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So far it has been a great summer and Zuri and I got featured in several German magazines like Bild der frau, outdooractive, Bella, TV Digital and the English newspaper Leicester mercury. 😍🐕🚴 I hope that this helped many people to start living their dreams too and to see that everything is possible if you just start going in the direction you want! 😊✨❤️ ...

Kierson from Sustrans invited us to sleep at his place for the last night of this year's tour. It was so great to meet him and his family and to discuss all the different issues I experienced on the cycling network. He arranged a video call with Sara from Sustrans Wales. She wants to push the barrier removal forward in the agenda and also some other problems that I encountered. Both of them are lovely people and they are trying hard to make cycling in the UK a better experience for everyone.

I decided to push back going to Cornwall a bit since I wanted to be back at my friends place for a belated funeral gathering. I cycled through the beautiful city of Worcester. I finally know where the Worcestersauce comes from 😅

Another adventures comes to an end. 1500 km (1000 miles) full of beauty and kindness and once more the weather God was on my side since we only had 1,5 days of rain ☔ in the whole journey 😍

For everyone who has been writing to me regarding new YouTube videos... I will start putting new videos up on YouTube from next week on. 😊 ...

This was the view I was waking up with in Brecon 😍 from there we cycled to Hay on Wye. The way to there was full of hedges. It made me quite sad because I was cycling through beautiful scenery without seeing it. Every once in a while a fence let me take a glimpse of what I was missing out. Hay on Wye is a beautiful little alternative village famous for its second hand book shops. There I met up with Katie. I stayed with her in Leeds on my last trip to Scotland and she had moved to Wales by now. It was lovely to see her again! 😍 After, we followed the EuroVelo 2 cycle path up the famous Gospel Path. The highest road in Wales! When we reached the top, there was a sign that the road ahead was closed. Why don't they tell me at the bottom? I was not going back down again... So I just hoped that I would made it through.🙈 30 min going down.. At the bottom of the hill on the other side a bid of road had no pavement and no safety fence because a tree fell into the road . But it was doable and I was very happy that I didn't need to cycle all we way back up.. 🚴🐕😁

Another highlight of the day was the Skirrid Mountain Inn day that we passed.
The inn has a reputation for being haunted by several ghosts or spirits and has been said to be the scene of numerous supernatural occurrences or paranormal activities. It's famous for being the most haunted pub in all UK.. ...

The afternoon in the brecon beacons was quite exciting! We followed cycle path 8 up to Brecon. Tiny windy roads led us up the mountain. It was quite lonely in some parts... At one point I was just rolling down a hill coming towards a little bridge when a very confused guy run straight at me and screamed "a car just came down the hill the other side and couldn't turn fast enough. It crashed against the bridge and fell down into the river. Can you get the ambulance. We don't have any signal her." I couldn't belive my ears. A car fell into the river? I stopped and was shocked seeing the car down there. A young couple in there. They seemed to be OK but completly confused by what just happened. I saw the brick wall next to them in the river. They were to fast in the curve and crashed into the wall, overturned and somehow landed on the tyres again (luckily for them)! It was quite some time ago when I lost the phone signal, so I knew I wouldn't be fast enough. The man went into the river to calm down the couple and I stayed on the road waiting for the next car, to tell them to phone the ambulance as soon as they got signal. It took at least another 1 hours until the ambulance came...
I continued still quite confused on my journey into the woods. I was thinking to myself if I was lucky once more? It literally happened 2 min or less before I arrived there being the oncoming traffic. It took quite a while until I was able to be in the moment again and enjoy the nature around me. The traffic free cycle path parts turned out to be more like mountainbike paths. Not easy to cycle on I have to say and even there barriers to small to fit through (luckily a couple turned up just in the right moment to lift the trailer over it). I reached the town Brecon in the evening and just wanted to charge my battery in a pub to continue to Builth Wells but then Paul and his sons started talking to me from the table next to me and they invited me to stay with them. They cooked an amazing meal with home grown organic vegetables (to find something organic is very difficult in the UK). We had a fantastic evening with many great and interesting conversations. So once more a happy ending🚴🐕😍❤️ ...

After having a busy midge night, I woke up in paradise! Without knowing it Zuri and I arrived in the Vale of Neath -also called Waterfall country.
Waterfall Country is an area of over a dozen waterfalls between Pontneddfechan and Ystradfellte in the southwestern part of the Brecon Beacons National Park.

Its a hidden treasure that many people don't know about. We came to a walk, that lead us to a different world...lush greenery, very picturesque and one waterfall after the other. At 8 o'clock in the morning, this world was ours. No other human soul was there. Zuri and I turned around after the 4. Waterfall, so I want to come back to dive deeper in this magical lush world.
We continued in direction of the Brecon Beacons. Once again we were lucky with the weather. A heavy rainstorm came down right after we left the waterfall area but only for 1 hour, in which we found a dry place.. A heavy cycle up the mountain followed and then another fail happened on the cycling network. The cycle path ended and around 5 km were missing before it continued. The only way to it was a very big, high traffic 2 lane carriageway with honking trucks behind me...stress pure!
After reaching the next village, I needed a break. We went into a small cafe. Unfortunately no dogs allowed inside, but we got a place in the beer garden. When we came back outside a guy was waiting for us. He saw us earlier on the road and checked out on Instagram that I was vegan and bought me very delicious vegan lunch, something to drink and very tasty snacks for Zuri. He just handed everything to me and left right away. Once more I was speechless by the kindness that Zuri and I are experiencing here in Wales!! 😍🚴🐕 The rest of the day continued in a very adventurous way with stunning nature. So check out the following post. 😊 ...

I was fearing this day for a long time but it had to come... The day of the Barriers!! It started of great and we went into the #pembreycountrypark to see the longest beach in Wales (10 miles). It's a big Park and it took at least 1 hour to cycle through. But we couldn't get out.. The gate was locked. I was really angry (I was on the Eurovelo 1) and I called the Park officers. A guy came with a set of keys but non fitted. So we detached the trailer again and he helped me through the small round bit with lots of effort. But this was only the beginning. We first cycled on some beautiful wide bicycle tracks to Swansea (wow!) and then we came to the #Neath canal and one barrier came after the other.. A nightmare! They were so small that neither my trailer nor my bike fitted by themselves. I had to lift them halfway up. After the 7. barrier I knew, I was not wished on these bicycle paths and I took the country road instead. Once more we came to a lovely pub in the evening and the young female owner recommended me a place for the night. Sadly right in a midge nest it seemed. Zuri and I had bites all over.. But we were sleeping right next to a pearl of nature, I had no clue about... Another fantastic day was waiting for us 😍🚴🐕with one scary bit I have to admit! 😬 ...

This was quite an exciting day! The first stop was in Tenby. There I accidentally found a cute little cafe run by a German women. We started talking and the told me that everything id completly booked in this town to the end of the year. Because of Covid nobody really wants to go abroad. Her cafe was really busy too and she needed to keep sending people away as soon as it opened in the morning. We cycled across the coast with some beautiful views but suddenly the cycle path 4 was closed and no detour was provided (we cyclists usually are forgotten when roads are closed). The only detour I could see to go back on it was to cross the very busy two carriageway A40. It was scary and I found this an epic fail for the cycling network (who ever is responsible for this). We saw some beautiful scenery after and at one point I had the feeling I should stop in a pub in Cydweli and not cycle any further as planned. I found the Lord Nelson pub and the owner Gerry was wonderful! He made me some food for free, gave me some drinks, I could shower and I could sleep on the couch inside the pub. I could put my bike inside as well. 🚴😍🐕 Once more I was surprised by the kindness of people that dont know me! ❤ And the best was.. It started raining when I entered the pub and stopped pouring down the next morning when I left... 😆😍🐕🚴 ...

When I woke up in the fields I couldn't belive my eyes. My wish came true. I saw some stunning cliffs and the blue sky was waiting for us to explore the beautiful coast of Prembrokshire! Pictures can't show how beautiful it is. I saw endless wide sandy beaches around every corner! But dont be fooled by the pictures. It is still a lot of going up and down 😉 And the sun stayed with us all day! I cycled through St. Davis, the smallest City in the UK (only so because of its cathedral - but it is stunning and huge and well worth a visit!) 😃🚴🐕 ...

After leaving Aberystwyth I was thinking I would make it to Cardigan but because of the up and downs I could only make it to Aberporth. It's a small village right on the coast. I went into the local restaurant hoping to be able to charge and to eat a bit. The waitress said that everything in the whole village was completely booked. I went back to the bike trying to think what do next. When a guy (Duncan) came running out of the restaurant and inviting me to his dad's house. He said that nobody should be hungry in his village, so he cooked me a very tasty meal and offered me to put up my tent in the garden as well. 😍 The next day was tough! I just poured - non stop heavy rain! It took me 2 hours to go to Cardigan and I went into a pub there for a coffee. After a while a lady came to me telling me that I need to leave in 30min because the table was reserved. 15min after she came again telling me I need to leave now because the guests came early. "everybody wants to be dry and comes early when it's raining". I replied to her that I can imagine this because I got really wet as well in the morning. She replied but that I have rain gear on and asked me to leave again. So we did. We cycled all the way to Fishguard. It was just cold,very windy and very very wet! It was a very tough day! In Fishguard the restaurants very fully booked again. I was able to get a seat inside in one for 45min to eat something quickly but needed to finish my drink outside because other people where coming. I just cycled outside the town and looked for a meadow to put up the tent hoping for a sunnier day to come but the forecast was just predicting more of the same.. My deepest wish was to see Pembrokeshire in sunshine, which we were about to see the following day... ...

When I came to Aberystwyth the battery of my phone was almost empty and I was struggling to get it to charge with the powerbank. So I stopped at the beginning of the town. A very lovely lady stopped and invited me and Zuri to her home right way. 🐕🚲🚲😃 I could charge everything got some food, some lovely tea and could even sleep in a proper bed. 😍 It was the perfect ending to this adventurous day. The next day I wanted to go further down to south Wales. There is no direct cycle route, so Komoot navigated me through some country lanes. But it was tough! It was just going up and down, up and down all day.. There a very typical thing in Wales started to annoy me.. Wales seems to be obsessed with hedges... Eventhough I was cycling very close to the sea, I couldn't see any of it. It can be very frustrating, when you know that beautiful nature is around you but you have no chance of seeing it. It is like this in most places in Wales,which is quite offsetting I have to admit. 🚲😔 ...

The time has come to tell you about our most adventurous day! We had two incidents! And both happened on a car free long distance cycle path (no 82). We're we're heading for Aberystwyth. Mid Wales is very lonely and you have long sections without any sign of civilization, that go over some mountains. I was quite excited to have a real cycle path there but it Wales you never now what you get. It's a lottery! And the cycle path was very very difficult. The middle bit was paved (it was so narrow that I had to watch the trailer all the time not falling of the edges. The sides of the middle mid very going down and gravel. Sometimes the high difference was enormous. Often you had mountains on one side and a cliff on the other side. it was going down very steep when I met a group of 10 horses that needed to pass me. I hold the breaks and went as close to the edge as I could.It started raining a bit and it was quite windy so that the trailer flag was moving quite a bit. That freaked the horses out a lot. They needed to pass me but the road was to narrow, so they had to go sideways up the hill a bit. I was really scared that one horse would hit me. One horse got so freaked out that it got loose and the women fell of the horse. And then the chaos started. I couldn't do anything because I was still holding the breaks. It took quite squary minutes until all the horses had passed... And then we had to continue the slippery way down..
The next incident happened just on the next car free section. This time is was a tiny muddy path. More like a foot path going straight up. It was also shared with some downhill Mountainbiking... I pushed the bike upwards when litteraly meters in front of me a Mountainbiker came down with full speed and knocked himself of the bike falling over the handlebar because of a root sticking out of the ground . He was screaming in pain laying on the floor, his bike in the bushes.. I stayed with him until he was ok to walk back. I was just thinking to myself after that I had been really lucky because we would have crashed into me with full speed because they was now way to been able to jump to the side..
Long distance bike roads are a gamble in Wales...😔 ...

Before I tell you about our most adventurous day, we have something to celebrate! In the morning of that day we cycled 10 000 km (over 6000 Miles) through 15 countries now! ⛰️🚲🐕❤️🥳🥳🥳🥳
The last picture shows our Komoot statistics (I didn't use Komoot from the start, that's why it's a bit lower) but you can see that we have almost climbed 100 000 m in altitude 💪 ...

Jay, the son of the pub owners in Abermule gave me the tip to make a detour and to visit the Clywedog Reservoir. It is the tallest concrete dam in the UK. And it was well worth the detour. It's beautiful up there and very quiet. I searched for a beautiful place with a view of the lake for the night. But it was quite cold and so at one point I had to put Zuri in my sleeping bag to get warm again. 🐕🤷‍♀️
On the next morning I said to Zuri "let's have a Welsh adventure, shall we"
-be careful what you wish for - the day to come was the most adventurous, dangerous and scariest days of all... 🙈 But more tomorrow... 😊🐕🚲😀⛰️ ...

Fully rested Zuri and I left Shrewsbury to cycle back to West Wales (heading in the direction of Aberystwyth). It was a nice cycling day. A lot of the paths were along the beautiful canal. Some quite tight to pass through with a trailer but still doable. As it turned dark, the weather changed from dry to pouring wet... Zuri and I were still at the canal and there was no easy way out.. I was thinking of sleeping under a bridge at the canal to hide from the rain. I checked Google maps and saw a tiny village with an open pub just 4 km away from us. As fast as I could Zuri and I cycled to it.
The pub was still open. God, was I happy. 😍 The family, who owns the pub where the last people sitting there. I just wanted a drink, some time to dry a bit and a charge for my battery.
They were so kind, I just lack words to describe it.
I got offered a free meal eventhough the kitchen was closed that day. I got free drinks and Zuri got a free dinner too. Chris, the owner offered me to sleep in the caravan in the back of the pub. I could shower in the morning, got some breakfast and even drinks, coffee and some sweets for on the go. And as I was about to leave Chris saw that my Tyre was flat and Jay the son repaired it right away. Ready for me to continue.

I just didn't know what to say! Pubs struggled so much through Covid. Lacking all this income for months and now here they are giving me everything to help me out as much as possible! 😍🚲🐕❤️ ...

What a surprise! I was waking up with some load noises.. When I opened up my tent a Herd of young male cows where starring at me.. Very curious what I was doing there... I packed everything and while doing so they were around 1 m away watching me. One cow sniffed zuris bumb 😅😬 I think it was the fasted packing that I ever did 😅
We continued to Shrewsbury. On the way some road bikes passed by and then a guy on an electric bike. We had a little chat and he told me that they are doing a charity pub race. He then asked me if I want some cake and told the van behind us to stop. I got bananas, sweets and delicious chocolate cake from the support van. What a nice breakfast surprise 😁👌😀🚲

Shrewsbury, where we were heading to, was the closest bigger city and there I wanted to check if I could buy a new stand for my bike. But as things go it was Sunday and exept helfords everything was closed. Eventhough they sell bikes there, they didn't have anything usable.. 😣 So Adam and his wife Manda friends of my English friend Emma decided to drive 1 hour to me to fix my stand with some additional tools. And he was able too! 🥳 It still needs changing after the tour but it holds the bike perfectly for this journey! How was I happy! 😍 I was even happier when Emma told me that I could sleep the night at her friend Sue's place close by. They have a summer house in the garden. It was so good to have a good rest. I got my stuff washed, my filmmaterial saved on an external hard drive, had a shower and got some really good food! I felt ready for the adventures that would middle Wales had in store for us... ...

From Dolgellau we went to Bala. I tried to stay on the back roads as much as possible and followed Komoot, my bike Navigation. At one point the roads got smaller, then they stopped completely, a rocky path appeared, then a sheep meadow and then a little river we had to cross. I was not so sure anymore, if we would find the paved road again. At one point I was in the middle of a sheep field going straight up some rocks. It was hard work to push it through and I decided to look for the farmer on the other side of the river. I wasn't sure how he would react seeing me and Zuri on his land. But he was very kind. He offered to tow the bike through the river on the other side. But he also told me how to get out on the side where I was. I stayed on my side and after some more rocky climbs I had to push, we found the main road again to Bala. That was quite a mini adventure. In Bala we had a short break until we continued to Lake Vrynwy. It was a long climb but I love being in this kind of landscape! 😍🐕⛰️🚲
Shortly after the lake unfortunately my stand broke completly off the bike. I was very frustrated and the best I could do was just go to sleep and wake up with a better mood. I searched for a field and put the tent up because it was going to rain... What I was going to wake up with was quite a surprise 🙈😬 more tomorrow... 😁 ...

I got the recommendation to follow cycle path no 8 from Porthmadog to Barmouth. Wow! I think that was one of the most difficult routes I've cycled so far! It was 20 % up a long way! Very narrow roads.. but the views... Priceless! It was just stunning! So well worth it eventhough I had to push the bike up quite a long way. I continued from Barmouth to Dolgellau. Another beautiful path! Completly car free along the sea (it used to be a railway track). I arrived in Dolgellau quite late and tiered and stopped in a pub for a drink and to recharge the battery. 6 guys from Staffordshire, who where there to do some mountainbiking invited me to have some ciders with them and they allowed me to sleep in the house they had rented for the time being there. I had a fantastic evening with some guitar playing and singing, a bed, a shower and I even got some eggs on toast made by them for breakfast on the next morning 🍳😍 ...

I think this deserves a single post.😁 Gerallt suggested to visit Portmeirion, which is just outside of Portmadog. Unfortunately no bikes and dogs allowed but I still had a quick visit. It is a fascinating but quite odd little Italian village embedded in Welsh mountain surroundings.

Portmeirion Village, built in perfect Italianate style, is the product of the vivid imagination of architect, builder and bird of paradise Sir Bertram Clough Williams-Ellis (1883-1979). The village is picturesquely situated on a small peninsula, on the sandy estuary of the River Dwyryd to Tremadog Bay.

Already as a young man, Clough Williams-Ellis had the fixed idea of creating an Italianate village with colorful facades, classical colonnades, fountains and statues directly on the sea. He searched for a long time for a suitable location anywhere in the world and finally took the most obvious option - he bought Plas Brondanw, a villa with an overgrown park on a peninsula not far from his family residence, for £ 5,000. Of the promontory on the coast of Snowdonia National Park, he wrote at the time, "A neglected wilderness long abandoned by romantics who had realized the unique charm and possibilities of the area, but who had allowed themselves to be carried away by the grandiose scenery... to a sad bankruptcy."

Here, between 1925 and 1976, he realized his vision: by building the village, he wanted to show that a scenic area can be built on without being destroyed. The backdrop for his village came from everywhere. The architect literally collected houses, different building materials such as stones, archways, columns, windows, wrought iron gates and in this way saved many buildings from decay.

Many famous artists and actors were fascinated by Portmeirion, including H.G. Wells, George Bernard Shaw, Noël Coward, the architect Frank Lloyd Wright but also Gregory Peck, Ingrid Bergmann and Paul McCartney. In the 1960s, Brian Epstein, manager of the Beatles, frequently rented rooms in the Gate House during the summer months, and George Harrison celebrated his 50th birthday here. In 1966/67, the place became the setting for the cult TV series The Prisoner (German title: Number 6). ...

I had some electricity yesterday, so I checked out some of the insta 360 x2 videos.
It's amazing, what you can do with it. For proper editing I need to do it on my computer. but I think it is so cool, that you can decide which view you want to have while editing because it films everything around you. I'm quite excited about it😍
@insta360 ...

Before I was going to sleep behind the pub, Lois came to me while I was drinking my cider in the pub and invited me to shower at her place and for a coffee in the morning. I was waking to glorious sunshine with a view down the peninsula. Lois picked me up and took be to her house with a stunning view across the ocean! I learned alot about the Welsh and before letting me leave she gave me lots of food for me and Zuri to get us through the next days. I followed the route she suggested and the views where just magnificent. Glorious bays, mountains and the sun following us all day. We cycled around the whole Llyn peninsula until Porthmadog. Here Geralld took us in. We met each other in Scotland last year and he took an amazing shot of us cycling past him up a mountain. We had a great evening together with Gin tonic, pizza and some Cider. 😍 And I and Zuri could sleep in an old church, he recently bought.Through cycling you can see a country in a way more indept way. What I already learned about Wales, I would never be able to learn by just being a standard tourist.. I had such a great time and I feel so blessed to meet all these lovely people, who share their stories with me and help me along the way! Thank you so much everyone! 😍👍🐕🚲 ...

So far it has been a great summer and Zuri and I got featured in several German magazines like Bild der frau, outdooractive, Bella, TV Digital and the English newspaper Leicester mercury. 😍🐕🚴 I hope that this helped many people to start living their dreams too and to see that everything is possible if you just start going in the direction you want! 😊✨❤️ ...

Kierson from Sustrans invited us to sleep at his place for the last night of this year's tour. It was so great to meet him and his family and to discuss all the different issues I experienced on the cycling network. He arranged a video call with Sara from Sustrans Wales. She wants to push the barrier removal forward in the agenda and also some other problems that I encountered. Both of them are lovely people and they are trying hard to make cycling in the UK a better experience for everyone.

I decided to push back going to Cornwall a bit since I wanted to be back at my friends place for a belated funeral gathering. I cycled through the beautiful city of Worcester. I finally know where the Worcestersauce comes from 😅

Another adventures comes to an end. 1500 km (1000 miles) full of beauty and kindness and once more the weather God was on my side since we only had 1,5 days of rain ☔ in the whole journey 😍

For everyone who has been writing to me regarding new YouTube videos... I will start putting new videos up on YouTube from next week on. 😊 ...

This was the view I was waking up with in Brecon 😍 from there we cycled to Hay on Wye. The way to there was full of hedges. It made me quite sad because I was cycling through beautiful scenery without seeing it. Every once in a while a fence let me take a glimpse of what I was missing out. Hay on Wye is a beautiful little alternative village famous for its second hand book shops. There I met up with Katie. I stayed with her in Leeds on my last trip to Scotland and she had moved to Wales by now. It was lovely to see her again! 😍 After, we followed the EuroVelo 2 cycle path up the famous Gospel Path. The highest road in Wales! When we reached the top, there was a sign that the road ahead was closed. Why don't they tell me at the bottom? I was not going back down again... So I just hoped that I would made it through.🙈 30 min going down.. At the bottom of the hill on the other side a bid of road had no pavement and no safety fence because a tree fell into the road . But it was doable and I was very happy that I didn't need to cycle all we way back up.. 🚴🐕😁

Another highlight of the day was the Skirrid Mountain Inn day that we passed.
The inn has a reputation for being haunted by several ghosts or spirits and has been said to be the scene of numerous supernatural occurrences or paranormal activities. It's famous for being the most haunted pub in all UK.. ...

The afternoon in the brecon beacons was quite exciting! We followed cycle path 8 up to Brecon. Tiny windy roads led us up the mountain. It was quite lonely in some parts... At one point I was just rolling down a hill coming towards a little bridge when a very confused guy run straight at me and screamed "a car just came down the hill the other side and couldn't turn fast enough. It crashed against the bridge and fell down into the river. Can you get the ambulance. We don't have any signal her." I couldn't belive my ears. A car fell into the river? I stopped and was shocked seeing the car down there. A young couple in there. They seemed to be OK but completly confused by what just happened. I saw the brick wall next to them in the river. They were to fast in the curve and crashed into the wall, overturned and somehow landed on the tyres again (luckily for them)! It was quite some time ago when I lost the phone signal, so I knew I wouldn't be fast enough. The man went into the river to calm down the couple and I stayed on the road waiting for the next car, to tell them to phone the ambulance as soon as they got signal. It took at least another 1 hours until the ambulance came...
I continued still quite confused on my journey into the woods. I was thinking to myself if I was lucky once more? It literally happened 2 min or less before I arrived there being the oncoming traffic. It took quite a while until I was able to be in the moment again and enjoy the nature around me. The traffic free cycle path parts turned out to be more like mountainbike paths. Not easy to cycle on I have to say and even there barriers to small to fit through (luckily a couple turned up just in the right moment to lift the trailer over it). I reached the town Brecon in the evening and just wanted to charge my battery in a pub to continue to Builth Wells but then Paul and his sons started talking to me from the table next to me and they invited me to stay with them. They cooked an amazing meal with home grown organic vegetables (to find something organic is very difficult in the UK). We had a fantastic evening with many great and interesting conversations. So once more a happy ending🚴🐕😍❤️ ...

After having a busy midge night, I woke up in paradise! Without knowing it Zuri and I arrived in the Vale of Neath -also called Waterfall country.
Waterfall Country is an area of over a dozen waterfalls between Pontneddfechan and Ystradfellte in the southwestern part of the Brecon Beacons National Park.

Its a hidden treasure that many people don't know about. We came to a walk, that lead us to a different world...lush greenery, very picturesque and one waterfall after the other. At 8 o'clock in the morning, this world was ours. No other human soul was there. Zuri and I turned around after the 4. Waterfall, so I want to come back to dive deeper in this magical lush world.
We continued in direction of the Brecon Beacons. Once again we were lucky with the weather. A heavy rainstorm came down right after we left the waterfall area but only for 1 hour, in which we found a dry place.. A heavy cycle up the mountain followed and then another fail happened on the cycling network. The cycle path ended and around 5 km were missing before it continued. The only way to it was a very big, high traffic 2 lane carriageway with honking trucks behind me...stress pure!
After reaching the next village, I needed a break. We went into a small cafe. Unfortunately no dogs allowed inside, but we got a place in the beer garden. When we came back outside a guy was waiting for us. He saw us earlier on the road and checked out on Instagram that I was vegan and bought me very delicious vegan lunch, something to drink and very tasty snacks for Zuri. He just handed everything to me and left right away. Once more I was speechless by the kindness that Zuri and I are experiencing here in Wales!! 😍🚴🐕 The rest of the day continued in a very adventurous way with stunning nature. So check out the following post. 😊 ...

I was fearing this day for a long time but it had to come... The day of the Barriers!! It started of great and we went into the #pembreycountrypark to see the longest beach in Wales (10 miles). It's a big Park and it took at least 1 hour to cycle through. But we couldn't get out.. The gate was locked. I was really angry (I was on the Eurovelo 1) and I called the Park officers. A guy came with a set of keys but non fitted. So we detached the trailer again and he helped me through the small round bit with lots of effort. But this was only the beginning. We first cycled on some beautiful wide bicycle tracks to Swansea (wow!) and then we came to the #Neath canal and one barrier came after the other.. A nightmare! They were so small that neither my trailer nor my bike fitted by themselves. I had to lift them halfway up. After the 7. barrier I knew, I was not wished on these bicycle paths and I took the country road instead. Once more we came to a lovely pub in the evening and the young female owner recommended me a place for the night. Sadly right in a midge nest it seemed. Zuri and I had bites all over.. But we were sleeping right next to a pearl of nature, I had no clue about... Another fantastic day was waiting for us 😍🚴🐕with one scary bit I have to admit! 😬 ...

This was quite an exciting day! The first stop was in Tenby. There I accidentally found a cute little cafe run by a German women. We started talking and the told me that everything id completly booked in this town to the end of the year. Because of Covid nobody really wants to go abroad. Her cafe was really busy too and she needed to keep sending people away as soon as it opened in the morning. We cycled across the coast with some beautiful views but suddenly the cycle path 4 was closed and no detour was provided (we cyclists usually are forgotten when roads are closed). The only detour I could see to go back on it was to cross the very busy two carriageway A40. It was scary and I found this an epic fail for the cycling network (who ever is responsible for this). We saw some beautiful scenery after and at one point I had the feeling I should stop in a pub in Cydweli and not cycle any further as planned. I found the Lord Nelson pub and the owner Gerry was wonderful! He made me some food for free, gave me some drinks, I could shower and I could sleep on the couch inside the pub. I could put my bike inside as well. 🚴😍🐕 Once more I was surprised by the kindness of people that dont know me! ❤ And the best was.. It started raining when I entered the pub and stopped pouring down the next morning when I left... 😆😍🐕🚴 ...

When I woke up in the fields I couldn't belive my eyes. My wish came true. I saw some stunning cliffs and the blue sky was waiting for us to explore the beautiful coast of Prembrokshire! Pictures can't show how beautiful it is. I saw endless wide sandy beaches around every corner! But dont be fooled by the pictures. It is still a lot of going up and down 😉 And the sun stayed with us all day! I cycled through St. Davis, the smallest City in the UK (only so because of its cathedral - but it is stunning and huge and well worth a visit!) 😃🚴🐕 ...

After leaving Aberystwyth I was thinking I would make it to Cardigan but because of the up and downs I could only make it to Aberporth. It's a small village right on the coast. I went into the local restaurant hoping to be able to charge and to eat a bit. The waitress said that everything in the whole village was completely booked. I went back to the bike trying to think what do next. When a guy (Duncan) came running out of the restaurant and inviting me to his dad's house. He said that nobody should be hungry in his village, so he cooked me a very tasty meal and offered me to put up my tent in the garden as well. 😍 The next day was tough! I just poured - non stop heavy rain! It took me 2 hours to go to Cardigan and I went into a pub there for a coffee. After a while a lady came to me telling me that I need to leave in 30min because the table was reserved. 15min after she came again telling me I need to leave now because the guests came early. "everybody wants to be dry and comes early when it's raining". I replied to her that I can imagine this because I got really wet as well in the morning. She replied but that I have rain gear on and asked me to leave again. So we did. We cycled all the way to Fishguard. It was just cold,very windy and very very wet! It was a very tough day! In Fishguard the restaurants very fully booked again. I was able to get a seat inside in one for 45min to eat something quickly but needed to finish my drink outside because other people where coming. I just cycled outside the town and looked for a meadow to put up the tent hoping for a sunnier day to come but the forecast was just predicting more of the same.. My deepest wish was to see Pembrokeshire in sunshine, which we were about to see the following day... ...

When I came to Aberystwyth the battery of my phone was almost empty and I was struggling to get it to charge with the powerbank. So I stopped at the beginning of the town. A very lovely lady stopped and invited me and Zuri to her home right way. 🐕🚲🚲😃 I could charge everything got some food, some lovely tea and could even sleep in a proper bed. 😍 It was the perfect ending to this adventurous day. The next day I wanted to go further down to south Wales. There is no direct cycle route, so Komoot navigated me through some country lanes. But it was tough! It was just going up and down, up and down all day.. There a very typical thing in Wales started to annoy me.. Wales seems to be obsessed with hedges... Eventhough I was cycling very close to the sea, I couldn't see any of it. It can be very frustrating, when you know that beautiful nature is around you but you have no chance of seeing it. It is like this in most places in Wales,which is quite offsetting I have to admit. 🚲😔 ...

The time has come to tell you about our most adventurous day! We had two incidents! And both happened on a car free long distance cycle path (no 82). We're we're heading for Aberystwyth. Mid Wales is very lonely and you have long sections without any sign of civilization, that go over some mountains. I was quite excited to have a real cycle path there but it Wales you never now what you get. It's a lottery! And the cycle path was very very difficult. The middle bit was paved (it was so narrow that I had to watch the trailer all the time not falling of the edges. The sides of the middle mid very going down and gravel. Sometimes the high difference was enormous. Often you had mountains on one side and a cliff on the other side. it was going down very steep when I met a group of 10 horses that needed to pass me. I hold the breaks and went as close to the edge as I could.It started raining a bit and it was quite windy so that the trailer flag was moving quite a bit. That freaked the horses out a lot. They needed to pass me but the road was to narrow, so they had to go sideways up the hill a bit. I was really scared that one horse would hit me. One horse got so freaked out that it got loose and the women fell of the horse. And then the chaos started. I couldn't do anything because I was still holding the breaks. It took quite squary minutes until all the horses had passed... And then we had to continue the slippery way down..
The next incident happened just on the next car free section. This time is was a tiny muddy path. More like a foot path going straight up. It was also shared with some downhill Mountainbiking... I pushed the bike upwards when litteraly meters in front of me a Mountainbiker came down with full speed and knocked himself of the bike falling over the handlebar because of a root sticking out of the ground . He was screaming in pain laying on the floor, his bike in the bushes.. I stayed with him until he was ok to walk back. I was just thinking to myself after that I had been really lucky because we would have crashed into me with full speed because they was now way to been able to jump to the side..
Long distance bike roads are a gamble in Wales...😔 ...

Before I tell you about our most adventurous day, we have something to celebrate! In the morning of that day we cycled 10 000 km (over 6000 Miles) through 15 countries now! ⛰️🚲🐕❤️🥳🥳🥳🥳
The last picture shows our Komoot statistics (I didn't use Komoot from the start, that's why it's a bit lower) but you can see that we have almost climbed 100 000 m in altitude 💪 ...

Jay, the son of the pub owners in Abermule gave me the tip to make a detour and to visit the Clywedog Reservoir. It is the tallest concrete dam in the UK. And it was well worth the detour. It's beautiful up there and very quiet. I searched for a beautiful place with a view of the lake for the night. But it was quite cold and so at one point I had to put Zuri in my sleeping bag to get warm again. 🐕🤷‍♀️
On the next morning I said to Zuri "let's have a Welsh adventure, shall we"
-be careful what you wish for - the day to come was the most adventurous, dangerous and scariest days of all... 🙈 But more tomorrow... 😊🐕🚲😀⛰️ ...

Fully rested Zuri and I left Shrewsbury to cycle back to West Wales (heading in the direction of Aberystwyth). It was a nice cycling day. A lot of the paths were along the beautiful canal. Some quite tight to pass through with a trailer but still doable. As it turned dark, the weather changed from dry to pouring wet... Zuri and I were still at the canal and there was no easy way out.. I was thinking of sleeping under a bridge at the canal to hide from the rain. I checked Google maps and saw a tiny village with an open pub just 4 km away from us. As fast as I could Zuri and I cycled to it.
The pub was still open. God, was I happy. 😍 The family, who owns the pub where the last people sitting there. I just wanted a drink, some time to dry a bit and a charge for my battery.
They were so kind, I just lack words to describe it.
I got offered a free meal eventhough the kitchen was closed that day. I got free drinks and Zuri got a free dinner too. Chris, the owner offered me to sleep in the caravan in the back of the pub. I could shower in the morning, got some breakfast and even drinks, coffee and some sweets for on the go. And as I was about to leave Chris saw that my Tyre was flat and Jay the son repaired it right away. Ready for me to continue.

I just didn't know what to say! Pubs struggled so much through Covid. Lacking all this income for months and now here they are giving me everything to help me out as much as possible! 😍🚲🐕❤️ ...

What a surprise! I was waking up with some load noises.. When I opened up my tent a Herd of young male cows where starring at me.. Very curious what I was doing there... I packed everything and while doing so they were around 1 m away watching me. One cow sniffed zuris bumb 😅😬 I think it was the fasted packing that I ever did 😅
We continued to Shrewsbury. On the way some road bikes passed by and then a guy on an electric bike. We had a little chat and he told me that they are doing a charity pub race. He then asked me if I want some cake and told the van behind us to stop. I got bananas, sweets and delicious chocolate cake from the support van. What a nice breakfast surprise 😁👌😀🚲

Shrewsbury, where we were heading to, was the closest bigger city and there I wanted to check if I could buy a new stand for my bike. But as things go it was Sunday and exept helfords everything was closed. Eventhough they sell bikes there, they didn't have anything usable.. 😣 So Adam and his wife Manda friends of my English friend Emma decided to drive 1 hour to me to fix my stand with some additional tools. And he was able too! 🥳 It still needs changing after the tour but it holds the bike perfectly for this journey! How was I happy! 😍 I was even happier when Emma told me that I could sleep the night at her friend Sue's place close by. They have a summer house in the garden. It was so good to have a good rest. I got my stuff washed, my filmmaterial saved on an external hard drive, had a shower and got some really good food! I felt ready for the adventures that would middle Wales had in store for us... ...

From Dolgellau we went to Bala. I tried to stay on the back roads as much as possible and followed Komoot, my bike Navigation. At one point the roads got smaller, then they stopped completely, a rocky path appeared, then a sheep meadow and then a little river we had to cross. I was not so sure anymore, if we would find the paved road again. At one point I was in the middle of a sheep field going straight up some rocks. It was hard work to push it through and I decided to look for the farmer on the other side of the river. I wasn't sure how he would react seeing me and Zuri on his land. But he was very kind. He offered to tow the bike through the river on the other side. But he also told me how to get out on the side where I was. I stayed on my side and after some more rocky climbs I had to push, we found the main road again to Bala. That was quite a mini adventure. In Bala we had a short break until we continued to Lake Vrynwy. It was a long climb but I love being in this kind of landscape! 😍🐕⛰️🚲
Shortly after the lake unfortunately my stand broke completly off the bike. I was very frustrated and the best I could do was just go to sleep and wake up with a better mood. I searched for a field and put the tent up because it was going to rain... What I was going to wake up with was quite a surprise 🙈😬 more tomorrow... 😁 ...

I got the recommendation to follow cycle path no 8 from Porthmadog to Barmouth. Wow! I think that was one of the most difficult routes I've cycled so far! It was 20 % up a long way! Very narrow roads.. but the views... Priceless! It was just stunning! So well worth it eventhough I had to push the bike up quite a long way. I continued from Barmouth to Dolgellau. Another beautiful path! Completly car free along the sea (it used to be a railway track). I arrived in Dolgellau quite late and tiered and stopped in a pub for a drink and to recharge the battery. 6 guys from Staffordshire, who where there to do some mountainbiking invited me to have some ciders with them and they allowed me to sleep in the house they had rented for the time being there. I had a fantastic evening with some guitar playing and singing, a bed, a shower and I even got some eggs on toast made by them for breakfast on the next morning 🍳😍 ...

I think this deserves a single post.😁 Gerallt suggested to visit Portmeirion, which is just outside of Portmadog. Unfortunately no bikes and dogs allowed but I still had a quick visit. It is a fascinating but quite odd little Italian village embedded in Welsh mountain surroundings.

Portmeirion Village, built in perfect Italianate style, is the product of the vivid imagination of architect, builder and bird of paradise Sir Bertram Clough Williams-Ellis (1883-1979). The village is picturesquely situated on a small peninsula, on the sandy estuary of the River Dwyryd to Tremadog Bay.

Already as a young man, Clough Williams-Ellis had the fixed idea of creating an Italianate village with colorful facades, classical colonnades, fountains and statues directly on the sea. He searched for a long time for a suitable location anywhere in the world and finally took the most obvious option - he bought Plas Brondanw, a villa with an overgrown park on a peninsula not far from his family residence, for £ 5,000. Of the promontory on the coast of Snowdonia National Park, he wrote at the time, "A neglected wilderness long abandoned by romantics who had realized the unique charm and possibilities of the area, but who had allowed themselves to be carried away by the grandiose scenery... to a sad bankruptcy."

Here, between 1925 and 1976, he realized his vision: by building the village, he wanted to show that a scenic area can be built on without being destroyed. The backdrop for his village came from everywhere. The architect literally collected houses, different building materials such as stones, archways, columns, windows, wrought iron gates and in this way saved many buildings from decay.

Many famous artists and actors were fascinated by Portmeirion, including H.G. Wells, George Bernard Shaw, Noël Coward, the architect Frank Lloyd Wright but also Gregory Peck, Ingrid Bergmann and Paul McCartney. In the 1960s, Brian Epstein, manager of the Beatles, frequently rented rooms in the Gate House during the summer months, and George Harrison celebrated his 50th birthday here. In 1966/67, the place became the setting for the cult TV series The Prisoner (German title: Number 6). ...

I had some electricity yesterday, so I checked out some of the insta 360 x2 videos.
It's amazing, what you can do with it. For proper editing I need to do it on my computer. but I think it is so cool, that you can decide which view you want to have while editing because it films everything around you. I'm quite excited about it😍
@insta360 ...

Before I was going to sleep behind the pub, Lois came to me while I was drinking my cider in the pub and invited me to shower at her place and for a coffee in the morning. I was waking to glorious sunshine with a view down the peninsula. Lois picked me up and took be to her house with a stunning view across the ocean! I learned alot about the Welsh and before letting me leave she gave me lots of food for me and Zuri to get us through the next days. I followed the route she suggested and the views where just magnificent. Glorious bays, mountains and the sun following us all day. We cycled around the whole Llyn peninsula until Porthmadog. Here Geralld took us in. We met each other in Scotland last year and he took an amazing shot of us cycling past him up a mountain. We had a great evening together with Gin tonic, pizza and some Cider. 😍 And I and Zuri could sleep in an old church, he recently bought.Through cycling you can see a country in a way more indept way. What I already learned about Wales, I would never be able to learn by just being a standard tourist.. I had such a great time and I feel so blessed to meet all these lovely people, who share their stories with me and help me along the way! Thank you so much everyone! 😍👍🐕🚲 ...