hot and mountainous routes: inspire me please

[ASC1951]

what about st.malo to santander

Fails on the 'hot and mountainous' requirement I would have thought.

I've done it from Cherbourg to the top of the Tourmalet, which is similar. Most of western France is flat or undulating and there are much more interesting places to cycle.

 

[Tharg2007]

Pindos mountains northern Greece. You can fly to Corfu cheap and ferry to the mainland. Glorious scenery, lovely people, empty roads - the mountain road heading towards Meteora is the old Roman road and winds along the contours - the new motorway takes all the traffic through tunnels.

Pics and info here:

http://www.tra-velo-gue.co.uk/trip11.htm

I have been to meteora and its beautiful, the monasterys are well worth visiting and would say they are in my top 3 places to see in greece, athens and delphi being the other 2.

 

[Chris James]

For spectacular mountains next to the roadside and twsiting alpine passes the Dolomites takes some beating.

 

[jay clock]

mmm Corsica....see here www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/corsica - I flew, but you could go by train to Nice, or the bike bus down south, and overnight ferry from Marseille.

Simply stunning

 

[rich p]

For spectacular mountains next to the roadside and twsiting alpine passes the Dolomites takes some beating.

I agree if you can avoid the suicidal Valentino Rossis that plagued my Sella round!

 

[TheDoctor]

Train to/from Avignon and do all three routes up Mont Ventoux?

 

[bof]

Raid Pyreneen (Hendaye to Cerbere) along the French side of the Pyrenees spine. The official version requires completing in 100 hours, which I did a few years back, but it could be more fun with 1-2 extra nights en route.

It is easy to get TGVs via Paris to/from both ends , but dont know what the deal on bikes on TGVs is nowadays.

 

[ASC1951]

dont know what the deal on bikes on TGVs is nowadays.

You used to have to get the personal permission of M. le President three days before, then have it notarised at your local station, before you could get a bike anywhere near a French train. Has it improved?

 

[andym]

You used to have to get the personal permission of M. le President three days before, then have it notarised at your local station, before you could get a bike anywhere near a French train. Has it improved?

An overview of which trains you can take bikes on:

http://www.fubicy.org/spip.php?rubrique54

TGVs are pretty iffy. Newer trains (eg on the TGV Est) are now being fitted with bike spaces. Check on the voyages-sncf.com website - click 'details' next to the train you're interested in and if the train takes bikes it shoud show a bike pictogram.

You can of course carry bikes (with wheels off) in a bag.

 

[ontheroadtofrance]

Im doing geneva to nice in the summer! I'm really looking forward to it can't wait got all my camping stuff and ready to go now

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Why not do Barcelona via Andorra, down through Limoux to Carcassone, and then on to Bourdeaux or Toulouse or, the other direction, Montpellier...? Those are routes I have always wanted to do - you could take in some of the best and most innovative organic vineyards of the Minervois region on the way, including my favourite producer in the world, Borie de Maurel... check out http://www.terroirlanguedoc.co.uk/terroir/domaines.html for other producers. That would be just great after the Pyrennees...

You can get the sleeper train from Paris to Barcelona (via Seat61 - my favourite travel site, bar none). And there are trains back to Paris from the big cities

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Oh, if I am still am on your ignore list, well, you've just missed a great suggestion.

Very good, apart from the slight problem that Denmark is relatively flat and not hot...

 

[BalkanExpress]

Been to the highest point in Denmark: 400 mtres if I recall correctly,..... now that's my kind of climbing

How about Valence, Vercours, Grenoble,Chambery,Annecy and onto Geneva, plenty of mountains and if you have an off day you can stick to the valley.

 

[ASC1951]

my favourite producer in the world, Borie de Maurel

Nice site, FM, and even by organic standards delivery by boat is a bit hardcore.

What's the price range over here? Who distributes?

 

[MichaelM]

Inspiration (not my pic, not my bike, but I do like it).