow as a human being. At that time I wasn’t as aware …

SPEED COURSE: TOURIST Lees verder..

The belt

It’s hot! It’s hot! It feels as if a belt is strapped around my head. Another few gulps of water. My stomach feels like a ball that’s pumped up to hard. I’m nauseous but I don’t have to throw up, neither go to the toilet. Blegh! This is no fun! …

The belt Lees verder..

Baja California

I bounce around on my bike on a dirt road with washboard relief, up and down, left and right. My panniers clatter an unclear rhythm. My bike isn’t made for this! And neither am I… That isn’t true, my bicycle actually is made for this! But it suddenly doesn’t feel …

Baja California Lees verder..

COMING HOME IN THE DESERT

*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 …

COMING HOME IN THE DESERT Lees verder..

Dripping south

I have to admit that over the last few months ‘crossing the United States‘ started to seem more like a necessity then a pleasure to me. The forecast of traveling through a country where ‘consuming’ seems to be the foundation of the Maslow pyramid didn’t seem very enticing to me. …

Dripping south Lees verder..

6 months on the road

‘You haven’t been gone that long yet..‘ my brother said to me on the phone this morning, as we casually discussed when I might be in the Netherlands again. Amazing how perception of time can differ. Thinking back of leaving my studio in Tilburg, now 7 months ago, and the …

6 months on the road Lees verder..

The taste of canada

A trip is like a dish, a combination of ingredients. Sometimes it’s like a three course menu; a memorable starter (where and how I wake up), a sublime main course (the bikeride itself) and a delicious dessert (the arrival and the evening). Other times the full day is like a …

The taste of canada Lees verder..

My ALASKA Alaska in video

This whole trip started with wanting to see and experience Alaska. Strongly inspired by ‘Into the Wild’, where Chris McCandless refers to the wilderness, the ‘real’ Alaska, as ‘Alaska Alaska’. I came, saw and experienced! I went without a real plan and ended up spending over 2 months there. I …

My ALASKA Alaska in video Lees verder..

It’s a fine line…

..or ‘SAYING GOODBYE TO ALASKA’ About 50 meters before the border was a nice viewing point. I just noticed a sign saying the border closes at 9pm instead of 6pm as remembered to have read somewhere. So I would be fine stopping here even at 5:50pm and look back on …

It’s a fine line… Lees verder..

Getting to know Alaska

Getting ready to write my blog, sitting at my laptop at the Denali National Park entrance, all I can think is; ‘there is so much to tell.’ The more impressions you gain and the more new things you experience the longer the timeperiod seems that went by. I remember reading …

Getting to know Alaska Lees verder..

The Last Frontier

A-LAS-KA! ALASKAAAAAAAA!!! Finally I’m here! Finally. I’m in that one place that was on the top of my wish list for so long. After fighting headwinds for two days like crazy, I made only 35km today to get to the only place with wifi along this highway. I thought I’d …

The Last Frontier Lees verder..

The Iceland Experience

It’s been 16 days now since I started my ‘big trip’. At this moment there’s 988km on the speedometer of my bicycle. That’s not a world shocking amount, it’s not nothing either. In Hafnarfjordur I decided to head towards the west fjords (geologically the oldest part of Iceland), uncrowded and …

The Iceland Experience Lees verder..

From leaving to having left

Hafnarfjörður! What? Hafnarfjörður … that’s Icelandic for “harbor fjord” and Iceland’s third largest city with 27,000 inhabitants! From behind my laptop I have a view over this metropolis, and behind it I see the looming black gray mountains of the interior, still covered with snow. But first we go back …

From leaving to having left Lees verder..

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