Cycling from the Netherlands to Lisbon: Tripping on hope and intuition

On August 1st I got on my bike, an Orbea Terra, kissed my girlfriend goodbye and cycled into the unknown from the comfort of my home in Groesbeek, the Netherlands.

For the first time in my life, I wanted to go on a one-month cycling trip with 0% planning and 100% adventure.

There was no goal for this trip, no destination or itinerary. I called it the Non-Plan Plan.

All I had was luck, intuition, and destiny to decide what should happen along the way.

Here are 5 things I learned on that trip and how it changed my life.

‍

Cycling without a plan is tougher, human we crave certainty

I started my trip going south from the Netherlands in search of good weather.

I crossed the border into Germany close to Roermond, continued for 2 days through Germany until Saarbrücken and then into France.

Once I reached Basel, I threw a coin. If it was heads, I would continue south, and if it was tales, I would go east. The one euro coin landed heads, and so I continued south through Switzerland, crossing the Jura mountains.

This was the first cycling trip of my life where I was leaving all outcomes to chance: where I would cycle, sleep and eat.

Without a specific route or itinerary, it was all self-motivation. That gave me time to stop whenever I wanted, have long conversations with random strangers and and go at my pace but it was tougher from a motivational point of view than previous cycling trips.

I love cycling without a plan but I may do a normal cycling trip next time to have the luxury of certainty.

‍

Hope is a muscle

I slept in the most random places you can imagine. From a small cave in Germany between Kordel and Trier to pitching my tent like a homeless at the city park in Paredes, Portugal.

‍

This article is work in progress, thank you for reading so far