When do people stop touring?

[J-Lo]

I am still to go on my first tour, and realising there isnt alot of 'summer' left, it left me pondering - when do people stop touring? I would guess October before it starts peeing it down with rain and gets too cold?

Or do some of you go winter touring?

I do like the sound of that quite adventurous etc but would probably think otherwise when actually on the bike & in the tent..

Anyhow, tent and sleeping bag etc have been ordered - so its time to give it a go... I cant help but think I should have started earlier!

 

[TheDoctor]

Well, I'm going in September. That's northern France.
I'd have thought the further south you go, the later you could do it.
I've been to Greece in late October / early November and it was still nice and warm.
Anne Mustoe (RIP) raved about Turkey over the winter months IIRC.

 

[psmiffy]

End of September - sometimes into October - you can get cold and wet easily enough between May and September in Europe without pushing the envelope into the winter months -Ive been snowed on in France in July and Greece in June - frozen in Norway in late August - of course my mind easily wanders into thoughts of southern hemisphere adventures come the end of August.

 

[P.H]

I don't think it's so much the weather, more the shortness of the days. I like riding in the dark, but touring in the dark is something else. Putting your tent up, cooking and packing up in the morning are all best done in daylight. So realistically April to September are my usual UK touring months. I still try and get away for the occasional weekend in the winter, it's just more spontaneous and not so far, not really a tour.

 

[Bodhbh]

I've done weekends over winter, but the idea of a full blown winter tour in a temperate climate (i.e. just above freezing and wet) does not much appeal. Think the latest I've done is late Sept.

Mind when it's properly in the negative...

http://translate.google.de/translate?hl=en&sl=de&tl=en&u=http://bike-nord.de

Had a week, cycling around Finland last Christmas, it was around -10C constantly, mind considering what it was like in the UK I might have saved myself the airfare. Would like to do it properly like the above guys sometime.

 

[Banjo]

It depends on the quality of your kit. Shivering through the night in a summerweight sleeping bag will leave you too tired to enjoy the next day.

Last year I did some cycle camping in Snowdonia in October. Days were mostly warm some nights were almost freezing 2 of us were quite happy the third guy had a cheap sleeping bag and suffered.

 

[Brains]

Certainly done multi day camps in October and March many times
However only cycle toured once over new year - it was not the cold that got us,it was the wind. we ended up walking as it was faster and a lot less effort tha riding!

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Credit card touring using B&B's, rather than camping, can be a 365 day a year activity.

 

[Muddyfox]

Alastair Humphreys and Rob Lilwal cycled through Siberia in "winter" at -40 degrees and they were wild camping (brrrrr)

Simon

 

[Je ta Dawes]

Work commitments mean that we often can’t tour in the summer – this year we are planning to go in October – Autumn cycling is sometimes the best time to go in the UK, particularly if you get a period of high pressure and clear calm weather. A couple of things to look out for though are fallen leaves on the road – slippery when wet and can cover a multitude of sins (pot holes) – and try and get some good full finger gloves and warm socks or over-shoes. We did try touring in January once but almost died of exposure cycling over Mynydd Ddu...

 

[ufkacbln]

Credit card touring using B&B's, rather than camping, can be a 365 day a year activity.

I get a week each year to myself as I have a week's leave more than my wife.

Occasionally it gets partially (or wholly) eaten by an emergency, but normally it means a week touring between late February and late March.

Some years it is wet, some snowy and others I wear a tshirt and shorts.

Apart from the Snow it is really as unpredictable as a Summer tour.

 

[HelenD123]

I went touring on the August bank holiday a couple of years ago and even that early in the year it got dark reasonably early, say 8pm, and I found that very depressing when on my own.

Actually, I nearly forgot that it got dark even earlier when I was cycling down the Pacific Coast last autumn. I think because I'd been on the road for so long I must have acclimatised. I always aimed to get to camp an hour before darkness which meant 4pm by the end. I'd get the tent up while it was light but often ended up cooking by headtorch. Take a good book and a headtorch if you're planning lots of winter camping.

 

[Amanda P]

When it's winter here, it's summer in the southern hemisphere. So there's always somewhere you can go.

 

[pshore]

I got chatting to a cycle tourist on holiday in France. Well, he was more of a hobo tbh and he had a dog for companionship.

He had been on the road for two years. Winter was spent in southern Spain and for summer he was heading to northern Europe.