The Journey from Casual Cyclists to Fully Fledged Cycle Tourists

After our trip in Jeju we knew we wanted to do more cycle touring.  We also new we needed some better equipment, sturdier bikes and panniers at the very least, especially if we really were going to cycle from South Korea all the way to Ireland when our contract expires.

Life on the Road Before we had Touring Bikes!

We started looking into bikes and all things touring related.  There is such a wealth of information available and we found websites like The Travelling Two, Cycling About and Going Slowly to be massively useful in our hunt for the perfect set up.  Living in South Korea, and not speaking much Korean, meant we were slightly limited, options-wise.  It was about this time last year (April 2014) that we started making decisions and buying the gear that will (hopefully!) get us back to Ireland, when we set off from here next March.

Our Surly LHT's make their Debut!

I've written a post about it on my other blog, and you can read it here if you're interested: we are now officially cycle tourists!

Our First Taste of Cycle Touring

The first time we ever went on a cycling holiday was way back in the summer of 2012.  We didn't have any fancy equipment and our bikes were not specific touring bikes.  We had a week off work though and wanted to do something fun, go somewhere new and spend as little money as possible.  We decided to cycle around the Korean Island of Jeju so we packed what we thought we might need into our rucksacks and off we went!

I've written a blog post about it on my other blog, so if you'd like to have a read, here's the link: Around Jeju with a Bike

"Life is like riding a bicycle.  To keep your balance, you must keep moving. " Albert Einstein