Europe (local)

After weighing the pros and cons the far north was attracting me, and the choice fell on Sweden and especially Norway. The timing and the route were perfect - we would return just before the start of the mountain stages of the Tour de France; in June relatively few mosquitoes are around, and, especially in Sweden, there was a fair chance of good weather. The flat part of Sweden gives you a good opportunity to do a bit of cycling before attacking the steep Norwegian mountains.

Mir scheint, es wird jede Nacht ein paar Grad kälter! Wir sind beim Erwachen fast am Boden festgefroren. Das liegt sicher auch daran, daß wir uns schon nahe 1000 m Höhe befinden. Ich stehe auf und mache den obligatorischen Fotogang des Morgens. Ich sehe in der Ferne schon die Bäuerin wirken. Ich beschließe wegen der Milch zu ihr zu gehen. Sie sitzt vor dem Kuhstall und trinkt in der Sonne sitzend einen Kaffee. Ich geselle mich dazu und sie lässt mich einen Becher ``füll mil'', noch euterwarm, testen. Wir reden über Land und Leut.

The Iseran probably earns the ``highest pass in France'' title, being actually higher and because it is steep, spectacular, and is surrounded by glaciers and snow. When you're there you know there's a There there. This is truly the haute Savoie, whose red and white emblem was the inspiration for the emigrants who took their red flag with the white cross along as they founded Switzerland.

The Stelvio may not be the hardest, longest or anything else, but it has a special place in my heart for its magnificent and exquisitely orchestrated landscape. It seems to have its own Wagnerian accompaniment, magnificent and grand. I have ridden it in every weather and it is always an emotional moment at the top with the ice caps of the Ortler and snowfields of the Gran Zebru as a backdrop to the road that drops 1000m into the canyon in the Shadows of this deep ravine. Forty nine numbered hairpin turns and 2000m below lies the valley.

Dem Hitzschlag nahe erreichen wir nach rasanter Fahrt Passau. Der erste Eindruck ist hervorragend, eine alte. schön gelegene Stadt am Zusammenfluß von Donau, Inn und Ilz. Wir fahren durch die Altstadt, um erst einmal ein Getränk zu bekommen, denn heute ist Maria Himmelfahrt, ein Feiertag in Bayern. Ein großes Spezi rinnt die Kehle hinunter.

Wir fahren durch die ganze Stadt zurück zur Jugendherberge. Unten steht ein Schild: 22%ige Steigung, Autos kommen kaum hinauf, ich probiere etwa 10 Meter, Torsten vielleicht 30, dann geben wir auf.

Schieben, schieben in der Hitze bis ganz nach oben auf die Burg. Die Rezeption liegt nochmals 20 Meter höher und schließlich unser Zimmer im vierten Stock des Burgturmes - kann es schlimmer kommen? Wir schleppen alles hoch, das Zimmer hat zwanzig Betten und bietet als Entschädigung ein toll es Panorama.

First I took the train back to Andermatt, then west to Oberwald where I got off and started climbing up the mountains. I rode parallel to the old abandoned railway (the new stretch runs in a long tunnel under the mountain) up to Gletsch. It felt very unreal to think that I'd ridden a train on that very track in 1981, shortly before the tunnel was opened. Now the rails were all rusty and rocks had fallen onto the railbed in several places. I saw that there's work going on to re-open the Furkapass-bahn. I hope they succeed!

Cycling in the Pyrenees is both exiting and relentless. Here are some of the steepest and longest climbs in Europe, and I experience a few of the well known. I ride my touring bike and sleep in hotels. After a weeks struggling I go north to Dordogne. There are several castles around and the atmosphere is medieval. There are several caves, too. It was about here the Cro-Magnon man was found.

Yes, we do have the Alps in Italy. But the Appennino has its own fascination, and nothing better than this report can bring it out.

This is a trip through some of the most beautiful mountain scenarios in the French Alps. A great part of the route follows road D902 - Route des Grandes Alpes - and on the way I cross some of the greatest Tour de France passes. The touring bike has triple chainrings, so even the steepest slopes are managed without problems. I ride alone, don't carry much pack and stay in hotels overnight. Using only six days for the trip I spend the remaining holidays at Côte d'Azur.

Mountain pass pictures and information.

Herbst 1987: Die erste Radtour in den französischen Alpen. Col de la Croix de Fer, Galibier, Col d'Izoard, Col de Vars, Restefond/la Bonette (2802 m), Col de la Couillole und Col d'Allos heißen die Eckpunkte dieser Reise. Zwar fahren wir an 8 Tagen gerade einmal 660 km weit, aber dabei überwinden wir über 14000 Höhenmeter.

My first trip to the Alps and Provence is a lightweight tour on a road bike with just a handlebar bag for the luggage. I stay in hotels overnight. The route includes a few passes known from Tour de France. This, however, turns out to be somewhat hasty. At least I get some hard-earned experience - both with respect to gear ratios and my own ability. But it's surely beautiful, and standing at the Col du Galibier summit for the first time is very self-satisfactory.

Wer es nicht erlebt hat, der kann es kaum beschreiben: Ein Ziel so vage, so unkalkulierber, so weit. Und dann befindet man sich auf den letzten Metern.Wer jemals im Norden Europas Urlaub gemacht hat, der weiß, dass im Sommer die Sonne endlos zu scheinen scheint. Aber das täuscht. In der Höhe der Lofoten muss man schon sehr nahe am längsten Tag eintreffen, um von den Berggipfeln die Mitternachtssonne zu sehen. Im August ist es zwar immer noch legendär hell, aber die Sonne taucht bereits für einige Zeit unter den Horizont. Ich bezeichne dieses Schauspiel auch gerne als den Untergang der Mitternachtssonne.

Nordkapp - 4.8.84 - ich bin am Ziel. Das Nordkapp ist zwar schon recht rummelig, weil natürlich Bus um Bus hier hin gekarrt wird, aber es ist nicht wirklich überlaufen. Und Wegezoll gibt es auch noch nicht. Es ist doch eine ganze Reihe von Personen, die auf die sportliche Art und Weise diesen Weg meistern - und da gibt es natürlich viel zu erzählen, auch wenn in dieser Nacht der Untergang der Mitternachtssonne hinter den Wolken stattfindet. Ich schwinge das nun leicht beladene Rad auf den Steinsockel, der die Weltkugel trägt, und mache mit Stativ ein Bild.

One year after intermediate examinations I manage to take two months off my studies to have a dream come true, cycling to the North Cape (norwegian: Nordkapp). Sure, travelling more than 3600 miles to the north of Norway is not everybodies delight. Temparatures are expected to be low and the weather to be unsteady. However, at the end of this journey I may declare the Scandinavian weather beeing not as bad as its reputation.

On the 4th of july I am ready for take off. That time my bike is one of the oldest, heaviest and less reliable bikes that have ever been seen on their way north. 20 kg of additional weight has to be carried: A tent, sleeping bag, camera, 11 color films (300 slides) and other equipement. On this trip, that does not cost more than DM 1800.- in the end, I ruin a shirt, a jeans, a cycle chain, a tyre cover and not less than 9 spokes. Though the bike never has a puncture.

That year, 666 cyclists started. There were 19 women, 17 riding solo and two stoking tandems. I had never seen so many bicycles in one place. I picked up my control book. It had a hand-drawn American flag and a typed English translation of the rules. I found out that seven other Americans were starting.

From June 27 through July 19 [2000] AEDP (Project of Development Education of SOROS Albania) will provide 60-70 people selected from Albania, the Balkans, and the rest of the world with an intense learning experience in Italy and Albania. The tour will promote friendship and understanding between people from a wide variety of backgrounds and demonstrate that ALBANIA is Opening Up to the World.
Participants will bicycle from Rome to Venice in Italy, through Southern Albania and Northern Greece. They will receive guided tours at various stops along the away. A film crew will accompany the trip to produce a video which each participant is required to present in 5 schools upon their return after the end of the trip.

From Fietspad langs de digitale snelweg

From Fietspad langs de digitale snelweg

From Fietspad langs de digitale snelweg

Welcome to the first "wired" human-powered (bicycle), land-bound circumnavigation of the Mediterranean Sea. The team have concluded their journey, but they are continuing to add reports to this site.

A great photo archive. Each page includes no more than 3 photos, on average, 25,000 bytes. We hope you enjoy them. There is a help page if you are having difficulty viewing the images. The photos are not of printable quality - if you wish to use any of these pictures in a hardcopy publication, please contact us and we will supply a high-resolution file.

A huge collection of altitude profiles of cols and climbs.

Passes in Switzerland, in France and in Italy are described on this site. The most important information for cyclist in figures and texts, of course some pictures and partly historical backgrounds. In addition tips to accommodations, maps and (at the moment mainly german) links.

Il giro è molto bello e non eccessivamente faticoso. Si trovano delle ottime cartine fino a Maribor (Da Dobbiaco è tutta ciclabile, la Drauweg), un po' meno in Slovenia e Croazia, dove ciclabili praticamente non ce ne sono, ma ci sono parecchie strade secondarie senza traffico. In Slovenia agli uffici turistici si possono trovare cartine della zona decenti (noi ci siamo accontentati di quelle, ma consigliamo caldamente di procurarvi una carta almeno al 200.000, possibilmente con le curve di livello?) e un paio di pubblicazioni interessanti, anche in Italiano, su ``Slovenia in bicicletta'' e ``Le strade secondarie sono più accattivanti di quelle principali''. Aiutano molto. Non fate troppo affidamento sui cartelli segnaletici delle presunte piste ciclabili (``kolesarska pot'', in sloveno) che a volte mancano. Sulla strada che abbiamo scelto noi abbiamo incontrato traffico solo in alcuni punti che non avevano alternative, andando a ficcarci in strade impossibili solo un paio di volte, evitabili.

The Coast-to-Coast Route covered 1000miles (1600km) beginning in Hendaye on the Atlantic Ocean and finishing in Collioure on the Mediterranean Sea.

A family goes cyclo-camping and brings back valuable experience, great stories and beautiful pictures.

A family goes cyclo-camping and brings back valuable experience, great stories and beautiful pictures.

Translated from the original French version by Barbara Leonard.

Armenia, do you know it? Is Armenia a people or a religion? We forget about the strong sentimental or familial ties that unite us with this small, distant country (the size of Belgium) in the Caucasus, bordered by Europe and Asia. Who doesn't have, among friends and acquaintances, a good friend who is Armenian? Armenia is not well-known to western travelers, who lack sufficient information to discover this former Soviet republic whose population is 3 500 000. Armenia is a country of mountains, served on a high plateau, bristling with extinguished volcanoes, and circled on all sides by the powerful mountainous systems of Asia minor, Persia, and the Caucasus. It has its economic ``lung'', Erevan, the capital, whereas the rest of the country is a tangle of mountains higher than 3000 meters, notched with deep valleys. Who says ``mountains'' says ``passes'' (obviously), and the small area of the country allows us cross it from top to bottom. The program consists of 10 stages, the first week autonomously (totally by bicycle), and the second, climbing passes but travelling the long distances between them via auto; 14 passes, of which 12 are higher than 2000 meters.

These were our initial worries: the trip was too easy, it was too crowded, and the scenery would be monotonously the same for the length of the river.

As it turned out, there was some small truth in each of these worries, but none was nearly as bad as we had anticipated. [...] I had read that the Danube bike path is very crowded in the summer months, and that since all riders start from the same intermediary points (the same hotels) at about the same time, there are traffic jams on the path. As it turned out, this worry was greatly exaggerated. The path was reasonably crowded, particularly near the towns on the weekends, but there were other long stretches when we wouldn't see another cyclist for perhaps ten minutes. We did get in ``synch'' with certain other small groups that we would encounter from time to time, but we never saw any of our own tour group after the first morning. About once an hour we would be passed, or would pass, a ``peloton'' of perhaps 20 to 30 cyclists, and every fifteen minutes or so a solitary biker, looking like he was doing the Tour de France, would pass us at great speed. On balance, I wouldn't have called the path particularly crowded.