Our top 5 touring tips after a month on the road

We've been on the road for just over a month now and to celebrate this milestone thought we'd share out top 5 things we've learnt about cycle touring:

Charlie's top 5
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1. Cheese - Cheese goes with everything... well I knew this anyway but I feel it is even more relevant when cycling

2. Hills - Just because it looks like the top of the hill doesn't mean it actually is! Never assume the top is in sight, just keep pushing your bike until you feel it start to roll forwards instead of backwards. This is especially true when cycling through Germanys largest wine growing region.
Which leads me on to 2.a don't cycle through Germanys largest wine growing region!

3. Podcasts/Audiobooks - Whole days of cycling can be quite boring so to get through the long days a good podcast or audio book is essential.
I've finished season 1 of the Serial podcast which was soo good, if youve not listened to it I would suggest you do right away! And I am on book 5 of the Harry Potter series. I'd forgotten just how good the books were and I love Stephen Fry' voices. If anyone has any recommendations for what I should try next please leave a comment!

4. Bike repair - No matter how much bike repair and maintenance you learn before setting off you can guarantee that what goes wrong isn't something you have covered.

5. People - So many people have come up to say hello and ask where we are going. It is really sweet and they all wish us luck with the journey, well I assume they all do, some people don't speak English and despite us saying "Ich nicht Deutsch sprechen" they continue to talk to us in German while we smile bemusedly, so I assume they are saying nice things.
Even today we stopped on a corner to check directions and a man in a car pulled over especially to see if we needed any help! He was lovely and pointed us in a better direction than we were going to go. A few days ago another man on a bike lead us directly to our campsite when we had again stopped to check directions:)

Lou's top 5

​1) It's impossible to tell how steep a hill is until you rub noses with it.

2) How high to swing my leg getting onto my bike without knocking the panniers off.

3) That I actually really enjoy cycle touring...phew

4) Its hard to say when you will arrive in a place. My first attempt was a month and a half out!

5) I mean I reaally love cycle touring