We are a couple of self-styled espresso aficionados in our 70’s, based in Victoria, Canada. Paul Gully is a (mostly retired) public health physician, who continues an interest and involvement in global health issues. Lois Leslie, a human rights lawyer, is retired from paid employment but enthusiastically engages in pro-bono international human rights research and writing. When not working or adventure-seeking, we love to spend time with our family in Victoria and Ottawa.

We became hooked on cycle-touring when cycling across Canada, in 2013. Since then, we have cycled from Vancouver to Monterey, California and from Lands End, England to John O’Groats, Scotland. Between March 2017 and September 2018, we travelled by bicycle, foot and public transportation In Europe, Asia and Australasia, (Lisbon to Auckland), using the trip to draw attention to and raise funds for Parkinson’s Disease, Shifting Gears for Parkinson’s.

In September 2018, we completed our Shifting Gears for Parkinson’s trip, returning to Victoria to settle into our new condo, community and city, which we are finding pleasantly cycle-friendly. Our travels have been largely suspended since then, partly as a result of the Covid 19 pandemic, but also after Lois was diagnosed in early 2020 with  advanced metastatic ovarian cancer. Happily, she responded well to chemotherapy and surgery and remains cancer-free, currently benefiting from recent pharmacological advances in ovarian cancer maintenance. Which means….that we are back on the road, Walking the Via Francigena.