2023 Bicycle Tours
Garry McGivern Travelsonabike2 2023 bicycle tours. Yet another bad year on the touring front. Garry has spent a lot of time going back and forth to the hospital for tests, which hasn’t left him with a long enough stretch to go away on a long tour. In fact, he had to go to the hospital at least once a month for a check-up on his Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy. It was one of the reasons for all his hospital appointments the previous year before his Myelopathy was diagnosed.
And the beginning of the year saw Garry without a passport. He’d applied for an Irish passport after discovering he was eligible. And after a long process, he was at the final stage where he had to send off his British passport before they would issue his Irish passport. His passports eventually arrived back at the end of April.
Once Garry had his passport back, he managed two tours. The first tour of the year was slightly under the distance Garry classes as a tour at 491 miles. (Garry classes a tour as a ride over 500 miles, 800 km). But it was near enough, and had Garry realised, he would have probably cycled around the block a few times. Returning to his first tour, which was a ride around Brittany, France.
After catching the overnight ferry from Portsmouth to Saint-Malo, Garry headed south towards Redon. Once Garry had reached Redon, he turned right (so to speak) and headed out along the peninsula towards Quimper. After reaching Quimper, Garry headed north to Morlaix before returning to Saint-Malo. He had hoped to explore more of Brittany and stick closer to the coast. But time and weather weren’t on Garry’s side. Neither was his fitness, as he struggled to cycle sixty miles a day. Although, after saying that, sixty miles does seem to be Garry’s usual distance nowadays.
Garry’s Second Tour
Garry’s second tour of the year was a little more adventurous as he had a little longer. Although there wasn’t a huge distance cycled on this tour, either. This tour saw Garry cycle around the Low Countries of Europe. Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and France to reach his first low country, Luxembourg.
Garry cycled through France. And for a change, he’d caught the ferry to France from Newhaven, which made a little more sense for cycling to Luxembourg than the crossings from Portsmouth. Arriving in France four hours after leaving the UK, Garry cycled as directly as he could to Luxembourg.
Garry reached Luxembourg, and after taking photos in the “Grand Duchy”, Garry left Luxembourg and headed for Belgium. After visiting Ghent and Brussels, Garry made his way to the Netherlands. After a few days of cycling in the Netherlands, Garry caught the ferry back to England. You can read more of Garry’s Low Country tour in his book. Available to buy from Amazon.
Although there may only be two tours here, Garry has completed plenty of smaller weekend rides, which can be found in the archive pages at the bottom of the website.
2023 Bicycle Tours
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. 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.