Europe (local)

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!

Danube Bikeway starting from Passau, Germany to Vienna Austria.

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.

These pages describe a week long cycle tour through Southern Tuscany in May 2005.

A number of the rides were inspired by Iris Origo's compelling description of life in Tuscany during the Second World War ('War in Val d'Orcia - An Italian War Diary - 1943-1944') and James Hudson's article ('Tuscany, the Hills, the Gelato') in the January/February 2005 issue of Adventure Cyclist which was illustrated by Sue Kemp's water colours.

We take two weeks bike tour at Romania. We started our trip from Csík (Ciuc) basin, across Carpathians to Moldova (part of Romania). When we left Moldova, there was a terrible waterflood (you can see it in the pictures).

We joined three traditional dance festival: Csángó festival at Fundu Racaciun, an other at Ghimes, and Gipsy festival at Commandau, and recorded traditional folk songs, you can find them (and others) in our home page.

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.

I thought it was not so difficult to go up to the Gavia pass, but it might have something to do with getting used to these long and steep climbs. I also learned from the italian the day before that the Gavia road had been paved since two years back all the way (something I was not totally sure on after reading about it elsewhere). The steep part begins at Sta Caterina Valfurva (1738 m). Before this I took the photo just beside here and it is apparently the Punta S. Matteo mountain top (3678 m) one sees here (it looked much better in real life!). I was a very beautiful road to go up and it seemed so nice and still it was difficult to really comprehend I would be in Milano later in the day. Just behind the corner where I took the photo, cows were walking up a terribly small path in the terribly steep hillside. I wondered if they would lose balance and fall down on me if I called at them. (Original text selected by Andreas C.)

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).''

Lake Kerkini is a wetlands wildfowl reserve in Northern Greece, with a large variety of bird and other animal life, as well as a virtually traffic-free dirt road for most of its circumference. Ideal for a day's cycletour and some birdwatching. This is a description of the area, with photos, and some hints on making the most of a trip there.

The Axenstrasse is noted for its rugged cliffs that drop steeply to the dark green lake. The Gotthard railway lies below the road near the water, mostly in tunnels, while the road wound its way through short tunnels on the way to Flüelen in the Reuss valley. The Axenstrasse can best be appreciated from a bicycle with its view of towering snow capped peaks above the lake.

Quest'anno mi sono spostato un po' più ad est, visitando il piccolo Liechtenstein e la parte occidentale dell'Austria, sino a Salisburgo, con un ulteriore sconfinamento nella Baviera meridionale. Sempre con la mia fida Cannondale F600, e con lo stesso bagaglio dello scorso anno.

Welcome to Jørn's cycling homepage. If you are searching for ride reports from The Great Trial of Strength and the Tour of Jotunheimen and general information about tours in Norway, you have come to the right place. You can also find information and result from the local races in Trondheim. You can also read more about Velocipede (tm), a Windows based training log program for cyclists, and the Rec.Bicycles.* FAQ file. If you are cycling the net, I also have a list of other cycling related sites around the world. Want to know more about my bikes?

Several times I have made cycle tours in Germany. The first time I had planned a route which went straight on, regardless of the landscape. I was soon told that it was wiser to follow rivers. Then I would have more gentle gradients, and the cycle tour would become much more pleasant. In summer 2004 when Turid and I made a cycle tour in Germany, we stuck to river valleys. Since my first cycle tours in the 1960s there has been a tremendous development regarding the infrastructure for cyclists in Germany. You will find cycle routes which go through the most interesting landscapes, and those cycle routes are even sign posted. Thus we could avoid roads with much traffic and stay on pathways where we met other cyclists, and we came closer to the nature.

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 .

Because we wanted to see the small villages, as well as select big cities, we decided that our best route through Italy was to zigzag across Umbria and Tuscany. The big cities on our list were Venice, Assisi, Florence, and Rome. Some of the surprisingly pleasant small towns in between included Urbino, Gubbio, and Poppi. Not a real straight line. We had planned on 60 mile days to give us time to be tourists. We discovered however that some days clocked in closer to 80 miles, and many days had between 4000 and 9000 feet of climb. Luckily the weather was conducive to riding - Sunny and 75, but in retrospect we would have preferred fewer miles each day. Italy is a country to savor.

Welcome to the diary from our 2004 trip to Italy. Our planned route was to travel up from Rome, following the coast for the first few days, then cutting in to Florence through Tuscany. We'd get back to Rome by looping down through Umbria.

In spring 2004, I spent 21 rewarding days cycling the most scenic sections of these picturesque German rivers that meander past historic towns like Tuebingen, Heidelberg and Koblenz. Nearly all the way, I rode on car-free bike paths that were mostly paved and free of big hills. Each night I stayed at a budget-priced hotel, often in the pedestrian-only center of medieval towns full of rambling, cobblestoned streets lined by half-timbered houses with tall, rakish roofs. And day after day, I pedalled along riverside bike paths that wound between steep, craggy hills with crenellated castles perched on cliffs high above the sparkling river. Half travelog, the rest of this report is packed with everything you need to know to duplicate my trip on your own.

I followed roughly the coastline of the Ireland, but I didn't see the sea in the first week because I cycled trough the interior of the island, from Dublin via Kilkenny to Cork. Between Cork and Killarney I cycled mostly right next to the sea, along the coastline of the south-western peninsulas. For me this was the most exciting part. I took the bus from Galway back to Dublin. In the end I had cycled 1004 miles.

Pictorial personal diary, equipment list, and route guide for a 4.5 month cycle trip, Boston, England to Gibraltar.

In 2003 I attempted Paris-Brest-Paris. I didn't finish due to knee troubles, but had a wonderful time nonetheless.

This report covers my first tour of the Alps with three other people, starting in Grenoble and ending in Nice- including my first-ever mountain: l'Alpe-d'Huez. A beautiful 10 days' ride in beautiful weather, over a beautiful landscape.

Eine Radtour in 5 Tagesetappen über insgesamt 483 km zumeist den großen Flußläufen von Moldau und Elbe folgend, Tagesetappen zwischen 67 und 130 Kilometer.

Die fast 800 Kilometer lange Fahrradtour führt von der Isarmetropole in die Rattenfängerstadt Hameln. Die Route orientiert sich größtenteils an Flußläufe. Es sind zwei Wasserscheiden zu überwinden: die europäische Wasserscheide zwischen Donau und Rhein sowie die Wasserscheide zwischen Rhein und Weser.

In the summer of 1999 I cycled a little over 7000km across Europe, from Nordkapp, at the northern end of Norway, to Calabria, the southernmost region of Italy. It was the best bicycle ride and adventure of my life so far. This is my attempt to share what I saw and felt.

``The Great Heart Travelers'' promote the blood donation riding around the world. They made a Europe tour of 5400 km in 2004, and a tour in New Zealand in 2005. (Follow the archive link at the bottom of the page to go to the European tour.)

A record of my progress from Alkmaar to Aix; by pedal power. From Netherlands to France via Belgium.

Most important is perhaps to point out that this for me was a most enjoyable thing to do. It was also an easy thing to do, and required remarkably little advance planning. I checked the bike and did the necessary repairs and changes, I drafted a route though the low countries and through France, estimated how long it would take me to do it, and with the minimum physical preparations I set off from Alkmaar on the 5th June.

I benefited of course from previous bicycling experience, I was aware of possible (physical) problems that might turn up, and was very careful not to let minor problems develop into more serious ones. Also extensive travel experience over the years (not much of it on bicycle) has taught me that there is always accommodation, there is food and drink to be found on the way. I climbed from Bonnieux up the hill [...] there was the most fantastic ride down the narrow valley towards Lourmarin, narrow hairpin bends, and again a downhill ride that seemed to go on forever.

A 2 week tandem tour of the Abruzzo and Puglia regions, taking in the Gran Sasso region (Campo Imperatore), and the Gargano Peninsula. Includes daily ride reports, maps, photos, planning and packing info.

We are 2 18 year old students. We made a tour across Europe from Holland to Sweden and Great Britain. After this we took the boat to Holland and set off to the south of Portugal.

In the spring (2006) we are going to make a trip from Anataly Turkey to Holland.

In September 2003 I organised and led a charity ride in the Pyrenees. A group of 14 braved the elements, and gravity, to raise £12,000 for Intermediate Technology Development Group. The two-week trip involved tears and blood, food and wine, 2000m cols and 50 mph descents. What follows is the record of that trip.

A self supported relaxed bike tour along the beautiful Loire valley. Pretty villages, nature, castles, delicious food, nice hotels - a report of a nearly perfect tour.

Additional infos about travel by train in France.

In this page you can find some links to my bicycle tour in Switzerland, Austria and Liechtenstein, from year 2000. From 2004 there are some photos available.

A tour of the French Alps, from Geneva to Nice, returning via the Piemont plains of Italy, followed by a visit to various climbs in Switzerland.

Six days - eight fjords - nine mountains.

Glaciers, waterfalls, white nights, trolls...and 200 great-spirited cycling enthusiasts sharing the Fjordland fairytales.