France (all)

A historical look at Alpe d'Huez plus written and photo reports from the Marmotte and Etape du Tour events. Both events finished at the top of Alpe d'Huez this past July.

In the summer of 2004 we cycled 2250 kilometer from Holland to Rome. During the trip we passed through 10 countries and cycled through the Ardennes, Vosges, Alps, Apennines and Tuscany. We enjoyed the beautiful italian villages and met a lot of other cyclists. A lot of pictures, tips and travel stories in Dutch (English translations will soon appear).

In 2004 fietsten we van Nederland naar Rome. We fietsten door 10 landen en door/over de Ardennen, Vogezen, Alpen, Appenijnen en Toscane. We genoten volop van de mooie Italiaanse stadjes en ontmoetten heel veel andere fietsers. Veel plezier!

In March of 2006 we set out to cycle from the UK to Tibet. We didn't quite make it but had a great adventure cycling across Europe in one of the wettest winters on record and then through the wilds of Central Asia. The site includes lots of images from Tajikistan one of the really countries for cycling.

Bike Tours: Travelogues, photos, maps and tips about long distance bike traveling in Greece, Turkey, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Slovenia, France, Spain; Mexico, Canada; South America and others.

Reiseberichte und Reisefotografie von Radtouren in Europa (Italien, Griechenland, Spanien, Mallorca, Frankreich, Tschechien, Slovenien etc.), Kanada, Mexiko, Südamerika und viele mehr. Lass dich inspirieren!

Solo biking trip still in progress from a 31 year old woman ex-software engineer. Started April 8th, 2006 in Lisbon, headed East towards Istanbul. Currently in Dresden, Germany, over 5000 kms pedalled so far, across most of continental Europe.

Descriptions of our one to four week tandem tours at a leisurely pace following river valleys where possible and always via the most minor roads.

In France: Provence and the Luberon; Dieppe, Normandy coast and Rouen; Saintes to Perpignan; Saintes to Strasbourg; St. Malo to Montpellier; The Loire Valley and Suisse Normande

In Ireland: Cork to Galway via the West Coast

In Scotland: August 2005: Lairg to Cape Wrath via Polbain and Altnaharra; Glasgow to John O' Groats and the Orkneys

In England: Newcastle to Berwick-upon-Tweed

This bike trip in France, from Metz to Nice in July 2006, was our annual club event.

The Lafayette Riders (Cavaliers) started in the Alsace-Lorraine region of France, where a cardiologist noted the poor condition of the miners and determined to do something about it. Bicycles seemed the answer. Eventually, the mining group encountered American riders and it was decided to form a group with the Marquis de Lafayette being the symbol of enduring Franco-American friendship.

The Lafayette Riders alternate between France and the United States each year, and next year (2007) the club will get together in northern California.

Un tour par les petites routes et par des cols ni très hauts ni très connus pour arriver sur une montagne vraiment unique.

Taking small roads and riding over passes neither very high nor well known to climb to a really unique mountain.

Kleine Strassen und wenig bekannte, nicht so hohe Pässe, die zum einem einzigartigen Berg führen.

Cycling from St Jean Pied Du Port to Santiago de Compostella. Slowly.

Freda White in her classic travel book on this region said that a visitor to this region of South West France would cry 'Now I know why they say ``la belle France''!. It is truly one of the best parts of France with beautiful rivers, rugged cliffs and gorges, spectacular cliff top castles and more than its fair share of the ``plus beaux villages'' (prettiest villages). It is a region that has been popular with tourists for years and during the peak holiday season from mid July to mid August, the roads, hotels and campgrounds are packed with holiday makers. Avoid this time of the year and you will have quiet roads to pedal along and a wide choice of accommodation.

This is truly one of Europe's best cycling regions.

We had eaten breakfast on board the ferry from Portsmouth, but shortly after setting up our tents in the campground in the old citadel at St. Malo, Alan and David walked down to the town to look for a boulangerie to buy bread for another breakfast. They had seen people walking about with fresh baguettes, but after wandering around for some time, they hadn't found the boulangerie. They stopped on a street corner thinking that there had to be one somewhere. They turned around and found that they were actually standing in the doorway of the boulangerie blocking the entrance. Armed with several baguettes, croissants and confiture, they started on their way back to the campground, only to be waylaid by the aroma of freshly brewed coffee from a waterfront café. Eventually they returned to the other members of the group who quickly devoured everything. This pre-occupation with food was to set the tone for this tour through Brittany and Normandy.

We caught the ferry from Newhaven in southern England to the French port of Dieppe from where we planned on cycling through Normandy. Because of bad weather, the ferry was diverted to Boulogne, 120 kilometres further north. Well that was the official reason given by the captain after we had left Newhaven. One of the crew told us that the real reason was that work on the ferry terminal in Dieppe hadn't been completed so the large hydrofoil ferries which had only started operating the route couldn't berth properly. Most of the people on board were taking advantage of the cheap fares to have a day shopping in France and provided there was a hypermarché nearby, they weren't worried where they ended up. For us on our bicycles, it meant a rethink of our plans.

We fietsen vanaf Heraklion een rondje Kreta. Vanaf hier varen we naar de peloponissos, waar we richting Patras fietsen. We gaan naar Italie waar we richting Sicilië fietsen. Via Sardinië en het prachtige Corsica, varen we naar Touloun. Als afsluiter nemen we een paar hoge alpen passen zoals de Galibier. Na 3000 km en 2 maanden nemen we het laastje stukje de trein naar Huis.

I do not believe my eyes. Before us lies a wide, completely flat valley. A late evening sun shines over the valley below. The 2.400 meter high Monti Sibillini rise majestically out of the plains. This is one of the most beautiful valleys I have ever seen.

Willem Hoffmans and I set out from our homes in Holland for a journey to Italy. Through the Vosges, the Jura and across a lot of cols in the French Alps we reach the Italian border. In Italy we make a lot of detours through Liguria, Tuscany, Umbria and Lazio.

Du Jura Suisse au Vercors en passant par le Bugey et le massif de Chartreuse... mais une fin en queue de poisson.
Vom Schweizer Jura zum Vercors über Bugey und Chartreuse Massiv... aber am Schluss ein Abbruch.
From the Swiss Jura over the Bugey and Chartreuse massif towords the Vercors... but the end was unexpected.

A 30,000 kilometer cycling adventure through Africa traversing 30 countries. Tales from the saddle, photos of the people we encounter and places we pass plus detailed information on our bikes and gear.

Zwei Wochen gemütlichen Entlang der Loire radeln. Kleine Hotels, gutes Essen, nette Dörfer und natürlich viele Schlösser. Dazu ein wildes Fluß wie ich ihn in Europa nicht erwartet hatte.

Unterwegs waren wir meist auf ruhigen Strassen - der Radweg befindet sich noch im Aufbau. Nur bei Tours war der Autoverkehr unangenehm.

I am hanging around the Cathedral for two hours, just to see the people passing by. Half of the passengers are locals, the others are pilgrims for Santiago. The pilgrims are full of stories about physical endurance, injuries, loneliness, spirituality, will power, faith, love and hope. A young girl thinks of giving up. An old man tells that he has slept on a churchyard because there were no normal facilities anymore. A special experience is meeting an old man who has a tremendous charisma; the man is constantly radiating from a seemingly enormous reservoir of stimulating energy. If it is actually possible to reach enlightenment in the way that Buddhists describe, then this man must have reached that stage.

Account of an eight week cycle journey through east, west, north, central & south Spain.

Joris en Stella fietsen vanaf augustus 2005 van Nederland richting China. Na een uitstapje door het middenoosten wordt nu de weg naar het oosten voor gezet.

We have cycled many kilometres trough Europe. On our first trip we cycled from Holland to Sweden. After Sweden we cycled trouhg Great Britain. And we cycled further trough Holland, Belgium, France, Spain and ended our tour 6000 km later in Faro (Portugal).

On our next trip we are going to cycle from Heraklion, Crete to Holland. This trip starts 14 April 2006. More info on our site. In the future we will expend our tours outside Europe.

A quick tour of Western Europe including the Rhine and Mosel Rivers. The trip report is in travel log format with pictures. Cycling statistics included for those intersted in cycling in this region.

``For prehistoric man who sheltered in the many caves, for the catholic heretics who defied the Church, and for resistance fighters, war-time refugees and downed WWII pilots who eluded the Nazis to escape over the mountains into Spain,'' the Ariège Pyrénées have a long history of serving as a refuge. Today, this unspoiled region attracts those eager to escape from the stresses of modern life, and cyclists wearied of persecution by vehicular traffic.

Although we found the High Pyrenees a spectacular and historic place to cycle, we enjoyed the Ariege Pyrenees as much or even more. We never thought, in advance, that the two areas would compare, but after tallying all the check marks from our exhaustive field testing and crunching the numbers through our proprietary, mathematical bike tour formulas... we can declare a virtual dead heat. Now I'm left with the difficult task of explaining to the humble reader (that's you) how such a conclusion can be drawn. If you sat in for the two-part High Pyrenees show aired earlier this month, then you'll note immediately that the Ariege isn't quite as spectacular, and perhaps doesn't rank as high in the "friggin', jaw-dropping, gorgeous" category. But here's where it does top the charts: The region has countless, quiet, picturesque, one-lane, rolling and often challenging country roads extending in all directions, and sprinkled with charming villages. The main roads follow the valleys and are sometimes almost flat, but it's easy to find routes that branch off and over steep cols. The roads are in terrific shape; I don't recall a single pothole.

In September 2003 a group of 14 cyclists rode over most of the major cols of the Pyrenees including of course the mighty Tourmalet. The majority of the group had never cycled in mountains, were not 'sporty' cyclists and with an age range of 32 to 65 were a pretty mixed bunch. To make things interesting the group cyclecamped without any motorised back-up at all, everything was carried on the bikes.

The trip was an adventure that in the end raised over £12,000 for the Charity ITDG. In the fortnight it took there was triumph and tragedy; laughter and tears. What follows is the account of that ride

The Route:

Americas: Venezuela, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina
Atlantic Traverse: Azores Islands [Portugal]
Europe: Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey
The Middle East: Iran
Central Asia: Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, India
South East Asia: Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia
Australasia: Australia

Welcome to the Brink Expedition!

Imagine attempting a global traverse that would take you 50,000 kilometres through some of the most difficult terrain and extreme weather on the planet, all the time attempting to use only human power and the natural elements.

Starting deep in the heart of Amazonian South America the Brink Expedition will encounter unforgiving Patagonian winds, snowed over Himalayan Mountain passes, monsoons on the sub-continent and the oppressive heat of Australia's Red Centre.

So while the clock ticks, the seasons will turn, making this a full-throttled Race Against the Elements!

Diese Strecke von ungefähr 1400 Kilometern bietet reichliche Abwechslung. Der Rheinradweg bleibt keineswegs am Fluss. Wir fuhren mal am Bodenseeufer, mal am Rhein, mal am Rhein-Rhone-Kanal, durch französische Weindörfer, auf den Rheinterassen, wir waren in Strassburg, Düsseldorf, Rotterdam, um nur einige der Städte zu nennen, wir besuchten die Kaiserdome von Speyer, Mainz und Worms, und zum Schluss tauchten wir kurz in das holländische Fahrradambiente ein. Nur am Bodensee waren einigermassen viele Radler unterwegs, sonst sahen wir kaum Touristen auf diesen sehr gut ausgebauten und ausgeschilderten Radwegen.

Wir wissen von vorigen Reisen, dass Frankreichs dichtes Netz an Campingplätzen sich für Sternfahrten vom Zeltplatz optimal anbietet. Dazu kommt die einmalige Infrastruktur an kleinen, wenig befahrenen Landstraßen in Frankreich, die Fahrradwege überflüssig macht. Unsere Tour ist kürzer ausgefallen als geplant, aber sie bietet doch einen kleinen Einblick in die Möglichkeiten des Radreisens in Frankreich.

This website accompanies the book ``Why Don't You Fly?'' (ISBN 1-905203-25-X published by Pen Press).

How does it feel to trade comfort and security for life as a nomad and to pare one's life down to the bare necessities? What is it like to push at the frontiers of one's physical and mental endurance?

``Why Don't You Fly?'' is the account of an epic adventure in search of an elusive sense of identity in which triumph, disappointment, discomfort, exhaustion and exhilaration all trade positions against a backdrop of prodigious physical endeavour. During a gruelling 16,500-mile examination of physical and mental stamina the author ate and drank in roadside cafés in the company of inquisitive lorry drivers and shared dormitories in remote Chinese villages with fascinated farm hands and gleeful mosquitoes. Sceptical western existentialism met religious fatalism in the restaurants and teahouses of the Middle East and India in the course of a physical and spiritual journey that constantly raised questions about the attitudes and values that prevail in the West.

The Website includes a chapter-by-chapter synopsis of the book, a sample chapter and 93 photographs.

This webpage is intended to provide information for cycle tourists who may be considering tours in the countries I've visited. For more information, journals and pictures leave a message in my guestbook or send me an email.

`` Yes, it's hot. But we've seen worse haven't we my friend. There was that day east of Warnambol when the chip seal melted and the chips stuck to the tires. A few revolutions later we had flats front and rear. So we pushed for a mile seeking shade to repair the punctures. And the flies Ah! And there was that time in Zamorah. Ah! But not now.''

Although the tour that I had on the legendary climbs of the Tour de France in 2004 tempt me back to indulge in nostalgia, this year (2005) I decided to bicycle on the cols of the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de Suisse, and beside it to take part in the hard Fausto Coppi bicyclemarathon / gran fondo, which is a real challenge with its 187 km and has 4400m height difference.

Before the fantastic marathon, I bicycled to France to climb the Col de la Moutiere, and when I were there it was logical to climb also the 2802m Cime de la Bonette. Both cols are unforgettable.

Next to Briancon I enjoyed the nice Col du Granon (2413 m) which was not only steep but very beautiful. In 2005 at the Colle Finestre (Italia) there was a hard fight between profi Giro d'Italia racers; on my tour I had the most remarkable experience after a light rain, when the Sun could shine between the clouds.

In Switzerland I had cold weather for days, but I could climb nice cols. I loved Grimselm because I enjoyed very much the feeling of a triathlon race, and I loved Gotthard because its ``old'' feeling - thanks to the cobblestoned road.

In the last 3 days - through sunny weather - I went up to the legendary Passo Gavia, Passo Rombo / Timmelsjoch and last day the 2829m high Gletscherstrasse. The highest point on the last day!

In 2004 I succeeded in cycling through the French Alps, which had been one of my Great dream, plan for years. For years I felt that a tour in France can have more problems than in the nearer countries, but with the experiences of my tour in 2003 (along the Adria and to Montenegro), in 2004 I felt enough encourage to cycle up to the famous french cols. I had read a lot of travelogues (Trento Bike Pages, Velofahren.de, biketrip.org, etc.) and I tried to think about every problems which can occur through a French Alps tour: weather, busy campings, the effects of the Tour de France, and maybe some mechanical problems, etc.

In the first two days and in the last two days I had some problems, adventures, but just between the high mountains of the French Alps everything happened well. During the 12 days between the mountains, I climbed almost all of the passes / cols, that I planned for the whole tour, this means 21 serious ascents, 13 of them are above the height of 2000 m. The most famous cols where I cycled are: La Bonette (2802 m), Col du Galibier (2645 m) , Col d'Izoard (2361m) , Alpe d'Huez (1860m), Col de Iseran (2770m), Col Agnel (2744m), etc.

Although there was 1 or 2 rest days in the plan, as I didn't have any serious - whole day long - rain through the tour, every day I was riding my bicycle. The beautiful nature and the experiences, adventures, ascents gave my power to climb them. Usually 1-2 days with panniers were followed by a ``light'' day without panniers (but with 2 climbs).

It began as a crazy idea whilst on holiday in France back in 2003 and within a couple of weeks had turned into a serious plan. Now after two years preparation and a couple of false starts we're finally off.

The plan is to ride from our home in Chesham to the south coast city of Portsmouth where we can catch a boat to Bilbao on the north coast of Spain. Then we'll cross France to the Black Forest in Germany where we can pick up the famous Danube cycle path which we plan to follow to east to Vienna. After that we want to spend a couple of months in the Alps before heading south for a lap of Italy. The final leg of the tour will see us cross France again to the Pyrenees before we head south to Spain where we plan to follow the coast round to Portugal and back into Northern Spain where we can catch the boat back to England.

This was my second European bike tour, primarily following the Rhine and Mosel rivers. I started in Frankfurt, cycled down the Main to Mainz, then north along the Rhine to Koblenz. I then went up the Mosel Radweg as far as Metz, France, took a train over the Vosges mountains to Savern, then followed the Marne au Rhin canal to Strasbourg. I concluded my trip by again following the Rhine, back to Mainz and Frankfurt.

27 days of cycling throughout the Pyrenées and Cantabria (start and finish in Lourdes). On 27 days I cycled 4474 km (165,7 km/day); 83551m (3095m/day) (height meters) and visited ca. 241 cols. (Only counting the 24 full cycling days, I did 4131,5 km (172,1 km/day) and 77108m (3213m/day).) The longest day was 274,5 km from Esterri d'Aneu in Spain to Lourdes (via Mourenx). Max height meters on one day was 4270m. Got a gold classification in the l'Etape du Tour race (the day after cycling 274,5 km) on a half-decent time around 6h30mins (ca. 2 hours slower than the Tour de France winner this year). Steepest was the famous Angliru climb in Asturia (26%). Lots of facts, but some nice photos and stories.

22 full days of cycling (I cycled a little the first day upon arriving at Nice and cycled 81 km on a travel day). I visited around 115 mountain passes. A total of 3532 km for 22 days (161 km/day). I climbed ca. 73078 m (3322 m/day). Maximum inclination/steepness: walking: 33% up Col de Traversette in snow; 42% down Grand col de Ferret. Steepest cycling was perhaps up Monte Zoncolan with 6 km at around 15% on average. Most difficult was probably Koralpenstrasse with an average gradient of 11,2% for the final 14,4 km, which make it into one of the hardest climbs in the Alps that could be cycled with a normal racer cycle. From snow to blazing sun around Nice. From Nice to Lavamünd and back again.

Découvrir la Bretagne, ses paysages, ses traditions, ses légendes, sa culture en vélo avec une cycliste bretonne.

Landschaften, Traditionen und Legenden, Kultur: Die Bretagne mit einer Bretonin auf dem Fahrrad entdecken!

Unrelenting switchbacks, beautiful rugged peaks and the history of the Tour de France. 27 photos and movies (movie) by Steven Hill and Rebecca Heald.

The formidable reputation of the French Pyr´n´es is what intrigued me most. That the best cyclists appear to suffer like mere-mortals each year during the most crucial stages of the Tour de France is a sadistic lure of this great mountain range. Of course, I also wanted to check out, first hand, the beautiful, rugged scenery. My quiver of cycling climbs would be incomplete without the legendary Tourmalet, Ausbisque and so many others.

A self-contained cyclecamping tour of Brittany in September 1999, lasting eleven days and 600 kilometres, with photos.

``The payback for the long uphill stretches came later on, when the last ten kilometres of the day's run to Carhaix was very fast indeed, down superbly smooth highway. Thus it was that I made good time in getting to Carhaix-Plouguer, stopping at the Intermarch´ supermarket to stock up on foodstuffs, toilet rolls and wine. I had been forewarned that the supermarket stood at the top of a very long hill which led down to the Les Hyères campsite, where we would be setting up camp that night, and so it would be wise to stock up there before heading down to the campsite. The bike made a comical sight when I had managed to stow the toilet paper (see picture).''

The big picture was to fly into Amsterdam, take the train to Cologne, and then bike in 50km legs to Colmar (Alsace). Our intent was to bike up the Rhine from Cologne to Eltville (just shy of Mainz), leave the Rhine to continue south along the Weinstrasse (“wine road”) through Bad Durkheim and Wissembourg into France, on to Strasbourg and then to Colmar. Our ultimate objective was the village of Eguisheim about 7 km outside Colmar, for a total distance of 500 km. If we made it that far we’d rest our legs and play the return by ear; if we didn’t, we would park ourselves in a vineyard along the route and send postcards saying we’d made it to Switzerland! We decided to go “up” the Rhine rather than “down” for a couple of reasons, not the least of which was the north-to-south direction of the prevailing wind in the Rhine valley, which we judged would compensate for the slightly rising elevation .