Gallery of Jim Blilie's Photos:
World Bicycle Tour, 1990-1992
The Big Show
Part 30: Germany, Part 3
All images are copyright © James W. Blilie, 1990 through 2010, All rights reserved
"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning
all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas
and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts
of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues
from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance
which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do or dream you can,
begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now." (Often attributed to Goethe)
This page is under construction. I'm still working on a text
for each segment of the
trip and scanning in some negatives and maybe a few more slides hidden here and there.
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These are THE BIG SHOW of my slides from my trip around the world with Jeff Mellor, 1990-1992.
There are many more slides in this set than on the main world tour page: About 2600 total. I spent
some time in late 2009 going through all my slides from the world trip and I selected many for scanning.
The results are on this page (slide shows). Many of these have been seen only by me and many of those
I hadn't seen since 1993. The trip itself is outlined below.
These are scans of my Kodachrome 64 (and a very small number of Ektachrome 100) slides
From Jim and Jeff Mellor's bicycle tour around the world from Nov-1990 through Oct-1992
All images are copyright © James W. Blilie, 1990 through 2010 All rights reserved
I used a very nice, yet inexpensive scanner, the Epson V500 I like it very much.
* * * * *
Germany 3: 21-Sep-1992 to 2 or 3 Oct-1992, 309 miles
Final Mileage = 10,962 miles
These photos are from our dash across Bavaria to get to our friend Kirsten's place in Schweinfurt
and the end of the road. We visited Munich on the way. We spent several days with Kirsten,
her boyfriend Thomas, and her parents at Schweinfurt. We drank a lot of good Bavarian and
Franconian beers and the local half-fermented wine (Federweisser) and ate lots of good local
food. We got to visit with some of Thomas's relatives and had a great tour guide in Thomas.
It was a wonderful stay in Schweinfurt and a bitter sweet end to a very long journey.
* * * * *
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For the slide show:
Click HERE. Then:
Click on the first picture (upper left picture) on the black photo album page and then
Click the
"play" button
at the upper right of the view panel to start the slide show.
Enjoy.
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* * * * * * *
Outline of our trip:
From Nov. 15, 1990 to Oct. 6, 1992, with a five-month break for the winter of '91-'92, Jeff Mellor
and I traveled around the world through 26 countries, mostly by bicycle. While in the "developed"
world, we bicycled 1000 miles per month, camping each night. In Asia and Africa, we traveled by
train and bus and used guest-houses. We encountered 16 different foreign languages, of which we
needed to learn at least the rudiments. We rode a total of almost 11,000 miles on our bikes, camped out
at least 350 times, and climbed several mountains including Pt. Lenana (16,350 ft.) on Mt. Kenya in
Africa. We took a three-week, 220-mile hike around the Annapurna Range in Nepal, which included
a 17,700 ft. high pass. I took 13,000 photographs and wrote 1000 pages of journals. No experience
in my life, except my university education, can compare with these travels for the depth and breadth
of learning or for the perspective gained. It was one of the peak life experiences, up there with
marriage, children, university education.
Our trip was through these countries:
[Hawaii: The Big Island, a 2-week shake-down within the US, started Nov 1990]
Fiji, about 10 days riding around Viti Levu from Nadi to Suva
New Zealand: Auckland to Wellington via Coromandel Penn. and a loop around the Southern
Alps from Christchurch and back
Australia, from Sydney to Melbourne via Canberra and Mt. Kosciusko, around Tasmania, bits and
pieces inland mostly bus to Darwin
Singapore
Malaysia, from Singapore to the Thai border
Thailand (no bikes; we sent our bikes to Denmark from Bangkok, not wanting to ride in Thailand,
Nepal, India, Kenya, or Egypt)
Nepal (no bikes)
India (no bikes; just passed through Delhi and Bombay since we were running way behind)
and then on to a long tour of Europe:
Denmark
Germany
Netherlands
Belgium
France
United Kingdom
Then a winter's break at home in the USA from Oct 1991 through March 1992, then we flew
back to Lisbon Portugal in March 1992:
Portugal
Spain
France
UK, we rode from Plymouth to Land's End then from Land's End to John O'Groats at the tip of
Scotland and via ferries to the Orkneys, Shetlands, and on to Norway over the North Sea (with a
detour from Holyhead in Wales over to Ireland and back)
Ireland
Norway
Sweden
Germany (former East Germany)
Poland
Czech Republic
Austria
Germany (Bavaria) and home in Oct 1992 from Frankfurt am Main
All images are copyright © James W. Blilie, 1990 through 2010, All rights reserved
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Time and mileage table:
Hawaii |
17-Nov-1990 to 29-Nov-1990, 270 miles, S = 270 miles |
Fiji |
30-Nov-1990 to 10-Dec-1990, 153 miles, S = 423 miles |
New Zealand |
10-Dec-1990 to 6-Feb-1991, 1511 miles, S = 1934 miles |
Australia |
6-Feb-1991 to 3-May-1991, 1756 miles, S = 3690 miles |
Singapore |
3-May-1991 to 14-May-1991, 14 miles, S = 3704 miles |
Malaysia |
14-May-1991 to 27-May-1991, 495 miles, S = 4199 miles |
Thailand |
27-May-1991 to 18-Jun-1991, 1 mile, S = 4200 miles |
Nepal |
18-Jun-1991 to 27-Jul-1991 |
India |
27-Jul-1991 to 29-Jul-1991 |
Kenya |
29-Jul-1991 to 23-Aug-1991 |
Egypt |
23-Aug-1991 to 31-Aug-1991 |
Denmark |
31-Aug-1991 to 16-Sep-1991, 282 miles, S = 4482 miles |
Germany 1 |
16-Sep-1991 to 22-Sep-1991, 261 miles, S = 4743 miles |
Netherlands |
22-Sep-1991 to 2-Oct-1991, 249 miles, S = 4992 miles |
Belgium |
2-Oct-1991 to 13-Oct-1991, 215 miles, S = 5197 miles |
France 1 |
13-Oct-1991 to 15-Oct-1991, 48 miles, S = 5245 miles |
UK 1 |
15-Oct-1991 to 28-Oct-1991, 78 miles, S = 5323 miles |
Winter break in USA |
28-Oct-1991 to 15-Mar-1992 |
Portugal |
16-Mar-1992 to 30-Mar-1992, 344 miles, S = 5667 miles |
Spain |
30-Mar-1992 to 16-Apr-1992, 452 miles, S = 6119 miles |
France |
16-Apr-1992 to 24-May-1992, 1201 miles, S = 7320 miles |
UK 2 (Plymouth to Angelsey, Wales) |
24-May-1992 to 19-Jun-1992, 658 miles, S = 7978- miles |
Ireland |
19-Jun-1992 to 4-Jul-1992, 638 miles, S = 8616 miles |
UK 3 Wales to John O'Groats |
4-Jul-1992 to 30-Jul-1992, 640 miles, S = 9256 miles |
Orkney and Shetland Islands |
30-Jul-1992 to 4-Aug-1992, 46 miles, S = 9302 miles |
Norway | 4-Aug-1992 to 14-Aug-1992, 228 miles, S = 9530 miles |
Sweden | 14-Aug-1992 to 27-Aug-1992, 203 miles, S = 9733 miles |
Germany 2, Lubeck to Frankfurt an der Oder via Berlin | 27-Aug-1992 to 7-Sep-1992, 354 miles, S = 10,087 miles |
Poland | 7-Sep-1992 to 11-Sep-1992, 180 miles, S = 10,267 miles |
Czech Republic | 11-Sep-1992 to 18-Sep-1992, 238 miles, S = 10,505 miles |
Austria | 18-Sep-1992 to 21-Sep-1992, 148 miles, S = 10,653 miles |
Germany 3, Bavaria | 21-Sep-1992 to 2 or 3 Oct-1992, 309 miles, S = 10,962 miles |
Flew home from Frankfurt a M | 2nd or 3rd of October, 1992 |
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Background image is my bike at the foot of the Bavarian Alps, Sep 1992
Last updated: 8-Sep-2010