Going Places.

There was once a plan in my head . Well no, not so much a plan as a dream. It was a simple dream, it was a dream to go very far under my own power.

It was a dream to see the world, or well as much of the world as it would be possible to see. I wanted to go slowly and under my own power because I feel something is lost if you don't move through landscapes at human speeds. You lose a sense of place, a sense of perspective, a sense of where you actually are.

So it is to gain a real sense of where I am on this planet of ours that I wish to go very far under my own power.

Where I was going to go, I didn't know. Why I was going to go there, I didn't have a clue. All I knew is I wanted to go there, more than anything in the world.

The above sentiments are of course, guff. Nonsense, hot air and loose words. The marvellous mumblings of a monger of mooncalfery.

However, it is hot air and loose words that are the seeds of real deeds. No man of action ever began any action of any merit without a bit hot air and lot of dreams.Naturally though, to make these into actions we need the pithy business of detail and logistics. So let's have some below

So where am I to begin transforming my hot air into actions?

• With the cities of the Hanseatic League. 

Why the Hanseatic cities?

•  I have wanted to see them ever since I was informed of their existence to them by an excellent documentary (see below). Now, there are a lot of things on this earth I have always wanted to see, the stars from the Atacama, a heavy storm in the depths of the atlantic, the ever marching dunes of the Gobi, Timbuktu, the dazzling lights of New York (the list goes on, so I won't bore you with it's absurd length)... but the cities of the Hansa are relatively near to where I live and are as such cheap to get to. I am not yet a rich man so the world shall have to wait and this seems as good a place as any to begin.

• The Hanseatic cities are beautiful medieval cities that were the cradle of northern European gothicism and mercantile might, and are as such simply very nice places to look at.
• They lie in a logical sequence on an east west axis along the coast of Northern Europe between the UK and Russia, which facilitates a "journey" rather than a mere "trip" or if you will "holiday".
• They lie almost entirely within the EU, and as an EU citizen this is safe and easy territory for me to travel in and a great place to begin my adventures, which will in years to come become increasingly dangerous and exotic.  

How am I going to do this?

• I am going to fly to Tallinn, capital of Estonia and the furthest east of the Hanseatic cities with my bike, some camping gear and hopefully an equally well-equipped friend.
• We would, quite simply, just cycle back to the UK, a distance of some 2000ish miles. Seeing as much as we can, soaking in the landscapes, cultures and peoples on the way.

There are of course many other messy details about organising and logistics that need to be seen to...and they will be seen to in some subsequent less poetical posts that will explain for any interested in doing such a thing how they themselves might go about it.

But for now all I will offer are mad dreams, ideas and a desire to go places. A desire that is etched into the human soul, a desire to go over that hill, round the river bend and chase the distant horizon. This is no epic or dangerous journey that will ever compare to the tales of those brave navigators of bygone days, but it is some small way a good place to begin.