In this episode guest Agnieszka Bagińska shares her experiences of exploring countries and cultures on a bicycle. It was 2013 when she went on her first cycling trip, a tour which would take in the Polish coastline – starting from the border with Germany, and continuing on until reaching the Russian border. Since that trip she has discovered a passion for slow travel and has taken many more cycle tours.
In 2021 she loaded her bike up and set off from Spain for a tour of Southern Europe. 5300kms in 100 days. She followed this adventure up with a tour of Northern Europe in 2022 where she discovered what it was like cycling in colder temperatures in the mesmerising landscapes of Iceland and the Faroe Islands.
Her latest tour in 2023 saw her cycle the Wild Atlantic Way as a group of three. But while her friends finished their bicycle tour in Ireland, Agnieszka decided she would continue to cycle all the way home to Poland – the long way.
I enjoyed chatting with Agnieszka a lot and hearing about how she approaches her cycle tours. She has learnt to balance these trips by mixing in a perfect amount of solo cycling as well as taking tours with her friends as well.
To follow Agnieszka’s adventures be sure to check out her instagram account – @welcomeonmybike (https://www.instagram.com/welcomeonmybike/)
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And then we had our ferry to faroh Island and then we wanted to stay three days in faroh Island because I was like yeah there are small Islands three days is more than enough just to cycle all thing but there were no tickets for the
Ferry in three days so we needed to stay a week and we were like oh no because far are extremely expensive it’s such expensive country like really like Iceland is expensive but far island is even more expensive and now I think that one week wasn’t enough to see far
Island welcome to the seat travel ride podcast where we share the stories and experiences of people who have undertaken Amazing Adventures by bike whether it’s crossing state borders mountain ranges countries or continents we want to share that Spirit of adventuring on two wheels with our Listeners hello hello I’m your host Bella Malloy and I’m very excited to introduce my guest for today’s episode of seek travel ride agesa beinsa it was in 2013 when agesa first started bike touring she cycled the Polish Coast starting from the border in Germany and continuing on until she reached the
Russian border that trip sparked off a passion for exploring more of the world on a bicycle fast forward to 2021 and in spite of the unfavorable circumstances of the global pandemic agesa loaded up her bike and set off to to us southern Europe she left from Spain and finished
In Greece traversing 12 countries covering over 5,300 km in just 100 days she followed this adventure up with a tour of Northern Europe in 2022 where she set off from Iceland on a trip that would see her not only battle adverse cold weather conditions but also enjoy
The experience of touring with a friend as they headed for Poland clearly the touring bug wore off on some more of Agnes’s friends as this year in 2023 she set off as a group of three to cycle Island after that trip her friends returned to Poland by plane but agesa
Decided she wanted to discover more on this journey and instead continued on her way determined to reach her hometown in Poland with the power of her own legs I’m really looking forward to speaking with agesa today as she shares the stories and experiences she has built up
Over all of these trips and I’m also Keen to explore what it’s been like for her to not only travel and tour as a solo female but also share the road in the company of friends as well agesa welcome to the show thank you very much
Thank you for having me here I am really excited to speak with you AA I think that the tales that you are going to be telling us from these multiple tours you’ve taken really over a period of over 10 years now I’m really excited to get into hearing about your experiences
Of seeing so many different places experiencing so many interactions with strangers learning so much about the world in this form of slow travel on a bicycle but agesa a question which I start my show with and I ask this of all my guests is do you remember the very
First bike you Road oo I think it was like my dad’s old bike but the thing that I remember about it like it had very small wheels and my dad painted it for me because it was like think like a disgusting gray color it wasn’t like a pinkish color so I
Remember that was my first bike and moreover the day when I learned to cycle I was six I don’t know how you call this this illness is very typical for little children like your your throat goes like tonsilitis or yes yes yes yes yes so basically when I like when I cycled my
Dad like noticed that my my neck is like quite swollen and he said like yeah let’s go to the doctor and I remember the day that I learned to cycle I I got this oh no I want to know then before like do you have memories of what it was
Like to ride the bike for the first time or were your memories overtaken from this other event because as children big events are things that trigger memories for us like often we can think of an occasion as a child and that that spars off some memories that we have so do you
Remember the act of riding the bike or do you remember more that oh I think the day I rode the bike I got really sick no no I remember it very well actually it’s quite interesting it’s not my earliest memory because I was already six but
It’s one of like the memories that I have from like my childhood and it’s very clear I remember the weather was amazing think it was spring I believe because like like it was like very sunny and quite warm and it was on the playground of my old primary school so
Yeah I I remember this this moment quite vividly oh wow and then after you recovered from tons solitis did you did you get back on the bike did you keep riding constantly or yes probably yes because I remember also that with my Dad we were going very often and with my
Brother we live very close to the forest like maybe five minutes walk so we were always going to the forest and we were cycling there so yeah I remember that we we always were quite active not like every every day but um maybe once a week
When of course there was a nice weather because in Poland maybe you can cycle only mostly during the summer late spring and we’re talking with you there at the moment and you know winter is knocking on our door what’s the weather like for you there today uh today it’s quite
Gray actually I came back from my last trip a month ago and I need to admit that I didn’t touch my bike since then maybe that this is where I get to do you a favor agesa because in the next little point of your day we get to take
Your memories back to these beautiful tales and experiences from your tours and transport you back and and have you traveling with your mind back to these places instead so I want to know then obviously it sounds like you enjoy the outdoors you obviously just from what you were saying there with your father
And spending time out towards the forest when the weather were allowed for it have the outdoors and and exploring and being outside would you say that that’s a passion of yours then would you say that you’re an outdoors person then no but now definitely yes I think actually everything started in
2013 when I really started to cycle more more I CLE before but it wasn’t like in traveling way and then when I when I was traveling at that moment it were most like weekend breaks or maybe you know a week in Spain on the beach like typical
Holidays so this is like part on on the bicycle part and then for example funny thing with hiking that because I live in the north of Poland and we have mountains in the south of Poland so it’s like 500 600 kilometers but when I was young it was impossible it was possible
But it was like 16 hours by train to get to the mountains so I never hiked started to hike when I was 32 and when I traveled first time in Southeast Asia like before I never enjoyed mountains or anything and I think also it was the
Reason why I struggled a lot when when I was getting close to the mountains I was like I don’t want to cross them and it was very stressful for me with the bike it took me time to to enjoy it you know because I can understand that trepidation there’s sometimes where if I
Think of the English words for it you can psych yourself out you can you can totally get yourself with these thoughts in your head and I always think on a bike the roads often look a lot harder and steeper than what they physically are and I’m not saying that climbing
Uphill is not physically hard of course it’s hard you’re Fighting Gravity and depending on the gradients it’s it can be really really really hard but I find visually they can look harder than what they are when you’re actually on them like you can look up especially on a big
Mountain climb and you go oh my goodness that’s going to be so hard but then you’re there and you’re like oh actually it’s hard but it’s doable did you find it took that first time on a bike to be in the mountains to cycle up them to
Realize that you could do it that then when you started doing more of them it became less hard because you had that experience to fall back on I remember when I for the first time when I crossed any mountain was in 2020 so that trip was quite spontaneous so the idea
Because it was like in March the co started so I set up on a journey on in June late June and my brother was getting married in September so I said I will cycle all the way to Poland for his wedding but I knew it was impossible in
Two months so I said I will go as far as I can and from there I would just take a plane and I would just fly to Poland but I was very scared because it was my first trip and I was going alone so I
Said okay let’s go in parts of first I decided just to go to Valencia from Malaga and then in Valencia I decided to go to pona so in Pamplona it was already the moment to cross the PES in Into The Basque Country beautiful and I was so stressed and I was struggling what
Should I do if I should cross the mountains so like first the crossing the mountains because I was like oh my God I will climb the mountain and then going to a new country because before I only cycled in space I don’t speak French so for me it was
Also I would go to the country that I don’t speak language and for the first time I would cross the border of the countries with my bicycle and for me it was something like and I remember like I was speaking with some of my friends
They were like oh no she’s not going to cross the mountains you’re not going to do that and I was like like you could be a little bit more supportive thanks friends so I had like a backup plan just to follow Camino de Santiago de Frances
You know and just to do like a look in Spain no and to stay in the country that I knew very well and I remember that when I left my friend’s house in pona that morning I still didn’t know if I’m going to go up north oh West and I was
Like but I like my motivation was the image of myself in front of the AEL Tower and I said oh no it’s more important for me to take that picture than any other thing I was literally I was leaving pona I was cycling and I was
Crying because I was so stressed I was so scared crossing the mountain mountain and Crossing to a new country what occurred that it’s basically one of the the easiest passes in pene I think this this part and it was like going up and
Up and up and I was in ronen VES and I didn’t check the map well and I just saw like a serpentine and I was like oh my God I have like 17 kilometers to my Alber no to to Refuge there yes Refugee and I thought it’s all the way up so I
Remember that I had like a decent piece of Tortilla de patas or like Spanish omelette Spanish they’re so good right to my heart with food fans of the show knows Beller is motivated by food on cycle tools keep going agesa I’m in and I remember that I was like okay let’s go
I will do it like the last 17 kilometers up the hill and I was like after two kilometers I was already on the top so it occurred that the serpentine wasn’t up the hill it was already down the hill and I was like that’s it like you where are the
Mountains where are the mountains and the funnest part when I was later preparing presentation about that trip I discovered that that day it wasn’t the highest peak of that trip it was a couple of days before when I was going on Via Verde on the green way but
Because the gradient was so soft I didn’t really felt that I got so high so I was higher then than when I was crossing the panes it was just hilarious again it’s that mental wind then isn’t it because you took something on it was so big your friends didn’t even think
You could do it you’ve shown them well and truly since I was like look at me yeah I did it I need to fast forward past eating the beautiful Spanish tortilla Pata to crossing the border did you get to the Eiffel Tower did you take that picture of course yes yes yes and
Actually it was beautiful moment because in par I finished my trip so it was like my Finish Line in front of the Eiffel Tower and because it was 2020 I had the whole AEL tower for myself there were only few people from Paris just having a
Picnic it was so lovely and I remember I arrived and I was crying because you know after five weeks and a half I got to the place and people were like oh she’s so sweet probably she’s seeing the AIL Tor for the first time it wasn’t my
First time but like like the whole trip that I did and I was just like standing there and crying I still remember this moment I was so happy at this moment it was beautiful moment and it will stay forever in my memory and like I think
One of the best moments in my life there’s a lot of a trip when before you start that’s uncertain and I know it depends a lot on the person as well there are people who like to plan every single detail of their trip who research for months and months and months and
Know where they’re going to be from day to day in a rough Outlet line there’s people who plan their trips with spontaneity where I’m leaving from here I want to get there I’ve got this much time to do it and let’s see what Adventure awaits us I think for the
Latter there’s curiosity obviously to prompt you to take that Journey but there’s also a lot of uncertainty in what can lay ahead and if you’ve never done something before that uncertainty can give us thoughts that it may be a little bit trepidacious fearful negative did you find that a lot
More on that first trip or have you found actually before we get into that does this resonate is this is this something that’s happened to you before I always say that because people very often ask me if I’m not scared when I travel and I’m still scared because I’m
Quite spontaneous and it can be very stressful not to know where you’re going to sleep or are you going to meet especially when you’re Crossing to a new country what will be the country the culture if you’re going to like it and it’s always very stressful so every day
In the morning when I wake up I feel like this a little bit of stress but just because I’m leaving it every day it became so familiar that it’s not already it’s already motivating and not dism motivating yeah okay so it’s like okay for me to feel it because it doesn’t
Stop me anymore it didn’t stop at any moment and so you have that self-awareness that you you acknowledge that there’s that fear but you also acknowledge that it’s normal to be fearful and I can keep doing this because I’ve done it day after day after
Day yes yes but would you say then what your what you have fears about now do they change or are they around the same thing I don’t feel that very often but sometimes when I wake up I think about it you know especially like if I don’t
Really know where I’m going to get if I’m going to find some like nice place to stay or yeah depends on money but it’s not not as often as it was with the first trip yeah because it’s been like already four big trips that I did so
Yeah it became more that first and we say first trip I mean to be fair to you you did take a trip in 2013 it may not be as long as your other trips but that was a trip in itself to travel in that manner so actually my friend Ada it was
Her idea she was like oh there will be that long way me weekend do you want to go from like German border all the way to to Russian border I was like yeah why not I mean I like cycling so like I was okay so we started three we finished two
Cuz one friend her bike was just too old she was struggling a lot yeah actually the the path that we took it’s a part of a 10 that goes around Baltic Sea now I did it last year as well when I was on the way back from Iceland and it is uh
Quite nicely marked so it’s a quite quite good path to a lot of Polish people start start with this this trip when they got into cycling I might just ask you quickly on your experience then of riding on Euro routes because I imagine the Euro 10 in this part of the
Rout is not the only Euro that you found yourself cycling on how have you found just broadly the infrastructure there and I know that ovll rotes are in different states of completion my experience with Euro roots in France is they can be really varied and really great in infrastructure and then all of
A sudden you just need one or two intersections to not have a sign to cause confusion I want to know what your experiences they depends on the country now for example this year I I took so many AOS but like the last part was aov 9 Austria was amazing surprisingly Czech
Republic were amazingly marked and then like at the moment when you cross to Poland there was like nothing and I was like come on and I was really enjoying it because you don’t need to use use your GPS you don’t need to use any Maps just follow the signs and it was really
Good but I know that in Poland there are parts that are very nicely signed in Spain it’s still again it’s like a little bit like in Poland it’s developing it’s we are not even getting close to French or to Danish people like Denmark it’s like when I was in Denmark
Last year I was just shocked it’s so nicely signed like everywhere I remember that once we were just like enjoying this route it was so beautiful and then we needed like to go on the main street but we were just enjoying it so much that we went other that wrong direction
And then we need like to make like an extra 30 kilom just to get to the place that we wanted to I was only in Denmark like in scandinavic countries but I imagine that like in I think in Norway and Sweden they have the same they have
Like those shelters that you can legally wi Camp how brilliant not like in Italy everywhere where I wanted to like make a wild camping there were like huge signs wild camping forbidden penalty 500,000 or something you know like and when I see that I’m just like I’m not
Going to Wild cam here because I will be stress that if someone teaches me you know like breaking the LW or something no but like in Denmark they’re just like yeah no you just go and to Jo the nature oh you have water tap water you have a
Nice wooden table and and the benches and just I don’t I just love it so good it was so good another level you know I’ve heard about this also in Sweden and I don’t know if your travels from Iceland took you through Sweden but next year there’s a there’s a word in Swedish
And I I cannot think of it I read about it in a article it might have been in bikepacking.com one of their one of their magazines and it was talking about this word for that sort of incon itself in Swedish culture in that they believe that people need access to the outdoors
They should be in the outdoors that living life including time in the outdoors is good for you and nourishing for you and so then they encourage that and they have beautiful infrastructure like you’re saying there beautiful cabins beautiful places to camp and they encourage that sounds a bit similar to
What you experience in other countries up there and I believe in Sweden it’s legal to camp anywhere yeah it is and it’s because of this word it’s because of this word I feel like I’m going to do something I don’t normally do I’m going to quickly Google it because Swedish
Word for enjoying the Outdoors let’s see yeah so it’s freels live the love of outdoors in Sweden okay um if I’ve left this in the audio edit it’s because I want my listeners to be intrigued enough to Google it themselves and understand I didn’t know that there was a word for
That so that’s a it’s a beautiful concept and one that I can certainly fully Embrace because wild camping there AES it is something that I could imagine would cause you uncertainty each day especially if you sit out on your trip to perhaps wild Camp exclusively or wild camp with the assistance sometimes of
Utilizing warm showers or say couch surfing wild camping is something that I Know Myself provides an extra layer of Uncertain stress it’s that unknown and it’s fear of the unknown and and sometimes it’s a fear that what if something’s going to happen to me because I’m where I shouldn’t be or
Someone’s going to find me here and see that I’m vulnerable unfounded fear I feel but it’s one that can be it’s one that can stop a lot of people before they even start did you and do you still ever grapple with that side of things I
Said that I hate it it’s not that I hate it I’m just it’s something that I’m still struggling with during my trip so it’s something that I’m trying to do but when I decide for example okay today I will white Camp so even before I’m looking on the maps for a good wild
Camping spot and it takes me a while normally just in case I’m checking if there’s any camping so if by the end of the day I change the decision and it happened quite often that I changed the decision especially alone because when I’m with someone it’s already perfect
When we were in Ireland this year in Ireland I enjoyed Ireland so much it was amazing you can wild Camp everywhere people were so nice people were literally like oh you can just camp in my garden and oh you can just Camp here like in a park just in front of my house
Because there’s an like elderly lady living and maybe if she sees you in the morning she will be just scared and like nobody had any problem I remember once we wife came just like right next to the camping site by the road of the grass
There and we just like pit our tender in the morning people were going on a walk and everyone was just like saying hello oh did you sleep well and we’re just like you know especially that I know that in the other parts it’s it was more
Stressful so then with the girls like we were wild camping quite a lot in Ireland almost every second day because it rained so so much that also like we needed campsites just to go and dry our shoes with the haird dryer because it was raining all the time and then this
Trip I think was the trip that I did the most of the wild campings but still there were maybe four in 100 days it’s really really really really really stressful for me it’s all the time something that I’m fighting with but my imagination just so strong that I don’t
Sleep well because I’m so stressed because I’m always thinking like oh what was that noise and it was only a duck because I was like sleeping right next to the pond you know the first trip that we did in 2013 with my friends we were sleeping in the abandoned Scouts camp
And I’m pretty sure that there was a wild Bo night outside so that noise was so scary that from that moment I think I cannot it’s something that I’m thinking all the time you know I think like it’s a trauma that I have and moreover in the
Morning the owners of the camp came and kick us out they were really upset that we camping there so I think like exactly like both things that people are the most afraid so like wild animals and that someone will discover you and just like kick you out many of my friends
Many I have some friends that um that lived also in Malia know they were also like a tourers and my very very good friend Carl he always said like it took me like two or three weeks of like every day while it’s camping just to get used
To it know and he’s a man so I was like oh so okay so it’s like but I don’t know like I always struggle I I never did like two white campings in the row alone it was always like uh I needed like I think I needed to to rest mentally from
That stress but the last cing that I did actually it was good because I slept for seven hours and for me it was a big achievement so I was relax enough to sleep for such a long time where were you for that last where was that was
That in Poland no no in Slovenia no in Slovenia in Slovenia in the north of Slovenia I hid very well it was like a picnic place was quite comfortable because I had like like a picnic there was a little kitchen with water with tap water and there were like ventes and
Tables so like and then I just like hid a little bit on the side but I remember that someone before I fall asleep someone like drove past there but they didn’t see me and I was like like and uh so yeah and I always send to someone
Just in case my location to some of my friends just in case just they know that where I am it also makes me feel like a little bit more comfortable so that was the last time when I wild camp and because it was already getting very cold
Since that moment I was mostly sleeping on couch surfing and warm showers and hostels because my um Sleeping Bag wasn’t warm enough actually speaking about that it was something that struck me because your first trip your first big solo trip through southern Europe again southern Europe warm temperatures
The next year and I know you’re with friends northern Europe even in summertime you’re not having warm temperatures let face it especially Iceland pharoh Islands Bleak I’m just thinking of the Cal that would sink into my bones when the wind Cuts right through me in some of those amazing
Countries like visually the Landscapes would just oh I think I’d be cycling with my mouth wide open and eyes wow just with the real beauty of it but there’s a reason why it’s raw and beautiful it’s wild how did you cope with those extremes there because you’re
Obviously going to be cycling in the elements regardless of camping or whatnot like your sleep system for southern Europe is going to be vastly different from what you’re going to do to to sleep in Iceland or the faraoh islands up in the north so there were two reasons why it changed first reason
And uh this tour he’s also like a reason why I started to like do a long distance um cycling he’s a Spanish tourer Dan and he was the year before me he was in Iceland and when I saw his Adventure there I just said like I want to go
There it was like amazing I love it and the second reason actually was related to the temperature because I teach so I work from September to June July August in the south of Spain and France are extreme hot I was waking up at 5: I couldn’t cycle after 10 a.m. because it
Was just too hot I couldn’t sleep because it was so hot very often I just slept without the without the tent you know if it was possible if there were not too many mosquit and I remember I lived like two heat waves when I was going from Spain to Greece one was in
Spain and one was in um kotas in France the second one I was lucky enough because my friend she came back from South America like three days before I got to nice and she’s from niece and I just like saw that I was like oh my God
I’m here and she said oh if you want you can just stay at my place and I stayed there for a week imagine that it was so hot that her sister had a beautiful house with the swimming pool outside and till 700 p.m. we didn’t go even to the
Swimming pool because it was too hot to be out we’re staying inside in the air conditioning house thank goodness it had air conditioning I might say no because otherwise it would be impossible because in my house in Spain I didn’t have um I had air conditioning but it was broken
So there were nights that literally I was just like sleeping with my hands like apart from my body and my legs just open because it was just too hot you open the window but then the heat the the warm air gets into and the sorts of
Things so it doesn’t really help so one of the reason was not like the beauty that I saw like on this guy’s uh profile Instagram profile and the other one was the actually the temperature and I thought it’s just like because I always start my trip in Spain so I knew Spain
Very well I was cycling in France already three times and I saw Italy and I was like okay and I like during the day actually the temperature was quite good and what you said about preparation I never prepare my trips I’m like super spontaneous about my trips and trip to
Iceland and farro Island was the first trip that we needed to prepare somehow because we needed a very good sleeping bag we bought one for a comfort temperature minus5 it was very good idea because only one night we were cold but just because we did like 120 kilm we
Were exhausted we were so exhausted Ed that we didn’t even do a dinner so we didn’t eat anything before going to sleep and we were also a little bit higher so that was the only night that I was cold but like others otherwise the the sleeping bag was so warm that
Sometimes even like night was the only moment that I was warm moreover in Iceland on every campsite you have like a common Zone with kitchen that it’s warm so you go there and stay with other people that are also traveling no because there are a lot of people
Traveling by Camper vans and also a lot of quite a lot of surprisingly so you were like warm there and then you were just going to the sleeping bag directly so it wasn’t like you were outside just in a cold and then going cold to to your sleeping bag so it wasn’t actually
Temperature- wise for me it was good it was pleasant temperature to cycle because it was like 20 degrees the wind was a struggle and the rain was a struggle oh the wind and the rain Cold Wind and Rain what provided the most wild in weather was is it Iceland or the
Pharaoh Islands faroh faroh for wind but Ireland this year Ireland this year for Iran can I ask when you were in Ireland July friends of of mine and guests of the podcast Stevie and Tom tison they did a two-month sabatical leaving their place in Germany in July
And they spent time in the UK Wales Island and they had constant rain for them trip and I’m wondering whether you were there around the similar time frame or not I think you might have been a little bit earlier but I can I can say Tom’s anecdote was he’d love to go back
To island in the summer to see what a summer’s like there and of course the joke is that he was there in summer no right but everyone was saying like June was amazing and then August was amazing it was just July but it rained oh I don’t know that August was
Amazing because Stevie and Tom were definitely there in August it was wet the second part was already better weather and then September I think was also quite warm but when we were there like I thought I remember one day in Far Island it was our last cycling day there
And we could go on a main road with many cars or like there was like panoramic Road Yeah so basically we decided for the panoramic road because once we went on the main road instead of panoramic we tried on the panoramic but it was so foggy that I couldn’t see GOA that was
Like a meter in in front of me so we were just like it was it’s too dangerous for us to go and the cars were going quite quickly and it was wind and and rain so this time we decided to go again on the panoramic road so it was again
Rainy windy and foggy I couldn’t see anything and then right in the middle my wheel disinflated I didn’t have a puncture because I just pumped it but like in the middle of nowhere like with the car just passing by quite quickly couldn’t see anything Gosha was just standing on the
Road and just waving to the car so they could see us because there was like no part where we could just stay safely so we fix it and I remember that day rained so much that I still remember this horrible feeling when water was going
Down my legs and right into the shoe oh yeah I know this feeling I know this feeling it’s horrible so you’re describing this this time that I always think of when I get soaking wet and it’s this weird phenomena where it’s raining and you’re wet but then all of a sudden
It’s like the threshold has been broken and you your feet are all of a sudden like in swimming pools of water is that the same feeling you’re thinking of there when when we got to the gas station for a coffee and some for something warm I just like went to the
Bathroom drink a paper toilet and I just put it into my sh so it’s like takes it and I thought that was like the worst cycling day in my life I never had so much rain up to the moment when I went this year to Ireland and that was daily
Routine day it was raining there was a day when we were in the Northern Ireland going through um through some mountains and it was raining for 48 hours 48 hours there was a moment that there were no like I was looking for Cafe just to stop
And to get a little bit dry there were no cafes no restaurants no supermarkets where we could stop and have something warm or even to be in a warm place so then I said okay at least maybe I can find some bus stop there were no bus
Stops we needed to make extra 15 kilometers to get to the gas station just to be in some warm place luckily they had like a hot coffee there and tea so we just like standing but they didn’t have a place to sit so we just like standing there and shaking and then when
We got to the campsite I remember it was called midle camping and it was in the middle and actually lady when we arrived she knew that we will come so she like made an extra shelter for us where we could just put our bikes and she found a
Spot for us because like because it was a middle so it was already a little bit flooded oh great little bit part that was up so she said okay you can picture T here because it’s like dry and then our clothes were so wet and we wanted to
Make some laundry but she didn’t have a dry so she just took all our laundry and she dried it in her house and then she brought it to us and I still remember that in this tiny kitchen that she had and like many people wanted to be there
And we were just like with our hair dryer because the best thing you can take to Iceland Fire Island in Ireland it’s your haird dryer not to dry your hair but to dry your shoes your clothes and your shoes so basically it was like two hours every day that we needed to
Stand there and just to dry all the three pairs of shoes because they were so soaked otherwise it was was impossible just to cycle the next day and once it happened to us that we were wild camping in a pure rain it was Saturday all the campsites were fully
Booked and we just wild camp in a park in a public park and the next day I remember the feeling of putting your feet into into those wet shoes it was just horrible it was horrible and then still cycling in a rain you know oh wow do you ever consider a
Going back to a place you’ve already been to on a bike to see what it’s like or do you prefer not to go at all because I wonder having had such a wet experience in Ireland and you recall stories there with the people of being beautiful and so friendly and welcoming
Do you ever wish to go back there go there for a few weeks and see blue sky and sunshine do you ever think about doing that or are you the sort of person that goes somewhere once and I’ve been there and so I’ll have a new experience
Somewhere else in a month I go to Ireland but not with my not with my bik but not with your bike I was going to say you’re choosing an interesting month to go yeah I would love to with faroh Island we didn’t so like two places that
I for sure want to go back it’s faroh Island and Ireland I would love to do in Ireland the whole white Atlantic uh way yeah like the whole thing because we were skipping quite a lot it was impossible in three weeks and a half to just to cycle it all and the farro
Island so when we landed in Iceland the our first plan was to go around this ice around Iceland and then fly back to Poland but then when we got there we met some people and they were like oh yeah but we are taking a ferry to parro
Island and we’re like ah interesting so we like Googled and luckily because they said yeah but we booked our tickets like two months ago and luckily there were still some tickets available because on a ferry to far Island it’s mandatory to have have a cabin so you cannot have
Like only seat it’s you need to have a cabin so there are limited places because of that and so we booked the tickets like in three weeks and a half so we had like three weeks and a half to be in Iceland and then we had our ferry
To far Island and then we wanted to stay three days in farro Island because I was like yeah there are small Islands three days is more than enough just to cycle all all thing but there were no tickets for the ferry in three days so we needed
To stay a week and we were like oh no because far are extremely expensive it’s such expensive country like really like Iceland is expensive but far island is even more expensive so much more remote I guess in a way isn’t it like I imagine I imagine there’s more transportation
That goes to Iceland than would go to the Pharaohs is there even an airport at the Pharaoh Island yes there is there is there is yeah but still I imagine more flights go to raiku you can play from Copenhagen for sure and I don’t remember from where else but
I think like from Copenhagen for sure but yeah very often fights are cancelled because of the wind you know actually we cycled close to the to the airport and now I think that one week wasn’t enough to see faroh Island so you’ve gone from thinking 3 days was going to be enough
To oh no how are we going to feel a week to being there for a week and going I need to go back the longer how much time do you think you could and I don’t want to put words in your mouth but just from what you’ve shared it sounds like you
Had like some pretty intense wind and rain but you would still go back to explore for longer how long would you go for ideally I could I think like three weeks would be enough three weeks and what what makes you want to go back what
Is it that would make you want to go back to an area where you had such miserable weather what is it that’s pulling you there the views yeah I’ve never seen such a green color in my life the the green was just amazing and all the cliffs and Furs and secluded beaches
And and the campsites because everywhere there is a coastline so all the campsites were just basically with the SE View and campings are quite cheap like campings are like okay price you know like around 15 EUR a person or that’s not bad sometimes 20 like for two
You know so it was okay and they again very often they have like very nice common Zone where you can just stay and you know just get warm and like met so many nice people and other Travelers and I think Iceland was more original in a
Sense that the things that you could see there were things that you cannot see anywhere in Europe like volcanoes or like hot springs and uh oh I forgot the word like Getta the geysers as well but there’s also like this um this place that two tectonic plates so like
European and northern northern American you can see the the fault line yeah like the seismic plates like you can see the the hole between those two teonic plates I was actually cycling there so you can you cannot see it anywhere in Europe but then again like faroh Island it was just
Like another level like all the water there waterfalls everywhere like everywhere everywhere and because of the wind you can just cycle like 50 kilometers a day maximum because the wind is just too strong to get anywhere and we have still few islands that we would like to visit and moreover we were
Lucky enough we arrived at 3:00 at night and there was olosa Festival that is their national holiday in the name of s St Olaf so like straight away from the ferry we just went to the city center for the party and all the people were dressed in their National costumes young
People teenagers uh elderly people everyone everyone was singing drinking dancing and because of that we stayed the next day because the next day was like the most important day of this of this holiday so we were just like there on the celebrations and everyone was wearing their National costumes that for
Me was amazing because if you need to con convince any polish teenager to wear the national costume they would never do that you know like for them would be like so shameful and they were just like everyone was going proudly with their their national costume it was just
Amazing to also be there like did you even know this national day was going to be on no no it was like because I never plan anything I just like ended up there I was like oh my God yeah it was amazing what an experience because I feel that
That’s it’s like an invitation to of learning that you didn’t know you were going to have this invitation it’s like a gift of culture of culture exchange that you just happen stance upon which would have been amazing just hearing you speak that it’s the views that that iridescent type of green that you’ve
Never seen somewhere before and then you go to Ireland which apparently has 50 Shades of Green maybe the Pharaoh Islands has the 51st shade it’s it’s it’s just another level there but I’ve seen a documentary I believe it’s of Lee craigy and the adventure Syndicate and she was cycling on the Pharaohs and
Talking about I don’t know if you’ve seen it before either I’m pretty sure I saw it on YouTube and that’s where I first heard about even cycling in the faran because Iceland and I don’t really want to move on from there Iceland would be an amazing experience because it’s
Just so vastly different like we said the you seeing things in nature that you cannot see anywhere else in Europe an active volcano Gees Springs waterfalls tectonic plates meeting crack that’s the the crack between the crack there you go the crack in the placeat there we go I’m
Glad that came to you now not at 3 in the morning the phoh islands to me seem even more mysterious I guess we met very few few cyclist but there were some mostly because they were like on a ferry to Iceland so they just like did you
Always feel like you would defying not the odds or anything but did you feel like you were cycling in defiance you you were cycling somewhere that maybe cyclists weren’t meant to be in that even the act of riding I like in this wind is just insane in some ways I like
The idea that there were not many cyclists there yeah so it was something original and actually people enjoy more those when I talk about those countries that are not so typical for cycling and the same happened to me I was surprised because in Ireland we met quite a lot of
Still not so many people but doing wild Atlantic way but we just bumped into one couple British couple doing east coast of Ireland so like and it was also very beautiful and first of all like Irish people are the nicest people in Europe that I from all my trips like literally
The nicest one everyone from the car they were just like waving to us everyone in each Village were just like what are you doing especially that we were like three girls and they were like so surprised like cycling in Ireland are you crazy you know like in this
Weather everyone was just like talking to us and even drivers were so respectful like 90% of the drivers were just waiting to take over and they were just like even if we were going like up the hill 5 kilometers an hour they were waiting for the good moment and for good
Visibility just to to pass by next to us they wouldn’t really do anything to like make us like feel un yeah yeah yeah so it was amazing like everyone and I always hate when cars they use their horn because in most of the countries like get out of my way and I’m always
Always getting so angry so just to change this energy like bad energy of like using the horn I started to wave to people and saying like oh maybe they just want to say hello ow to me so I’m just waiting them and then I’m like C maybe they’re like laughing and ha you
Know like but in Ireland actually people were using their horn because they really wanted say hello like what’s going on so yeah yeah like they’re cheering you on in a way and actually agesa I have had the privilege of having that experience in irland now I lived in
Island for 18 months before moving to France we were there actually longer than we wanted because Co happened and we actually got stuck there but my have experienced cycling an Ireland admittedly very limited because of Co and lockdowns but that was my experience and especially coming from Australia
Where unfortunately we have a bit of an aggressive culture towards cyclist we have a car Centric culture really but in Ireland I remember that was my experience and I remember vividly saying it to my husband on first sort of ride away from Dublin North County Dublin then in the countryside was my gosh
People people are sort of waiting to overtake that’s amazing like they’re just staying behind you like they’re not angry and they’re not angry when they pass you no at all at all and they’re curious about you as well I remember actually even just off the bike just
Going for walks and reminding myself to be really nice because people are going to say hello to you when they pass you in the street Hi how are you and they actually genuinely want to know how you’re going I love the Irish people are beautiful and I fully agree with you
They’re just it’s a beautiful friendly welcoming culture isn’t it very I really enjoy it yeah yeah yeah definitely and that was about not many cyclist you know on the road yeah you are right though because when you think of it when people go to cycling Island it is the wild Atlantic
Way and really the majority of that it’s all West Coast oriented isn’t it because of car ring I also there quite yeah the Ring of carry Dingle Peninsula yeah yeah and beer Peninsula and Cork and everything like that that’s what you hear about yeah I I notice you went to
The Cliffs of MOA that is somewh where I have a shared experience my husband and I we wild camp in the top of the cliff Liv it was an amazing experience we woke up to thick fog you couldn’t see and then I went to make coffee and then all
Of a sudden we got this magical gift from nature where the fog cleared just for us and the clouds of fog were rolling over the cliffs like waterfalls I will never forget that experience in my life what was it like for you on the cliffs what sort of experiences did you
Have and did you camp at the top of the cliffs as well no we so actually the adventure with Cliffs of morer started few days before not because we were like three so we had like three times more problems during our trip that we needed to deal with Isabella’s my friends
Isabella’s like the paneers holder no The Rock bro her rack yeah R broke oh no yes so we like with those like quick zippers I think that’s the name yeah zip ties yes zip ties some French people they help us and we just tried to put it
Somehow so we can just get to Galloway and me and Goa we took like all the heavy stuff and she was just like carrying her clothes and my backpack that I normally have on the on the back of my of my bike and she was very tired
Because it was her first trip she wasn’t prepared at all and her dream was to get to Cliff of Moher but because we already have the tickets the plane tickets and I had my fair tickets so we were like on the short schedule so going to Galloway
Was not an option because it was her first trip she had a knee pain unfortunately and so we tried to somehow not do so many kilometers but to get to Cliffs of Moher so she can see them like so we can all see them no but like for
Isabella like her highlight of the trip was that so I started like to investigate the map and I saw so like to go to Duan yes I know Duan Yes 120 kilometers you were going cycling through Galloway but then I saw that there like Aron Islands on the way so I
Thought like oh maybe we can go to Aron Island FY and then from there to Duan and I checked everything and there was a fairy from the place where we were and then to to Dulan so I said okay amazing but then I started to read and like on
The second Ferry it was said like oh the bikes are allowed only if the captain lets them so I was like so we won’t go to to Aron Island the next day no because then we needed to go on the next day already and then in the evening take
A ferry and then the compon says no and then we still need to go back and still do the 120 kilometers because then we are losing all the time that we had to see CS of moer and then so we said like okay so we just like go as far as we can
To to go away then we’ll try just to take any TR train traino but like a BS or something and then like 4 kilometers before the place where we’re supposed to go to Galloway or to the ferry we met this German cyclist and he said oh I’m
Just coming back from Aron Island there was no problem with my bike you can just take it like on both FES and we’re like so we just changed like so then we camped somewhere we wild Camp somewhere next to the to the ferry and then we
Went to Aon Island we spent the whole day there me and Gosha we cycled Isabella rested in a town she just walked a little bit and then we took a ferry to Dulin and it was raining all the time like it was so rainy and we stayed in campsite and of course we
Enjoyed Duan and the life music and everything it was amazing and the next day we started the trip started the day in a rain and we were just like oh no it’s horrible it’s horrible and when we got to the Cliffs of moer they were covered in fog oh I know that foggy
Experience I could probably share some fog photos with you but it doesn’t sound like you got that magic moment of the sky clearing just momentarily so I have like those pictures you know that I found on the internet when I’m talking talking about this trip and I’m just
Like you know like on Instagram there’s like expectations and reality in reality yeah put so there was a moment that the the wind came and took it a little bit away yes so we could see it but it but still it has like this mysterious and a little
Bit creepy it was still quite cool you know my memor is from it as well cuz like I said not withstanding when the fog sort of cleared and it was momentarily for us like and it was a flute I must admit it’s because I’m a
Coffee lover that I think I even got to see this moment because it was the drawer of having coffee in the morning that got me to open the tent fly on what was otherwise a foggy day to go out and get the coffee ready I was like oh my
Gosh the sun is clear I’m going to have a look at this this is amazing then that moment passes within a few minutes we didn’t have any lights or anything with us on this trip and it was so foggy and so thick we weren’t stuck but we we
Stayed for a few hours before the fog sort of cleared enough for us to be able to ride on the road to actually be in a state where the cars were there that they would see us because it was just so so thick so I totally could 100% relate
With what that fog is like thankfully we didn’t have rain though especially that the streets are so narrow yeah M there’s no there’s nowhere to go yeah and then from there you just to like roll down and I remember that it was quite steep we’re going quite fast on that road
From one of the things with the island is is the narrow streets but you know the Hedge rows and the great thing about them is and whilst they could block your view but there’s something beautiful about a narrow country Irish Lane but the head also block the wind and I
Remember being very thankful for that I imagine on the Pharaoh Islands that wouldn’t have been the case at all no no trees exactly same inand no trees yeah yeah it’s like treeless naturally it’s like a plane really isn’t it yeah yeah I met this French cyclist once and he said
Oh I want to go to Iceland but he was sleeping always in his Hummock and I told him that you know that you need to take your tent and he said no no I will take my hammock and I was like no but there are no trees he was like what
Imagine not that you take your hammock and then you have nowhere to sleep what an oversight that would have been could you imagine just turning up being like Oh what’s my sleep system going to be now yeah yeah that’s struggle yeah absolutely did you find Iceland a lot of
Cyclists there because Iceland I don’t want to say that it’s fashionable because that’s the wrong word but it’s certainly more discovered Now by tourists and of all types and so maybe it’s more accessible or did you find a lot then a lot of cyclists there while
You were there quite a lot of cyclist I didn’t maybe not as many like in France or Spain but I was surprised with the number of the cyclists that there are so many of them there were quite a lot so most of them they’re like doing their
Ring Road that you can go all all around Iceland many of them were going like for like with the gravel bikes like to just cross the the Iceland in the middle because um it’s like very wild there’s no nothing there like you need to carry
Food for a few days and stuff so it’s also quite adventurous but yeah there were quite a lot of them especially when we got on a ferry to faroh Island I think there were like 20 bikes wow yes I think like five or seven of us get off
The ferry in farro Island and like rest of them they continue to Denmark hearing you agesa speak so fondly if we track back to the Pharaoh Islands there’s going to be people listening to you talk about that who go wow there’s a destination I want to go to with my bike
Now what would be the bit of advice you’d give them if they’re going to go to the Pharaoh Islands what would you say you need to know about the Pharaoh Islands before you go there notwithstanding the fact that you don’t plan if you wanted to give someone some
Assistance what would you tell them take a hair dryer with you take a hair dryer I love it actually we read that on some blog about Iceland about traveling in Iceland that’s why we took our hair dryer otherwise we wouldn’t have it this time we’re really prepared and definitely
Minimum I think it’s 10 10 days 14 days to be there also traveling in faroh Island because there are so many islands we change a little bit the strategy so we weren’t changing the campsites every day we were like going to an island staying on a campsite and just
Discovering the places to see there from the campsite we’re staying there for two or three nights no so like two full days one full day or two full days and we’re just like discovering places from there and then going to another campsite and discovering the other Island without the
Paneers the definitely be prepared for like just bring some good really good uh raincoat and gorex shoes they don’t really work there so like I don’t know maybe it’s even better to just cycle in your Crocs or flip no flip flops impossible and yeah definitely a tent
Because no trees and I think also wild camping in farro Island must be quite difficult because all lands are owned by someone so you always need to ask the owner if you want to pach the tent there but basically you’re in the middle of nowhere so you don’t know who’s the
Owner of that land but then the the campsites are not so expensive and I oh I had one more thing to say now I forgot wait maybe later will there was one more thing that I wanted to say and also what was amazing in faroh Island there was one tunnel
That you could cycle through underwater tunnel so I cycled 105 meters under the water under the sea level that was creepy I was like just relax and think about it like but yeah it was a really really cool experience 105 meters underwater wow how long was this tunnel
I think it was four or five kilometers so it was like 2 kilometers down more or less and then just like going slowly up up up up so this one was allowed there’s another one I’m not sure if now it’s the only but it was the first underwater
Roundabout in the world and was in faroh island so this one you cannot cycle but you can put your bike on a bus so we just like because we were on one Island and then we’re going back to Dam we just like cycle back there my mind is trying
To compute a roundabout under the water like obviously it’s in a tunnel even the idea that you would have a roundabout there is quite interesting yeah I know very yeah and the population of the Pharaoh Islands mustn’t be that much 55,000 people the city where I live in
Spain it’s 880,000 people and it’s very small so imagine like the whole country it’s 55 okay I know we spoke really quickly at the start of the show about beautiful Spanish omelets what do you eat what’s the national dish in the Pharaoh Islands I’m thinking fish if I think it would be
Fish we didn’t really go to the restaurant it was just way too expensive in the supermarket was already quite pricey and Iceland would be the same from Iceland because it was cheaper to to buy something gosh that’s how you know you’re going somewhere expensive if Iceland’s cheaper yeah Iceland again
Would be fish and surprisingly fish and chips is quite popular a lot of Icelandic people they immigrated to States and when they came back they have will have there a lot of burgers and fish and chips and fast foods like pizza and stuff their national dish I think a
Dry shark meat as well something that we we haven’t tried it though yeah do you think atesa you’d ever go to these countries on your own you did the trip to the Iceland and the phoh with one person you went to Ireland you had two people with you would you go there on
Your own I wouldn’t be yeah that would be okay I mean there are be in Iceland that we were like going for 160 kilom and literally there was nothing it was a desert so it was so boring even for two of us but um yeah I I felt totally safe
There and there are so many still quite a lot of tourists coming and people with Camper vans so there was always like a it would be perfectly fine too just because my friend she said like oh can I go with you this year I was like okay
Sure but it wasn’t because I was afraid of going there or anything like that are there countries I guess conversely that you wouldn’t go to on your own quite a lot of them okay okay and and what is it is there a reason for that I mean I
Always admire girls solo traveling solo by bike like in the countries like Saudi Arabia I’m like following few girls and they were like alone there I think even um one of them she was like recently yeah Helen Helen Dy and mine Hoffman as well has done the
Same she’s gone through Saudi as well I admire them so much I don’t know from where it comes um if it’s like my imagination again or everything I also live right next to Moroccan border and I just feel very for me it’s very uncomfortable when I go there even with
My friends and just like everyone it’s staring at me so for me it makes me feel so uncomfortable and so unsecure that for me like any of those countries would be impossible to travel on my own H that’s why I always like admire those girls but this is something that if I
Have a company yes but but not all I think that’s fair though like it’s one of those things you know yourself enough to know that if you’re going to be uncomfortable too much it’s fair for you to to realize maybe that’s not the trip
You want to do on your own it would be too stress and why I should like stress would like inside me maybe if I go there I would be fine you never know and again when I was in Morocco like I met many many amazing people but like still like
Half of those people were just like saying something that I didn’t understand like doing like and I’m like what like I’m not your dog or anything like no no it was very uncomfortable and the other day I even saw like a girl she’s also traveling in Africa somewhere
Now and kids were throwing stones to her when she was passing by The Villages and I was like and actually many of the cyclist because like many cyclist that were going to Morocco or coming back from Morocco they were staying in my place on warm showers and they were
Saying the same like kids were throwing stones into them like when they were going through the villages like how stressful must that be I don’t know like the children you know like and I guess if you know yourself already we were talking very candidly about you know
Dealing with your own fears every day dealing with the fear of wild camping if you know that that’s something that becomes something that you have to deal with each day you already are aware of it yourself to not have to put yourself in that situation it would be
Interesting ages if the opportunity came to say tour with one of your friends there and to tour in a country that you may be a bit concerned with having the experience of touring there would you then think differently and I I wonder even if that’s something you’re considering doing perhaps that would be
Lovely now if I have opportunity and now I’m even looking into some countries like that and I’m just like on some Facebook groups and there’re like some very often there are people like oh I’m going this month somewhere if someone wants to join me or something or you
Never know maybe once I will be just cycling and like I met Muriel yeah muel hello muel yeah he’s in Korea at the moment well I think he’s enjoying himself just not enjoying the weather muel doesn’t like the cold a nightmare for it’s a nightmare yeah he has rain rain and cold
Weather sorry Mario I met him on WhatsApp group for people cycling in Europe so I met this before Muriel I met this Austrian cyclist tour in Montenegro and we cycled together for a week and then inod I was resting with Kevin and muel texted me so we waited
For him one day and he joined us to and we were cycling three of us in Albania for one day and a half I think we cycled three of us and then in Tiana Kevin Went to Northern Macedonia and I met with mual like 30 km
Away from tyana again where we wild camp but I told him if it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t cycle in Albania on my own I would just take a bus uh because even when I was going with guys and they were just like leaving me maybe like 100 MERS
Or 200 meters before all the cars were stopping people were just like opening the windows and there were like a beauty or something like it’s not their culture so I was feeling already uncomfortable even though I was going with them so probably if it wasn’t for muel he even
Changed the route for me because he was going to the mountains just to take me all the way south to TP company All the Way South to sarande I think where I took a ferry to coru Island where I finished my trip that year it’s interesting isn’t it with those
Experiences because you would have a vastly different experience to say a solo male traveler in that way and so then your perspective on a country becomes so different to what others do and and I guess also with a solo male traveler because they don’t have that experience sometimes it can even be a
Bit more difficult to appreciate just perhaps even the extra barrier or perceived barrier of of being able to travel in this way do you think any of your friends that you traveled with in irland and and you know on your other tours as well would they be intrigued
Enough to join you on a trip in a country that might be a little bit nervous about maybe I think that with them in some countries I could go with but not in all of not not in all of them I think then it would be the like maybe
Some South American countries then yes but um still but again I really admire the girl that are doing that on their own and I wish I had this something in my head that I wouldn’t be afraid like I really I’m like and I’m happy for them
You know because they can do that and I’m like oh damn I wish but then when I think me alone there I’m like no this is totally not for don’t judge yourself you’re still doing amazing things and you’re still doing things that a lot of other women I know will perceive as
Going wow you’re doing that as well no I don’t feel bad about it at all it’s also I absolutely admire they’re almost like Pioneers to me they’re showing me the way they’re showing that it’s possible and I guess they’re they’re making me think about it in a curious way as well
Which is sort of the first step to take I think invariably what this show has taught me is that a lot of my preconceptions about places are not necessarily what they will be it’s not saying that things do not happen to people though and I know I certainly
Have had guests where sadly things have happened to them and I don’t want to say that it’s all a fear and it’s all unfounded because that isn’t necessarily correct either it’s a curious thing to learn more about the world to learn more about cultures to learn more about countries invariably what I’ve learned
The most is the overwhelming majority of beautiful strangers just want to have good things for you they they only wish you well they don’t wish you bad luck they don’t don’t they don’t want to do you harm but always say that bad experiences and bad things they weigh
More than the good things you know and probably as you said maybe if I’m already there and I see it’s okay I would be okay to say alone but I think now like I don’t know my prejudices about those places are so strong that up
To the moment when I’m not there I think it will be like I’m not really sure maybe if I go there once with someone like for two weeks and I see it’s okay and I just continue somewhere alone you never know maybe it will change but at
This moment um how it is think you it’s schol can I ask you a different question than Agnes and that is because you’ve had the benefit of touring on your own and also touring with friends which do you prefer I was expecting that question
Well that is sort of a bit of like the question at the end and I’m still going to ask you that anyway but overwhelmingly like a a longdistance tour of anything whether it’s whether it’s 3 weeks whether it’s three months would you prefer to be doing it on your
Own or would you prefer to be with friends I think I like to combine now I really enjoy the company it’s just so easy to you can share the cost of the laundry very often it’s way cheaper if you camp together somewhere and to pay like on the campsite someone is just
Going to the supermarket and the other one is staying with all the things you’re pitching the tent someone is cooking you’re preparing breakfast someone is like putting the tent back and we have company just to talk with someone Etc but being with someone 24 hours a day it’s so complicated so it
Really is I’m like friends and I’m then I’m also very careful with who I’m going with because two of my friends are very easygoing so it was easy with them to be but after a month I was also a little bit tired of the company so I felt that
I want to be alone but then after two months of being alone I was like oh I I wish I could meet someone you know on the road and just join them for a week or so I remember that before I met Kevin and and muel you know like the the last
Two weeks of my trip the big trip I did in company but I was in Croatia and actually I was talking with my ex-boyfriend and I was like I’m just so tired of being alone I don’t want to be alone anymore you know I think I would
Just finish my trip before I was really really exhausted and then I just bumped into someone so it was like and then I was like oh no I can just like travel the world I just like I’m not going back you know so I like this this like being
Alone but then they to have a company so both definitely have their like pros and cons so it would be very difficult for me to choose one at the beginning I thought I can I love traveling alone up to the moment when I traveled with someone and I saw it just like very
Comfortable and cool as well but then I also saw that I was tired after a few weeks and I just wanted to be alone again so like combination of both is just perfect it it would be very difficult for me to choose one it’s interesting because and it was actually
Only through interviewing people on this show that I learned about things you you spoke there about you know the WhatsApp groups and there are WhatsApp groups if you’re Touring that you can get into and you can find that there are people that will be riding where you’re going to be
Riding and maybe they want company it was a previous guest of the show Ed hor he rode from London all the way to New Zealand and something he told me was he spent a lot of that time that’s like 25,000 km FYI that’s a long tour which
He only took a year to do shout out to you Ed you’re a legend but Ed ended up cycling quite a lot of that with people as well for periods of time and with groups of people periods of time and I was like wow that’s a thing you
Were talking there about groups where people are saying Hey I want to go here does anyone want to join me do you look at that now like because the question I have for you U is clearly traveling in this way is something that you’re captivated by you speak so passionately
About your experiences there I feel it’s in within you now to travel and be adventurous in this way what are your ideas the future trips and what sort of Tours do you think you’ll be taking um so part of this trip I promise not to
Say so I’m not going to say where we’re going that’s fine but it’s going to very very cool place but then I think when I will be back in Europe the next summer I would love to cross the Arctic Circle and go to the north Cup oh wow yeah
Because basically uh when we started our trip with gsha I saw I think somewhere on Instagram they like the idea of B kingas no so like written in a wrong way no with B so it’s like from English word for bike and Binga in Spanish so we called our
Adventures in the north operation B kingas so that would be like continuation of that so you know like to just discover those Nordic countries so that would be probably a next year if possible we would like to go there or because Gosha and Isa they were a little
Bit tired of the rain and cold so I also proposed to go to Balkans but like to BN heroina Serbia and uh maybe North Macedonia that I haven’t visited yet by bike I was there only with um backpacking and I really enjoyed them so
I think that can also be a nice idea to to go there so we will see next summer what where we will go if in North again like as a part of this operation by kingas think or to balans yeah well oh I just love hearing about these future
Plans but maybe you don’t know maybe something else will pop out and I will be just like maybe I’ll find out you’re joining someone and you’re going to Morocco you know Saudi or something you know totally different totally totally different that would be amazing traveling in this way
Also agesa it can’t not change you and your personality of it I feel traveling in this way you you are exposed to experiences which shape who you become if you were to reflect back on how you were when you started on this trip to how you are now would you reflect on the
Sort of things that you have noticed have changed more in you at all or even things that have solidified and I guess boldly really firmly cemented in you who you are I because when I was young I was very shy surprisingly and yeah I was scared
Of many many things so it already like the process of changing started like way before I started to travel but definitely the way how I travel and the fact that I’m traveling alone strength of those qualities like you know me being super independent and very sure of
My decisions but not only decisions but also the fact that whatever I plan it’s okay that the plans changes because some people can be stressed oh I planed this oh it’s it didn’t work out but then you probably something else better will happen so this is something amazing
Amazing that I also learned that actually the L you plan the better no because then also you don’t over stress that something didn’t work out but even if it’s okay you know and also that I’m so independent and like I can deal with so many different situations and sometimes stressful situations and
Dangerous situations that I didn’t have so many of them I was also very lucky and it will be always okay you know like you don’t really you know that I can deal with them if something happens so I think it’s very for me it’s very important and and yeah sometimes people
Are like how we can just travel like from one country to another and I’m like I don’t know it’s just now it’s just normal no at the beginning for it was like oh that’s a big adventure and when someone like oh my God this is a big
Adventure and for it’s like yeah but I already met so many people that doing that that for me it’s just like normal day it’s become normal yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah that’s also very cool it’s amazing actually like even just reflecting back on how we started you
Know talking about the nerves of sitting out from Pamplona not sure whether you’re going to go east or up over the mountain to where you are now that self assuredness that comes through experience like you said the ability to say I can solve problems I’m not going
To be scared of what might happen from that perspective planning things and being spontaneous like this year trip was insane I supposed to be back in Poland for my birthday that it’s beginning of September and I returned like meet October So the plan was to go
To the northern Germany and then I knew that I wanted to go to stutgart because my friends lives there and in stutgart I wanted to go to lindow but it was like spontaneous you know like oh let’s go to lindow because another friend of mine lives there but then I really enjoyed
Rin River so I said oh I can go to Linda in three days so I can just go back to Rin River and go all the way around and visit Switzerland as well and so I did that and it took me like two weeks instead of three days to get there and
Then when I was in lindow I was like oh lonstein it’s next to me so I’ve never been to Lenin and probably I would never be so close to lonstein so I just cycled to lonstein and in lonstein my warm showers they told me oh you should go to
Insbrook and cross the arberg pass so I just went to inbrook and in inbrook they told me oh you’re so close to dolomites and to Italy you should go to Italy so I just went to Italy in Italy I followed the the drava river and it was crossing
Through through Slovenia so I ended up in Slovenia and having having B that I love B it’s like their typical pastry in balcans yum and was in Slovenia it was already so close to Gratz in Austria and Kevin that I mentioned before that I met
He lives there so I just and I told him maybe you can come to vien to see me but then I was like even more s and I was like oh I can just come and see you there you know so I just visited him and
I stayed there for a couple of days and rested and just because it was already quite getting quite cold and I also wanted to get before 15 of October no because there were elections in Poland so I just like decided from there like I was like no
More I’m not taking any more advices from people what to see I’m just going straight to Poland but still on the way I was like going to some places but like not so like not away from the root anymore but yeah this trip was just like
Insane and I was just like going with the flow and I really enjoy it and like I didn’t regret any of those decisions and places that I that I have seen you know that I took it so it was really cool it was quite fun that spontaneity
And curiosity that informs the way that you go each day I love that and I can feel it in the energy that you speak about that trip and you know I know listeners you can’t see this I can see the beaming smile On’s face as she’s retelling the story it’s making me smile
It’s just beautiful but I feel like you said you you sit out with your friends for three and a half weeks in rainy wet Ireland and then all of a sudden they’re flying back to Poland and you’re having this massive Adventure almost going the long way back to Poland looks like when
You see on the map it looks like I just like took a loop around Germany but I cycle quite a lot in Germany so I could practice my German so it was quite it was very good and actually listeners when agesa says that she can practice a
German I take my hat off to you agesa you are so multilingual and the idea that you speak so many languages and you enjoy being able to learn and get better with each one and I guess what a great what a great thing to have in your back
Pocket when you’re traveling in this way the ability to communicate with people different languages as well now I’m studying Irish oh brilliant my father-in-law was studying Irish actually he is Irish yeah he was doing something similar because when you are on the west coast of Ireland especially around Conor
Marrow and places and I think maybe Carrie like the signs are in gaic like they are in Irish and Irish is not phonetic no no no no the alphabet’s the same but the pronunciation is vastly different and you can’t tell is it this word doesn’t really look like what I
Hear you know it’s like so like a little bit like French yeah yeah yeah I love that you’re learning a language like that that is awesome and here I am struggling with my French every time when I’m in a country I like just switch if there is dingo on
Dingo the language that I of the country that I am in like when I’m in France I studying French when I was in Holland I was studying Dutch just to have few words it’s always good for then people look at you differently if you can just
Say at least like hi thank you or like they’re just like oh you know some words like they’re like how they treat you changes like dramatically like they’re nice but they’re even nicer when you do that they are you make the effort and then they appreciate that you’ve made
The effort I think you broaden your experiences up that way as well in how they receive you and in what they might offer up because of that too which is great you start off with a with that sort of thing I think it was we we spoke about Helen dainty already once this
Episode but I remember Helen was sort of was saying that she learns like an idiom in the language so she may not know some of the basics but she’ll she’ll be able to respond some way that only people in that country would think to respond and
Then the way that they respond to her because of that is quite cool and I thought that was a great sort of language learning tip once his at the Dutch guy and he started to sing to me our national polish Anthem I was like that’s very bizarre I know right wow
Yeah oh gosh we are really a world full of people whove traveled and making different connections I do love that I love the way that we can do that now we are in the most amazing time in modern era where we have the ability to do things like switch du lingo to a
Different language and learn things to learn an idiom to learn just even the basics you need just to make an effort like there are so many YouTube channels you can just like but you need to be very determined it’s a learning a language on your own I hate it I really
Prefer just to go to class and have a tutour and like someone to motivate me as well but basically then at home I’m also studying but I really enjoy going to classes and just have someone who can explain you because sometimes it’s on your own it might be difficult yeah you
Have to know your own motivations and the way that your learning style is there as well but it’s easier when you travel later as you said like it can really help you out you’re on the road massively I know I need to wrap this up soon and you’re someone agesa that I
Feel like I could just speak to for days and time will just pass and it wouldn’t matter appreciate this is your time and I’m not going to take that away from you we’ve spoken already about your experience and your tips advise someone to bring a hair dryer to Iceland which I
Thought was great but someone that I interviewed recently Martin and catcher who cycled the Americas which is amazing Martin had done an amazing trip before that 30 OD th000 kilm like Monumental he said something in that episode he has two extra pan years of experience that
He brings to a trip because he’s had such a big trip you have so much experience you bring to a trip because you’ve done a big trip collectively then a beginner listening wants to go on any sort of trip whether it’s an overnight or a long weekend like you did from the
German border to the Russian border or maybe isand in the rain equipment aside what would you tell someone about traveling in this way oh not to expect anything because you don’t know what to expect I think each day can be so different everything depends on the uh
Road that you decide to take no you can go on a busy road with the car so you can just take this panoramic route and just experience beautiful beautiful landscapes you know you never know who you will bump into I met so many people just like cycling around you know just
Going on a day trip you know like they were just like oh I will take you to this beautiful places and they were just like taking me to the nice places because they just wanted to chat with me and probably I would never go to those
Places if it wasn’t for them so I think that the only thing you can expect is that you cannot expect anything because I mean in my case because I’m very spontaneous no because maybe there is someone who’s like oh no no no I’m not going anywhere because I need to be like
At six o’ in hotel because I already paid for it like two months ago yeah those people and so it’s also perfectly fine so for sure you will have a great adventure and just meet many beautiful people that think things the same way that you do that for me was also very
Important because in my where I live in Spain or in Poland like nobody do the same thing that I do so and this is how I got know about worm showers someone told me about worm showers and I said okay I would join the community I will
Start having people cyclist in my home also to give me strength and motivation they are saying that if you want to do something you should study it you know you should surround yourself with people that do the same no so this is what was my strategic in 2019 I joined the warm
Showers and I before pandemic I had two cyclist from States and one cyclist is from South Africa and actually with Carl it’s a funny story because he came to my place for one night and he stayed for three years in and a half in Malia oh wow he loved the place that
Much he just stayed quite happy lucky because then the pandemic started and then there was a brexit because he had also British passport so there were like few things that happened to him but yeah basically he came for one night and he stayed for
Three years and a half no but this way I started just to surround myself with those people and then when I started to travel I was meeting even more people because I was staying so often with worm showers and with families and for me like staying with the families that they
Have kids and they’re traveling with the kids for me it’s just like amazing because when I’m saying like the first thing when I’m going to have kids it will be like buying a stroller and just like traveling with them and everyone’s like are you crazy like you’re not going
To take a kid on that trip and I’m like yes I will because I know so many people that do that it’s so normal you know and then like when I’m just staying with someone like oh I just traveled through both Americas I’m like what how did you
Do that I just wanted to cycle Alaska and then I was like oh I can just go all the way down south and I was like yeah it becomes normal doesn’t it but you’re right you surround yourself with that then it then all of a sudden it becomes
Achievable for you too exactly it’s like language learning if you listen to the radio in the language you want to hear and you watch TV and you surround yourself with people all of a sudden it sinks in you just need to dive into it surround yourself with people who cycled
Around the world and all of a sudden you too can see that it’s possible for you yeah I love it I love it it’s Fant and you know if it’s anything I’ve learned doing this show ages it’s that people who travel in this way the community is amazing people want to share their
Experiences and help people get within the community too which is awesome I think it’s absolutely brilliant I definitely need to wrap this up each episode I feel gets longer and longer I have a few quick questions for you agesa which I ask every single one
Of my guests now to end the show The First One one is and I actually think this is a tricky one I do give my guests now a bit of pre warning that this one’s coming so maybe You’ had time to reflect and think about it but if you had to
Pick a song that would be the soundtrack it would be the song that you would put to be the theme to you touring on a bike what song are you going to pick to be your soundtrack I mean it’s not the song that would be like for my trips but
There’s one song that I always play when I’m starting to climb the hill it’s Highway to Hell highway to hell oh I had this song brought up before but it’s not describing like how it is but there is one Spanish song that I really like also now I really like to
Play it it also like boosts my energy it’s a and it says like so enjoy the good things that the life has so that could also be yeah m m the reason I asked this question is not not only does it provide an insight into
My guest but I am creating a seek travel ride playlist with a song from each of my guest and it’s such an awesome playlist so far and it’s an Eclectic mix oh please share this playlist with me it’s coming it’s coming so Highway the hell is already on here see so you have
To have this Spanish song for you and I love it I love it okay the next two questions then agesa you probably know what they are one day you were told that you have a choice you can choose to cycle all day forever up a climb or
Conversely you can choose to battle all day into a constant headwind which of those to would you like to do the most which one are you going to choose climb the climb I hate wind like headwind is the worst thing that can happen uh you remember the worst day in Iceland was
For the first five or six days we had like a back wind it was just amazing and then after the rest day like first 20 KMS were fine but then we just like took a turn and we like before we were hidden before the mountain and like straight
Away the headwind literally we’re going like 5 kilm and a half an hour and we supposed to cover that day 120 and of course after 50 we just were like no no more no more we took a BS luckily there was a bus because in Iceland there are
Like buses every two or three days and so that day there was a bus and we just took a bus to the to the campsite that we had I mean it needed to because at 5 km an hour it’s going to take a long time to make 120 k
Even though that they’re like white nights so you can like really cycle for a long time be an issue but no we were just like we exhausted hill climbs winning every day of the week I must admit most people will say Hill Climb I don’t know whether I need to reword my
Question to try and coax some people into the headwind but I feel like the people I interview have experienced both extremes enough they they’re pretty certain of their answers final question and we sort of almost touched on this already in the show but this is slightly different you were given a choice you’re
Going to be cycling only just for 4 hours on this day and you can choose to cycle that 4 hours on your own or 4 hours in the company of other people which one would you choose depends on the day oh no no you’re I’m going to
Have to push you off the fence come on now you have to choose I think I still I still prefer a company yeah the company of others I had an inkling that that would be what you would say just because it sounds like you’ve had some amazing experiences with people on your trips
And so I feel like if it’s 4 hours maybe the 4 hours you want spend with but I’m very social people at the end so even though that for example when I’m spending all day cycling on my own I always like at the end of the day to
Stay with warm showers just to have a company and have a conversation with someone or if I’m on a campsite also to have some interactions with the people there or in a in the hostel you know so like at the end of the day I also like
To be with someone I like my alone moment but I also really enjoy being with people but being alone all the time it’s also very tiring so overthinking so no definitely company I like company well you know what Agnes I know I propose this to a lot of my guests but
One day if you’d like four hours of company or maybe some extra time and you’d like to come to the Pyrenees definitely seek me out I would love to spend some more time with you ride bikes with you and and learn more about your experience that would be brilliant you
Can you can come via pamp loner again if You’ like especially that I still have pending P Basco to visit P Basco yeah the Bas country has my heart I’m must admit it is some of the most beautiful scenery I have cycled in and now my friend she’s there ANUK I also cycled
With her when I went from Spain to Greece she cycled with me for the first month till to brilliant yes and she just moved there she was traveling around the world for two years and oh wow I need to happen stance I need to make this connection what a great what a great
World we live in where someone from Poland can tell someone from Australia about someone else who living ink and we can have this connection it’s brilliant and she’s from Belgium oh there we go oh yeah no this has to happen this has to happen I keep joking
About an A in real life Meetup uh you know trying to create maybe a cycling Festival everyone comes together and I get to have an experience of how I would love to the ideal setting for this podcast which is a live show at a campfire Bella’s campfire chats and I
Just get to hear all the stories agnesa one day that may happen I certainly hope that one day you and I get to ride bikes together I think we would have a hilarious time we’d have some great conversation and we could both yell at the headwind and just enjoy gleefully
The views of a hill climb as well yay thank you so so much for sharing your story and experiences with seek travel ride it has been an absolute pleasure it was a pleasure to be here thank you so much for the invitation thank you I feel so energized having just spoken with
Agesa there and have her share her experiences I loved hearing about the spontaneity in which she chooses to travel with her tours and you know just hearing her describe how the end of that last trip went traveling from Ireland on her own then all the way to Poland the
Long way around I absolutely loved that and what about that hot tip going to Iceland make sure to take a hair dryer with you it was something I would never have conceived to have thought of myself to you my listeners thank you as well you continue to help me grow the
Community here and the show each week the amount of people listening to this show grows even more each week I’m getting emails and messages from all of you telling me how much you’ve enjoyed listening to the stories of my guests and also telling me about your own trips
Whether listening to the podcast is inspiring you to take one or conversely whether you like other guests of mine have been listening to the show while you’re taking that Adventure yourself I absolutely love hearing from you and if you want to get in touch you can either
Do that via my email podcast seek trvel ride.com or if you look in the show notes you’ll actually also see a link where you can leave me a voice message so if you’ve got a question about a guest want to just get in touch and tell
Me what you think of the show you can actually follow that link hit play and just record a little voice memo that comes directly to me as well the other thing you can do if you would like is join our Facebook Community where we share more details about our guests and
More photos and I’m also doing a little bit of a where are they now because a lot of the guests that I’ve spoken to are actually partway through a big trip and so months down the line it’s been interesting for me to look at a world
Map keep an eye on my guest and see how far they have gone again that link to the Facebook Community is in the show notes just tap on that and you can join a wide seek travel ride Community there as well until the next episode I’m Bella Malloy thanks for listening