World Bicycle Tour Main Page

Gallery of Jim Blilie's Photos:

World Bicycle Tour, 1990-1992

This quote was often in our minds as we planned this trip and traveled:

"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)

If you prefer a slide show, please click here: SLIDE SHOW

For the slide show: Click on the first 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.

The photos linked from this page are the brief version of the world tour photos.

If you want the REALLY BIG SHOW (2600 slides) go to this page.

Hawaii

Fiji

New Zealand

Australia

Singapore and Malaysia

Thailand

Nepal

Kenya and Egypt

NW Europe, fall 1991

Portugal and Spain 1992

France

UK to Wales

Ireland

UK Wales to John O'Groats and Orkneys and Shetlands

Norway and Sweden

Germany and Poland

Czech Republic, Austria, and final Germany 1992

Back to Main Photo Page

Back to Main World Tour Page

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

You may see a little dust from the scanning process. Nevermind.

I used a very nice, yet inexpensive scanner, the Epson V500 I like it very much.

* * * * * * *

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

End of the road, Schweinfurt, Germany, 10,962 miles on the bikes:

Click on the country or segment name to see those photos:

These images are a tiny sample of the 13,000 slides I took

It took me two weeks, working 8 hours per day, seven days

per week just to go through the slides the first time.