If you’re a touring cyclist who hasn’t experienced Warmshowers (the touring cyclists equivalent to Couch Surfing for backpackers), then you should. We first tried it at Easter this year when we rode to Hamburg and back. We stayed with Klaus and Katherine in Munster who fed us with a fab breakfast and sent us on our way with a packed lunch. In Oldenburg Dietmar (a retired Lutharian pastor) had a four course vegetarian meal waiting for us on our arrival and in Zwolle Faulkirt and Lineka also fed us wonderful meals. Whilst the food was delicious, the best thing about all our Warmshowers hosts was their friendliness and insight they gave us into the places we were visiting. They all showed great interest in our trip.

We’ll be staying with ten Warmshower (WS) hosts during our ride down the west coast of the USA and from the communication we’ve had so far we’re really looking forward to meeting them all. Today we go a message from our WS hosts in San Diego who’ve kindly agreed to receive and store our bike bags during our trip. Posting them from Vancouver to San Diego is a lot more inviting than having to carry them 1800+ miles (they are quite big). It seems apt that as we’ll be taking advantage of lots of WS hospitality we should repay the favour, so we’re pleased to have been contacted by a young Belgium family who’ll be cycling the south coast of England later this month. I hope we’ll be able to repay some of the hospitality we’ve received through Warmshowers.