Back in 2009 I moved from York to Sheffield to start a PhD on the Energy Futures 4 year Doctoral Training Centre. Young and naive, some friends and I decided to do it by bicycle, with one bicycle trailer filled to the brim and 4 large panniers carrying most of my stuff.

4 years later and I’ve moved again, this time to Leeds. I’ve got a new a job at Leeds University, working on the Geotalisman project in the department of geography. Older and hopefully wiser, I decided to move house by bicycle again: it’s shorter than the trip to York (40 miles, not 60), I was more organised with planning (providing a month’s notice for friends and family to attend and after 4 years in Sheffield I knew many people who would be up for the ride. To make it more exciting, this time we brought music, in the form of a 12v sound system. See the map, words, images and video below for the full low-down on this epic ride.

I presented last Thursday at FOSS4G, THE conference to go to for Free Open Source Software for Geo applications (get it?). It was an interesting event, with hundreds of delegates dressing up in one form or another as Robin Hood, fantastic food and a very wide range of talks. Just take a look at the second day of talks: packed to the rafters with sessions, including mine, on visualisation.