Bunchland

We half-read, half-daydreamed through this article

Last weekend’s Globe and Mail featured an essay from Karan Smith, datelined Loire Valley, France. Sigh.

Smith and her daughter Pepina were off on a mother-daughter cycling trip that found them biking by Sleeping Beauty’s castle, Cinderella-esque pumpkin patches and actual chickens crossing the road.

They cycled with a guided group of like-minded parents and kids, so unlike the Family on a Bike, it wasn’t all cycling, all the time. Pepina took some breaks from peddling to let her mother tow her and sometimes just hung out in the kids’ van. They took part in other activities like paddling and fencing and obviously took in the fantastic history that the Loire Valley provides. And most importantly, Pepina enjoyed her first crème brûlée.

Just read this and tell us you’re not immediately thinking of booking one of these tours:  Read more...

We asked The Family Adventure Project’s Stuart Wickes for some bike tips

Stuart Wickes and Kirstie Pelling are an adventure-minded couple from the North West of England. When they became parents, they didn’t see any reason to stop having crazy adventure vacations. They took their then family of four on an end-to-end tour of New Zealand, sometimes cycling, sometimes sailing and sometimes riding the train. As a family of five, they’ve biked around England and made it all the way up to Holland, down to Venice and over to the Baltics. This summer, their cycling destination is Krakow. While your family might not be ready to travel the country end-to-end on bikes, we asked Stuart how to get started on a family adventure.  Read more...