Pizza with old bike mate

In my 20s I liked bike packing. The most spectacular trip I did was spending a month biking through Romania, with my boyfriend at the time, making sure we got a good view on the 1999 solar eclipse. In 2001 I wanted to go too, but I didn't have a boyfriend to go with me. In the Netherlands, however, there are ways of advertising yourself as someone who seeks bicycle company. And I found three men to go with me to Slovakia. We had a great time! 

This week I suddenly got a message from one of the three: Ronald. He happened to be in North Wales! Was I around? I was! 

He was on holiday with his 13-year-old daughter. They had come from the Lake District, and after Wales they would head back home. And we decided to have dinner together on the Friday. They came to my place, and after a drink in the garden we went to the pizza place by the cheese shop. We took the pizzas back and ate them while catching up.

A lot had happened since we were biking through Slovakia! The fact that he had a 13-year-old daughter illustrates that well. He didn't have contact with Eling anymore, the bike companion who lived quite far away, but he still sometimes saw Simon, the other one, who actually lived quite close to him. He sent him a text to say that he would never guess where he was. And then sent a picture. Simon found it quite funny, and said that he actually had been entertaining the thought of travelling through the UK himself; maybe he’ll be appearing on my doorstep one day as well! 

Pic from our Slovakia trip: me, Simon, and Ronald. Eling must have taken it.