One of my all time favourite things to do is ride my bike. Since childhood my happy place has been astride my iron steed, out in the fresh air with the sun on my face and a breeze at my back. But as I have gotten older my route decisions have been curtailed by gradient considerations. I can bike all day but don’t ask me to tackle hills. Until now that is. We needed some way of getting around once Tigín was parked up and someone had suggested an electric bike. My first thought was, that is cheating, taking the lazy way out….but how wrong was I.

I’m a reluctant adaptor at the best of times but after one test ride at our local bike shop, we purchased two Cube e-Bikes, introducing Tadhg and Treasa. When we are on the move we store them in the ‘garage’ of our camper. Tadhg and Treasa eat hills for breakfast. With their power assistance I am more inclined to ride my bike on a whim or run errands. I can also cover more ground and get onto more scenic trails when I want to explore an area. It is the best of all worlds.

Case in point on Thursday we woke to blue skies and sunshine and decided on a bike ride to explore the countryside south of Dresden where we were staying. We tackled rolling hills, through pastureland and fruit orchards on to the town of Pirna and eventually to the Elbe River. The bike path along the Elbe was perfect, lots of bike packers and day trippers making the most of this wonderful amenity. Then it was into Dresden itself and through the city park back to our campsite. All in all we covered almost 60km something I could never have done on a regular bike, especially with the early gradients. This evening I know I’ve had a workout but whether it is cheating or not I am Team E-bike all the way.