TDE2019 – Day 6: Nearly there – San Juan beckons

After a very relaxing night at our home in Liria, we parents get up early. Today we’re up at 6 am, as we are covering much less distance today. Our kids will sleep late until around 10 am and then have a Spanish breakfast at one of the local Churrerias before leaving towards San Juan on their own. TW560’s battery is still at 30°C – outside temperatures at 6 am are around 21°C. This is the perfect temperature for traveling in a TWIKE! We’re both looking forward to this last leg of the trip – for me it will be […]

TDE2019 – Uh-Oh, Huston do we have a problem?

Returning to check on the charge after our drive-free day in Valencia (a town well worth a visit!) everything was OK regarding the charge… but there was another issue manifesting itself on the floor of the garage I was parking in: A puddle of oil! Hmm. Even if a TWIKE only has around 150 ml oil for its gearbox (a rather simple fixed-ratio affair which, nevertheless, can require servicing), losing said oil is never a good thing!   Looking under the TWIKE just before the battery compartment there is a huge amount of gunk – yuk!   As it’s quite […]

TDE2019 – Day 5: Barcelona – Valencia

A relaxing drive-free day in Barcelona with my family is just what I needed. As a family, we’ve been to Barcelona many times. Long before flygskam we loved taking the train from Switzerland to our place in southern Spain. Door to door this trip took us a full 24h and was a great way to get into the mood for vacation – including first G&T’s on-board and having a full sleeping compartment reserved just for us. We loved the overnight direct train ‘Pablo Casals‘ from Zurich to Barcelona as it arrived in Barcelona just in time for breakfast. (This train […]

TDE2019 – Day 4: Spain, here I come!

Drinking generous amounts of French Rosé Wine induces deep sleep – this is my learning for yesterday’s fabulous evening with my B&B’s hosts, sharing dinner and them telling me many things about France I didn’t know yet. Today, I’m crossing into Spain and will meet up with my family in Barcelona. Before thinking further about my drive today, my hosts have prepared breakfast for me in the courtyard.   Everything is homemade or sourced within 10 km. I just love these people – such attention to detail and sustainability!   Back to my trip for today. I’ve chosen to stick […]

TDE2019 – Day3: Driving across France

Another great day greets me at 5.30 am. Cool air promises a few hours of perfect TWIKEng across France before the sun heats up the air again.   Today I’ll be driving to the sea and along the coast before heading to a small picturesque village called Cruzy and a stay at a B&B. Another thing: Today is France’s national day – I suspect I’ll see some festivities this evening and lots of banners and flags out today. No-one is up when I head downstairs to unplug my TWIKE. As I mentioned yesterday, the charging setup was pretty impromptu – […]

TDE2019 Day 2 – First taste of France

I’m probably getting old … for two reasons: Didn’t sleep too well after staying up until way after 1am and having a few drinks whilst chatting with old friends and my body wasn’t at all impressed by me wanting to get up at 5.30 am instead of my usual 5 am and saw me super-awake at exactly 4.58 am. Which is why I decided to get up right away and prepare for an early departure since my trip for today would be very long anyway and would give me some more time to enjoy the drive. After a quick shower […]

TDE2019 – Day 1: Prologue

Today is the day! The side-bar countdown seemed to melt away in no time during the last 20 or so days. With my experience of many TWIKE adventures I was able to pack my bags and required cables for this trip within 30 minutes late Thursday evening after a late business meeting that saw me getting back home after 10 pm. Friday morning I spent a little more time than usual with my family to say good-bye. We will be meeting up in Barcelona coming Monday evening. As usual, my wife takes the ‘TWIKE 560 departing on a long trip’ […]

TDE2019 – GO!

TWIKE560 is on it’s way to southern Spain! Follow me here with the usual entries and see where I am exactly thanks to TW560’s GPS track!