During nearly fifty years of marriage we have both enjoyed traveling, during the early years in the UK and later abroad. Between us we have visited (in no particular order) France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Litchenstien, Spain, Portugal, Holland, Republic of Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Poland, Ukraine, Egypt, Jordan, The Gambia, Canada and Greece.
The end of May 2011 saw both of us retired at a young enough age to do something with the time we have left. We have decided to travel - if finances allowed it would be world wide and first class, but they will not, so it will be a caravan and mainland Europe with (if those pesky finances permit) an occasional “cattle class” flight to somewhere we have always wanted to see. Our retirement travels are documented HERE
When we were preparing for our retirement Adventures Before Dementia we bought bicycles which for the first few years were used regularly.
As time went on it was easier to drive and walk rather than muck about getting the bikes off the car roof and the use of the bikes gradually declined until one year we dragged them round Europe without riding them a single yard.
The bikes were given away and we continued our travels bike-less, getting our exercise from long walks - well walks anyway.
Unfortunately increasing problems with gout, and before you ask - no! I don’t drink a lot of Port, has led to the walks getting shorter and less frequent which meant the weight getting greater and the breathing getting more laboured.
We had to get more exercise but with walking being so painful what could we do that would get us out and about?
The answer came from friends Rosemarie and John who had just had both their individual bikes and their tandem motorised.
We would get e-bikes.
My old bike was, albeit infrequentyl, being used by the person we gave it to so I would beed a new e-bike but Sue’s bike did not fit the person we gave it to (she now has another) so we planned to claim that one back and have it turned into an e-bike but some unsolvable problems forced us to go for new for Sue as well.
A trawl on Google revealed a large e-bike shop in Cambridge - Rutland Cycling. We wanted Dutch style “sit up and beg” bikes and I got a German built Kalkhoff
while Sue got a Dutch built Gazelle.
Both have Bosch mid drive motors a low step through frame and handlebars higher than the saddle, no good for racing but comfortable for our style of riding.