The Cycling Europe Podcast

In November 2018 I was contacted by an American woman called Lynn Salvo. She had just read my book Spain to Norway... in which I recounted my journey in 2015 from the southernmsot point of Europe at Tarifa in Spain to the continent's northernmost point at Nordkapp in Norway. She explained that she was thinking of completing the route from north to south herself. Lynn is a peace activist in her 70s and she had already cycled extensively in North American before setting her sights on Europe. Over the years we kept in contact. There were setbacks along the way - notably the COVID pandemic in 2020 - but she's a determined woman and in 2024 she finally cycled from Nordkapp to Tarifa, in the process becoming the Guiness World Record holder for the oldest female to do so.

In episode 104 of The Cycling Europe Podcast, in an interview from episode 024 of the podcast recorded in 2020, the long-distance cyclist Dr. Stephen Fabes talks about meeting the world-recording-breaking cyclist Heinz Stücke who died in July 2026, Robert Dudley argues that it should really be 'touring on a bicycle' (as opposed to 'cycle touring'), Andrew Simons updates us on the future of the Saillink channel crossing boats that featured in episode 091 (and we hear the words of satisfied customer John Metcalfe) and last, but by no means least, Chris and Nicky Clark reflect on their experiences as tandem cycle tourers (or should that be tourers on a bicycle?).

In episode 103 of The Cycling Europe Podcast, Rob McIvor discusses his new cycling novel, What Goes on Tour; “In July 1977, Harry Chatham is on the brink of becoming the first British winner of the Tour de France when a crash on a twisting mountain descent ends his life and consigns him to a footnote in sporting history, but decades later…”

In episode 102 of The Cycling Europe Podcast we meet Chris Molland. Chris hasn't written a book, isn't a YouTuber and doesn't produce podcasts. He's a touring cyclist from the south of England with a story to tell and excellent advice to share. This is a longer episode of the podcast so you may want to listen in instalments and it's a fascinating delve into the mind of an 'ordinary' cyclist. Perhaps Chris should write a book after all...

In episode 101 of The Cycling Europe Podcast, Helen Watson discusses her 2009/10 journey along the Silk Road from Edinburgh to China in the company of her husband Ed that took the couple across Europe, through the Balkans, Turkey, Syria, Iran and the Stans in the years leading up to the Arab Spring.

It's episode 100 of The Cycling Europe Podcast! Whether you've been listening since episode 001 was published in September 2017 or whether this is the first episode that you have discovered, you are all very welcome! Thanks for taking the time to spend an hour or so in the company of me, Andrew Sykes, and my guests. In this episode, the podcast chats to Richard Fairhurst, the man behind the excellent navigation website and app, Cycle.Travel. We also hear from long-term listener and podcast enthusiast Mark Skidmore; what other cycling podcasts should you be listening to? There is also exciting publishing news regarding the four cycling travelogues that I have written over the past 15 years.

Gerald Huber is an Austrian living in Paris. He commutes to work every day by bicycle. Lots of people do. In 2025, however, he decided to go a little further on two wheels and he signed up for his first ultra-long-distance cycling event, the North Cape 4000 from Italy to the most northerly point of Europe at Nordkapp in Norway. 8 countries, 4000 km. According to the organsiers, it's "a journey that will change your life". He spoke to The Cycling Europe Podcast about his experiences and his plans to go one step further in 2026.

Helen and Ben Rivers are a married couple from the south of England, retired professional musicians, but certainly not retired cycle tourists. They've been travelling Europe on their bikes for many decades and they have no plans to stop just yet. Sit back and enjoy their recollections of two-wheeled exploits that have stretched to all corners of the European continent.

Civil servant Tristam Newey has a job that occasionally takes him away from home. On a recent trip to The Faroe Islands, he decided to take his Brompton bicycle with him and extend his stay by a few days. His plan was to head off and explore some of the verdant islands that make up the Faroes archipelago. Would he recommend it as a cycling destination? Listen and find out...

In this episode of The Cycling Europe Podcast, Tom Cartledge talks about his 6,000-mile, 18-country journey from England to India in 2012 and the book that he has written about his once-in-a-lifetime adventure. "From Yorkshire drizzle to the deserts of Iran, freezing snowstorms in the lowlands, bullet casings in Serbia, firing ranges in Turkey, robbery in the Caucasus, and monkey ambushes in India—this isn’t a travel guide. It’s a ride through the bizarre, the beautiful, and the completely unhinged. It’s a story of breakdowns and breakthroughs, swearing and sweating, of strangers who saved us and hostels that nearly broke us. Of laughing through gritted teeth and cycling another hundred kilometres anyway—because turning back never felt like an option."