2008 Bicycle Tours

2008 bicycle tours and the start of Garry’s cycling adventures. After the sad death of Garry’s wife in 2007. Garry wanted to do something for the local Hospice that had cared for her. And decided to go on a charity cycle ride from Spain back to England. The furthest he’d ever cycled before this was 200 miles!

After completing his first long-distance ride, Garry found he had a real knack for long-distance cycling and cycle touring and wanted to do more!

Garry had only been home for a week and was already chomping at the bit! But due to work commitments, Garry didn’t have any spare time, apart from the weekend. With limited time, where could Garry cycle to? Sure, there were plenty of places in the UK, but Garry wanted to go back to France! With that in mind, he decided to cycle to Paris, his second outing of the year.

For Garry’s third and final outing of the year, he returned to Spain. Where his first bicycle tour had started back in June, it was now October, and it was starting to get cold in England, with the onset of winter, so Spain would be an ideal choice! Especially as he was heading south through Spain. How wrong could he have been!! Click any of the pictures below to read more.

2008 Bicycle Tours

There are also plenty of smaller rides that Garry has completed throughout the year, which can be found in the archive section of the website. Just click on a month to read more.

Follow & Support

If you’re enjoying the ride and want to fuel Garry’s next mile, you can always support him by buying him a beer. Or subscribe to his blog and follow him as he travels around on his bike. As a subscriber, you’ll be among the first to receive news and updates on future tours. And, of course, you can always follow Garry on social media: Facebook, Bluesky, Threads, X, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. Garry’s also on Flickr, where you’ll find pictures from all his tours, along with regular photo updates that he generally publishes each month.

If you want to find out if Garry’s away touring at the moment and check his location, visit the Where’s Garry page. And after thousands of miles on the road, Garry’s condensed everything he’s learned into one place. So if you’re planning your own cycling adventure, read his reality check on long-distance touring.

Garry McGivern is a solo, self-supported bicycle tourist and the creator of Travelsonabike2. Having cycled over 70,000 miles worldwide on his trusty bike, Passepartout, Garry documents the reality of long-distance travel. Follow along for updates, gear insights, and the daily highs and lows of bicycle touring, whether he’s camped beside the road or in the luxury of a hotel. Join Garry on the road, and be inspired to start your own adventure. Read more.