And they're off!

Yesterday we went and spent the day at Laguna de Aculeo, a man-made lake used by windsurfers with a really nice shaded grassy area under trees. Mark and Mandi also turned up which was great, although we really spent the day Leo minding. It was hot, but by 4pm the wind picked up and by 8pm it was fresh again...the climate here is fantastic!

After a perfect few days with Jose and Becca, playing with their hilarious kids, Sam and Diego, and getting Leo used to pushy 2 and 4yr olds, it was finally time to leave. Becca eventually gave us a lift about 30km south so that we could actually start riding our bikes and reach our next destination before dark. We were aiming for Aldo and his family in the foothills of the Andes, a recommended host from Warm Showers.

Perfect start to 2014

We are staying in an amazing place with lovely people about 20min drive from central Santiago.




Jose and Beka and their two kids Sam and Diego live on a Cherry farm and also run a horticultural business supplying plants to major landscaping projects. Isabelle discovered them by accident on a forum for expat mums and recognised Beka's name as someone she knew from years ago in New Zealand, a relative of close friends. Beka picked us up in her truck and we had a great New Year's outside in their beautiful garden.

On South American soil

Leo's a bit tired of the waiting in Sao Paolo airport.

Phil & Ted´s Traveller Bed

We have found the best solution for us while cycling is to give Leo some consistency with his sleeping space so we always put him in the Phil & Ted's traveller bed which at just over 3kg is not ideal, but is the best solution we can find. The aluminium frame fits in an Ortlieb rollbag lengthways (or just goes across the back of my bike) and the material, mattress, two kinds of sleeping bags and also sheets for the mattress all fit in a small Ortlieb pannier which Isabelle carries.

It fits inside our Hilleberg Nallo 4GT tent and is even more useful in hotels and guest houses where we have had to come up with some very creative solutions to stop him rolling off beds or escaping and hassling us in his sleep. The best thing is the consistency - he always knows that when he is inside the bed it is time to sleep. We also put a bottle of water in the corner for if he wakes up hot or thirsty and he has now learned to do this in his sleep and not disturb us. 

Camping with a baby

This has been really easy, Leo first camped when he was about 4 months old

  

He didn't seem to find it difficult and slept really well, especially with any wind or waves in the background.

Sleeping in a tent with a baby

One thing we hadn't thought about too much was how much harder it might be for a 6 month old child to sleep when their is no darkness. After a few sleepless nights we realised that the only way to solve this problem was to make a tent within a tent:

We used a brilliant insulated groundsheet which blocked out all the light, two ikea bag clips, and a couple of lightweight coats at either end. It kept him warm and dark and in thre morning when he finally woke up it was hilarious watching him escape from his dark prison.

Phil and Ted's meToo Chair

This meToo chair from Phil and Ted's is absolutely essential for easy travel with a baby or toddler:

 

http://philandteds.com/no/Buy/feed/metoo-portable-high-chair

The chair gives you the freedom to go anywhere, stay at people's houses and just attach the chair to benches, tables or anything that you can find.

It also gave us a lot of peace as Leo could just sit in it safely and watch the world go by.

Book - Norway by Bike

You can read the whole book here with lots of route info, ideas and maps.

GPS Files of our Norway route

GPS file of our route for viewing in Google Earth (kmz)

Norway Route in Google Maps

Norway book preview

Norway by bike by Simon Taylor, Isabelle Bedard & Leo Taylor | Make Your Own Book

Norway by bike slideshow

A slideshow of the best photos of our 2000km ride through Norway

Use this link for viewing on mobile

Norway by bike

In the summer of 2013 we decided to cycle through Norway as far North as we could. We ended up doing about 2000km although we also had our 6 month old son Leo with us sat in a Tout Terrain trailer on the back of my bike:

 

We'd been living in Norway 3 years and thought that it would be a good chance to see the place. Leo was at a good age and we thought it would be a good opportunity to try out a few things without too much stress. There's always a campsite or a cabin not far away in Norway and it would teach us how to deal with quite a wide range of challenging terrain and weather.

It was really hard to find out good information about doing something like this with a baby so we thought we'd find out for ourselves. Apart from the extra weight of the trailer it was actually quite easy. Our only difficult challenge was the light at night which we solved with a tent inside a tent just for Leo. We also made lots of use of Warm Showers.

Email us if you want advice about doing a similar thing

Frafjord Expedition

Only a couple of weeks later we got the chance to go even further up into the mountains and managed a great overnight trip to Frafjord, coming back over the high road rather than through the tunnel. It was serious fun and Leo seemed to love it.

Use this link if viewing on mobile

Øvre Espedal microadventure

We had a chance to cycle a little bit higher into the mountains to Øvre Espedal and try camping with Leo as a practice for our summer holiday and to sort out our equipment. We cycled about 70km (via a ferry) to a lovely camping spot with our friend Steve. Even though it was cold Leo loved it. Life was looking up!

Use this link if viewing on mobile