A couple of weeks ago I took a train back from Ceuta to Belgium. I had to be there for the baptism of my Godson and the birth of my brother’s daughter. It gave me a chance to work on the preparation for the trip to Kilimanjaro. I’ve got a new bike for this adventure, my old one has been completely worn out. With the support of the grandparents (Willy and Doris) of my Godson and I got this beautiful great new Koga bike! Very excited to be testing this one out!

Administration hassle

In these weeks I’ve been training, working and planning. Some visas I already had to apply for since they are very difficult to obtain once on the road. The plan now is the I’ll be covering the whole distance to Kilimanjaro (15.000km) by bicycle in one go. I’ll be passing by some friends in Dakar for the holidays and get further south along West Africa.

Join the group

Because Kilimanjaro is not the most technically demanding mountain, we’ll be climbing with a group of people. By the end of June (starting the 22nd) a group of people will join me to the summit. There are some places available for everybody with this ambition so whoever feels like climbing with me, please let me know in a private message (veyt.jelle@gmail.com).

Trainspotting

Right now I’m at the train in the direction of Ceuta where Steven (20angles.com) and I will combine the first part. He will cycle along to Agadir where I will continue my way through the Sahara on my own.

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I’m taking a train and bus to the south of Spain. Mainly to avoid the high CO2 emission of a flight. For shorter distances I think it makes sense to use other transportation than a flight. Not only a flight would be faster, it would be cheaper and easier to take all my gear and bicycle with me and to book the tickets. It really doesn’t makes sense to me that in Europe it can be such a hassle. To get to a place by train or bus is more difficult than taking a flight. By doing some calculation on Greentripper and Greenseats it seems I’m emitting 4 – 5 times (0.37 tons vs 0.085 tons) less CO2 than by taking a flight!

Sadness and joy

It is with a double feeling again I’m leaving home. It will take me about 8 months before I head back to Belgium. I will definitely miss my friends and family! I’m very grateful to have so many supportive people (especially my girlfriend, I still don’t understand the patience ;p ) around me, who really help me to reach my dream. Thank you all for that!

During this trip you will be able to follow me on my new tracker website here! Check it out and you’re always free to send me a message on my device.

Many thanks to my sponsors and supporters to make this project possible!

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And many thanks to my product supporters as well!

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After our couple of days of misery in the rain we made good progress to Gibraltar. The weather is great and not too hot to cycle. The only bad thing on our road is the road itself.

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Highway of hell

Once we pass by Malaga we don’t have many options left to cycle. We can choose between the highway or smaller mountain roads. It is actually possible to cycle on some sort of highway following the coastline, giving us a good road to cycle on with not too many hills. Still we decide to go for the mountain roads because, come on? A highway? We don’t have a death wish handbiking on a road where cars pass by at 120km an hour!

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Up the hill

We decide to take the harder way, but it pays off. Magnificent views following smaller villages and quieter roads making us feel much safer. A couple of days later, trying to navigate these safer roads, we finally reach our main goal with Frank, Gibraltar! A very special moment since we shared this common goal for more than 3000km now and I’m very proud we achieved this together. We had a great time biking here and had a great team supporting us too. Many thanks to the people who came to help us in this amazing achievement Frank has completed!

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Getting ready for a new continent

In Gibraltar we take some time to explore the area and I’m preparing for the crossing of the strait. The weather seems fairly good on the 23rd and Chris from Watersports training prepares the support boat. As I explained in a previous post it is necessary to have a support vessel, it is a very busy shipping lane and chances are that authorities will pick you up, especially if you distort traffic. The next day I cycle to Algeciras where we will leave the 23rd by kayak. They have arranged a kayak for me which is not the most fast one for a crossing like that. I’m curious how this will go.

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Crossing the Strait

We get up early and prepare everything for the day. Frank and the support team are able to follow me on the boat so I have a cheering (or mocking ;p ) team along the way. The first hour in the water was pretty easy but after a while the wind started to pick up to about 20 knots coming from the West. The surface current goes the same direction and I get splashed all the time by the waves. No problem at all but taking a good rest is not an option as I risk missing Ceuta completely if I drift off too much. I keep on paddling and when I take a small break to drink I drift away at about 4knots (!) to the east.

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Digging deep

I keep on pushing it and it’s getting hard to maintain my speed. I have lot’s of experience in rowing but kayaking is completely different so my efficiency is not what it has to be. Combine that with a simple sit-on-top kayak and it becomes a challenge, loving it!!! After about 5 and a half hours (30km) I hit the beach in Ceuta (Spain, Africa), tired but fulfilled about my effort. I reached Africa human powered! After a quick rest we sail back to Algeciras. I need to get back to Belgium for personal reasons and I leave my bike there. I will come back half of November to continue cycling to Kilimanjaro. Getting back to Belgium I’m doing by bus and train, just to avoid taking a plane. It’s not the easiest nor the cheapest of choices but it feels like still manageable to get back.

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many thanks to my sponsors who make this project happen!

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Leaving the tourist paradise behind us and getting into more quiet places was a nice change for us. The busy roads are pretty dangerous especially in handbikes. The goal for this week was to reach Almeria which we didn’t make in time.

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The eye of the…

After a couple of days the weather started to look quite bad at the horizon. It wasn’t sure yet what direction it would take but it seemed something bad was coming up. Because of the limited visibility and being more vulnerable in handbikes we don’t like cycling in the rain here. A couple of times we get lucky as we hear about torrential rain in the region but don’t get rain at all. It is actually great cycling with some clouds protecting us from the burning sun.

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Fireworks

On Thursday night as we’re celebrating Kathleen’s (one of the friends and helpers of Frank) birthday we start to get some fireworks in the form of lightning and thunder on the horizon. The owner of the camping assures us that as being the only desert in Europe (Tabernas desert) the rain shouldn’t be that bad. She was obviously wrong as there was a torrential rain, thunder and lightning all night long. I’m very happy to be in a great tent, but 2 of the helpers are not and they are forced out of their tents at night. Besides that we don’t have big problems. We learn the next day that this storm has hit a big part of the region.

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No fun at all

We read and hear more stories about people being swept away in their vehicles and many roads are closed. There is still red alert for storms and we decide to only cycle in the morning. We dry the tent and clothes and try to relax the rest of the day. After a sudden storm in the afternoon we agree that we made the right decision. Even at night it got worse again. Kathleen and Melvin run away to the sanitary building for a dry place to sleep. The whole storm created many problems in the region, we are happy it didn’t affect us that much. Because of the storm we have a small delay in the schedule.

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Here comes the sun

We are very happy to welcome the sun again into this route. It is very hot but we are able to make good steady progress after the storm. Frank has set the deadline for the 21st of September to arrive in Gibraltar. This will be a big challenge to make it in time and we only take half a rest day to make up for the lost day due to the storm. In the meanwhile I heard that crossing the strait of Gibraltar will be possible ideally on the 22nd, 23rd or 24th of September. Apparently I need a permission from port authorities to cross which is not easy to obtain. Another way is to have a support boat, I’m going for that option as this is a very busy shipping lane. Most people around there and others who have crossed it seriously advice me to take a support vessel. Still we are very determined and keep on going to reach our goal!

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Many thanks to the sponsors who make this project possible!

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After leaving Carcassonne I feel that it has been a while that I’ve been hand biking.  A couple hours later I get used of it again. The first stop is Perpignan to get a well deserved rest after a full day of cycling. The day after we set off towards Spain, the 3rd country of my journey to Kilimanjaro.

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Into the Pyrenees

We avoid the biggest climbs in the Pyrenees and follow the Mediterranean sea as close as possible because hand biking is a total different game than cycling. Only using the arms is a great exercise but when it gets too steep your front wheel begins to spin. The wheelbase is very long as well, taking narrow streets or corners is not an easy task.

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The route takes us to Girona, a beautiful city in Spain near the border with France. There we say goodbye to Tine, the first voluntair that goes back home. With Frank having a muscular disease and being in a wheelchair the volunteers are a very welcome help. Every week 2 new volunteers come by and will drive the van and help us with different tasks. The van is adapted to Frank’s needs and he sleeps in it. The others sleep in tents or sometimes we sleep at people’s houses. Some friends (thank you Anparo and Monica) arranged stays here with locals and I got to meet Alex, a friend I haven’t seen in 8 years.

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The long way south

We average 60 km a day on a handbike and being very low to the ground we are concerned about our safety. We choose to take the more quiet roads but this only slows us more down. Every day we have to plan carefully which roads to take. Still, after week 2 we are ahead of our schedule. One of the concerns here in Spain is crossing the big cities. Surprisingly this has been very easy. Having crossed Barcelona and Valencia already this were very easy cities to cross with almost everywhere bicycle lanes. 

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Holiday Mekka

Following the Mediterranean coast isn’t always fun, although we have the sea and the beach every day. Many times we can only choose one main road, luckily it has kind of a “cycling lane”. Still it is crazy to see cars passing by at 90km an hour from a handbike which is almost the same as laying on the ground. That’s why I decided to get on my bicycle on routes that are too crowded. There are many tourists here and the only connection between cities are busy roads. While cycling I can more easily take care of our safety as I’m more agile and visible than on a handbike. Yesterday we reached Benidorm through a busy road from Calpe. Here we take a restday, the new volunteers will arrive and we’ll set off to Almeria with more uphill cycling. 

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Thanks to all the sponsors who make this human powered 7 summits possible!

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First part

About a year ago Frank and I left Belgium by handbike to the south of Europe. With this we were connecting the 3 hotels of one of my sponsors (Vayamundo). I met Frank during one of their events and we immediately made plans for an adventure together: hand-biking to the south of Europe.

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Frank has a muscle disease and is unable to cycle (or walk) anymore. Therefore we had the plan to start hand-biking which is a complete new discipline to me. Because arms are not as strong as legs it takes more time to cover the whole distance. We decided to go to Gibraltar together but in 2 different stages.

Last year we arrived by handbike in Carcassonne. After 6 weeks of travel and 1400km we reached our goal and headed back to Belgium with his support van. Since then winter came in and other plans of the both of us kept us away from the project for almost a year. Now the time has come to continue….

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Part 2 Gibraltar!

On the 20th of August we start hand-biking from Carcassonne to Gibraltar. This will take about 6 weeks to cover the next 1400km. Once we’re there Frank goes back to Belgium and I will cross the strait of Gibraltar by rowboat. Then I’ll continue through the whole western part of Africa. To make my route safer I have to avoid many areas. I calculated quickly that the shortest distance from Morocco to Kilimanjaro is about 8000km. To avoid certain places and being able to cover the whole distance human powered I’m getting to a total of 14.000km!

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Stay tuned to see my progress on this website or on social media.

Many thanks to my sponsors who make this unique project possible!

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What’s next?

Being a few months back in Belgium, I’m getting more and more enthusiast about my next adventure. The most heard phrase since my arrival is undeniably : “So, what’s next Jelle? “

I had to make a decision which mountain to climb next. One thing I knew for sure, since the east part is finished it had to be direction West or South. 

Tossing a coin

For a while, I was in doubt about the next destination. Of course I had many suggestions from many people. Direct West would mean crossing the ocean by rowing and climbing three peaks on the American continents and Antarctica. In the South the Kilimanjaro is impatient waiting for my arrival. It is only recently, after careful deliberation , that I made a clear decision to go to Africa first. It feels right and it gives me more time to plan the ocean crossing on a rowboat thoroughly. 

The plan

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In August I will start hand biking to Gibraltar, together with Frank. He is a friend in a wheelchair who joined me in the first trip as well. We expect to arrive at Gibraltar by the end of September. There, I’ll take a rowboat to cross the Strait of Gibraltar and cycle southward into the African continent. Curious about the exact route? Check it out here.

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Crossing the Sahara

Once arrived in Morocco,  I will start biking by following the western coast of Africa. After Morocco the Western Sahara will bring me to Mauritania, a country a bit more tricky. 

The western part of Africa is however safer so I’ll continue biking by passing through Cameroon, Congo and Angola. To limit the risk areas in Congo I will cross to the East of Africa through Angola, Zambia to arrive finally in Tanzania where the Kilimanjaro is located.

The 4th summit

After a cycling trip of about 17.000 km, I will arrive at the base of Kilimanjaro. After taking a ten minutes break, or maybe a bit longer.. we’ll see about that, the goal is to start climbing this giant in June 2020 with sponsors and partners!

Higher goals

When I was 18 years old,  I once lived in a forest to protect it. Most people told me it was a waste of time because it would be chopped anyway. Being a stubbornly teenager, I told them it was not just about the forest but also about bringing a message. I wanted to show we shouldn’t chop down trees that easily. Today, 16 years later the forest is still standing…”

Why this small anecdote?

During my trip through Africa I want to visit an environmental organisation in each country from my route.  I’m currently still preparing and searching for these organisations, so tips are very welcome! The idea is to blog about these visits and make video episodes about it. Purpose is to see and show what their fight is about, how they do it and what obstacles they encounter (funding’s, politics, traditions,…). The aim is to connect different organisations that might help in finding a way to overcome some of the difficulties, as well as to inspire people to do similar things. 

Hope you are as excited as I am! As always, you can follow my adventures on my tracking page and blog. See ya!

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