We are Jon & Frank and we are two retired special school teachers from Suffolk who have been cycletouring as our main summer holiday since 1997 in various countries in Europe.

How did we get started!

We both love the outdoor life and camping. We both used to do a lot of hill walking and mountaineering, either in this country or the Alps, we have also even climbed a couple of Himalayian peaks. But in 1996 Frank unfortunately developed a chronic pain problem in her back as a result of having had Scheuermann's disease as a teenager. This meant that she was alright climbing up mountains but she had a real problem with walking back down them. There had been several occasions where Frank had to be carried off some of the mountains due to severe back pain. We therefore decided that mountaineering was out and that we needed something that would still get us into the great outdoors. We had both been keen cyclists since we were kids and Frank found that riding a bike didn't seem to give her problems with her back, so it was actually Frank who suggested that we have a go at cycletouring (something I always remind our friends when they say to me isn't it about time you took your wife on a proper holiday that involved hotels and relaxing on a beach!).

We already had a couple of cheap hybrids bikes that we had bought just to poodle around on at home and with the addition of some cheap racks and panniers we did our first trip on the Norfolk coast in 1997. We just loved the freedom of cycletouring and from that point onwards we were hooked and we haven't looked back since as we are now in our 21th year of touring.