Simon Clayton and Rachel Mockridge have taken a year off to travel. Ken Kershaw met them sitting in the evening sunshine at a campsite near Bastia, Corsica with 2,870 km on the clock of their tandem...
 Simon and Rachel |
Simon and Rachel hadn't cycled every step when Ken met up with them in Corsica. They got a lift to Portsmouth, and a ferry to St Malo, but they'd been cycling since. They've got a small trailer behind the tandem and a couple of panniers which have everything in. Including a tent.
They've known each other for 7 years. They were both members of a sailing club and got together after colliding while sailing in a regatta.
It was Simon's ambition to cycle around the world. But necessity has honed down their itinerary to: Italy, Austria and Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and then back to Southern Italy, and home. Rachel says that being on a bike gives you more of an idea of the culture you are travelling through. People clap or cheer and they love the enthusiasm and the jokes they hear.
Simon loves the thrill of what they don't know. Will they find a shop with food, a camp site? Rachel misses female comforts (dressing up means a clean tee-shirt) but she loves cooking over a single burner and eating outside.
And how's travelling by tandem? Their vehicle is 12 feet long with the trailer attached and very heavy. It's slightly harder work than a normal bike, but keeps them together, so they can chat and share the sights. Rachel came up with the idea of the tandem so that she wouldn't get left behind. As she says '24 hours a day for a year is a lot', but so far they've got really well, and a major advantage for her is that she can get a bit slack and let Simon do all the work!
