Touring plans for 2023

[sevenfourate]

I haven't planned the duration.

Way to do it ! Keep us updated with progress and pics. And most of all ENJOY !!!

 

[Glow worm]

Early May solo Mini tour planned across the Netherlands, just into Germany.

Night Ferry from Harwich to Hook, the plan is to visit as many National Parks there and back as possible (there appear to be quite a few decent ones). Hoping for cranes, white storks, shrikes, golden orioles, churring nightjars and of course glow worms (though it’s a little early in the season for that).

Just booked my ferry tickets, now sat here tapping fingers on table for 4 months until it’s time to point the bike in the direction of Harwich. Can’t wait!

All accomodation now booked. Sailing overnight to The Hook from Harwich on the 30th April riding through as many National parks as possible to Walbeck, in Germany (just), then heading back along the Belgian border, again hoping to see more National parks and back on May 9th. Wish Id booked for longer now!

 

[albal]

5 days in, and luck with the weather. Like summer down south. Currently enjoying a tapas and vino tinto in central Valladolid. Summer riding would be unbearable for me anyway. 3rd attempt on this route and still enjoy it. Mixture of camp and hotels. Will be mostly camping in France, as rooms are more expensive.
Thoroughly recommend Spain.

 

[All uphill]

All accomodation now booked. Sailing overnight to The Hook from Harwich on the 30th April riding through as many National parks as possible to Walbeck, in Germany (just), then heading back along the Belgian border, again hoping to see more National parks and back on May 9th. Wish Id booked for longer now!

Sounds great. Wishing you fair weather!

 

[albal]

5 days in, and luck with the weather. Like summer down south. Currently enjoying a tapas and vino tinto in central Valladolid. Summer riding would be unbearable for me anyway. 3rd attempt on this route and still enjoy it. Mixture of camp and hotels. Will be mostly camping in France, as rooms are more expensive.
Thoroughly recommend Spain.

 

[albal]

just a few days to go. Had rain every day since the border. Except today. Tho there is still time.

 

[Emanresu]

I will be riding the Camino Francès, St. Jean Pied de Port - Santiago de Compostela + (leaving from home) together 1000km over a time of 15 to 20 days. Looking for anybody interest to joining me? Contact me if interested for more information.

Have done this and would advise you have a bell or more likely an airhorn. The last 100km is full of people wandering all over the roads not paying attention to bikes and cars coming up behind. Or avoid the minor roads and stick to the main ones. Drivers in Spain are very accomodating.

Will be doing the South - North version (VDLP in Spain) late summer after doing MizMal (Ireland) over the next two weeks.

 

[Jon in Sweden]

In July I'm planning a short 3 day tour with a friend out to the island of Öland.

It's a pleasant 76km ride to catch the ferry at Oskarshamn. 2hrs on the ferry to Byxelkrok on Öland. Then, it's about 320km to circumnavigate the island (not allowing for diversions for sightseeing).

Planning to take it steady (25kph) with mostly asphalt, but some gentle gravel too. Öland is pancake flat, breezy but incredibly sunny. You're never far from the sea and the first 50km is along the beach. It seems to be a place to catch epic sunsets.

Here are a few photos of what the route will be like (almost all screen grabbed from Google Streetview):

 

[HobbesOnTour]

Have done this and would advise you have a bell or more likely an airhorn. The last 100km is full of people wandering all over the roads not paying attention to bikes and cars coming up behind. Or avoid the minor roads and stick to the main ones. Drivers in Spain are very accomodating.

Will be doing the South - North version (VDLP in Spain) late summer after doing MizMal (Ireland) over the next two weeks.

With respect, I couldn't disagree more.
An airhorn would certainly make a cyclist incredibly unpopular on a route renowned for its spiritual dimension.
Some of the camino rurales are wonderful to explore, on the appropriate bike.
Yes, heavy foot traffic is to be expected, and should be accommodated in my opinion. A cyclist blasting past a procession of walking pilgrims will earn no good karma. And I can't imagine it being particularly enjoyable.
The last 100km is incredibly busy, especially so this year, when it seems that a post Covid backlog has resulted in record numbers on the Camino. I solved that problem by riding in the afternoons and early evenings and thereby avoiding pretty much all the walkers.

There can be so much more to the Camino Frances than just a bike ride. If a bike ride is what someone is after I'd suggest staying with the roads or looking at alternative Caminos. Or just picking a place to cycle to. There's a hell of a lot more to Spain than the Camino routes.

 

[Emanresu]

An airhorn would certainly make a cyclist incredibly unpopular on a route renowned for its spiritual dimension.

Seems my attempt at humour has fallen way short of where it should be. Hope @Squeakypoo didn't take the line literally.

 

[dimrub]

Only just stumbled upon this thread, half a year gone already. So we rode across France during the Passover break, my son and I, makes sense to make good use of the other long-ish vacation, corresponding to another religious festival, Cycling God bless them, Sukkot. So we'll be flying to Vienna, and riding out of it this time, through the 3 B's: Bratislava, Budapest, finishing at Belgrade. I'm looking forward to coming back to the first 3 capitals, and to a first visit in the 4th, not to mention everything in between, and we finally are going to switch to camping, having done it Camino del Master Card this far. See, the son is celebrating his 18th birthday shortly before the trip, and he got it into his head that from that point on he needs to pay his way, so we're looking for ways to shift the old budget vs comfort slider towards budget.

I really want to finish EV6 at some point, but I'm not convinced yet that 1400 km through Romania and Bulgaria is worth it - I hear different takes on this part of the route, in terms of attractions vs. challenges. We'll see.

Next year I'm thinking of taking a break from work and following the iron curtain along EV13, but we'll see how that goes.