Patti and John at Ickworth Estate, Bury St. Edmonds, England, April 2026
Patti and John Loach have travelled many miles in their forty-eight years together. Their last eight adventures have been cycling trips, riding recumbent trikes manufactured by a British company – “ICE Trikes” – which they bought in 2022 from a cycling store in Weymouth on the south coast of England. At the end point of each adventure they rent space in local storage facilities, and leave the bikes, batteries, and assorted hardware there, safe for when they return a few months later to resume the next leg of travel.
So far, the trikes have carried them:
- 678 km from Weymouth on the English Channel to Cambridge (Fall 2022)
- 1064 km Cambridge through Oxford and Cardiff, to Liverpool and Chester in England and Wales (Spring 2023)
- 1701 km by ferry to Ireland then trike to Cork and Killarney, ferry to Brittany, and cycling to Bordeaux in France, (Fall 2023)
- 1757 km Bordeaux through the Pyrenees, occasionally on the Caminos in Spain and Portugal, ending in Lisbon (Spring 2024)
- 1587 km Lisbon to Chartres, France (avoiding the devastating floods in Valencia (Fall 2024)
- 1238 km Chartres to Amersfoort, Netherlands (Spring 2025)
- 1112 km Amersfoort to St. Albans, England (Fall 2025)
- 1236 km St. Albans, England to Edinburgh, Scotland (Spring 2026)
St. Mary’s Church, Studley Royal, close to Fountains Abbey and Ripon, England, Spring 2026
At the end of the Spring trip, Patti and John had originally thought that they would head back to Glasgow from Edinburgh, ride south to Cairnryan, take a ferry to Belfast, and explore northern Ireland as a Fall 2026 goal. But, in the shoulder seasons when we travel – April/May, and September/October – England, Scotland and Ireland can be cold and rainy, and the days are short. It can be downright uncomfortable, even dangerous.
John doesn’t love cycling in snow, and Patti’s favorite directions are (a) south, and (b) in the direction of good food. So…
Fall 2026 will take them 1400 kilometres, from Edinburgh to Lyon, France. They’ll leave the beautiful Borderlands and ride back to Newcastle-upon-Tyne. From there they’ll catch a ferry to Holland, then ride through Belgium, Luxembourg, a little of Switzerland, and France. John’s been plotting routes and honing his highschool French while Patti drools over photos of haggis, moules frites, saucissons, rounds of stinky cheese, and stroopwaffels. There will be some serious climbing of hills.
When they’re on the road (or towpaths or bridle trails or ferries, etc., etc., etc) Patti and John post descriptions of their travels on this, their blog. If you haven’t already done so, they welcome you to subscribe. (Click the box, top right corner of this page.)
They’ll send email announcements when there are new posts and you can unsubscribe whenever you like.
