L&O

At Milford Sound, New Zealand.

Lorna by Olly

Before, Lorna was a French teacher.  Now, she is a world cycle-tourer.

For Lorna, ‘home’ is Burton-on-Trent, but she is actually a Shropshire lass having been born in the town that we met, Shrewsbury.  Lorna studied English and French at The University of Warwick which included living in Souillac in le Lot, France for a year where she was an English assistant. After graduating and a year of gallivanting around Europe funded by working in an office, Lorna returned to her native Shropshire to work as a Teach First, secondary school, French teacher.

Lorna loves the outdoors and at home enjoyed spending as much of her free time as possible walking in the hills, those in Shropshire and further afield, with friends (and their dogs) or her sister, Gini. Lorna’s love for cycling grew in Shropshire thanks to fellow members of ‘The Bastley Riders’ and her love of parkrun was born in Shrewsbury too. Lorna loves reading, drinking tea, yoga, dancing, running, swimming and chewing the fat with friends.

A WarmShowers host said, “Lorna likes to talk and Olly likes to listen”.  Although this sounds a bit unkind to our British ears, it was said positively and in the host’s second language.  Lorna is very good at approaching and speaking to people in situations that I would usually avoid and this has resulted in the forming of some great new friendships and some of the most memorable experiences of the trip.

Lorna has quickly become a very strong cyclist and now almost always beats me to the top of the hills. Lorna is in charge of two of the most important aspects the trip: human health and the food pannier! Every time we enter a new town or city, Lorna knows exactly where to go for the best vegetarian food, ice-cream, cake, coffee… Lorna is also the main writer of this blog, which takes a lot of time and effort to keep up to date.

Olly by Lorna

One of our Warm Showers hosts described Olly as 'a retiring type'.  A self-proclaimed dog-lover, Olly spurns the idea of ever owning a cat or a guinea-pig.

Olly loves being outdoors and although he's enjoying the dirtbag lifestyle, the UK is his home and favourite place to roam.  Climbing is Olly's great love and he especially enjoys climbing with friends from the Wrekin Mountaineering Club in Shropshire, Pembrokeshire, Snowdonia and beyond.  I know he's quietly worried about how spaghetti-like his arms have become!

Olly also loves cycling (phewph!) and is a big believer in the n+1 rule for bicycles.  Olly used to share his room with a Bowman that he built himself and his housemates shared the lounge with 'Sir Lee', his Surly touring bike, which he also put together after buying the frame second-hand on eBay.  By this point, the landlord and lady had long given up hope of Olly keeping his bikes in the garage.

Olly is practical and handy and so if something goes wrong with a bike that he can't fix I know it's serious.  Olly is also musical, but won't admit to his guitar-playing talents, and telling him I'd secured tickets to go and see Bon Iver in Blackpool resulted in the biggest outpouring of emotion I've ever known from him.  In addition, Olly is enjoying taking photographs on the trip and credits his A* in GCSE Art as one of his greatest academic achievements.

Prior to becoming a nomad, Olly worked as an environmental consultant for an engineering company and studied Environmental Sciences at Lancaster University.  The protection of the environment is Olly's passion and I'm sure this is the sector he will return to work in if his chair making business doesn't work out...

Olly had tired of sitting at a desk looking out at the hills he much preferred to be running in.  Olly loves the mountains and cycling the Pamir Highway has long been a dream of his.

A lover of beer, black coffee, chocolate and crisps, Olly will often point the finger of blame at me for all of the treats stored in our panniers.  Looks can be deceiving!