2 Week Long-distance MTB Tour Ideas

[gairym]

Morning all,

I realise that there might not be that many folks around on New Years Day morning but I am (6 month old daughter and so no gallivanting around town for me) and so here's my enquiry.....

I'm planning a two-week long Mountain Bike trip next July in the Alps

Ideally not France (as we live in the Ardeche and I've riden the French Alps quite a lot) but something more like starting in Germany, heading through Austria and ending in Italy.

I was hoping that there might be good-folk out there who've done something similar and could offer route/kit/other advice to make my planning easier and my trip more enjoyable.

What I'm looking (roughly) at is something like this:

- Two weeks away from home (probably 10-12 days in the saddle).
- A route through the Alps taking in as much stunning singletrack as possible (I'm not opposed to asphalt for climbs)
- Ideally staying in refuges/mountain huts as much as possible (to reduce need to carry kit and cost).
- Something around 400 miles in total

The TransAlp event route seems ideal but I don't know if it's all legally ridable for the general public in summer???

So.....any/all help would be very much appreciated as well as any useful info from your experience.

Cheers in advance (and Happy New Year), Gairy.

 

[vernon]

You might be better off looking on German web sites. I know that there's a whole raft of maps of German and Swiss origin that don't see light of day in the UK as I saw some of them in book shops and in the possession of cycle tourers as I pedalled along the Danube.

A google for German/Swiss cycle maps might be a good starting point.

 

[Glenn]

These sites may help http://www.ocd.org.uk/alps/rs/fred.htm & http://www.rsf.org.uk/

 

[gairym]

thanks guys - much appreciated.