Cape Verde | The Travel Diaries

Cape Verde is made up of 10 islands, they sit, approximately 570 kilometers off the coast of Senegal in West Africa. They cover an area approximately 4000 square kilometres. The capital is Praia on the island of Santiago 14°55’N 23°31’S and they were discovered in 1460.

Adtrek – Self Inflating Sleeping Mat
I have always slept cold and usually wake at 3 or 4 am with cold feet and even colder inner thighs. I'm sure it's my age but I seem to need to pee about this time of day too. So I needed to solve both problems. In this post I'm …
Eurovelo 5 – Belgium
I had originally decided to follow Anne Mustoe’s route across Europe which involved following the Roman road called the via Romea Francigena.
The Doorstep Mile – London to France
On August 5th 2014, my 50th birthday. I set off on a 1500KM cycle tour across Europe. The bike cost me £45 and I was a little under prepared but I went anyway. I finally sat down at my editing suite and started putting together my cycle journey across Europe. …
Is cheap gear worth it?
Ultra lightweight, however, means expensive, Cuban fibre (Dyneema) currently is the most robust and lightweight material you can buy. However a 3m x 2.9m Cuban fibre tarp weighing in at only 76 grams, costs nearly £400, my current tarp is 830 grams and cost £35.
Tarps – It’s A Cover Up!
I used a 1.5m X 2m camo tarp for a few stealth camps but I've stuck with the DD Hammock 3m X 3m. Over the years I've used it in various configurations, enabling me to bed down almost anywhere. It's also been handy as a shelter on rainy days when …

Cycle Touring

Nico the Bus Driver
I cycled for about an hour and a half before arriving at Kerk in Spiere just after the Belgium border, not that you notice borders in Europe, apparently they have an arrangement
Sleeping in a Car Wash!
I could see lightning in the distance and hear the thunder, it was already raining and I had a feeling the weather was going to get worse. I was on the main road heading out-of-town when the lightning was directly above me and the thunder was really loud, up ahead …
Continue Straight On!
But it's a corn field, now I knew the navigation App was set to keep me off busy roads and aim for cycle paths but a corn field, okay there was a path and it had bike tracks on, so perhaps it was a short cut (by the way if …
Belgium Waffles
Once I had escaped the grips of the forest I headed into Brussels town, my aim was to get to see the atomium. I popped into a bus shelter to look at the map and figure the route out, it turns out I was very close and after a short …
Sore Ribs
The weather outside the tent was windy in the early hours with some showers, I got up at 09:00 and went to the shower block to freshen up and hoped a hot shower would relive the aches and pains.