If you had to recommend a country

[MarkF]

Spain (Blackpool doesn't represent the UK), Galicia, Asturias down to Valladolid province. Warm, not too hot, not too cold, spectacular scenery, the smallish population use the EU funded autovias leaving most areas a stress free cycling heaven. Strong regional identity, low living costs, plenty of footie teams, what more could a man want?

T

 

[mcshroom]

I'd vote for southern Germany or Western Austria. Far more laid back areas of the two countries and with wonderful scenery

 

[vernon]

Germany proved to be a surprise for me. I first visited the country three years ago as I peddaled along the EuroVelo Six cycle route. I was a tad anxious as my ,master of the language extended to coming fourth in my wife's German class - I sat the same language paper as her pupils sat fpor their GCSE mock. Only three of her kids beat me after two years of tuition. I had none. They weren't very clever so you can gauge my mastery from that.

Anyway to cut to the chase. I found that I could muddle through in the rare instances that I encountered Ger,mans who could not speak English. I was made to feel very welcome and I found the natives very friendly and accommodating. The churches and cathedrals are exceptional as are their museums. I returned to Ger,many last year and cycled from Passau through Austria, a country that I found to be very reserved and anodyne before entering Slovakia and Hungary. The Slovakians were fine but the hospitality of the Hungarians was exceptional. My cycling partner and I were treated as honorary Hungarians in restaurants when we asked for more paprika in our food. Budapest was stunning.

I was in Germany again this year - the former East Germany and once again had a fantastic time, the best of which was the three days spent in Berlin. It's a fantastic city, vibrant and cosmopolitan. Liked it so much that i'm flying there next week for four days of cultural activities. Can't wait especially when one of the musums vited will be the science and technology museum with its two roundhouses full of steam locomotives.

But, at the end of the day I am happy enough living in the UK. There still plenty of unexplored territory on my doorstep: Kettlethorpe, Cleckheaton, Ramsbottom and the like.... Having cycled from Land's End to John o'Groats, the diversity of cultures , scenery, cuisine, accents and had to be experienced to be believed.

There's no better way of getting a feel for a county than by cycling through it and being exposed to it warts and all without being insulated from it by cars, buses and trains.

 

[swee'pea99]

More sheep than people!!

Isn't one of the islands less populated than the other?

There are indeed many more sheep than people...but then again, there are barely more than 3 million people, in a country whose land area is pretty much the same as Britain's. Most of those who do live there live in Auckland, a handful in each of the other major cities (Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin), and hardly anyone pretty much everywhere else. Lots of room for everyone!

Most of the Scottish type people have gathered in the far south of the South Island - just about the one place in the country that's pretty much guaranteed crappy weather most of the year (cold, windy, wet). Strange. If you enjoy the outdoor life, tho', you really are spoiled for choice - the most stunning scenery in the world, walking tracks everywhere, great skiing two hours in that direction, lovely beaches two hours in t'other. And you couldn't wish for a friendlier, more balanced, more at ease with themselves nation of people. They really are as nice and easygoing as everyone says.

The only real downside is that it's so far from anywhere else. You can't just fly off to a variety of different worlds in an hour or three. It's NZ, or Australia (which is actually a long way away - and is, moreover, Australia), or 'other', which is absolutely vast distances away.

 

[Hill Wimp]

I lived in Italy for a year in my youth and adored it but strangely I wouldn't live there now, the bureaucracy would drive me mad. One of the reasons I love living where I do is that I can be in Paris within 2 hours and have the rest of mainland Europe at my fingertips from there.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

I have heard some bad reports about how cyclists get treated on NZ roads, some quite horrific.

I think the country I've felt most at home in was Denmark. Cheerful drinkers, a bit in your face in a cheeky kind of way, but not blind drunk like Swedish weekend bingers. Good for cycling. They seem very much at ease with their selves, particularly so for a northern European country. The language does seem to have some impossible vowel sounds, though. And I've not seen any spectacular scenery - it is a low-lying country.

 

[Doseone]

+1 for New Zealand

You can ski in the morning and be on the beach in the afternoon. Great outdoor lifestyle and lovely people.

 

[Brandane]

When we watch members on here taking flights to the U.S. and so on via these flight tracker sites, we see New Brunswick and Qubec on the map regularly. There seem to be a lot of trees and lakes up there.... Its sounding more like Scotland already!

But there's only one "lake" in Scotland .

Scotland. The most beautiful place in the world.

Maybe for a few weeks in summer, but for the next 4 months we can only expect it to be grey, wet, cold and windy .

Could always go to St. Kitts and Nevis?

Somewhere in the Caribbean would be my choice. I lived in Jamaica for about 7 years of my youth and went to primary junior school there. I loved the place and the only thing that stops me from going back is the level of violent crime in the country, which I think is why we left in the first place. And if you think UK drivers are crazy, try Jamaica!! It has one of the worlds highest rates of road deaths.

We also lived in the Seychelles for a couple of years in the 70s (although by then I was at school back in Scotland and only visited Seychelles for holidays); another beautiful country spoiled by politics at that time. I believe it is pretty much sorted now, but far too expensive for me to ever find out.

 

[ianrauk]

Canada. Ontario right by fhe great lakes. No other place to live.

So nearly moved to Ontario (Peterborough) 10 years back. Was offered a job, but various factors stopped us from doing so.
Toronto has to be one of my favourite cities in the world.

 

[welsh dragon]

@ianrauk I have been to Toronto and Niagara falls many years ago. Stunning.

 

[ayceejay]

If you want to move somewhere without a dubious history you might have to look a bit further afield like Mars for instance but even they were the inspiration for bringing wars.

 

[BigonaBianchi]

Southern Germany is nice, northern Germany is less so imho with the exception of Fohr and sylt.

But the UK has it's plus points over most places...the trouble here though is it's so dam over crowded and expensive for the most part. I've thought about leaving the UK seriously many times. I have lived in Spain, spent 30 years visiting Germany three or four times a year, crossed Europe, UK and America on a bicycle and Cyprus. I've visited, new Zealand, kenya, South Africa, denmark, Sweeden, France, Switzerland, Portugal, Greece, UK & USVirgin Islands, the Med islands, Ibiza, Majorca, menorca, belgium, Holland, France,Malaysia, Singapore,mexico, and Ive always come back because that is where family were. Now that isnt the case so....

AMERICA (Oregon or Virginia)...watch out...

 

[Boris Bajic]

Utopia.

I've never been there so I can't comment from experience but I read the first bit of a book about it and it sounds pretty unbelievable.

Not a full member of the UN yet, so travel papers and insurance may be tricky until you're settled.

But on balance, it seems a pretty cool place.

Places to avoid? Dystopia. Full of scowling men who think they are Mel Gibson or Malcolm MacDowell and generally socially and politically dysfunctional. It doesn't help that it's fictional and therefore hard to find.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Ilkeston

 

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