21 countries in 21 days?!

[jahlive905]

So this July, I went on my first bike tour. We cycled from London to Pamplona in 10 days. Awesome fun, gave me the bug. Especially because I only bought my first road bike in June.

Since then we've been discussing the next challenge. A friend's (smarmy) colleague managed to cycle 10 countries in days. We definitely want to one-up this sucker. So a gauntlet was thrown down - 21 countries in 21 days. Trip for next year.

Has anyone done anything like this, i.e. as many countries as possible in quick succession? If so, what route did you take? (speaking primarily about Europe here because I'd have a hard time doing that feat on any other continent!) I'm thinking the baltic states would tick off a lot of countries here and even starting out on the first day, you could get a ferry to Dunkirk, go through Bruges and be in Holland by dinner time!

 

[jongooligan]

Couple of questions/observations:
Are you allowed to fly between countries?
There are only three Baltic states then you'd have a long slog across Finland (ferry to Helsinki) or Belarus or Poland.
Greatest concentration of small countries looks to be around the Balkans and Mittel Europe but still difficult to link 21 together.
Bruges to Holland, then where? It's a long way across Germany to the next nearest country.
Good luck.

 

[midliferider]

So this July, I went on my first bike tour. We cycled from London to Pamplona in 10 days. Awesome fun, gave me the bug. Especially because I only bought my first road bike in June.

Since then we've been discussing the next challenge. A friend's (smarmy) colleague managed to cycle 10 countries in days. We definitely want to one-up this sucker. So a gauntlet was thrown down - 21 countries in 21 days. Trip for next year.

Has anyone done anything like this, i.e. as many countries as possible in quick succession? If so, what route did you take? (speaking primarily about Europe here because I'd have a hard time doing that feat on any other continent!) I'm thinking the baltic states would tick off a lot of countries here and even starting out on the first day, you could get a ferry to Dunkirk, go through Bruges and be in Holland by dinner time!

I would be really grateful if you could provide more information about that tour.
Route, do you have GPS tracks or maps of the route you took
Where did you stay

 

[LocalLad]

Good luck...though I'll be impressed if you make it! From turkey into Greece, and lots of countries around there,but 21... :S

 

[steveindenmark]

I think 21 countries in 21 days is a big ask.

Do you have any ideas at the moment?

 

[MontyVeda]

Certainly is a big ask... best route i can suggest would be

1. Holland
2. Belgium
3. Luxembourg
   
4. Germany
5. France
6. Switzerland
7. Liechtenstein
   
8. Austria
9. Italy
10. Slovenia
11. Croatia
12. Bosnia & Herzegovina (does that count as 2?)
    
13. Montenegro
14. Albania
15. Kosovo (does that count at all?)
16. Macedonia
17. Greece
18. Bulgaria

...then maybe Romania, Moldova and Ukraine... better get peddling!

 

[Donger]

In 2010 I managed 3 countries in 1 minute 32 seconds, (Luxembourg, Belgium & Germany) just for the hell of it.
Here I am doing my "Trans-Belgium Sprint" :

And this is where it was done (which was as easy as shooting fish in a barrel):

If it helps, my rudimentary calculations suggest you should be able to achieve your feat in about 11 minutes.

 

[TheDoctor]

If you're at the eastern end of Lake Constance, you can go Germany to Austria to Switzerland in about half an hour. Liechtenstein isn't far away either.

 

[jahlive905]

I would be really grateful if you could provide more information about that tour.
Route, do you have GPS tracks or maps of the route you took
Where did you stay

My friend mapped (most of) the routes on Strava. Not sure if you'll be able to see his rides by clicking on the links below? Let me know if not and I can find some other way of getting them over to you.

• Days 1-6
• Days 7-11

The checkpoints we had are listed on the excel screenshot below.

london-to-pamplona

• jahlive905
• 24 Sep 2015

In some cities, we stayed at Aparthotels, which were extraordinarily good value for money (eg. this one in Rennes) and others we had prebooked a place via AirBnb. Also, because we all signed up to AirBnb using a recommendation code, we each received £16 off the booking fee. Worth signing up with a new email address for!

 

[Durian]

Certainly is a big ask... best route i can suggest would be

1. Holland
2. Belgium
3. Luxembourg
   
4. Germany
5. France
6. Switzerland
7. Liechtenstein
   
8. Austria
9. Italy
10. Slovenia
11. Croatia
12. Bosnia & Herzegovina (does that count as 2?)
    
13. Montenegro
14. Albania
15. Kosovo (does that count at all?)
16. Macedonia
17. Greece
18. Bulgaria

...then maybe Romania, Moldova and Ukraine... better get peddling!

You could add to those countries San Marino, Monaco, Andorra and Vatican City, all within reach.

 

[MontyVeda]

You could add to those countries San Marino, Monaco, Andorra and Vatican City, all within reach.

in 21 days?

 

[Durian]

in 21 days?

No! I'm not saying it's do-able in 21 days but if you're including France and Italy you may as well do the countries I mentioned as they are relatively close.

I couldn't do that whole list of 21 countries even if I was on a motorbike!

 

[Dogtrousers]

You missed the UK off your list. If you're starting at a ferry port to Holland that's one more.

 

[MontyVeda]

You missed the UK off your list. If you're starting at a ferry port to Holland that's one more.

Dliberately. I reckon if one is trying to cycle 21 countries in 21 days, then getting a ferry from one to another doesn't count

 

[jefmcg]

In 2010 I managed 3 countries in 1 minute 32 seconds, (Luxembourg, Belgium & Germany) just for the hell of it.
Here I am doing my "Trans-Belgium Sprint" :

I did a similar trip when staying near the Luxembourg town of Schengen: Luxembourg, Germany and France in a couple of minutes.