MattLong time no post!
Blogging post Covid is still something we are trying to figure out. We have been busy(ish) on Instagram and Facebook, but have neglected the blog. Here is our attempt to get everyone up to speed.
Bicycle Touring – Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Denmark, Sweden (April – July)
This post begins from where our last one left off and on the seats of our bikes.
Turkey
We grabbed our bikes out of storage in Kuşadasi, Turkey in early April and meandered down the south coast of Turkey to Antalya. We took some time to play tourist. In Kas, we kayaked over some underwater ruins and met some other tourists who are most definitely not Mi6 (even though they work “for the government” in “intelligence” as “analysts”).
Continuing along in this awesome part of the world was a real pleasure. We continued to be offered more Chai than we could possibly drink, and we met incredible people along the way.
When we arrived in Antalya we realised we were about 85 days into our 90 day visa – oops.
To avoid overstaying our visa, we grabbed a car and drove to the border with Georgia. We left Turkey on day 89 of our visa!
Georgia
Neither of us knew what to expect in Georgia. Our first night in Batumi, Georgia we ended up having a little unplanned porkapalooza (yes, you read this right.) After so long in the muslim world we really enjoyed indulging in a little bacon. Little did we know that Georgia has other foods that are also incredible to eat: Kinkalli and Kachapuri are two that stand out. It’s a good thing we had built up our cycling appetite because we did our best to eat all the food all over the country!
Covid was still causing havoc with border openings and closings. Our route should have been across Georgia to Azerbaijan, but the land border between the two was closed (still is). To buy ourselves some time, we decided to take an indirect route through Armenia and hoped that would allow us to head towards the Pamir Highway – our original destination.
To get to Armenia we had to ascend UP a huge mountain pass that had just been ploughed out from the winter snow! When we started we were greeted with a large sign that said the pass was closed. Fortunately, it wasn’t, but the climb and the descent were challenging to say the least.
Armenia
Our route through Armenia was through high mountain plains. It was windy, cold and not filled with lots of people. But it was beautiful. We cycled by so many former Soviet factories now standing abandoned, farmers using livestock in the fields to plough, and really pretty landscapes. The people of Armenia continued to treat us so kindly – random stops on the side of the road to give us candy, water, fruit, etc.
In Yerevan, Armenia we learned all about the Armenian genocide at the Tsitsernakaberd Armenian Genocide Memorial Complex. When we were there, the war between Ukraine and Russia was only months old. As I write this now knowing the war continues on I am saddened that the lessons learned and documented in museums all around the world like the one we toured through have not been learned.
Despite lingering longer in both Georgia and Armenia than planned, the land border with Azerbaijan remained closed. We considered flying into the Pamir region but thought that defeated the purpose of cycling there. This was early June 2022, and we had a commitment to be in Greenland in August. After a couple of nights discussion we decided to put the Pamir off for another day, and set our sights on Scandinavia as that was the most probable route to get to Greenland!
Denmark
After cycling through regions where bicycles sometimes have round wheels and the roads are most definitely NOT designed to support cyclists, it was a complete culture shock to arrive in Denmark. The airport in Copenhagen has a bike repair stand right beside where you pick up your luggage so you can easily build your bike in the airport! There are bike paths, and the cars, dogs, horses and cows most definitely don’t use them!
We were cycling in Denmark at the same time as the Tour de France. Or, maybe the Tour was in Denmark because we were there?! We knew we wanted to watch it, but we kind of forgot what the date was and awoke on July 1 to learn there aren’t actually 31 days in June. That meant we had to ride over 100 kms on July 2 to get to Vejle – the town the Tour would be in on July 3. We were super lucky and didn’t experience terrible headwinds but it was a big day for what had become an “on vacation” bike tour!
The race was very exciting for the 35 seconds it took for the peloton to whizz by. I will admit I questioned the work and effort for 35 seconds of excitement, but it was pretty cool to be surrounded by the atmosphere. Heather got a free hat too.
Our route around Denmark involved a ferry ride to Sweden. Ok.. let’s face it we just like any excuse to take a ferry so we went to Sweden for this reason. We spent too little time to have a good sense of the country, but what we experienced was quite lovely. We cycled by some Ikea stores, and heard lots of Abba! On brand.
We finished our Scandinavian tour in Copenhagen, Denmark. This was such a lovely city, and it was made even lovelier as we got to reconnect with a friend – Henrietta. We hosted Henrietta 15 years earlier in Calgary when she couch surfed her way across Canada. She shared her flat, and local intel on the city. It was a real highlight to catch up again – so much new, yet everything the same.
Greenland – August – September
If you have read any of our previous year’s reviews you will notice Greenland has been on the list for quite some time. We FINALLY got there in 2022.
Arctic Circle Trail
Despite a flight delay, we had just enough time to hike from the foot of the Greenland ice sheet, in the town of Kangerlussuaq, Greenland to the sea in Sisimiut on the Arctic Circle Trail.
We spent 10 days in the glorious tundra with not many others around. The ground was very wet – our feet started damp and stayed that way for the duration of the hike. Such is life hiking in the north – although compared to the Canol Road it was dry! There are no trees on the route and the trail was mostly easy to find through the open meadows and tundra. Midway on the route has one big-ish river to cross but we breezed this without too much concern – we planned to hike this route in late summer to allow the river to have finished its summer flood, making the crossing easier. Despite this trial being relatively easy for us, we know of five people who were evacuated by helicopter or boat for various injuries sustained along the way.
The wet feet did result in some blisters, and we were both happy when we limped into Sisimiut where we could finally dry our feet out. There is nothing better than a hot shower, clean dry socks and a good meal after an adventure like this. We went out to celebrate our accomplishment at the Hotel Sisimiut and I indulged in the northern foods buffet – whale, fish, Muskox etc.. I ate it all and enjoyed every bit of it. Heather had chicken.
Sea Kayaking
We made our way via ferry and flights to the south end of Greenland. Heather had found a company willing to rent us two kayaks in town to be picked up at a remote field camp 4 days later. The trip was spectacular!
We navigated and paddled between giant icebergs sometimes in fog and sometimes in clear weather. This tested the limits of our experience level as we realised one wrong move in this environment would spell disaster. Next time we come back we will use a tour company to sort all the logistics and provide another layer of safety (are we getting old, or finally realising the limits of our skills?!)
Isortoq Reindeer Station
Our primary reason for coming to Greenland was to spend three weeks volunteering at Isortoq Reindeer Station. Reindeer are also known as Caribou. The station now operates primarily on tourism with a limited number of hunting tags issued each season. Additionally, the business is diversifying to support hiking and other tourism related activities based out of the station. We signed on to complete duties as assigned to support whatever was needed at this remote station!
It didn’t take us long to get acquainted with the place and we quickly found ourselves painting, playing electrician, cleaning, and cutting firewood from scraps found on site. My favourite was tarring and shingling a roof for repair. Most days a boat would arrive with a pile of caribou heads that needed to be bagged and tagged so the hunters who shot them could mount them in the fall. As you can imagine Reindeer was often on the menu – and man – what an incredible meat to eat. We also got to eat lots of fish and cinnamon buns made by the expert hand of another volunteer.Our host, Stefan was a real character and we both really enjoyed learning from him.
We were lucky to take a day off to explore the Tundra and go on a hike towards the Greenland ice sheet. What an absolutely incredible experience. The pictures really do speak for themselves.
Colombia – (October – December)
It was time to head for some warmer climates after being in cooler places for most of the year.
Colombia has developed a prominence among adventure travellers, our plans to visit in 2020 fell victim to Covid, so we thought: Let’s get there!
It was good to be back on the ‘backpacking circuit’ again. Colombia is a big, green, mountainous country surrounded by oceans – a great place to play and explore. We fell in love with this place, and it is certainly worth the effort to visit here.
We felt quite safe throughout the country. PE (what the Colombians refer to Pablo Escobar) has been nationally vilified and the country is working hard to move on from the ravages of his cartel and change the narrative about the country.
They are certainly not in the ‘poor us’ mindset.
People were friendly without being effusive but fiercely proud of being Colombian. We got our ‘adventure’ on and spent time paragliding, hiking, running, eating, mountain biking, learning to dance Salsa, and throwing metal rings at gunpowder.
A highlight of our time as definitely the Lost City Hike – 4 days of steep walking in the jungle in the middle of the rainy season. Heather at one point said: “It can’t possibly rain any harder can it?” It did rain harder which made the trail muddier. So fun!
Christmas, 2022
Our year ended in a VERY cold Alberta for a trip home for the holidays. We took Heather’s mom out to Banff and were quite happy when the temperature changed from -40 C to -10 C on Christmas Day. A highlight for the end of the year was the time we spent dog sitting Wilson – a large lovable couch potato who is the size of a small pony. Of course, it was so wonderful to catch up with friends and family after a long time away from home!
Wow that was a lot to pack into three quarters of a year! For those of you still here, thanks for reading! Let us know in the comments what you think is the craziest adventure we had in 2022!
Interested in what we got up to in 2023? Not to worry – we have a link for that!
Thanks, as always, for your support!
