2008 Touring Holidays

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john59

Guru
Location
Wirral
Since it’s going to be 2008 soon. What tours have people got planned for next year? I’m doing a two-week cycle camping tour of the Loire Valley in early July.

John
 

Bigtallfatbloke

New Member
I need to decide once and for all if it's going to be a trip across France from Calais down to the med or along the rhine from Basel to Rotterdam...then i need to buy a map. I hope to go on these in July (ish) , prior to that if I can i will ride from home to amsterdam for a weekend and back...and I might even go back to Norfolk if the sun shines.
 

Haitch

Flim Flormally
Location
Netherlands
We're thinking about three weeks' touring in Queensland, Australia, in July/August. Any tips, hints and money would be very welcome.
 

Cathryn

Legendary Member
Toulouse to Salzburg via Provence, Grenoble, Geneva, Lucerne, Liechtenstein, Innsbruck and Salzburg. To say that I'm over excited would be the biggest understatement of 2007 ;)

Bring on the summer...

BTFB...I'd do the France trip. I love France. And also, what size Altura jacket do you have? The husband tried XXL and was nervous it was a bit tight. (Muscle and layers, not fat, honest).What do you think of yours??
 

xilios

Veteran
Location
Maastricht, NL
In May we're thinking of cycling from Maastricht to Santiago de Compostela.
In September just point the bikes south and check out the French Alps. We're interested in cycling over the Col de I'Iseran and finishing in Nice.
 

Bigtallfatbloke

New Member
BTFB...I'd do the France trip. I love France. And also, what size Altura jacket do you have? The husband tried XXL and was nervous it was a bit tight. (Muscle and layers, not fat, honest).What do you think of yours??

I think I will probably end up on the french trip...it's just that i have a german friend interested in joining me on the rhine venture...

...the jacket...ok..well the label on the inside says 3xl which I think means XXXL. I have the black version. It fits me well, infact since I have lost a bit this year I fins it fits perfectly now in the winter months as I am wearing four layers under it including a merino wool jersey and a sweat shirt!.. It's warm, and waterproof...the zips are in the right places and the velcro 'glove sealers' are cool. It lights up great at night. My advice however would be to either get the yellow hi vis option, or if like me you want to wear it off the bike as well, get a hi vis vest to wear over it in the daytime. It washes well...just throw in machine on 30 with no powder and all is well. I am happy with mine...but like i said , decide if this is for on bile only use or off bike as well, daytime riding in a balck jacket (in Essex anyway) is suicide!

If it helps to know, I am 6' 4" tall chest and weigh in at 16 1/2 stone now....when I bought the jacket I was around 20 stone ish!
 

Tony

New Member
Location
Surrey
Hmmmmm
I am thinking of next year as well. May do Germany Romantic Road, part of Danube cycleway, Loire, or Sweden.
May go to the States....
In other words, lots of ideas, but no plans yet.
 

Cathryn

Legendary Member
Thanks BTFB....we might check out the xxxl on the internet. You're the same size as the husband now, so if it fits with you, he should be fine.

Excellent weight loss btw (again!!)
 

vernon

Harder than Ronnie Pickering
Location
Meanwood, Leeds
Cathryn said:
Thanks BTFB....we might check out the xxxl on the internet. You're the same size as the husband now, so if it fits with you, he should be fine.

Excellent weight loss btw (again!!)


3XL fits this shorter fat bloke at 21 stones - blubber amply supported by a decent core of muscle so I keep telling myself. :wacko:

I've found that I don't need to wear many layers underneath the Altura because I have an incredibly efficient Canterbury base layer (can't recommend it highly enough) and a suprisingly effective Aldi cycling shirt that keep me warm.

As an indicator of the effectiveness of the three layers, Last December I cycled to Darlington from Leeds in sub zero temperatures and was toasty warm all the way.

A view of the frosty environment can be viwed by clicking on the link below. I couldn't embed the image in my posting. The link refused to work.
DSC00034.JPG
 

vernon

Harder than Ronnie Pickering
Location
Meanwood, Leeds
Cathryn said:
Brrrr..lovely shot!

Believe it or not it was an enjoyable ride. I wasn't cold. The roads were quiet. Everythings was coated in frost. The landscape had a mystical appearance and I did the ride in shorts - only joking!

I do have my limits though I've yet to discover them temperature wise. High winds keep me indoors as I don't fancy being blown under a vehicle.
 

Tim Bennet.

Entirely Average Member
Location
S of Kendal
In September just point the bikes south and check out the French Alps. We're interested in cycling over the Col de I'Iseran and finishing in Nice.
Don't leave it too late in September. Summer in the Alps can come to an end with a bump at anytime during that month. It was cold and damp when I crossed about mid Sptember and was closed with snow a few days after that. If you're heading for Nice, there's a few more big climbs to go after that as well!
 

xilios

Veteran
Location
Maastricht, NL
Tim Bennet. said:
Don't leave it too late in September. Summer in the Alps can come to an end with a bump at anytime during that month. It was cold and damp when I crossed about mid Sptember and was closed with snow a few days after that. If you're heading for Nice, there's a few more big climbs to go after that as well!

Hi, and thanks for the tip. We are planning also to cross mid September and hopefully the pass would be open. We can only take off May and September and think the later would be a beter time. Like all our tours we always have a plan "B" just in case.
But still early days yet for that tour, we're just in the planning stages for our spring tour.
cheers ;)
 

wallabyhunter

New Member
Location
Perth WA
Hey, first post on this forum, I plan to spend a couple of weeks in Lancs, then train/ferry to Brittany, then "point the bike south" (I like that quote xilios, thank you) & see where it takes me. I will spend about 4 weeks in France before another 2 weeks in UK, then back to Aus.

Not done anything like that before, so looking forward to it!

gb
 

will

Guest
I have a july trip booked with several friends along the Route des Grandes Alpes - from Lake geneva towards the Mediterranean - hopefully seeing the Tour atop Galibier.

My legs are like jelly just thinking about it.
 
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