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touring on your own is hard enough, never mind dragging strangers around. I dont even want my friends there.
Slightly off topic, but I thought this was an interesting point.
I’ve been thinking a bit about touring alone lately. A lot of people are dumbfounded when you tell them you’re going on a three week tour, solo. For me it began out of necessity; I didn’t really have anyone who was willing to join. So it became the norm for me, now almost seven years ago.
But last year I discovered that touring with someone who's on the same ‘wave length’ (both physically and mentally) can actually make some things easier, mainly when it comes to decision making (something I more often than not struggle with). It can also help with motivation.
Somewhat surprising to me, a feeling of ‘why am I doing this alone?’ came over me, when I set off on my own again from Leipzig after having toured with @Tijmen for five days prior. I still like touring solo and will continue to do so, but I’m definitely more open to sharing the experience with someone else now.
Tijs-
Most of my travelling (I'm lucky that is pretty extensive) has been alone. I'm an only child I don't know if that makes a difference but ultimately if I wait for company it'll never happen.
I find often that I wished someone was there to share certain experiences and loneliness was a real thing, more so when my mental health in general was on the floor. I've since solved that.
My only bike tour was 4 months and over all I'm heavily more in favour of the solo type with chance meetings along the way. Ups and down but they were mine alone, no having to worry about anyone else. Stop n push on as I please, it's invaluable to me. I now really appreciate my own company so I've worked out where I'm at, which is cool.
Edit: one thing that seems to sting in my memory is that a few of my friends that cycle a bit were asking about my exact route for the last leg home. I got it in my head that they'd join me at this certain point and no body was there. And when I got back, to my dad's house, he wasn't home either. I washed and sat in front of the TV like nothing happened. Was quite surreal.
Stoo61
As someone who conducts 12 mile city tours, I cannot relate to this. But I could have seen me falling for such a "dream job" scam as this a few years ago.
I got my MTB guiding qualification (the easy one) and did the three day course for the Level 3, absolutely way too much responsibility is what I discovered. After the consolidation period I decided it wasn't a job worth doing and never completed the 2 day assessment required.
I get stressed about the slight danger inherent in tackling a slow paced, widely traffic free ride on simple terrain within a relatively quiet city.
Anyway, touring on your own is hard enough, never mind dragging strangers around. I dont even want my friends there.