I am approaching 100,000 hits with my blog. Thank-you everyone for visiting and ‘hitting’ arctic-cycler.com! May I be hit a lot more during the rest of my trip! 🙂
While vegging out in Australia over the winter break, I have collected all the daily blog entries of the European leg into a summary page, which can also be accessed from the World Cycle Route tab.
I have also been putting together some videos of the European leg of the trip. Here is the first one – from Eindhoven to Dubrovnik. Tell me what you think!
The cycling continues in March 2015. See you then!
arctic-cycler.com 
I am from Dubrovnik, are you still there??
Hi Branac. No. I was in Dubrovnik in October. I am catching up on my blog and videos while on my winter break from cycling.
Dubrovnik is a beautiful town!!! 🙂
Mooi filmpje, erg leuk! Geniet van je vakantie in Australië en Merry Christmas!
Dankjewel Barbara! Jullie ook een heeeeel fijne kerst en nieuw jaar! Groetjes uit Adelaide!
I was just thinking what was happened not receiving more your posts! Now everything is ok! Good! Could we know your next program? Thanks a lot and … good luck!
Hi Riccardo. Thanks for your message! 🙂
My plan is to continue cycling in March. I will have to consider how to do daily posts as the internet is not everywhere where I am going. I think I might do delayed daily posts, which might mean the daily posts start after March..
Anyway, have a very merry Christmas!
Matthew
Nice vidéo man!! 😀
Hope to see you again!
Hey Clément. Great to hear from you. Where are you now, and when will you be continuing? Hope to see you in the new year and cycle some kms together! 🙂
I’m in Athens for Christmas and I’ll go in Crete for the new year. I’ll spend 2 weeks there, after I’ll continue in Rodos island and in Turkey to Marmaris. After that I’ll go to Istanbul following the west coast. So I’ll be there around the 5th of October. 🙂
The 5th of October? You mean the 5th of February? James and I will be back in Istanbul around the end of February. As the weather is still going to be cold, we might do a longer route through Turkey heading more southwards..
Where are you heading after Turkey?
I’m really looping forward to the next leg of your trip. Tanks so far for the pica’s and words!
Thanks, Erik. The trip continues next March. Stay tuned! 🙂
Hi Andrew, great to see a number of the nice places in a short version, I have been injoying every moment of the long and short version.. What happened to James? have a great Christmass and a healthy sportive 2015!!
Hi Ed. Thanks!
James is staying in Taiwan over the winter. Actually I’ll be there in January for 5 weeks too studying Chinese.
Have a merry Christmas and a great 2015!
Hi Matthew really great stuff – enjoyed part one. will catch part 2 later. I’m a techno luddite so a stupid question if I may. what gadgets do you carry to record your video / pictures? and how is it mounted on the bike? thanks and no rush to answer. I’m gently planning for next year ! have a good christmas break, Laurence
Hi Laurence,
Thanks for your message. Good to hear that you like the blog and video.. 🙂
I have just spent the day reassessing my recording equipment, and decided to stay with what I have.
On a previous trip (from Holland to the North Cape in northern Norway), I had an Ion Pro webcam, mounted to the bike with the Ion Pro mount. I was happy with the mount, and the videos taken. The only drawback (which was critical), was that the webcam software crashed regularly, and, as it was impossible to reboot it, I had to wait until the battery ran down (which took several hours), recharge it, and start again. One cool thing with the Ion Pro, though, was that it was mounted on a rotatable mount, so it was possible to take a video of yourself, and then rotate the camera to take a video of the road ahead. You can see some examples of me doing this here: https://vimeo.com/73643927
After immense frustration with the crashing software of the Ion Pro, I bought a GoPro 4. I mount it to the handlebars with the GoPro mount, and to the helmet, also with the GoPro mount for a helmet. It takes good videos, with a few drawbacks.
1. It is not rotatable.
2. You can almost hear nothing when it is in its waterproof case (except for the wheel and gear noise). You can hear much more when it is in its non-waterproof case. You can only use this if the weather forecast is ok.
I took all my photos and non-GoPro videos (the ones with me talking into the camera) with my Samsung Galaxy S4. It takes great photos, and good videos too. Also, I have set up it such that it automatically uploads the photos and videos to DropBox when connected to wifi. This way, at least the non GoPro footage is safe.. 🙂
Today I was considering buying a Rammount for the GoPro, which looked to have the same sort of functionality as the IonPro. Unfortunately, the mount was too clunky and with too many connections. My experience is that if you have more than 1 connection, the video is wobbly. (James also has a GoPro, but his mount is made up of several pieces attached together. His videos were very shaky.) Also combining the Rammount with the Ion Pro mount is not possible, as the rotating balls are different sizes.
Well, there you go. I hope that was all understandable. Have a great trip next year!
Matthew
Thanks for taking the time to give such a comprehensive answer Matthew Great to have 1st hand experience and just the kind of info I was after Much obliged. Laurence
You’re welcome, Laurence! All the best.
Very nicely done, Matt! I wasn’t eating in any of these shots… unless you count the Persimmon Incident. Looks great, keep it up! Looking forward to 2015!
No. But you were off camera eating in Banja Luka. 🙂
hi Matt- great video. Lovely to see you on such good form. You are quite right to avoid this european winter! It is grippingly cold at the moment. Certainly no naked swimming now! Hope you had a good Christmas. Very best for 2015. Paul
Hey. Thanks Paul. No swimming at all now in northern Turkey. It was cold when i left. More appropiate temperatures at the moment in Australia. 🙂
Have a very merry Christmas and a great 2015!
Matthew
Excellent. I think it make us all dreaming. As usual.
Have a good year 2015! Cheers
Thanks Gilles! Have a great 2015!
Amazing … really well done Matthew.
Thanks Elizabeth! Glad you liked it. There’s more to come this year. I’m really excited. 🙂
I’ll be watching some of them from the road as my own journey begins at the end of May (I’ve a one-way ticket to Milan). Well, in April I’ll do a hit out ride here in Australia. If your break brings you to Sydney – please get in touch – coffee or beer on me to hear some of your stories in person.
I’m in Sydney at the moment. I might have a few hours this afternoon after 4 if you want to catch up. Here is my number. +61 416 617 168