UK (all)

My wife and I recently returned from our cycling trip through the UK, France, a bit of Germany, Switzerland and Italy, roughly 4,500kms. It would be of special interest to any Jewish readers, as we observed all the Kosher and Sabbath ``constraints'' while cycling.

[Titus is the bike] - 12195 km in 8 months through France, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Austria, Italy and Greece - includes travelogue and many fine pictures

I've travelled quite a bit through the years, hiking on foot, by car, bus, plane... But cycling is just the right speed. Fast enough to actually get someplace, yet slow enough to smell the flowers as you go... Plus, it's the only mode of transportation where the engine actually improves with usage... Anyways, a friend lent me this book about a couple who spent a couple of years cycling around the world and I thought to myself that I wanted to do that ! So, off I went ! Well, I didn't quite make it... After 8 months on the road, I came back... Mostly due to homesickness, but I should have expected that, particularly on a solo trip...

Mid-morning after leaving Santillana [in Northern Spain], I take a break after a long cycle uphill and watch the progress of this little fellow... That's exactly how I felt... slow... but steady!

Die Warnungen von Freunden und Bekannten bezüglich des dortigen schlechten Wetters erschreckten mich nicht.

Die Landschaft ist von Bergen, Seen und Hochmooren bestimmt und das bedeutet für den Radler: alles andere als flach. Kurze, kräftige Steigungen sind die Regel. Doch ich gewöhne mich schnell daran und die Ausblicke, die sich bei diesen Berg- und Talfahrten ergeben, sind vielfach faszinierend.

Ich mache zum ersten Mal Bekanntschaft mit den schottischen Mücken, midges genannt. Sie sind winzig klein und treten teilweise in Massen auf. Heute Abend hilft nur noch die Flucht ins Zelt.

Die Jugendherberge in der Armadale Bay liegt idyllisch in einer Bucht. Regen und Sturm am Abend rauben der Idylle jedoch ihren Mythos. Am nächsten Morgen regnet es immer noch, als ich mich in der Jugendherberge herumrücke und auf Wetterbesserung hoffe. Ein älterer englischer Radfahrer klärt mich bei seiner Abfahrt über die Wetterlage auf. The weather is better than it looks gibt er mir mit auf den Weg. Also - das Wetter ist besser als es aussieht.

We can't remember where the idea originated, but we'd been thinking about riding the length of the British mainland for some time. For one reason or another we had never actually got around to doing it until, towards the end of 1999, Linda said that ``if we don't do it this coming year, we probably never will''. So that's how it started!

In the following pages you will read of our epic journey. Looking back on it now it doesn't seem half as big an undertaking as it seemed at the start. When you are stood at Land's End looking at the road leading away to the north you wonder why on earth you are doing this. Are we really going to cycle all that way? Can we really do it? Will the bike be up to it? What if we have a breakdown? What if we get into trouble amongst the traffic?

We now know that it can be done. We know that, although the distance is great, it's not impossible. If each day is taken on its own it's not really such a big task. We aimed for around 60 miles per day, based on the fact that that's roughly what we are capable of doing as a day ride in the Peak District National Park which is situated almost at our doorstep. We figured that if we could do that in the hilly terrain of the Peak District, we could do at least that in the less hilly terrain we were likely to encounter much of the time on the End.

With very detailed route description, maps, and pictures.

Why are we doing it? Hard to say really. There are many answers -
Because it's there,
To mark the Millennium,
To achieve an ambition,
To see if we can do it,
As an incentive to get fit,
To enjoy the scenery,
To get to know a bit more about our country,
To raise money for charity,
For the same reason as the other thousands of people who do it every year,
As a follow on to the C2C etc.

As it says on the CTC Web site. To cycle from the far South West to the far North East of mainland Britain is an ambition which many cyclists fulfil each year.

Includes maps, and plenty of pictures. One cannot make a 1000 mile bicycle trip such as this without a few amusing incidents. At Bettyhill on the final day we met a lady in a cafe where the following conversation took place Lady: ``So you are cycling. Have you come from far?'' Martin: ``No, not really. Only from Land's End''.

The 450 km London-Eindhoven tour will take place at June 24th of the year 2000 when we will start at 02.00 AM Greenwich Mean Time at the Piccadilly Circus. The London-Eindhoven tour is part of our project ``Europe is small'' because the center of major European cities are all within 24 hr cycling distance from Eindhoven. In 1997 we did start at the Arc de Triomphe for Paris-Eindhoven. This year we will do the London-Eindhoven tour and in 2002 Berlin-Eindhoven will be on the program.

Another report of a Coast to Coast ride. Very nicely laid out, and illustrated with black-and-white pics.

1014 miles in 16 days - a photographic diary.

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.

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

An excellent report, with lots of practical information. Even if you don't know French, look at it for the beautiful pictures.

Taking three weeks off to tour England by tandem was the trip of a lifetime. Great riding, good weather, and lots of help from friends along the way made a truly memorable experience for us. We planned relatively short mileage days and allowed several days off the bike for some typical ``tourist'' days.

The riding in England was superb. The route we planned took us to some of the most scenic and pastoral settings imaginable. Except for London, riding in cities, towns, and villages posed no problems for a tandem. Using England's trains for covering long distances was relatively easy, but required some planning ahead to be sure space was available.

Total luggage weight was about 15 kilos, of course I had no sleeping or cooking gear. My beloved mount is an early 80' racing Vicini with Columbus SL steel frame and Dura Ace. Gearing is limited to 52/39 up front and a six speed rear cassette ranging from 13 to 23. Blindly overestimating my level of fitness I didn't even bother adding a 25 cog. At the time I thought that England was mostly flat...

The idea of cycling in Europe had hit me in England in June: I was cycling from my home in Oxford up to Yorkshire and persistently got lashed by wind and near freezing rain, a thought quickly formed in my mind: time to head south and do a proper cycle trip - to the sun.

From Santiago I headed west to Cabo Finisterre, and Galician equivalent of Englands Lands End, jutting out into the Atlantic, pointing to the American continent. One local I asked directions from said to me; 'Finisterre really is the end of the civilized world', and looked out west towards America. It was a longish days cycling, 140km, and into a head wind, but nice and warm, about 27 degrees.

Travel Notes:

• Thumbs up to: French friendliness, secondary road system, campsites, the bread, wine cheese, pate, supermarkets.
• Thumbs down to: the April weather, birds that chirp all night long.
• Most bizarre sight: we spotted 3 English train spotters on holiday watching the trains go by.
• The gift for the person who has everything: a waterproof baguette holder

After lunch I coasted back down the hillside and took the southern fork along Luskentyre bay. This led me on round the west coast of Harris, a superb landscape of broad sandy bays, interspersed with black rocky points and all backed by the rugged mountains inland. I made my gentle way along here, pausing in particularly attractive spots to study the geology or write a postcard.

Cycling in the Welsh hilly land.

A family cycle tour in north-western part of France in 1997. We started the tour at Gatwick airport, and southern areas of England are included in our description.

Europe Tour 1997 started in Nyköping (100 km south of Stockholm) and continued to Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Paris, the Normandy coast, Jersey and London, before returning to Sweden via Denmark totalling just over 4000 kilometres.

The splendidly organized (Ha, the Web!) report of an extensive tour of Scotland. A must-see!

Balloch, Lochearnhead, Oban, Glenfinnan, Sleat Mountains on Skye, Portree, Shiel Bridge, Inverness, Loch Lochy, Kingussie, Elgin, Fraserburgh, Aberdeen, Aboyne, Bridge of Cally, St. Andrews, Edinburgh, Galashiels, Gretna, Parton, Ayr, Johnstone.

Family cycling at its best!

These pages are a little recollection of the holidays we took in the Highlands during 1996 summer. The main part of these Scotish holidays was a tour of the Hebrides and the Highlands. On our way down to France, we also made a stop to the Isle of Arran.

It was a leisurely tour: about 650 km (400 miles) in 14 days. Certainly not a great feat for Martine and me, but more so for Nicolas, who was 8 and rode all the way. [...] I've always found that planning a route is very easy, as soon as an organizing idea has been decided. For our first trip in Scotland, I settled on ``riding the waters'': ferrying to the islands, musing along lochs, and paying a due visit to the most famous of all. We don't regret this choice. We are now specialists in ferries (from liners-like to pedestrians-only) and it was fun to see Scotland from the sea also.

Wayne rides through France, and has a look at the Tour on the way.

Wayne rides through France, and has a look at the Tour on the way.

Our tour took us through several of the rural areas of central England, and we experienced very pleasant and relaxing cycling on the B and unclassified roads. This may come a bit as a surprise regarding that the area crosses the central urban and industrial belt stretching from Greater London to the Midlands (Birmingham).

See also the Biking Gallery of photographs.

Includes maps, and plenty of pictures. One cannot make a 1000 mile bicycle trip such as this without a few amusing incidents. At Bettyhill on the final day we met a lady in a cafe where the following conversation took place Lady: ``So you are cycling. Have you come from far?'' Martin: ``No, not really. Only from Land's End''.

Menlo Park, London, Inverness, Aberlour, Aberdeen, Montrose, St. Andrews, Edinburgh, Yetholm, Rothbury, Once Brewed, York, Sherwood Forest.

The Rough-Stuff Fellowship is a cycling organisation dedicated to the pursuit of cycling on bridleways, byways, drove roads and tracks. The RSF was formed in 1955 and now boasts over 1000 members nationwide with local groups scattered around the country.

The Rough-Stuff Fellowship have a limited selection of off-road routes. These include: Eastern Alps, Central Alps, Western Alps, Massif Central, Pyrenees, Picos de Europa. These routes are listed in greater detail with maps descriptions of the route including exact position of the start and finish of each route. These routes have been compiled over the forty or so years the RSF has been in existence. It is important to note that the these routes have been completed by RSF members mostly using camping equipment and standard touring bikes, not mountain bikes.

On these pages we will show you the cycling pursuits of John and Daniel Gould (from Australia) and our friend Peter (from Japan).Our challenge will be to ride from London to Istanbul through 12 countries in 2 months while having a great time and seeing the sights. Peter should be there to Italy and then its just 2 unless anyone else wants to join us. For father and son John and Daniel the quest will also try to raise money for Odyssey House.

Wenn Ihnen in Norwegen jemand auf Ihre Frage nach Steigungen mit ``mostly flat'' antwortet, seien Sie gewarnt: flach hat in Norwegen eine andere Bedeutung als in den Elbmarschen. ``Meistens flach'' bedeutet in Norwegen: Steigungen unter Hundert Meter. Chris Heymans, einer der Organisatoren und Planer der North Sea Cycle Route, fuhr übrigens einige norwegische Strecken, auch solche mit ``stiff Uphills'', mit seinem Brompton-Faltrad (natürlich mit Gepäck). Es ist eben alles relativ. Relativ ist, europaweit gesehen, auch die Qualität der Radwanderwege. Eine in Deutschland unglaublich miese Qualität bedeutet im restlichen Europa das Gegenteil.

Sie sollten also, wenn Sie eine längere Strecke auf der North Sea Cycle Route fahren wollen, Ihre Vorstellungen von ``gut'' und ``schlecht'' in ``anders'' wechseln. Erfreuen Sie sich an dem ständigen Wechsel der Landschaften. Lernen Sie immer wieder interessante Menschen kennen und genießen Sie das Flair der Dörfer und Städte rund um die Nordsee. ``Jeder Tag ist wie Weihnachten, jeden Tag eine Überraschung''. Dieser Slogan passt am besten zur Northern Opening Tour durch Schleswig-Holstein, Dänemark, Schweden, Norwegen und Schottland.

Tabular data and altitude profiles of mountain passes all over Europe.

A site filled with tours all over Europe, Africa, Asia, and America.

Several cycling travel stories and detailed descriptions with profiles of 17 of the most beautiful climbs in 7 different European countries.

Reports and pictures from various mountains of Europe, America, and Australia. Partly in Dutch.

The travelogue of a cycling trip in the Scottish Highlands and Islands.