A Honeymoon Adventure Story

Before the Family on a Bike became a family we were often on our bikes exploring the world. In 1999, after some 13 years together, we finally decided to get married and start a family.

To celebrate the occasion , mark the start of our new old partnership and herald in the New Millenium, we took off in September 1999 for a six month honeymoon. But this was no ordinary honeymoon.

No ordinary honeymoon

It was a cycle journey that took us from the Equator around Ecuador then down through Chile, into the wilderness following the Carreterra Austral through Patagonia, then onwards into Argentina and finally to the very end of the South American World in Ushuaia.

We figured it would be a glorious way to start our married life, testing it to the limits, and would probably be good to have one last adventurous blast before we got in the family way and life changed for ever.

Despatches from the road

Many strange things happened on the way and here you can read some of our despatches from the road. Composed on a bike, typed on sticky internet cafe keyboards, then emailed at the speed of light back into the world we left behind. And now posted here on the Family Adventure Project blog so you can see where we’ve come from!

Our honeymoon despatches from South America

The Spice Muchacha’s: In which a very expensive and important wedding present is stolen leaving us stranded in Quito without a bike at the start of a 6 month cycle tour.

An Explosive Situation: In which we plead with KLM to find our bike, then give up and try and find a replacement bicycle in a city which is being evacuated because of a volcanic eruption.

There’s Bandits in them there Hills: In which we tour Ecuador, struggle to explain what a tent is and have to decide whether to believe local stories about bandits just outside of every town.

Changing Face, Changing Places: In which we settle into our nomadic lifestyle and discover we seem to be swapping personalities.

Losing It: In which the challenge of losing things takes its toll, we find a new travelling style, think we may never escape the Cake District and end up thinking we may lose our minds.

Into the Crowded Wilderness: In which we discover that the further you go from civilisation the busier it becomes and meet a family who in a few short days change the direction of our lives forever.

The Long and Incredible Story of the Boy from Cochrane: In which we struggle to separate fact from myth and rumour, inadvertently become amongst the first group of cyclists to cycle to the end of the Carreterra Austral and find ourselves ‘detained’ at the most beautiful Police Station in the world.

The End of the World: In which we reach the end of our journey and return home with a new adventure already underway, and a commitment to develop a spirit of adventure in our family life to be.