Europe (local)

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.

This tour around Iceland was in August 2005. The idea was to cycle the entire route 1 and not to use public transport. Also to camp every night for free. I suppose it was Iceland on the cheap, and it was total trip cost 425 pounds including everything.

Bericht über eine organisierte Tour von Florenz nach Siena.

Pour changer un peu, mon tour 2003 s'est fait en groupe, avec véhicule d'accompagnement et tout le matériel pour camper. Au programme: de grands et beaux cols.

Zur Abwechslung wurde meine 2003er Tour in einer Gruppe gefahren, mit Begleit-Fahrzeug und Camping-Material. Auf dem Programm: grosse, schöne Pässe.

To change a bit, my tour 2003 was done in a group, with accompanying vehicle and camping stuff. On the programme: high, beautiful passes.

Verslag van mijn fietstocht in 2005 van de Lon Las Cymry in Wales en in 2006 mijn tocht door de Epirus en Corfu in Griekenland.

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.

De Zurich à Vienne, ou comment passer 30 cols petits et moyens en une semaine. Avec un peu de chance le tout par beau temps.
Von Zürich nach Wien, oder wie fährt man über 30 kleine und mittlere Pässe in einer Woche. Mit etwas Glück alles bei schönem Wetter.
From Zurich to Vienna or how to ride over 30 small and medium passes in a week. With some luck all the way with nice weather.

A tour from Venice to Rome in bella Italia. We travelled a total of 668 kilometres in seven days, with around 32 hours of cycling time. After a couple of short easy days on the flat, we hit some evil hills and late summer heat as we headed south of Bologna into Tuscany, before finding an easy direct route straight into the heart of Rome and St Mark's at the Vatican.

Some road rides in the English Lake District (will be added to). Includes the (in)famous Fred Whitton Challenge route. A demanding ride which takes you through some of the most stunning scenery the Lake District has to offer and includes the major passes of Kirkstone, Honister, Newlands, Whinlatter, Hardknott and Wrynose. If your touring the Lake District try to fit this ride in - it can easily be split into 2 days.

Stiamo progettando, sperimentando e segnalando percorsi cicloturistici sul territorio trentino, cercando di unire le piste ciclabili e promuovere una mobilità sostenibile da parte dei turisti trentini, italiani e stranieri. Un modo nuovo di conoscere il territorio valorizzando le forme di ospitalità biologiche e sostenibili (quali agriturismi, aziende bio, ecc..) Criteri di costruzione dei percorsi:

• i punti di partenza sono raggiungibili in bici, treno o autobus;
• i punti di ristoro/pernottamento consigliati saranno in prevalenza le realtà segnalate nella Guida al consumo critico `Fa' la cosa giusta!';
• i percorsi sono adatti a cicloturisti, anche non troppo allenati, anche se affrontano alcune salite (inevitabile per il territorio trentino), poichè si sono bilanciate pendenze e distanze. Inoltre è possibile utilizzare il servizio di trasporto pubblico per evitare tratti impegnativi o in caso di stanchezza per completare le tappe;
• i percorsi valorizzano la rete delle piste ciclabili del Trentino e le uniscono (con itinerari progettati e sperimentati) in modo da non percorrere strade trafficate, se non per tratti molto brevi. Si snodano anche su strade sterrate, comunque percorribili con biciclette da cicloturismo, attrezzate con borse.

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.

My trip began in late September 2003, the company I had been working for had finally done me the favour and folded (August would have been nicer  ) so this gave me the opportunity I was looking for to fulfil a dream and cycle over 1000km.

Like all good things if you want to accomplish something then you need to have a plan. Mine was to take me from Basel, over a couple of Mountain passes & up to the source of the Danube. Then from Donaueschingen following the path of the river riding through cities such as Ulm, Ingolstadt, Regensburg, Passau, Linz, Krems and finally down to Vienna, 1036 km and as it happened 6 days later, a day quicker than I had expected.

Ich kann mich nicht genau erinnern wie wir auf diese Idee gekommen sind. Wir haben nicht einfach gesagt ``warum radeln wir nicht von Europa nach Asien?''. Es war eher eine Ansammlung kleiner und unterschiedlicher Informationen aus dem Internet, verbunden mit anderen Ereignissen und wahrscheinlich auch Schicksal, was uns letztendlich unser Ziel Istanbul gegeben hat.

Eines war sicher, unsere altvertraute Blaue Donau spielte wie immer eine wichtige Rolle. Sie zeigte uns den Weg, und begleitete uns treu fast bis ans Ziel.

The Idea.

Looking out of the window 10.000 meters up, cruising on a flight from Vienna to Hamburg my attention was caught by a breathtaking view unfolding below me. Stretching for as far as the eye could see was the serene, winding, glistening zigzag path of a River that I immediately fell in love with.

But what was its name? I pulled out the in-flight magazine, turned to the back & started to search for this majestic River. It turned out however that the Captain of our flight beat me to it as he announced our height, the beautiful weather conditions and that our path for the whole flight would be following the 'Elbe'.

Several flights later, along that same route & the river sealed its fate to be conquered! Not from the air though, but by using my own horsepower, cycling.

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.

While the railway stayed mostly in tunnels, our road wound its way through short tunnels on our way to Flüelen at the end of the lake. It was along these cliffs that William Tell was said to have duped the Austrians, who had taken him captive and were returning by boat to their headquarters when a fierce storm arose.

Now with over 50 images.

Web site for our bike trip from Geneva to Milan. The three of us, Mike, Steve and Dave left from Boston and Denver on July 29th and rode about 275 miles over the next 8 days - with one day off for rain. For the most part, the route was relatively flat, except for two days in the Alps. We crossed the Simplon Pass from Switzerland into Italy - made famous when Napoleon decided it was a good route to invade southern Europe.

We did this as a self-guided trip without escort or SAG. We pre-booked hotels for about half the nights and stayed flexible on routes and destinations for the rest.

Web site for our bike trip from Geneva to Milan. The three of us, Mike, Steve and Dave left from Boston and Denver on July 29th and rode about 275 miles over the next 8 days - with one day off for rain. For the most part, the route was relatively flat, except for two days in the Alps. We crossed the Simplon Pass from Switzerland into Italy - made famous when Napoleon decided it was a good route to invade southern Europe.

We did this as a self-guided trip without escort or SAG. We pre-booked hotels for about half the nights and stayed flexible on routes and destinations for the rest.

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.

If you have two weeks to spare and a young children, the Lofoten and Vesteralen islands are an ideal area for a summer tour - gorgeous scenery, warm weather, white sandy beaches, and 24 hour sunshine. Best of all, the roads are free from traffic and pretty flat in this area since they hug the seashore. Self-catering accomodation in rorbus (fishing huts) is affordable and very memorable. This is the story of our madcap journey above the Arctic Circle in 2005 with two touring bikes and trailer bike, complete with a guide to accomodation on the islands, some tips about places to visit, and a brief list of what to take with you and what to leave behind. The area described is quite popular with touring cyclists but nowhere near as busy as other destinations during the summer holidays, so people are friendlier and there's far more space to relax in - like New Zealand, but only a couple of hours from the UK by air.

Dall'Adriatico al Mar Nero attraverso Albania, Macedonia, Grecia, Turchia,Bulgaria

Wir waren nicht sicher, ob wir die beträchtlichen Steigungen des Böhmer Waldes uns zumuten wollten. Es stimmt, ab und zu ging es richtig zur Sache, aber man wird mehr als belohnt durch die zauberhafte, stille Landschaft im Sumava Nationalpark. Auch weiter durch Tschechien, ob man direkt an der Moldau oder in einiger Entfernung vom Ufer seinen Weg findet, war viel zu entdecken: zum Beispiel kleine fahrradgerechte Orte wie Frymburk, Rosemberk, Vyssí Brod, Ceský Krumlov oder Budweis. Krönung, wenn nicht gerade fahrradfreundlich, war die ``Goldene Stadt an der Moldau'', Prag.

So viele Nachrichten von der erweiterten EU lassen uns nicht kalt. Unsere Neugier treibt uns - wir buchen die Fähre von Rostock nach Tallinn und starten auf eine Baltikum-Radreise mit offenem Ende. Vieles ist neu und abenteuerlich, die Russisch- und Polnischsprachkenntnissen von meinem Mann - ein Rest aus seiner Schulzeit - erweisen sich als sehr nützlich. Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius und Danzig liegen auf unserem Weg, sowie unzählige spannende Erlebnisse.

Die klare Struktur etwas vom Anfang bis zum Ende zu machen reizt immer, so das Konzept von der Quelle zur Mündung. Zu oft hört man das Vorurteil, die Po-Ebene sei langweilig. Vielleicht für den zu bedauernden Autofahrer auf der Autostrada. Wir haben die Strecke am Po als abwechslungsreich und hoch interessant erlebt, mit schönen Landschaften, reizvollen Dörfern und großartigen Städten.

Unsere Radtour führte uns zu den Städten Verona, Padua, Venedig, Treviso und Vicenza, eine herrliche Fahrt in die Kunstgeschichte Venetiens. Auch zu der Geschichte Venetiens gehören die mehr als 2.000 Villen, die in der Zeit zwischen dem 15. und 18. Jahrhundert im Hinterland Venedigs gebaut wurden,deren Architektur wir heute noch bewundern können. Vor allem stand Andrea Palladio dieser Villenarchitektur Pate. Dafür dass wir immer wieder mal verkehrsreiche Straßen in Kauf nehmen mussten, wurden wir ausgiebig belohnt.

Cycling the Elbe and Danube cycle ways.

Two tours, one of the Danube cycle way from Germany to Budapest, then through Slovenia to Venice, and the Elbe cycle tour from Hook of Holland to Prague via Hamburg; passing through Germany and Dresden.

Pictures and watercolours from a cycling-around-Iceland adventure.

We cycled from Keflavík, visited the 196 m high waterfall Glymur, rounded Snæfellsnes, or we actually took the mountainroad over Snæfellsjökull. At Myvatn we looked at the active area. Along the southcoast we saw Jökulsárlón, Skaftafell, Dyrhólaey, Skogafoss, Seljalandsfoss, Strokkur, Gullfoss and Þingvallavatn.

Also see my Iceland-right-now page with webcams and their position on a map. And join my icq user list for Iceland.

``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

Wir nehmen Abschied vom Sommer mit einer kleinen Tour vom Bayerischen Wald nach München, beginnend in Bayrisch Eisenstein an der tschechischen Grenze. Das Netz der Fahrradwege in Bayern macht es möglich, die gesamte Strecke auf ausgeschilderten, weitgehend autofreien Radwegen zu gestalten. Auch auf dieser relativ kurzen Strecke durch Bayern erlebt man viele Kontraste - unsere Route führte uns durch den bayerischen Wald, im Tal der weißen Regen, neben der Laber, ein Stück in der Donauebene und zum Schluss begleitet sie die Isar bis in die bayerische Hauptstadt.

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.

Der Donauradweg ist einer der beliebtesten Fahrradstrecken in Deutschland. Wir erwarteten die Menschenmassen auf zwei Rädern. Weit gefehlt. Die Strecke Passau - Wien ist bestimmt in der Hochsaison überfüllt, aber wir haben zwischen Ulm und Passau bei bestem Juni-Wetter die Wege beinah für uns allein gehabt. An Übernachtungsmöglichkeiten und Verpflegung mangelt es unterwegs nicht, und die geschichtsträchtige Donau bietet eine Fülle von Kultur- und historischen Denkmälern.

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 tour includes scenic detours around Greek islands, the Peloponnese, and proceeds through Italy, Austria, and Germany."

Lisbon's trams are something special - You meet the nicest people in the pouring rain - A ride to the Foia Summit - Islam plays a big historical role here - From the Rainy Coast to the Algarve Coast - Cabo de Sao Vicente - the High Algarve versus the Low Algarve- Was that a mountain lake or a large puddle ? - the Moorish castle next to the Catholic Church.

Lost and confused in Sevilla - the Western Pueblos Blancos - a place of great national touristic interest (the Costa del Sol) - the ride to the rock (Gibraltar) - the un-Sevillianized side of the the mountains (the Eastern Pueblo Blancos) - a meeting with another cyclist - the endurance challenges of Granada - Eating out Iberian style - Coke cans and the art of bicycle repair - the skirt of the mountains (the Alpujarra road) - the cycle tourist as caveman - more.

From Avila, great cycling on the northern slopes of the Sierra de Gredos leads into the dramatic north east corner of Extremadura via Candelario. Good climbs over the Puerto de Honduras and through Piornal follow before travelling southwards towards the beautiful town of Trujillo. East over the hills to Guadalupe completes a rich Extremaduran experience followed by an interesting return to Madrid that includes a trip along the via Verde de la Jara.

The mountains of the Sierra de Gredos lie to the north west of Madrid and regularly feature in la Vuelta - the Tour of Spain. As well as providing the opportunity to tackle some interesting climbs on quiet roads, travelling west through the Sierra de Gredos leads to the fascinating area of northern Extremadura. The return to Madrid contoured the slopes of the hills to the south of the river Tajo, through some very quiet roads, eventually leading to Toledo and Madrid.