Traveling is like riding on a mountain road. But among the ups and downs, there will always be those indelible memories that you carry with you all your life. Once a month, The Press recounts the adventures, big or small, of fearless travellers. Today: a newly retired couple who have traveled the world in tandem for almost 40 years.
Posted at 11:30 a.m.
Josée Blackburn and Robert Bibeau were not yet married when they crossed the ocean to tour Europe on two wheels. It was in 1984.
“It was our first test, if you will, says Robert. It rained every day for the first month, from Amsterdam to Bonn! I remember we were setting up the tent on a sodden lawn. In short, a “make or break…” scenario.
“And it looks like it happened! he exclaims, laughing.
Finally, the two horticulturists did not only go to Switzerland, where they had planned to harvest that year. They cycled to Egypt, doing a small part of the journey by train. And since then, they have visited nearly fifty countries together.
On the road
At the end of April, they left Montreal after having rented their house for two years, even if they plan to return to Quebec every six months. For questions of medical insurance — the sixties don’t help!, Robert ironically —, to give a cycling lesson in a high school in the fall, but above all to see their two children and their three grandchildren — with whom they began to take short two-wheeled escapades in Quebec.
After arriving in Scotland without their tandem or their luggage (lost in Toronto!), they were finally able to hit the road. At the time we spoke to them, at the end of May, they were recharging their batteries in England, in an Airbnb. A luxury they allow themselves only in cases of force majeure, when road fatigue takes over, camping is not possible or no invitation from the Warm Showers community has been offered to them.
“We travel on a low budget,” emphasizes Josée. From $50, it has now risen to $60 a day for both — inflation requires.
If they do not hesitate to go wild camping where it is allowed, as in Scotland, it is the Warm Showers option that they prefer, because it allows them to make the most enriching encounters. “We were hosted by doctors who explained to us how the pandemic went,” says Robert, while Josée took pleasure in learning about the functioning of the health system or even daycare prices.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY nomadesavelos
In Scotland, last May
This is also how in Mexico, in 2018, they slept as much in sumptuous residences as in houses without running water. Travel anecdotes, they have them in spades, and they have fun relating them on their blog during their travels. Like this time in El Salvador where Robert was vomiting on the edge of a ditch and a Salvadoran who had lived in Quebec stopped by to offer help. “It was my guardian angel,” he recalls.
There was also this bicycle accident in Morocco, in 2009. Luckily, they weren’t on it, but it was still badly damaged… by the chief of police of the small village. “It was an event, recalls Josée laughing. Everyone greeted us and invited us. »
And even though we have already tried to steal their bags in Mendoza, Argentina, nothing “extraordinarily negative” has ever happened to them, she says.
The passion for cycling
After experimenting with backpacking in Peru in 2005, Josée Blackburn and Robert Bibeau quickly returned to two-wheeled travel. Why ? For the freedom that this mode of transport provides, Robert replies without hesitation.
“But above all so as not to have any weight on your shoulders,” adds Josée, laughing.
If they have chosen the tandem, it is because they can talk to each other while driving, despite certain drawbacks – it is notably refused on board certain trains and buses for its size.
Being on a double bicycle also levels the forces, explains Robert.
We each make the effort we are capable of giving and we arrive at the top of the hill at the same time. And at the end of the day, we both arrive as exhausted as the other.
Robert Bibeau
On the other hand, the person who pedals in the back – in this case Josée – must completely surrender to the driver because she has no control.
For their next trip scheduled for November, to New Zealand, however, they will leave with two bikes to be able to take the off-road paths recommended for cyclists.
But until then, many landscapes still await them. After covering more than 1300 km in a month in the United Kingdom, Josée and Robert are about to take the ferry to pedal on the paths of the past, returning to where, 38 years earlier, their first journey began — in Amsterdam. Then they will drive to Scandinavia, from where they will take the plane back to Montreal by next September, faithful to their habit of leaving a great deal of improvisation to their plans.
The adventure has only just (re)begun.
Calling all
Do you have any travel stories to tell us?