Novice wanting to tour

[Bluebirdjay]

Hiya,

I am an enthusiastic day cyclist and enjoy a long ride of a day, but I was hoping to take on something a bit challenging over summer and tour around France, wih the hope of reaching Greece by October.

I understand that is a long old way and I might be a bit over estimating my ability here but I just wanted advice on essentially where to begin to plan the tour and how realistic it is.

I am pretty fit and do a lot of hill climbing by merit of where I live and I would be taking my time with this planning on not cycling more than 5/7 days and only making up to 70km max a day.

Any advice? Please be nice I am a first timer and understand I may have bitten off more than I can chew, hence my asking on here

Thanks!

Emily

 

[rich p]

No reason why you shouldn't be capable at all. Travel as light as you reasonably can and pedal!
Adjust your mileages and days off, as and how you feel. The longest tour I did was 5 weeks and I only had 3 days off IIRC. I preferred to travel slowly for even as little as 25 miles if I felt a bit cream-crackered. Everyone has a different way but you'll find out what suits you en route.

 

[xilios]

Hey Emily,

My first ever tour was from Maastricht, NL to Athens, Greece in 2005.
Decide first where would you want to start. Than what would you like to see and places you would like to visit. I would follow an easy route for the first several days to get used to the routine.
My wife and I use the MAPS.ME app. which has all the camping's (even the municipal camping's in France). We've also installed it on our smart phones for back up. It's free very accurate (more than google maps), uploads automatically and can be used off line which is great.
Do some research on crazyguyonabike.com and a couple other sites, and for some inspiration, check out Favorite Sites link on our page.
cheers

 

[Ticktockmy]

Plymouth to Greece, is just the warm up for some people tours, so is very do-able after all cycle touring over any distance is just a series of day rides with rest days thrown in, if you go down the B&B, Hostel or Hotel route you can travel very light and get most of your needs into a large saddle bag. If however you intend to camp, then you have to factor in whether your bike can have a rack fitted for panniers, and of course you might need to purchase suitable camping gear, something you will need to consider. Unless you do some training runs or short tours before hand, your first few days with a pannier laden bike will be slower as you get used to the wibble wobble feel you can get. Lastly you have asked in the right forum, as plenty of Cycle tourers here to give you more advise.

 

[snorri]

but I just wanted advice on essentially where to begin to plan the tour

It is important to remember, planning is optional.
It could be all that is required is a vague plan that gets you to where you want to be within the available time.
There are websites full of tour reports from cyclists who have been there before, but I prefer to explore on my own account and not know from someone else what I am likely to find around the next corner.
Plans could hold you down to a programme and have you missing out on chance encounters or advice and suggestions from other cycle tourers along the way.
Your intended max of 70K /day sounds good as your average speed with a touring load will be considerably less than your average on an unloaded bike.

 

[andym]

Hi Emily

The answer is going to depend in part on how much time you want to spend in France. There probably isn't any substitute for sitting down and thinking (even if only in very rough terms) about possible routes, what distances they involve, and how long they'll take - otherwise it's a bit of an 'Is-my-piece-of-string-long-enough? question.

You say you want to tour around France and then hopefully reach Greece in October. Which is fine except that if you were heading direct for Greece you'd probably go south-east through southern Germany, into Austria and the Balkans. You *could* head south into France and then at a certain point head east through Switzerland, but going through the Alps is going to take more time. Or you could loop north around the Alps. And so on. If you have the time, the world's your oyster, but you need to think about how much time you want to allocate to different parts of the journey.

There's nothing to stop you winging it and basically seeing how far you can get: either deciding to make a big loop and at a certain point head for home, or leaving buying return tickets until say a month before the end of your tour when you'll have a better idea of where you need to get back from.

If you've never toured before, it's worth going on a short tour in the UK as a dry run to test out your kit etc.

 

[MichaelW2]

You don't have to take the most direct route. I would investigate the most cycle-friendly Alpine passes and some of the big river crossings that will be pinch points. You then head in that general direction, making up the route as you go. You will get plenty of good info from cyclists coming in the opposite direction.
You can ride in ultralight B&B/hostel mode, minimalist no-cook camping, or full whack expedition mode.
For Euro tours, no-cook camping is useful, you can find accomodation anywhere and sample the local cuisine. Carry a picnic kit for cold meals and a cup for hot drinks.

 

[Bluebirdjay]

Wow.

Thank you so much for the useful advice! Is is great. I reckon I was going to head through Switzerland and the Balkans as they should be pretty beautiful around this time of year!

Snorri, when I say plan I mean options like hostel or camping route, what to pack etc. also if I would need certain things for definite.

This has given me plenty to think about and I will continue to get ideas from here. Thanks!

Emily

 

[Cringles]

if you can take a few trips closer to home, it would be worth it, as others have mentioned, test out kit, get used to a bike with the extra weight. I was surprised how much my bikes steering felt with front panniers, but you soon get used to it, then it feels odd without weight on it!

Camping is a whole new experience to me, so I'm also learning how to do that. I've since learned that a 1 man tent isn't ideal for me, but for now it'll do.
It's the trips closer to home were I'm learning lots, I'm a novice at touring to. Learning things like, how to pack your bags, don't bury baby wipes in the rear bags, & that I need a 3rd water bottle

 

[Pale Rider]

I second the idea of a dry run in the UK.

You could also try loading the bike up a bit on purpose and doing a few consecutive long day rides from home.

Your fitness sounds up to it, but I think you need to establish how you handle riding six or seven days a week.

 

[HovR]

Best advice I think is to get all your gear together and test it out. See what you use and what you don't, where you could save weight etc. I reckon your plan sounds perfectly viable for this summer, but a weekend trip of two before hand will help you test your gear.

If you cycle regularly around Plymouth you'll find the non mountainous parts of France easy, so it'll be a nice way to begin the tour. I just did Plymouth to Paris and found that in some regions of France over 70 miles I would do the same amount of climbing as 20 miles around Plymouth! Your proposed distance seems sensible too. I jumped straight into 70 miles a day for 350 miles, and my knees could really feel it by the end!

Ridewithgps.com is a good site for route planning, which can then be exported to an app on your phone like MAPS.ME or OsmAnd. I paired this with a 12000mAh external charger battery and could get 4+ days of navigation, including running Strava, without needing to charge at a wall outlet.

Loads of packing lists are available online, from people only carrying a credit card and spare clothes to those carrying the kitchen sink. A middle ground between the two is normally good!

 

[HovR]

For Euro tours, no-cook camping is useful, you can find accomodation anywhere and sample the local cuisine. Carry a picnic kit for cold meals and a cup for hot drinks.

Got to say that I find my cooking equipment worth the extra 800 grams it weighs (mess tin, stove, spoon, gas). The days we wild camp it is nice to have a warm meal, or a coffee in the morning. Although I can see with the warm nights etc further south in Europe it may not be missed as much. Worth bringing along though I reckon, especially for a first time tour.

 

[HelenD123]

Hi Emily. This sounds like a great idea. Before I headed off on a big tour I did a trial few days in the UK. As well as checking kit and confirming it was what I wanted to do, I also used it as reassurance to my parents. I texted them my location every day and got them used to the idea of me touring, hopefully meaning they'd worry less. I don't know if this is a consideration for you but families do worry.

I would get a vague route plan together them see what accommodation options there are. There's no point deciding you'll hostel all the way if there aren't any hostels.

 

[BigonaBianchi]

Go for it...you will soon settle into 'life on the road' and fin dout what works for you and what doesn't. Be sure of your abilty to fix your bike if necessary, know your route and be flexible when things change unexpectantly, carry reserve credit card and cash, and don tput everything in your bar bag, keep a spare credit card and some cash deep down in th eback of a rear pannier as well. Listen to locals, smell the flowers, do it your way. Ask for help when needed 99.9% of peeps will bend over backwards to help you on a loaded bike. Just keep the wheels turning and you will get there, fact.

 

[vernon]

Have a look at Eurovelo six. It traverses France From St Nazaire to Mulhouse, crosses Switzerland and Joins the Danube at its source before going through Germany Austria, clipping Slovakia, then passing through Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania. There's plenty of maps and books covering the route. Campsites become rarer in Serbia and Croatia. Elsewhere up to there is fine.