Couple cycling through North America makes SWFL stops

NAPLES, Fla. “You’re crazy. You can’t cycle around America!”

That’s what Chris Fieldsand’s friends and family told him and his girlfriend, Ties Benguedda, when they began their 12,000-mile cycling trip across North America.

The couple started in northeast Canada in July 2016. Over the past 210 days, they’ve headed west, then back east across the United States.

Beverly Robertson and her husband, Alastair, played host to the couple Monday night when they passed through Fort Myers after meeting them through a mutual contact.

The Robertsons offered beds and hot showers, generosity that Fieldsand said was welcomed after their experience on the West Coast.

“We’d cycle in the rain, set the tent up in the rain, sleep in the rain, pack it up in the rain,” he said.

But the Robertsons were enthusiastic about having the couple stay with them.

“We felt that we got as much as we gave,” Beverly Robertson said.

Fieldsand and Benguedda spent Tuesday night at Collier-Seminole State Park along Tamiami Trail. They will continue their ride south to the Florida Keys then up the East Coast back to Canada.

They expect to complete the journey by this summer.

For those who want to track Fieldsand and Benguedda’s journey, click here.