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.