Where next? Five journeys for 2027–2028

01

Bosnia · Serbia · Romania · Bulgaria · Turkey

The overlooked half of Europe, ending in Istanbul

East and south through the countryside nobody puts on a poster: Bosnian river valleys, Serbian farm roads, the Carpathians, the Bulgarian mountains, and then the long run down to the Bosphorus. This is the part of Europe that tourism forgot, which is exactly why it is on the list: villages where a cyclist is still a curiosity rather than just another tourist, and where the coffee you get invited to is not optional. It ends in Istanbul, which may be the most spellbinding city on the continent, and is the right kind of full stop: three weeks of quiet countryside and then fifteen million people all at once.

Distance

~2,300 km

Climbing

~25,000 m

Length

3 weeks

Window

May–Jun or Sep

The catch Five countries and a bunch of foreign languages in twenty-one days leaves me relying on English where not everyone speaks English fluently. The Balkan interior bakes from July onward, and the road surface is genuinely unknown until you are on it, and the same emptiness that makes it special makes resupply a thing I'd have to plan rather than assume.

02

Chile & Argentina · Patagonia

Final Frontier Patagonia: Puerto Montt to Ushuaia

The only one on the list with a start date. Final Frontier Patagonia is an unsupported ultra-distance event that runs the length of Patagonia (the Carretera Austral, R40, Torres del Paine and Tierra del Fuego) from Puerto Montt in Chile to Ushuaia at the bottom of the world. No support crew, no resupply plan but my own, twenty-one days maximum for the full course. Every other trip here is about arriving slowly, but this one is about finding out what happens when there is a time limit.

Distance

2,700 km

Format

Unsupported race

Time limit

21 days

Window

March

The catch A March start sits nowhere near a Swedish holiday, the transportation costs more than the actual experience, and the Patagonian wind is famously strong. This is more of an endurance test and less of a dreamy trip.

03

Greece · autumn 2027

Greece, in Greek

The same experiment as Italy, run again in a harder language. Spend the year learning as much Greek as I possibly can, then go and spend it: three weeks in the autumn through the Pindus mountains, past Meteora, down the Peloponnese and out to whichever islands the ferries take me. Autumn is the point: the heat has faded, the summer crowds have gone home, the sea is still warm, and the people who are left have time to talk. That last part is the whole reason for learning Greek!

Distance

~1,800 km

Climbing

~27,000 m

Length

3 weeks

Window

Sep–Oct 2027

The catch Greek is not Italian: a year of practice gets you polite, not fluent, and the alphabet is the easy part. Greece is also far steeper than its reputation: the Pindus goes up at gradients that Italy mostly had the decency to switchback. And once islands are involved the ferry timetable picks the pace.

04

France · 2028

All in on France

A big one, and a direct sequel to Italy: the same formula, a year of French beforehand, and a desire to explore the regional differences. Brittany and the Atlantic, the Pyrenees, the Massif Central, Provence, the Alps, and probably lots of route changes along the way. France is the country that invented taking a bicycle seriously, and it is large enough and varied enough to deserve six weeks rather than three. If anything beats biking through Italy it might be a French odyssey.

Distance

~4,000 km

Climbing

~50,000 m

Length

5–6 weeks

Window

Spring or Autumn 2028

The catch It needs what Italy needed: A year of improving my French and six weeks away from work. That makes it the least spontaneous thing on the list and the easiest one to postpone by a year. Doing it half-heartedly, in three weeks, would miss the entire point of going all in.

05

Morocco · the Atlas

The green Atlas, in the Swedish dark

The exact opposite of home, taken at the exact moment when winter is at its worst. Northern Sweden in late autumn is dark by three in the afternoon; the Atlas at the same time of year is sprawling lush and green from the rains, the valleys are full of olive and almond, and the light lasts longer. Three weeks out of Marrakesh over the high passes, through villages and gorges, with a mountain range that turns red twice a day. This trip would make for a bright break, away from the winter darkness right when my wanderlust is peaking.

Distance

~1,600 km

Climbing

~22,000 m

Length

3 weeks

Window

Nov–Feb

The catch Green depends entirely on rain that may not come, and the high passes in winter can hold snow and close without warning. The valleys are mild and the nights can be rather cold. Daylight is still not more than 10 hours, and secure water supply has to be considered every single day.