Where are you touring this summer?

[Dave Davenport]

As long as your flights not booked with BA that sounds fantastic.

 

[rich p]

For my first tour i am flying to Athens(June 20th) and cycling along the Adriatic coast(Croatia) up into Austria, through Germany etc etc all the way home to beautiful Birmingham. Should take no more than 6 weeks. Am i crazy?..Any advice from more experienced tourers? I'll be camping all the way, a mixture of wild camping and campsites.

Sounds like great trip and route. I presume you have to go through Albania and Bosnia before Croatia? I'll be interested to see how it goes - it's pretty lumpy on the coast I believe.
I can recommend Slovenia as a beautiful country.
What sort of average mileage are you planning on?

 

[Robdoo]

Yeh luckily i'm booked with easyjet, after-all its owned by a Greek so figuered they'd be the best to fly to Athens with.

The preliminary Route is Greece, Macedonia(Lake Ohrid), Kosovo or Albania, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Germany, then France or Belgium to Dunkirk or Calais before catching the ferry to Dover.

I know the heat is going to be a major factor especially mid June in Greece. Plenty of water , lots of sunscreen and i should be ok. I've also got a Garmin Gps to help and i'm cycling on a Corratec x-vert Hybrid which is pretty sturdy and only a month or so old.

I'm thinking about 50-60 miles a day average, with one rest day every 6-7 days. My idea is to cycle from about 8:30 -11am then sight see 11-3 (so i'm off the bike for midday) then 3-6pm (or later) cycle to campspot.

I just hope all goes well and no-one attempts to steal my stuff, i'm going to get a rain cover just to keep the bike and panniers out of site of theives when i am stopped to eat lunch etc.

 

[Dave Davenport]

The milage sounds fine. I wouldn't worry about a rain cover, just take a decent cable lock that you can wind through bits and keep your valuables together and with you at all times. I bit of spare cash and a note of card/passport numbers hidden elsewhere (in the seat post maybe) is a good idea.

 

[pinkkaz]

Hoping to do Bilbao to St Malo, assuming ferries are still running and prices don't go through the roof thanks to Iceland's volcano!

 

[Dave Davenport]

Hoping to do Bilbao to St Malo, assuming ferries are still running and prices don't go through the roof thanks to Iceland's volcano!

Copycat!!!!!!

 

[frank9755]

I've got a busy summer lined up as I've managed to get out of working for a few months:

Just got back from tour 1, which was Manche to Med, from London via Newhaven/Dieppe to Montpellier

Tour 2 in a couple of weeks is going to be Dubrovnik to Tirana, followed by a tour round Southern Albania with a CTC group

Tour 3 will be in the Himalayas - Lhasa to Katmandu

There may be Tour 2.5 in July/August - not decided on what yet!

 

[Anthony]

I've got a busy summer lined up as I've managed to get out of working for a few months:

Just got back from tour 1, which was Manche to Med, from London via Newhaven/Dieppe to Montpellier

Tour 2 in a couple of weeks is going to be Dubrovnik to Tirana, followed by a tour round Southern Albania with a CTC group

Tour 3 will be in the Himalayas - Lhasa to Katmandu

There may be Tour 2.5 in July/August - not decided on what yet!

I like the sound of this one. It's something I would love to do one day. I assume you are going in an organised group?

 

[frank9755]

Yes. I'm going with a small cycle touring company called Red Spokes, who do the trip regularly and seem to know what they're talking about.

I have read reports of people having done it independently, but I imagine there'd be a fair bit of visa hassle, and you would need to know what you were doing with respect to acclimatisation to altitude, etc.

Frank

 

[pinkkaz]

Copycat!!!!!!

Ha! Didn't notice that... I reckon that's about the time we'll go too so maybe we'll see you at Portsmouth (maybe at that weird little pub around the corner from the terminal...!)

Haven't booked tickets yet though as it depends on my husband getting enough work to justify his time off... That was £400 for two people wasn't it (please say yes!)

 

[scraynes]

I'm off in a couple of weeks to do St Malo to La Rochelle.

I was hoping for 3 weeks unpaid leave from work, which woud have allowed me to get down to the Med, but they only gave me 1 week, so La Rochelle it is.

Will be 3 of us in total and camping all the way . I'm getting very exsited now and looking forward to the final evening sitting around in the old town toasting our success

 

[Dave Davenport]

Ha! Didn't notice that... I reckon that's about the time we'll go too so maybe we'll see you at Portsmouth (maybe at that weird little pub around the corner from the terminal...!)

Haven't booked tickets yet though as it depends on my husband getting enough work to justify his time off... That was £400 for two people wasn't it (please say yes!)

Yep, it was for two. If you've not been on the Pride of Bilbao before you're in for a treat, as long as you like the idea of being at a Butlins camp that pitches and rolls for 34 hours that is

 

[dpiper]

Completing my world circumnavigation by riding 21 centuries in 21 days. Search for 21st Century boy on facebook and join the blog!

www.tra-velo-gue.co.uk

 

[jamesxyz]

getting the ferry to zeebrugge the a slow 4-5 day meander through belgium & holland to catch the return ferry to Hull at Rotterdam with a night in Amsterdam before - for shure! My first overseas tour!

 

[pinkkaz]

Yep, it was for two. If you've not been on the Pride of Bilbao before you're in for a treat, as long as you like the idea of being at a Butlins camp that pitches and rolls for 34 hours that is

urgh sounds delightful!