Cycling in Iran – facts and figures

Between the 14 March 2016 and the 02 of May 2016 (50 days) I cycled 1,091 Km (678 miles) in Iran covering an average of 60 Km a day. The longest distance I cycled on a single day was 111 Km and the shortest 15 Km.

In Iran I injured my knee which took me off the bike for a fair amount of time. I saw a lot of the country by bus.

During that time I spent 564 euros. The average daily cost in Iran was 11.28 euros.

Eating out includes not only meals but any ready made refreshments like cakes whilst groceries includes buying ingredients to cook my own meals. Included in the accommodation costs are any gifts I took to say thank you to those that open their doors to me.

Communication covers the cost of SIM cards and postage to letters home and Transport are mainly buses from one city to another and underground costs in Tehran.

The visa costs include the Letter of Invitation provided by Stantours and the extension of the visa once in the country.

People’s generosity in the country was incredible and their hospitality unrivalled. A fair number of people, some of which my friends now, opened the doors of their home to me, I have put them all under the category of friends.

 

 

Cycling the Pamir Highway – facts and figures

Between the 03 May 2016 and the 10 of July 2016 (69 days) I cycled 2,272 Km (1,412 miles) in Central Asia, including the Pamir Highway covering an average of 63 Km a day. The longest distance I cycled on a single day was 115 Km and the shortest 25 Km.

During that time I spent 973 euros. The average daily cost in Central Asia was 14.10 euros.

Eating out includes not only meals but any ready made refreshments like cakes and soft drinks and of course all those nice cold beers at the end of the day whilst groceries are mainly buying ingredients to cook my own meals. Included in accommodation costs are any gifts I took to say thank you to those that open their doors to me.

The visa section includes the expense of getting Letters of Invitation from third parties like Stantours.

Communication covers the cost of SIM cards and postage to letters home.  The Transport costs in this page are the cost of shared taxis and trains in Uzbekistan waiting for the start of my Tajikistan visa and being an off the bike tourist. The the taxi that took me back to Sary Tash from Osh is also included. Having cycled to Osh in the other direction and with time running out of my visa I decided to get transport to take me back and continue onto China. Not included in this section is the flight between Tehran and Tashkent.

The biggest expense was accommodation,  breakdown of the accommodation is as follows:

 

 

Cycling in Georgia and Armenia – facts and figures

Between the 13 February 2016 and the 13 of March 2016 (30 days) I cycled 887 Km (551 miles) in these two countries covering an average of 49 Km a day. The longest distance I cycled on a single day was 73 Km and the shortest 24 Km.

During that time I spent 328 euros. The average daily cost in these countries was 10.93 euros.

Eating out includes not only meals but any ready made refreshments like cakes whilst groceries include the cost of ingredients to cook my own meals.

Communication covers the cost of SIM cards and postage to letters and parcels home and Transport are taxis in Yerevan. The accommodation heading includes the costs of any thank you gifts I took to those that open the door of their home to me.

Here’s a bit more detail about accommodation in these two countries.

 

 

Cycling in Turkey – facts and figures

Between the 20 December 2017 and the 13 of February 2018 (56 days) I cycled 2,102 Km (1,306 miles)  in Turkey covering an average of 57 Km a day. The longest distance I cycled on a single day was 106 Km and the shortest 10 Km.

During that time I spent 943 euros. The average daily cost in Turkey was 16.83 euros.

Eating out includes not only meals but any ready made refreshments like cakes whilst groceries includes the cost of ingredients to cook my own meals.

Communication covers the cost of SIM cards and postage to letters and parcels home and Transport are mainly ferries to and from Istanbul. The accommodation heading includes the costs of any thank you gifts I took to those that open the door of their home to me.

Nearly half of my money went on accommodation so I decided to look at that heading in a bit more detail.

 

 

Cycling in Europe – Facts and Figures

Between the 8 July 2015 and the 20 of December of the same year (160 days) I cycled 6,500 Km (4039 miles) through 11 countries covering an average of 57 Km a day. The longest distance I cycled on a single day was 105 Km and the shortest 5 Km.

During that time I spent 3,600 euros. The average daily cost in Europe was 22.5 euros.

Eating out includes not only meals but any ready made refreshments like cakes, coffees and also those lovely beers and the end of the day whilst groceries includes buying ingredients to cook my own meals.

Communication covers the cost of SIM cards and postage to letters and parcels home and Transport are mainly ferries and a couple of train journeys. And in the accommodation heading I have included the costs of any thank you gifts I took to those that open the door of their home to me.

Nearly half of my money went on accommodation so I decided to look at that heading in a bit more detail.

 

 

 

Cycling from London to Far East Asia – facts and figures

The pages in this section show an analysis of the distanced covered, where I spent the night and information about the money I spent in the trip. I did mainly because I love statistics but maybe the information will be useful to some.

This page shows the overall figures for the trip. The other pages in this section, cover the individual geographical areas I travelled through.

I left London on the 08 July 2015 and returned on the 28 May 2017. I was away for 690 days in total. In that time I cycled 22,274 Km (13,840 miles). I spent just over half of the the time on the saddle, that was interesting for me. I remember a friend telling me that I wasn’t cycling around the world, she said I was going around the world on a bike,  a subtle difference but a truism that the figures bear witness to.

I didn’t have a bike computer so I have no idea how much I climbed, my maximum speed or the actual number of hours I pedalled. I calculated my daily distances using Maps.me and Google maps so I know that they are not ultra accurate but that was good enough for me.

I am not a fast cyclist, in fact I love going slowly, stopping often, taking photos, chatting and laughing with people… The longest distance I covered in a day was 115 Km (71.5 miles) and the shortest day 3 Km (just under 2 miles), I’ve no idea what I did on that day, probably go to the shop and back. My average distance per day was 57 Km very close to the 60 Km/day that I used when I needed to calculate how long it would take me to get somewhere.

When it comes to expenditure I spent 12,586 euros in total. The costs on the road added up to 10,967 euros and the breakdown is reflected in the graph below. Not showing in this breakdown are the costs of bike maintenance on the road which were 146 euros, special treats like a balloon flight in Cappadocia and a posh Hammam in Istanbul (around 200 euros) and the cost of flights, including the flight back home which totalled 1,273 euros.

The average daily cost including everything was 18.24 euros. If you take into account only the on the road cost then it reduces to 15.89 euros.

The average daily cost including everything was 18.24 euros. If you take into account only the on the road cost then it reduces to 15.89 euros. The context of the expenditure in each country/area can be found in the relevant section.

 

The comparison of what I spent in each area of the world is shown below. Of course I spent different time in different places and the second graph puts this one in context.

 

Of course I spent different time in different places of the world and the graph below puts the % of expenditure into context.

The time I spent in each area also gives context to how far I cycled in each

And finally as I spent over a third of my budget in accommodation below is the break down of where I spent my nights

It has been fun doing this analysis, I’m not sure how much looking at what I did is going to change my next trip, only time will tell.

Blanca on a Bike is heading for Africa

 

Have you ever had a dream? Something that you always wanted to do? Or do you enjoy reading about places, the world, cycling and more? I did.

Initially Blanca on a Bike was going to be mainly a way to keep in touch with family and friends. A way to be able to share with them my bicycle journey. A place to publish photos so that they could see the places I will visit and the people I will meet.

I was also hoping to get something back from it. It is so amazing to hear from people when you are away. It is particularly motivating when you are having a bit of a hard time. I wanted the blog to be a central place where I could get messages and comments from everyone.

And then, like so many of the things I get involved in, it grew. I began to read other people’s blogs and got a lot out of it. This made me want to give something back and develop a resource for others. Comments and suggestions to make the blog better are more than welcome.

There are several  sections on the site that will get regularly updated

  • The blog – travel log will tell the story of my trip and those that subscribe get a notification when a new post is up
  • The country file section which I started during my
    Africa trip and provides information that I hope would be useful to others planning to visit this wonderful continent
  • The Africa route map and associated tables

To start with during my first trip I started The Photos section  which wanted to  tell the story but in a different way. This section died of natural death after a while. I underestimated the difficulty of working with images having a small tablet as my only tool. I included many more photos in the blog posts instead.

If you would like to follow this blog – please sing up and  you will receive a notification every time I update the content  and of course if you have any suggestions on how to make it better and more useful please let me know.

If you would like to publish sections of this blog or photos please get in touch with me before you do so.