Europe (all)

Avignon - Nîmes - S.tes Maries de la Mer - Arles - Avignon.

Our annual European cycle trip took us (my wife Carol and me) back to France (of course - this was the 13th tour there!) We chose this particular route because it included areas we had not yet seen (for the most part). As usual, we travelled unsupported (no sag-wagon) but we stayed in hotels or B&B's and ate our evening mealsin restaurants. We averaged about 70 km a day, a lot of it in mountainous terrain - not bad for a 60 year old geezer (and his wife who is 2 years younger. I won't tell you her age). Once again, this trip log is far too wordy and full of a lot of personal observations which expose many of my biases. Consider yourselves forewarned!

Bericht über eine Fahrradtour von Dessau nach Bad Schandau im Sommer 2000.

The plan: Holland, children, bicycles. We figured the rest would evolve on its own.
``Flat,'' my husband said. ``The whole country is flat. Bike paths all over the place.''
A landscape materialized at once in my head. You can imagine the particulars: windmill, tulips, cow, canal, pedaling 12- and 16-year-old. Sunshine. Waving farmer. Cheese.
``Legal weed,'' the 16-year-old chipped in.
``Not for you,'' I said.
We bought a Holland guidebook, with many photographs of Rembrandt paintings and elaborately gabled canal-front brick houses, but the Bicycles section was only two pages long and commenced with a photograph of a bike helmet. Ha! (We'll get to that in a moment.) We found what seemed to be a suitable Holland Tourist Board Web site, animated on-screen by a little mustached man who pedaled along as you plotted out various rural cycling routes, but every time I tried to download the maps my computer snarled at me and dumped the site.

So we gave up on the advance details, arranged for an Amsterdam apartment that came equipped with the owners' bicycles and landed on a breezy July morning at Schiphol Airport, which is grand and clean and extremely efficient; by lunch time, our bags piled up at the top of the apartment's staircase landing, we were bicycling. Before sundown the next day, we had grasped the essentials.
The essentials were... startling.
By that second day, I had began composing my own introductory bicycling brochure, to be handed at the border to uninitiated Americans with tulips in their heads.

This cycle tour is designed to show you Amsterdam's many varied and often surprising aspects. Not only does it take in the historic city centre, it also shows you other neighbourhoods, and demonstrates that Amsterdam is a city with 'green' credentials. The text provides information about Amsterdam and the measures that have been taken to make cycling in the city an enjoyable and safe experience.

The cycle tour is approximately 37 km long. Riding at a moderate pace, it should take you about 4 hours to complete. In Rembrandtpark in Amsterdam West, it is possible to take a short cut making it some 10 km shorter.

Includes a diary, maps, photographs, packing list, etc.

A couple of years ago I went to Iceland (with my family) by car, I always wanted to go back but instead of a car with a bike. A bike-trip through Iceland. For a few years, that idea, was only a kind of a dream. But time is running. I started to make a bike-trip from Holland to Norway. Besides the bad weather (wind, pretty cold days) I enjoyed the trip. Actually I didn't get any punctures. Perhaps that's the experience I'm looking for (guess not). So I finally decide to go to Iceland. It's a journey that asks some preparations.

I'm not going on my own. I couldn't get my friends as stupid, so I'm traveling with my sister, Dagmar (28). I'm 23. Both persons are studying at the university of Groningen.

We had to cross about three big rivers (big in the sense that you had to take your shoes off) and a lot of small ones. The first river is fun, when you are biking on Iceland you want to face a river that you have to cross (without a bridge) the second one is ok too, but when you just dried your feet and think that this was the last river and you see another one, you (at least I) wish that I was somewhere in the Jamaica sitting in the sun on a beach with a glass of beer.

Chemin de St. Jacques - Camino Frances - da St. Jean Pied de Port a Santiago (Capo Finisterre). Useful practical information, maps, etc. This is part of the longer trip from Italy through France: Torino - Capo Finisterre 2000.

Ever since I bought my first ``proper'' touring bicycle I'd liked the idea of touring the Outer Hebrides and Western Highlands of Scotland. I'd done a limited amount of walking in Scotland before and had spent a few days travelling around Skye by car but I wanted to see more and a cycle camping tour seemed the best way of doing it.

[In 2000] I booked three weeks off work and bought a rail ticket from Liverpool to Oban and a ferry ticket that would allow me to travel from Oban to the islands of Barra, South Uist, Benbecula, North Uist, Harris and Lewis and finally back to Ullapool on the mainland from where I planned to cycle to Cape Wrath, the most North Westerly point of the British Isles.

Includes very nice pictures. I had come for a holiday in the pyrenees to ride some of the cols I had seen during telecasts of the Tour de France . ,I decided to to tackle something over 2000m in altitude inspired by a picture I had seen and a sense of adventure I made my decision . The Port d'Alua at 2260m on the French/Spanish border . Although myself a roadie (now converted roadie /mountain biker ) at my hosts advice I geared up for this ride as a mountain biker as the last 12km or so are on a gravel road and mountain and mountain trail.

My name is Louis Tousignant, a Canadian in his mid fifties, living in Nova Scotia on the Atlantic shore. Having cycled Copenhagen to Rome in 1998, and the U.K. in the mid 80's, it seemed a good idea to try Eastern Europe. As an eager amateur photographer, I particularly wanted to see Krakow, Prague and Budapest. Having had a grand time in Italy the year before, I also wanted to see Venice, a must... before one dies... Ergo this trip which I enjoyed tremendously.

This 52 day trip included 33 days of touring (3003 km for a 91 km/day average) and 19 days of travel and tourism. The load, minus water, was 20 kg, distributed in 4 saddle bags and one camera bag on the rear rack.

Here are some notes from the cycling holiday that we did in September 1999. It was a leisurely trip from Bordeaux to Toulouse passing through more interesting places than we expected. The tour included several spectacular medieval towns, picturesque villages, vineyards and chateaux. The landscape was varied, with rolling hills, impressive gorges and the odd cave to visit.

Camino de Santiago is a pilgrimage route taken in honor St James buried in Santiago. There are numerous routes starting at different points - all ending in Santiago. The most famous is the French route starting on the French side of the Pyrennees. Due to limited time, we are riding only part of the route - from Leon to Santiago - a distance over 300 kilometers, in about 6 to 7 days.

Madrid, a cyclist's no man's land - Riding the French Basque Coast - From Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Santiago in 15 days - The Galician Coast.

[This is our] online Austria photo album. We (Bob Parry, Ed James, Greg James and Bonnie Vargo) took this biking tour between August 11 to 26, 1999. We flew to Munich, Germany with our bikes packed in boxes, put the bikes together in the Munich airport and then took a series of five trains from Munich to Krimml, Austria for the beginning of our big adventure.

We traveled by bike from Krimml to Zell am See, to St Johann im Pongau, to Salzburg, train to Braunau, then biked to Passau (Germany), Aschbach, Linz, Mauthausen, train to Melk, then biked to Krems and Vienna. (Click map thumbnail to see trip map) Ed and Bonnie then continued for another week and biked into Hungary. We biked about 36 miles a day sightseeing as we went. We stayed in youth hostels and Pension's along the way. During the two week trip we biked about 365 miles, trained about 600 miles and flew about 10,000 miles.

An account of four and a bit weeks' cycling in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Nicely done, with pictures and practical information.

Wir folgen nun weitgehend den Spuren der Pilger, wobei wir mit unseren Rennrädern natürlich auf der Landstrasse bleiben. Das erste Pässchen - die Hulftegg - fordert etwas Schweiss und wir geniessen die Wärme in der Abfahrt. Das Tösstal ist am Montagvormittag von Autos entvölkert und schnell erreichen wir Schmerikon am Zürichsee. Hier gibt's Kalorien für die nächste Stufe. Die Sattelegg lässt uns reichlich schwitzen und bei leichtem Rückenwind beginnen wir langsam zu kochen. Die Passhöhe erläst uns und bis Einsiedeln sind wir schon wieder abgekühlt. Wir zünden in der Klosterkirche eine Kerze an, fällen die Bidons am grossen Brunnen und weiter geht's über den Sattel nach Schwyz, mit einem herrlichen Blick auf den Lauerzersee.

After four Tatra-tour I knew that I wouldn?t be satisfied with visiting only Zakopane; our goal was to cycle to Krakkow and than back to Hungary. I didn?t know that a guy from the team punctured, so when I cycled back, I found nobody. I had to continue my tour alone, but I hoped we would meet until the evening. In Zdiar during eating I was just thinking that I would have to get used to cycling alone, when my teammates apperared on the road. At the wooden house in the forest at the top of the first climb of Poland we turned not left as in 1997 or 1995, but turned right to north, to the Glodowka meadow. In my fifth Tatra-tour, with about 7-8 years of experiences in cycling I could discuss with the guys that if they don?t join me I could visit the famous wooden church of Debno 15 kms from there.

A logbook with photographs of a tour starting in Paris.

Travelling by bike in England, Wales, and Scotland. Another fine and very nicely illustrated report from the impressive collection of Martin Wittram.

Liège-``Bastogne''-Liège: May 29, 1999; and Pseudo La Flèche Wallone: May 30, 1999. The site also has many bicycle rides in England.

Well it was so good, we just had to do it again, and catch some of the places we missed (actually, it's Tuscany as well, but it didn't rhyme). Same format as before, route maps, daily reports, planning info, packing lists etc. Another brilliant time, and we made some great friends.

The road from Montepulciano to Pienza drops steeply outside the medieval walls, and I braked cautiously on the sharp turns after coming out through the dimness of the Porta di Grassi into the early morning sun. After almost two weeks of bike touring in Tuscany I had learned to expect these long descents each morning from the medieval towns that guard the highest hills -- and also to expect the equally long, grinding climbs up to them each evening. At first looking down on the honey-colored stones of the Renaissance church of San Biagio, the road wound all the way around it, then below it, before swinging out into the magnificent valley.

It was early morning in May, 1999, and we four NBW riders had the road to ourselves. Siena lay in sunny haze somewhere to the north, and to the south were rolling, poppy-covered fields, scattered olive groves and grape vines, topped by the occasional farmhouse. The descent was enticingly fast and the road was smooth, but I braked to look back up at the church and Montepulciano's jumble of red-tiled roofs and towers above, trying to freeze the memory. Surely, centuries before me this same sight greeted weary pilgrims trudging up from the Monte Amiata hills, or, more likely, soldiers sent from Siena to besiege the town and take it from the Florentines (both cities apparently captured and recaptured poor Montepulciano for hundreds of years, it's a wonder there's anything left). I could empathize with both pilgrim and soldier, having peered up through sweat-stung eyes at many a Tuscan hill town as I pedaled doggedly upwards.

Our last day of riding, from Alcobaca to Obidos, was a dream come true for touring. We rode to the Atlantic coast, where cliffs drop hundreds of feet to a rocky shore. Old windmills line the cliffs. Intense colors, wind whistling through the windmills, spectacular views, and a small winding road made for a memorable day.

Der Hunger quält uns schon seit Ewigkeiten und wir finden uns im Ratskeller ein. Ein Platz ist kaum zu bekommen, aber mit einer gewissen Penetranz ergattern wir einen Tisch und essen vorzüglich, laden Frank mit. ein. Am Ende werden wir ca. 60 Ostmark zahlen, ein Witz für das Gelage und die vielen Getränke. Wir erfahren unglaubliche Dinge über Arbeitsmoral. Bildung und Meinung vieler DDR-Bürger. Ich verlasse die Drei gegen 22,00 Uhr, um mich noch mit Annett zu treffen. Beim Gehen treffe ich noch zwei weitere BRD-Biker, die ich an unseren Tisch führe, auch für sie hat Frank noch zwei Betten über, Annett schlägt vor, ein bißchen spazieren zu gehen. Wir latschen zwei Stunden durch das wirklich wunderhübsche Städtchen und reden über alles, was es so gibt, hauptsächlich über Politik. Wieder erfahre ich Dinge, die man eigentlich wissen muß, um dieses Land und seine Menschen verstehen zu können. Gegen Mitternacht trennen wir uns wieder an dem Internat. Jan und Torsten liegen schon in der Falle, als ich eintreffe. Wir reden noch angeregt, über die vielen Eindrücke von heute und schlafen dann in unsere Schlafsäcke gekuschelt tief und fest!

We stopped at the gazebo with two flavors of rusty, bubbly mineral water, that give strength to those who dare climb this hill, before heading up the Gavia. It starts as a smooth wide two lane road with center stripe and a collage of warning signs that might make the wary traveler wonder what's going on. Land slides, falling rock, dangerous narrow road, and a chain requirement from September to July, are not the usual fare for mountain roads. After a short climb, past the first hairpin, reality strikes as the road goes from highway to driveway width and the 16% sign of poster fame sets the tone.

I was impressed with the aesthetics of ANAS, the highway department. They seem to have grasped the beauty of the Gavia and stopped the march of man against nature, right there where it meets the mountain. The road has lost nothing through paving. It is exactly the same narrow one lane Gavia that it always was. I have never seen a road so thoughtfully restored without a gratuitous widening job, but here it is. I hope it never changes. We continued through the thinning larch forest, up the east side of the canyon, finally rising above tree line. Here only thick bushy grass and wildflowers cover slopes where going off the road assures a long tumble to the Frigidolfo, far below.

The Iberia Tour 1999 is our longest journey so far, both in distance and number of days. We went by air from Norrköping in Sweden to Paris on the 9th of June. From Paris, we first travelled southwards to Orléans, then followed the River Loire to Tours, went on to Bourdeaux where we turned towards southeast and followed River Garonne to Toulouse. From Toulouse we began to climb up the Pyrenees and arrived in the mini-country Andorra on the 20th of June. One day later we left Andorra and rode down to Barcelona in two days, then followed the coast to Andalucia, left the coast for Sierra Nevada, Granada and Ronda and arrived in Gibraltar. After a short visit to the African continent, we went on to Seville and then followed the coast to the Portuguese border and further on to the most south-western point of the European continent; Cabo de São Vicente. We arrived in Lisbon five days later on the 29th of July. The total distance amounted to 4630 km and we had 49 days of active bicycling and 4 days of resting. It was just not our longest journey so far, but also the hilliest and the hottest journey, in Spain the temperature at daytime was steadily above 30 degrees Celsius.

These pages are a recollection of our 1999 summer holidays. As summer approaches, the usual question comes more pressing: Where? For Martine with a bit of worry, for Nicolas with the ``I-will-be-against-anyway'' enthusiasm of youth, and for the grand-parents with a ``what-will-they-invent-this-year'' nod of the head. Of course, Simon will say as his brother. Satisfying everybody will be hard:-) There are two innovations this year: Simon will peddle his way on his trailer bike and we will try mountains. The general theme then begins to take form. We will ride through the mist of time, first with geology, then with prehistory.

Once the general theme is defined, the route planing process is straightforward. Start point: Clermont-Ferrand, end point: Surzur. Must see places: Le Puy de Dôme, Bort les Orgues, Padirac, Rocamadour, Pech Merl, Les Eyzzies, Lascaux. In between, the detailed route will be planed on a day by day basis, depending on weather, tiring, and mood of the gang.

Our annual European cycle tour took us back to France this year - 12th time for me, 10th for my wife, Carol. (We like it there.) This was only our second ``solo'' trip. We usually travel with one or two other couples. And this was our first French tour outside of the two summer months. As always, we travel unsupported (i.e., no ``sag wagon'') but we never camp. Rather we stay in small hotels or, occasionally, chambres d'hôte (B & B's). The following is a log of the trip - as usual it's far too wordy and filled with comments based on my personal bias. Caveat emptor! We averaged nearly 65 km per day in fairly mountainous terrain but since we are both ``banging on 60'', YMMV (your mileage may vary).

We have done the Bicycle tour of the Loire some 14 times with a variety of friends. Many times with our friend Bill Ransom [...] who passed away this year. We have toured other areas of France, but nothing quite compares with the Loire. We also enjoy trips to Civil War locations and we are eager for cycling companions.

This trip and variations of it have been ridden about 14 times by us. [...] This is a moderate mileage trip with the longest required riding day of around 50 miles. The shortest is about 22 and the rest fall in between. It can easily be extended in mileage or in time by spending two days in each location and riding a loop one day from each location.

Bericht über eine einwöchige Radtour im Bereich der Alten Salzstraße, des Elbe-Lübeck-Kanals und der Lauenburgischen Seen.

I made my first trip to Iceland in the summer of 1996. It was everything I had hoped for and then some. This web journal is about my trip in the summer of 1999. This time I had 4 full weeks. Again, as in 1996, none of my friends could make the trip so I would go it alone. This trip circles the main bulk of Iceland.

I traveled 2000 km by bicycle, covered a little distance by bus, camped every night, met some great people and once again had the time of my life.

Once again. a very fine report with pictures and maps.

Abbiamo visto o piú spesso immaginato tra le nuvole i maggiori massicci alpini. Abbiamo visto nascere l'Oglio, l'Adda, l'Inn, il Reno, la Reuss, l'Aare, il Rodano, il Ticino. Non un solo giorno è mancata la pioggia, non un solo giorno è mancato il sole. Dal passamontagna al costume da bagno, niente è rimasto inutilizzato. Va da sè che, se anche il racconto fosse riuscito noioso, il giro non lo è stato. I km sono stati 1130 km, circa 28500 metri di salita, per una pendenza media del 5 per cento. Sedici valichi: Ampola, Giogo di Bala - Croce Dominii, Gavia, Alpisella, Forcola di Livigno, Bernina, Albula, Oberalp, Susten, Grimsel, Furka, Gottardo, Nufenen, Folungo, Bocchetta di Sessera, Colma. Sei cime: San Matteo m 3678, Piz Blaisun 3210 metri, Gross Muttenhorn m 3099, monte Zeda 2156 metri, Rocciamelone 3538 metri, Lera 3358 metri. Le cime piú belle: Zeda e Rocciamelone. I tratti di percorso da non perdere assolutamente: la traversata dal lago d'Idro a Croce Dominii; il Passo Susten; la panoramica sopra il Lago Maggiore.

When my wife, Jeannie, and I first bicycled Tuscany in 1995, we found the combination of the culture, the history, the food & wine, and most importantly the friendliness of the people made us eager to return. So, for our 25th wedding anniversary we made our plans to return to Italy for a month.

As we have cycled through many beautiful, interesting, curious, and friendly places, we have often remarked that someday we would like to visit a place and stay long enough to feel more of a pulse of the life than we might if we were only there for a day or two. This trip to Italy we wanted ``to be'' in Italy - essere in italia. We wanted to stay in one place for at least two weeks, to learn the bus schedule, to have to remember when the bakery was open, to learn to enjoy the differences in the pace of life and not just pass through as tourists.

Warum Karelien? Warum nicht! Ich wollte schon immer einmal mit dem Fahrrad durch Nordrussland fahren, seitdem ich dort einmal mit dem Zug durchgefahren war und aus dem Zugfenster heraus die endlosen Wälder bewunderte. Dann las ich während meiner Arbeitszeit, beim Drucken der ``Frei atmen'' um genau zu sein, die Anzeige von Markus Müller, der Leute zu einer Radtour durch Karelien suchte und ich rief an.

Unreliable server, you'll have to dig for the story.

The natives of Kola Peninsula are kindhearted and eager to help, but there is one strange thing about them. Each time you try to ask someone about the road he puts a strange smile on, makes wide gestures and mutters something about off-road vehicles and ice roads. Sometimes our questions brought sweet memories to life: ``Yes, it was in the year before granny died, 1973 it was, and we drove 150 km to the very end of this road in a lorry in no more than a week. And don't listen to the neighbor, he just got to the middle the year before last.'' Inspired by these descriptions we took one of the ground roads north. It started from simply bad quality and later turned out somewhat between ``absolutely impossible to ride'' and ``possible to ride if you Really want it''.

I had a wonderful time, everywhere I went the people were friendly, the drivers reasonably considerate, and the touring spectacular. Why the Extremadura? The Extremadura is a very interesting part of Spain for any American because the people in Extremadura have had such a profound impact on the history and development of America. It turns out that the two most famous (or infamous) conquistadors, Pizzaro and Cortez, both hail from the Extremadura. Many other Extremadurans joined them in the conquest of central and south America by the Spanish. Why? During the early 1500's, the Extramadura was a relatively undeveloped part of Spain, filled with minor nobility and controlled by absentee landlords. There were few prospects for a second or third son growing up in this region, and it was a tough neighborhood. The region had long been a contested area in the wars between the Moors and the Spaniards, it was dotted with walled towns, and inhabited by enduring people accustomed to hardship and violence. The opportunity for wealth and fame in the Americas was a magnet for aggressive young men who had few prospects for inheritance and were well trained to fight for what they wanted. Very many of them did achieve wealth and fame, very few of them died peacefully in their bed. They were prepared to live and die by the sword and their wits, most did so.