Reports by Ant

Counterclockwise loop in nine stages through the Flanders region of Belgium. Fine cities, excellent beer, and cobbled "walls" including:

• Oude Kwaremont
• Paterberg
• Koppenberg
• Taaienberg
• Grammont (Muur van Geraardsbergen)

1,600 Km (1,000 mi) loop with start/finish near Torgau, Germany.

Route: Mulde, Elbe, Baltic Coast, Oder and the Havel-Oder Canal.

Rainy, windy and lots of punctures. Full GPS tracklog available.

Braunau am Inn to Budapest, a wonderful 900 Km tour along the Innradweg and Donauradweg in 11 days of actual riding including loops and various visits to nearby points of interest. No reservations were made in advance to leave us the freedom of choosing where to stop. I was carrying a tent in case of sold-out locations but we never used it once.

Our plans to keep the daily stages in between 60 and 90 Km - except for a couple of stages - proved a perfect choice to maximize the journey. See this, stop there for a yummy bite accompanied by a sparkling apple juice (Apfelsaft gespritz), and find accommodation where deemed practical. ''Pension'' style places with a family bias are the perfect choice for their coziness, the hosts' kindness and the good food to discover for reasonable prices. Return from Budapest by train with our bikes.

This 1,210 Km (756 mi) tour took us along the Mosel and Rhine rivers into the Netherlands, proceeding then to Belgium and Luxembourg. I had prepared the route with the aid of official GPS tracks of the cycling paths that we wanted to follow. Without the hand-held type GPS, the journey would have required the use of a consistent number of maps resulting in countless wasted time for continuous consultation. Despite the cycling paths are generally signposted they are not present at every turn. At times we found that some were even pointing to the wrong direction - maybe some prankster had fun with them.

The tracklog of our entire tour has been recorded and it's available for download. To spare the hassle of changing and recharging batteries continuously, my GPS unit was powered by a small solar station placed atop the handlebar bag. Precious and amazing satellite technology that sadly turns paper maps into romantic memories, it's a luxury I came to love quite quickly.