The Wayward Home Podcast
The Wayward Home Podcast
44: An Epic Seven-Month Bikepacking Journey Across Europe with Tobias Renggli
Ride along on a thrilling seven-month bikepacking journey across Europe, guided by our adventurous guest, Tobias Renggli, a 19-year-old Swiss university student. Toby's nomadic living took him through 44 countries, covering an average of 200 kilometers per day, as he sought to visit each nation's capital and highest mountain. Dodging wild dogs and navigating foreign terrains, Toby's epic adventure will have you gripping the edge of your seat. You'll hear about nights spent under the stars, unexpected friendships with fellow cyclists, and even a suspenseful run-in with the law at the Belarus border.
From the highlands of Scotland to the sunny shores of Italy, Toby's stories are a testament to the spirit of exploration. He offers practical advice for those considering a similar trip, from finding places to shower and sleep to dealing with unforeseen challenges. Not only will you hear about his breathtaking bikepacking adventures, but you'll also gain insights into the unfiltered reality of nomadic living, as Toby shares his encounters with individuals from different walks of life and cultures across Europe. The captivating tales from Toby’s bikepacking odyssey promise to inspire your own dreams of adventure. Let's hit the road!
Follow Tobias Renggli:
https://www.instagram.com/tobiasrenggli/
Connect with Kristin Hanes and The Wayward Home!
Well, most of us nomads travel by van RV or sailboat, but what about riding your bike everywhere? Bikepacking is where you take everything to live your tent, sleeping bag, clothes and food all on your bike. One young man bikepacked all over Europe. His goal was to visit the capital city and highest mountain in every single country. You'll learn all about his fears, some of the dangers he faced on the road and why he set off on such a big and grueling adventure. Let's go. Welcome to the Wayward Home Podcast. All about van life, boat life and nomadic living. We'll bring you tips, interviews and stories from the road and on the water.
Speaker 2:Now here's your host.
Speaker 1:Kristen Haynes. Hey, there, I'm, kristen Haynes with TheWaywardHomecom, and I spend half the year in my camper van and half on my sailboat in Mexico. My goal is to inspire you to pursue your nomadic living dreams. Well, before we jump into this episode, I just wanted to say thank you to listener Rob for leaving the Wayward Home Podcast such a nice review over on Apple Podcasts. I'm going to read you what he said. He said Kristen is a great interviewer and the show content is always so interesting. The show answers all the questions I'm thinking and brings to life things I never thought about. Relevant topics provide insight into what to expect on the road. Thanks for all you do and thank you so much, rob, for leaving me such a wonderful comment over on Apple Podcasts and if you feel like leaving a review, it only takes a few minutes and helps other people find my podcast as well. I'd really be grateful if you left a review on Apple Podcasts when you're done listening to this episode.
Speaker 1:So today we're talking to a young man from Switzerland named Toby. He bike packed all over Europe before starting his stint at university. I really love chatting with Toby. He's experienced a rugged and bare bones type of living that most of us will never do. This interview first aired as part of the Van Life virtual summit I put on with Project Van Life in February 2023. Toby, thanks so much for joining us.
Speaker 2:Yeah, hello and thanks for the invitation. My name is Toby and I'm 19 years old, living in Switzerland. Right now I'm studying at university, but last year I did a long and big bike packing trip. So, yeah, that's why I'm here, I guess.
Speaker 1:Wonderful. So tell me a little bit about bike packing. What exactly is that for people who don't know?
Speaker 2:Yeah, bike packing means traveling by bike, so it's kind of similar to traveling by car, in a van, but you travel by bike but carry all your luggage on your bike. So, yeah, I think it's a really cool thing to travel by bicycle, because you feel your environment, you feel the weather and the wind and it's just like the ideal speed for traveling, I guess.
Speaker 1:And so why did you choose that instead of traveling in a van or a car or a different method?
Speaker 2:Because, first of all, it's super cheap Like you just need a bicycle and second, it's just like a super nice feeling to discover all these places just on your own, with your own muscle power, and, yeah, it's also kind of an athletic challenge. So, yeah, that's what I love about it.
Speaker 1:Great. And how did you get the idea to start bike packing? I know not everybody has heard of that before.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think, or I guess it's more popular in Europe, I guess. But yeah, I just used to use my bicycle, like every day, to go to school and stuff. So yeah, I think the idea came from there.
Speaker 1:How did you decide where to go on your trip?
Speaker 2:Like two or three years ago, I had to do a school project like the last big project at high school, and there I visited them all the 250 cities we have here in Switzerland and climbed the highest mountain in each district. There are like 26 districts, there are districts in Switzerland. So I did that and it was like super cool. So I thought like I want to do something similar again, just bigger, and I finished high school one and a half years ago and then I joined the military service because you have to in Switzerland. And then I knew that I have 10 months until the start of university and I just wanted to fill these 10 months with something cool like traveling and exploring and also like the athletic challenge, as I said before. And so, yeah, I decided to do like kind of the same thing as I did already in Switzerland. So my goal was to visit every country in Europe there are 44 countries and my goal was to visit the capital city and the highest mountain in each country.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's amazing. And what did your parents think about that when you told them this idea?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think it's kind of scary because I also did sleep outside. At first I had a tent, but afterwards just like sleeping back in the mattress and like spending all the nights out there and also with the mountains and stuff. I guess it's kind of scary. But yeah, I'm really happy that I could do it. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And what was it like when you first got started? Did you have any like fears or worries at the beginning?
Speaker 2:Yeah, of course, like tons of fears, but not just at the beginning, like all the time. But yeah, it's kind of scary if you're just like alone out there and also sleeping alone like every night and yeah. But it was also like emotional, like I'm 19 years old and there were times where there are just things you would prefer other than like cycling in the rain every day and sleeping on the floor somewhere. Yeah, a big fear of mine where dogs, like wild dogs, especially in Eastern Europe, I had many. But yeah, I think in the end, the fears are the thing that make such a project like really cool and adventurous.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so you mentioned you were worried about wild dogs. Tell me a little bit about your experience with that.
Speaker 2:It was really my biggest fear and at some part it started in Romania, but then also in Turkey and Greece and all the Balkan states there were so many wild dogs every day, everywhere, sometimes also at night. That was super scary because, as I said, I just had an inflatable mattress in the sleeping bag. So, yeah, I really exposed, but yeah, I had dogs like every day, but I was always faster, except for once. In Albania there were sheep-herd dogs. They were huge, protecting the sheep and they ran after me and also bite me and it was like super scary and super painful.
Speaker 1:Oh man. So you had to mostly just ride your bike really fast to try to get away.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:Well, that sounds frightening. So what was it like, just sleeping out with your mattress and your sleeping bag, without a tent? Did you have bugs, or what was that like At first?
Speaker 2:I had a tent because I started in Switzerland in November and then I went down to Spain and Portugal and Italy and came back home for Christmas and I just realized that I don't really need the tent, so I decided to just leave it at home Without the tent. For me it worked quite well, actually, because you can protect yourself from the weather quite easily, because my advantage was that I didn't sleep too much. I went sleeping around midnight and left again at 6 in the morning, so in between there you can sleep basically everywhere. Sometimes I just slept in a bus stop or did some places like this where it's dry. It's just adventurous if you sleep directly under the endless sky of stars and it's just so peaceful.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so where did you typically find places to sleep?
Speaker 2:I started looking on the map on Google Maps or something like that, at some point in the evening, but very often it's just like random places that I saw from the road. Yeah, sometimes it was more easy and sometimes it was harder to find places to sleep, but somehow it always worked out. And there are so many possibilities because if you don't have to set up your tent, it's super easy. You just need very little space on the ground.
Speaker 1:So does Europe have campgrounds like you'd find in the US, or public lands too? Can you camp in some of those?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can, but it costs not much, but it costs like every day. So most of the time just did wild camp. I don't know if that's a thing in the US as well. Just camp anywhere. In many countries it's actually not allowed. But I did it anyways because I just went there at midnight and I left again at 6 in the morning, so the risk of being caught was very small, I guess. So, yeah, but usually I did just wild camp.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I saw some of your photos were at, you know, in the mountains and mountain peaks and stuff. Did you actually bike up there or would you leave your bike at height to those destinations?
Speaker 2:No, my goal was to climb the highest mountain in every country. So in the end I had 44 mountains and they are really really different. Some of them are not even hills like super flat and small. They can ride up your bicycle, and other ones, especially in the Alps, are really high and there I just went up there on foot or climbing, but not without my bike.
Speaker 1:Yeah, cool. And so tell us a little bit about your equipment setup, the things that you would carry with you on your bike.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like of course the goal was to go fast and light, so carry as little as possible but as much as necessary.
Speaker 2:But yeah, I was like really limited because the space on your bike is really, yeah, you don't have much space and you also have to carry everything on your own, so it's in your own interest to limit the weight and the volume of your package to a minimum. And so, yeah, I just had very basic stuff like clothing and for everything between minus 20 degrees and up to 40 degrees and because, like I was in the north of Scandinavia in winter there was really really cold, but also in Greece and Turkey in summer and there was really hot, but yeah, in the end you really don't need a lot of things like sleeping bag and the inflatable mattress. So, yeah, like very few things to do, stuff like repair stuff on your bike and yeah, but in the end you don't need much.
Speaker 1:So did you bring, like certain cooking tools and supplies with you.
Speaker 2:No, actually not, because it was kind of too heavy for me. So I just used to buy food in supermarkets and once per day I went to a really cheap restaurant, usually, but not just because of the foods mainly, but more because of electricity, so I could charge like my phone and power bank and camera and everything.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, cool so, and you would bring just snacks on the road with you that didn't require cooking.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, like bread or whatever. And I eat tons of sweets like chocolate and cookies. Yeah, like super much, but yeah.
Speaker 1:Cool. And so how about the water? Where did you find your drinking water? Did you carry that with you? How did that work?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I had bottles on the bicycle, but in Europe it's actually quite easy to find water, always depending on the country, of course, and on the weather. But in general I had like a maximum of two liters of me usually and that was totally enough to get to the next source of water.
Speaker 1:Cool, and what did tell me a little bit about your route, like what types of terrain were you riding on and what was that like?
Speaker 2:Like I think the coolest or a really cool thing about my goal with the capital city and the highest mountain is that you automatically see like like many things of the country because you have the urban regions around the capital city but also like the wild, like mountain regions, and that's really cool. So I started in Switzerland and went down to Spain or Portugal and Italy and came back home and then I did like Great Britain and Ireland and everything there Scotland and then I went all the way up to the North Cape and then like through Eastern Europe down to Istanbul and from there back home again. So like, yeah, it was kind of a mess on the map because there are so many countries and I tried to connect all of these, but yeah, it was like every day was different and I think that's a cool thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so sometimes you're probably writing on. Did you write on like dirt roads and paved roads and the whole variety of situations?
Speaker 2:Yeah, kind of Sometimes even highways, because there were not too many alternatives. But yeah, it was like yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what were some of your favorite places that you saw on this trip?
Speaker 2:So many people are asking this question and it's super hard to answer it because they're like it was 200 days and they did an average of 200 kilometers per day and it was just so intense because there was a mountain or a big city or just something special like every single day and it's just so intense and it's really really hard to pick and one favorite, but in the end I always prefer mountains over cities, but that's just a personal thing, I guess. And yeah, in the end, like after seven months and 44 countries, I came back home and I was like actually the most beautiful country still Switzerland. But yeah, there were other countries that I really love, like Norway or Scotland, or also Albania, spain, like tons of beautiful places.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that sounds pretty amazing. Did you also see some coastal areas, or did you miss those because you were going to the mountainous regions?
Speaker 2:I know I also had coastal areas like the sea and at the beginning it was like super special for me to ride along the sea because we don't have a sea in Switzerland. But yeah, after a certain time where you get kind of used to it and it gets kind of boring, but it's also nice to take a swim or just cool down in the sea. But yeah, definitely something I also had.
Speaker 1:Were you able to take showers on your journey, or did you mostly try to go swimming in different places? How did you deal with that?
Speaker 2:Depending on country and time of the year, but I don't know if I should tell this, but the longest time without a shower was 10 days, I think, and that's really not nice. But yeah, I tried to get a shower when I could, but it's like two hours ago. I found out how and where I could get a shower, but yeah, I was alone, so it wasn't a big problem.
Speaker 1:It didn't matter so much. So if someone does do this, what are some of your tips for finding a shower? Are there places people can go to get one?
Speaker 2:Yeah, like campsites, for example. I mean you don't have to sleep there if you don't want to, but you can use the infrastructure if you ask. Or you can also ask in a hotel, for example, if you can just use the shower. Or also like public infrastructure or schools or something like that. If you are not shy, you can ask like anywhere, and I think it's not too hard to find a place where you can shower, and the same with places to sleep If you are not shy enough, and if you want to, you can get invited basically every night. I guess if you ask, people are very open and very friendly and very helpful usually.
Speaker 1:Like people might invite you to spend the night in their yard or something, or on their property. Has that ever happened?
Speaker 2:Yeah, that happened a few times. If I asked, they usually really said yes, but usually I was too shy to just ask if I could sleep in their garden or whatever. But yeah, it happened quite a few times. Especially in the south of Europe, there are people that are really open and really friendly. So yeah, that was really cool.
Speaker 1:And did you use any apps or anything to find campsites, or what did you use on your route?
Speaker 2:No, not any special things like Google Maps to find infrastructure and restaurants and stuff, and I planned my route that I wrote on a. I don't even know how the app is called. It's not so popular like from Czech Republic, but yeah, I really didn't use any special things.
Speaker 1:You just sort of planned out where you wanted to go in advance, or did you do it as you rode your bike, like planning the next day?
Speaker 2:I planned the whole thing a little bit in advance, like the capital city and the mountain, yeah, because it's pretty complicated to connect all these things. But in the end it was kind of spontaneous. And also, like every day, I didn't set myself a goal how far I want to ride every day. I just knew that I have to ride an average of around 200 kilometers per day in order to be back home on time for university. But in the end I was kind of spontaneous.
Speaker 1:Yeah and yeah. 200 kilometers per day is pretty far. How did you feel after each day and what was that like?
Speaker 2:Yeah, like I'm actually the Swiss national team in mountain running. So I think, yeah, that's a big advantage, but of course it's a struggle, especially in the beginning, because 200 kilometers is really far. It's like I don't know. 10 hours of riding straight every day, yeah. But at some point you just get used to it and the body just gets used to it, and from there on it's possible.
Speaker 1:Did you take days off like breaks to relax sometimes?
Speaker 2:I am totally. I had two days without riding, but, yeah, like no real rest days, because in the end I was just too curious, also Like I always wanted to go further and explore new places like every day, and, yeah, I just pushed through it.
Speaker 1:That's pretty intense to do the 10 hours for it was 10 months right.
Speaker 2:Yeah no in the end it was seven months Because I was faster than expected, but yeah, it was really intense and also like so many new places and like every evening you have to find a spot where you can sleep and everything. So yeah, in the end it was super intense.
Speaker 1:Did you find people along the way that were also bike packing? Did you find friends when you were doing this?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I met a few cyclists. The thing is that I was riding like, oh, winter, and in winter you don't meet too many cyclists on the road, but especially in summer and in certain countries where it's a popular thing, you definitely meet other people. Or also at restaurants, or yeah, like this, you definitely meet other people, but it's like always very like short term. So, yeah, you meet them and you enjoy their company for one or two hours and then you never see them again and that's something like hard and also very beautiful and very interesting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what do you think some of the pros and cons of bike packing are Like? I think we talked about a lot of the pros, but what are some of the cons? Or a mixture of the two.
Speaker 2:The cons are definitely that it's like really hard for the body also. You have to like work really hard to get from one point to another. That's definitely easier by car and yeah, also the thing with sleeping is much easier to sleep in the car, I think, than just in your sleeping bag somewhere. But yeah, in the end I guess it's a nicer feeling if you travel all these places on your own muscle power, but yeah, it's much harder in general, much more uncomfortable than traveling by car, in a van or whatever.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you mentioned earlier it's popular in Europe. Why do you think that it is popular over there? I know some people do it here in the States, but why do you think it's more popular in Europe?
Speaker 2:I think that's because the things are. It's much more dense and it's much easier to ride by bicycle from one city to another, for example, and the distances between things are much shorter than in the US, I guess, and the landscape also is much more different. Yeah, on a shorter. Like the landscape changes every I don't know kilometers, and in the US you probably have almost weeks with the same landscape if you travel by bicycle and it might get boring.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's very.
Speaker 2:But I would love to travel the US by bicycle as well. I was also thinking about it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's some great routes in the States, maybe a little shorter, you don't have to ride through such endless boring terrain, but there's some good spots in the US, I think.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that's great.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so what are some of your favorite stories from your trip that you can think of off the top of your head like some fun things that happened to you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I once got arrested, for example, at the border to Belarus, because the highest mountain of Lituba is really close to the border and to Belarus and I just wanted to see the border because it has something magical not especially in a positive way, but whatever. I just wanted to see the border of Belarus and I somehow got too close and in the end I got arrested. But the people there only spoke Russian and didn't speak English, so it was really hard to communicate with them and I didn't really know what was going on. But, yeah, in the end I was just there for a few hours and then I had to sign something and I could leave again, but that was kind of scary, yeah. And then was the dog bite, for example, or yeah, but there were tons of people that were really friendly and friendships and yeah, in the end, it's just such a cool thing Also to travel alone. I think you can learn so many things about yourself. Yeah.
Speaker 1:What was it like coming back from the bike trip? Was that a hard adjustment?
Speaker 2:Yeah, of course, there were times where I really just wanted to get back home, because it's just super hard and also sleeping outside every night and at some point you just have enough of it. But when I was really close to be back home, I felt like I could live like this forever, because it's just so cool and, yeah, you just feel so free. But, yeah, I was alone for a pretty long time but in the end it was like 200 days and I think in this period of time I think it changed as a person, but you are not completely not able anymore to find your place again in your environment. But yeah, it was definitely a big change. Also Now university, where you have to go there every day again and have people telling you what to do and everything. But change is also something I like and, I think, what makes life interesting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was wondering if it was an adjustment to be back in a house again and you have all these amazing amenities right there at your fingertips. Yeah, a shower and a fridge and everything, but definitely a positive adjustment that's something that van lifers deal with as well is not having amenities on the road when you look forward to a place you can go to get a hot shower and then all that stuff. How do you think that you changed along the way? Changes in yourself? Yeah.
Speaker 2:I think so, and I think that's something really valuable If you travel alone, maybe, especially at this age I'm 19 years old but I think it's hard to realize it yourself, how you changed and what exactly did change. But I think I'm really grateful for everything and I also have a really different point of view now because I met so many people from different cultures and that are just having such a different life from what I know and from Switzerland. But yeah, I think I definitely did change as a person, but just in a positive way, I guess Good.
Speaker 1:What do you think you're going to do next when it comes to minimalistic lifestyle, or what kind of trips do you all plan? Yeah, like as I've seen.
Speaker 2:Right now I'm studying at Universal, so like my time is a bit limited right now, but I'm going to the mountains. I live basically in the mountains, like I'm doing stuff there like every day and just like some shorter trips, sometimes also like camping somewhere in the mountains for a one night. But yeah, I can definitely imagine like doing something bigger again in a similar style, because I really liked this thing with the highest mountain and the capital city. So another continent would be really interesting, or yeah, something like that. Or also when life like traveling by car is something I really want to do. I want to try out someday. So, yeah, there are definitely many ideas.
Speaker 1:Cool, and what advice do you have? If anyone wants to try backpacking and bike packing in Europe, what should they start with?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think it's important, not just for bike packing, but also for when life or backpacking or whatever like to just and just start and be brave enough to just try it and yeah, that it's okay to know, that it's okay to fail, but yeah, it's just important to go out there and try something and, yeah, just have a good time.
Speaker 1:So did you post your route online anywhere If people wanted to look at a map of where you went?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was pretty active on Instagram and there are pretty much all the pictures and videos still there online and their own website. Like just my name, like topiasranklych, so, yeah, cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, your photography on Instagram is just stunning. Did you take photography classes first or did you just learn that on your own?
Speaker 2:No, unfortunately not.
Speaker 1:That's something.
Speaker 2:I regret a little bit, because yeah, like I got into photography, just like the past few months since I'm back kinda. So I had a camera with me, but I didn't know too well how to use it, and that's something that I regret a little bit. But, yeah, something I want to change for next trips, definitely. But yeah, thanks.
Speaker 1:Do you have any other advice or anything else you'd like to share about your backpacking bike packing journey?
Speaker 2:No, actually actually not. As I said, I think it's just important to just do it and just try it and be brave enough to try it. But if anyone has like other questions, just feel free to reach out on Instagram or wherever.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Well, we'll definitely have a link to your Instagram so people can go find you, and thanks so much for coming on and talking about your adventure. It sounds amazing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 1:Thanks so much for listening to this episode of the Wayward Home podcast. If you like this podcast, you might also like to be on my email list. I tell personal stories of my life in a camper van and on a sailboat, share gear, reviews and tips and advice on nomadic living. To subscribe, just head to thewaywardhomecom forward slash subscribe. See you next time on the Wayward Home podcast.