A Guide To Bike Odyssey Cycle Tours Bike Odyssey specializes in adventurous cycle tours complete with atmospheric resting places and gourmet food. The inspiration for our journeys is often the big history makers. So here’s a quick book list to help you enjoy the historical aspect of the cycle tours. Start your prep reading now […]
The Origin Of Bike Odyssey Where did it all begin? I think it’s fair to say that Bike Odyssey mastermind Sam Wood’s original inspiration for his bicycle touring company came in the mid-1980s. During those important formative years the seeds that would create this epic history based cycling adventure extravaganza were sown. I should know, […]
On our bike tours, we love history, food and a good aperitif and we certainly have our tour ‘themes’. However, as with so many parts of the world, there is so much depth in the history as you travel through these amazing territories. One of our riders (thanks, Tony!) said to me that he had […]
Tour History and after our newsletter, a few people understandably asked what colour is Plantagenet! Disclaimer: If you are watching that series Vikings on TV at the moment there are spoilers in this blog! So firstly who are the Plantagenets? The House of Plantagenet, King Richard the Lionheart’s House (he was the 2nd generation to be […]
Tour History and Hannibal gets a look in as I’ve just moved to Barcelona! There is a theory that Barcelona is actually named after Hannibal’s adopted ‘family’ name Barca (coined the ‘Barcids’ by modern writers. In general Carthaginians only had one name and the options seemed in short supply!
Neuschwanstein Castle – the most impressive castle in the world? We also visit some battle worn castles such as where Lionheart himself was imprisoned in Durnstein on the Danube….
Tour History – Hannibal is in the news for the first time in 2000 years due to some horse poo being found on one of the passes over Alps! So for literally hundreds of years people argued over where Hannibal crossed the Alps.
Tour History – Hannibal and the bloodiest battle ever in history …Cannae. A slightly horrific way to start the New Year… A day when 70,000 men were killed….this figure stands as the most men killed in a single day’s battle, the equivalent of the nuclear bomb’s death toll at Hiroshima and this was all hand to hand combat.
Tour History – Hannibal and his Elephants…over the Alps…. Hannibal is best known for crossing Europe’s biggest mountain chain, the Alps, into Italy with about fifty thousand men and forty elephants.
When you think of the Crusades you most often think of fanatical Catholic knights charging off to kill non-believers. However, the truth is, they sometimes didn’t go far to begin their killing! Carcassonne was the target of an internal Crusade in the early 13th century to eliminate Catharism, an offshoot of the Catholic religion. Catharism, as they go, had some positive outlooks and was fairly harmless – woman were seen as equals, they believed in reincarnation and somewhat surprisingly they were pescatarian or vegetarians!