Ideal European area for touring with a touring recumbent?

[Tigerbiten]

I've done multi thousand mile tours across Europe without much hill climbing just by sticking to the main rivers and canals.
Something like a big circle Rhine -> Danube -> Elbe -> North Sea Coast.
I did one days hill climbing between the Rhine and the Danube and it took me a couple of days to cut across the hill from the Danube to the headwaters of the Elbe.
But that was the major hill climbing for the whole tour.

It's more of a case if you cannot get away for weeks on end, how do you to the start to then string the interesting flat bits together and finally get home ??

Luck ....... D

 

[Time Waster]

I guess many cyclists gather a collection of cycles of various types. A few of us end up with a recumbent but I'd bet a lot more are upright riders who try recumbents. As such there's no commitment to the laidback bike among those of us like that. It's another bike you ride as your needs or fancies take. That's kind of what I mean, too much switching between bikes to get the recumbent hill legs going. That means low gearing for hills but even so they're not making for as enjoyable tour if there's more than a few a day. Flatter rivers and canals are a good loop options. Linear trips down rivers then quality, bike friendly trains back seem equally good.

I guess my query is about recumbent newbie friendly routes of which many routes have been suggested based on rivers. However touring often becomes enjoyable being able to go cross country away from linear features. The long, bendy road trip if you like. That needs an area if not flat then with easy, rolling hills. There's Belgium we found good, bruges and eastwards. Lovely area that's cycle through the trees path and through the water path added further novelty. My partner lived in North Germany not far from Netherlands. Living on a farm she often biked everywhere. Foggy at times I believe.

Back to bikes, upright bikes you've got the ability to use gravity to help on hills. Also I think they are much better if you're the kind of low cadence, high pressure/force cyclist who runs higher gears up hills than most. I am that kind of rider since I grew up living on a steep hill with a road bike that was highly geared for me and the hills. I couldn't afford to change gearing or really knew enough about it to want to change it so I got better at over geared hills. I simply cannot do that with recumbents.

Then there's the 9yo touring with me which adds further issues. A linear feature like rivers or canals hold less interest for kids I think. Hence the areas interest rather than routes.

 

[KnittyNorah]

I guess many cyclists gather a collection of cycles of various types. A few of us end up with a recumbent but I'd bet a lot more are upright riders who try recumbents. As such there's no commitment to the laidback bike among those of us like that. It's another bike you ride as your needs or fancies take. That's kind of what I mean, too much switching between bikes to get the recumbent hill legs going. That means low gearing for hills but even so they're not making for as enjoyable tour if there's more than a few a day. Flatter rivers and canals are a good loop options. Linear trips down rivers then quality, bike friendly trains back seem equally good.

I guess my query is about recumbent newbie friendly routes of which many routes have been suggested based on rivers. However touring often becomes enjoyable being able to go cross country away from linear features. The long, bendy road trip if you like. That needs an area if not flat then with easy, rolling hills. There's Belgium we found good, bruges and eastwards. Lovely area that's cycle through the trees path and through the water path added further novelty. My partner lived in North Germany not far from Netherlands. Living on a farm she often biked everywhere. Foggy at times I believe.

Back to bikes, upright bikes you've got the ability to use gravity to help on hills. Also I think they are much better if you're the kind of low cadence, high pressure/force cyclist who runs higher gears up hills than most. I am that kind of rider since I grew up living on a steep hill with a road bike that was highly geared for me and the hills. I couldn't afford to change gearing or really knew enough about it to want to change it so I got better at over geared hills. I simply cannot do that with recumbents.

Then there's the 9yo touring with me which adds further issues. A linear feature like rivers or canals hold less interest for kids I think. Hence the areas interest rather than routes.

Some of the Schoene-radweg routes specifically say they are suitable for children and do seem to have 'attractions' if you go at the right time of year. But it depends a lot on what interests the individual child ...

 

[Time Waster]

That's easy, Nintendo switch and YouTube!

Denmark looks good because of lego!

 

[steveindenmark]

I would start by working out where it is easy to travel to with a recumbent trike. That excludes all of Scandanavia.
Holland would be good. It is relatively flat, easy to get to and has a good cycling network.

 

[fullfathom5]

I'd suggest cycling along the Rhine, Saar or Moselle. I've only experience of the sections in Germany but the cycle paths are well-maintained, the local facilities are excellent and the scenery wonderful.

I would also agree with the comments about the North German coast - it's the one part of Germany I wouldn't rush back to although the cities I visited (Hamburg, Lubeck, Luneburg, etc.) were lovely.