Europe (all)

While the railway stayed mostly in tunnels, our road wound its way through short tunnels on our way to Flüelen at the end of the lake. It was along these cliffs that William Tell was said to have duped the Austrians, who had taken him captive and were returning by boat to their headquarters when a fierce storm arose.

Now with over 50 images.

Joris en Stella fietsen vanaf augustus 2005 van Nederland richting China. Na een uitstapje door het middenoosten wordt nu de weg naar het oosten voor gezet.

Web site for our bike trip from Geneva to Milan. The three of us, Mike, Steve and Dave left from Boston and Denver on July 29th and rode about 275 miles over the next 8 days - with one day off for rain. For the most part, the route was relatively flat, except for two days in the Alps. We crossed the Simplon Pass from Switzerland into Italy - made famous when Napoleon decided it was a good route to invade southern Europe.

We did this as a self-guided trip without escort or SAG. We pre-booked hotels for about half the nights and stayed flexible on routes and destinations for the rest.

Web site for our bike trip from Geneva to Milan. The three of us, Mike, Steve and Dave left from Boston and Denver on July 29th and rode about 275 miles over the next 8 days - with one day off for rain. For the most part, the route was relatively flat, except for two days in the Alps. We crossed the Simplon Pass from Switzerland into Italy - made famous when Napoleon decided it was a good route to invade southern Europe.

We did this as a self-guided trip without escort or SAG. We pre-booked hotels for about half the nights and stayed flexible on routes and destinations for the rest.

We have cycled many kilometres trough Europe. On our first trip we cycled from Holland to Sweden. After Sweden we cycled trouhg Great Britain. And we cycled further trough Holland, Belgium, France, Spain and ended our tour 6000 km later in Faro (Portugal).

On our next trip we are going to cycle from Heraklion, Crete to Holland. This trip starts 14 April 2006. More info on our site. In the future we will expend our tours outside Europe.

A quick tour of Western Europe including the Rhine and Mosel Rivers. The trip report is in travel log format with pictures. Cycling statistics included for those intersted in cycling in this region.

If you have two weeks to spare and a young children, the Lofoten and Vesteralen islands are an ideal area for a summer tour - gorgeous scenery, warm weather, white sandy beaches, and 24 hour sunshine. Best of all, the roads are free from traffic and pretty flat in this area since they hug the seashore. Self-catering accomodation in rorbus (fishing huts) is affordable and very memorable. This is the story of our madcap journey above the Arctic Circle in 2005 with two touring bikes and trailer bike, complete with a guide to accomodation on the islands, some tips about places to visit, and a brief list of what to take with you and what to leave behind. The area described is quite popular with touring cyclists but nowhere near as busy as other destinations during the summer holidays, so people are friendlier and there's far more space to relax in - like New Zealand, but only a couple of hours from the UK by air.

Dall'Adriatico al Mar Nero attraverso Albania, Macedonia, Grecia, Turchia,Bulgaria

Wir waren nicht sicher, ob wir die beträchtlichen Steigungen des Böhmer Waldes uns zumuten wollten. Es stimmt, ab und zu ging es richtig zur Sache, aber man wird mehr als belohnt durch die zauberhafte, stille Landschaft im Sumava Nationalpark. Auch weiter durch Tschechien, ob man direkt an der Moldau oder in einiger Entfernung vom Ufer seinen Weg findet, war viel zu entdecken: zum Beispiel kleine fahrradgerechte Orte wie Frymburk, Rosemberk, Vyssí Brod, Ceský Krumlov oder Budweis. Krönung, wenn nicht gerade fahrradfreundlich, war die ``Goldene Stadt an der Moldau'', Prag.

So viele Nachrichten von der erweiterten EU lassen uns nicht kalt. Unsere Neugier treibt uns - wir buchen die Fähre von Rostock nach Tallinn und starten auf eine Baltikum-Radreise mit offenem Ende. Vieles ist neu und abenteuerlich, die Russisch- und Polnischsprachkenntnissen von meinem Mann - ein Rest aus seiner Schulzeit - erweisen sich als sehr nützlich. Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius und Danzig liegen auf unserem Weg, sowie unzählige spannende Erlebnisse.

Die klare Struktur etwas vom Anfang bis zum Ende zu machen reizt immer, so das Konzept von der Quelle zur Mündung. Zu oft hört man das Vorurteil, die Po-Ebene sei langweilig. Vielleicht für den zu bedauernden Autofahrer auf der Autostrada. Wir haben die Strecke am Po als abwechslungsreich und hoch interessant erlebt, mit schönen Landschaften, reizvollen Dörfern und großartigen Städten.

Unsere Radtour führte uns zu den Städten Verona, Padua, Venedig, Treviso und Vicenza, eine herrliche Fahrt in die Kunstgeschichte Venetiens. Auch zu der Geschichte Venetiens gehören die mehr als 2.000 Villen, die in der Zeit zwischen dem 15. und 18. Jahrhundert im Hinterland Venedigs gebaut wurden,deren Architektur wir heute noch bewundern können. Vor allem stand Andrea Palladio dieser Villenarchitektur Pate. Dafür dass wir immer wieder mal verkehrsreiche Straßen in Kauf nehmen mussten, wurden wir ausgiebig belohnt.

Cycling the Elbe and Danube cycle ways.

Two tours, one of the Danube cycle way from Germany to Budapest, then through Slovenia to Venice, and the Elbe cycle tour from Hook of Holland to Prague via Hamburg; passing through Germany and Dresden.

Pictures and watercolours from a cycling-around-Iceland adventure.

We cycled from Keflavík, visited the 196 m high waterfall Glymur, rounded Snæfellsnes, or we actually took the mountainroad over Snæfellsjökull. At Myvatn we looked at the active area. Along the southcoast we saw Jökulsárlón, Skaftafell, Dyrhólaey, Skogafoss, Seljalandsfoss, Strokkur, Gullfoss and Þingvallavatn.

Also see my Iceland-right-now page with webcams and their position on a map. And join my icq user list for Iceland.

``For prehistoric man who sheltered in the many caves, for the catholic heretics who defied the Church, and for resistance fighters, war-time refugees and downed WWII pilots who eluded the Nazis to escape over the mountains into Spain,'' the Ariège Pyrénées have a long history of serving as a refuge. Today, this unspoiled region attracts those eager to escape from the stresses of modern life, and cyclists wearied of persecution by vehicular traffic.

Although we found the High Pyrenees a spectacular and historic place to cycle, we enjoyed the Ariege Pyrenees as much or even more. We never thought, in advance, that the two areas would compare, but after tallying all the check marks from our exhaustive field testing and crunching the numbers through our proprietary, mathematical bike tour formulas... we can declare a virtual dead heat. Now I'm left with the difficult task of explaining to the humble reader (that's you) how such a conclusion can be drawn. If you sat in for the two-part High Pyrenees show aired earlier this month, then you'll note immediately that the Ariege isn't quite as spectacular, and perhaps doesn't rank as high in the "friggin', jaw-dropping, gorgeous" category. But here's where it does top the charts: The region has countless, quiet, picturesque, one-lane, rolling and often challenging country roads extending in all directions, and sprinkled with charming villages. The main roads follow the valleys and are sometimes almost flat, but it's easy to find routes that branch off and over steep cols. The roads are in terrific shape; I don't recall a single pothole.

In September 2003 a group of 14 cyclists rode over most of the major cols of the Pyrenees including of course the mighty Tourmalet. The majority of the group had never cycled in mountains, were not 'sporty' cyclists and with an age range of 32 to 65 were a pretty mixed bunch. To make things interesting the group cyclecamped without any motorised back-up at all, everything was carried on the bikes.

The trip was an adventure that in the end raised over £12,000 for the Charity ITDG. In the fortnight it took there was triumph and tragedy; laughter and tears. What follows is the account of that ride

The Route:

Americas: Venezuela, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina
Atlantic Traverse: Azores Islands [Portugal]
Europe: Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey
The Middle East: Iran
Central Asia: Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, India
South East Asia: Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia
Australasia: Australia

Welcome to the Brink Expedition!

Imagine attempting a global traverse that would take you 50,000 kilometres through some of the most difficult terrain and extreme weather on the planet, all the time attempting to use only human power and the natural elements.

Starting deep in the heart of Amazonian South America the Brink Expedition will encounter unforgiving Patagonian winds, snowed over Himalayan Mountain passes, monsoons on the sub-continent and the oppressive heat of Australia's Red Centre.

So while the clock ticks, the seasons will turn, making this a full-throttled Race Against the Elements!

Wir nehmen Abschied vom Sommer mit einer kleinen Tour vom Bayerischen Wald nach München, beginnend in Bayrisch Eisenstein an der tschechischen Grenze. Das Netz der Fahrradwege in Bayern macht es möglich, die gesamte Strecke auf ausgeschilderten, weitgehend autofreien Radwegen zu gestalten. Auch auf dieser relativ kurzen Strecke durch Bayern erlebt man viele Kontraste - unsere Route führte uns durch den bayerischen Wald, im Tal der weißen Regen, neben der Laber, ein Stück in der Donauebene und zum Schluss begleitet sie die Isar bis in die bayerische Hauptstadt.

Diese Strecke von ungefähr 1400 Kilometern bietet reichliche Abwechslung. Der Rheinradweg bleibt keineswegs am Fluss. Wir fuhren mal am Bodenseeufer, mal am Rhein, mal am Rhein-Rhone-Kanal, durch französische Weindörfer, auf den Rheinterassen, wir waren in Strassburg, Düsseldorf, Rotterdam, um nur einige der Städte zu nennen, wir besuchten die Kaiserdome von Speyer, Mainz und Worms, und zum Schluss tauchten wir kurz in das holländische Fahrradambiente ein. Nur am Bodensee waren einigermassen viele Radler unterwegs, sonst sahen wir kaum Touristen auf diesen sehr gut ausgebauten und ausgeschilderten Radwegen.

Der Donauradweg ist einer der beliebtesten Fahrradstrecken in Deutschland. Wir erwarteten die Menschenmassen auf zwei Rädern. Weit gefehlt. Die Strecke Passau - Wien ist bestimmt in der Hochsaison überfüllt, aber wir haben zwischen Ulm und Passau bei bestem Juni-Wetter die Wege beinah für uns allein gehabt. An Übernachtungsmöglichkeiten und Verpflegung mangelt es unterwegs nicht, und die geschichtsträchtige Donau bietet eine Fülle von Kultur- und historischen Denkmälern.

Wir wissen von vorigen Reisen, dass Frankreichs dichtes Netz an Campingplätzen sich für Sternfahrten vom Zeltplatz optimal anbietet. Dazu kommt die einmalige Infrastruktur an kleinen, wenig befahrenen Landstraßen in Frankreich, die Fahrradwege überflüssig macht. Unsere Tour ist kürzer ausgefallen als geplant, aber sie bietet doch einen kleinen Einblick in die Möglichkeiten des Radreisens in Frankreich.

This website accompanies the book ``Why Don't You Fly?'' (ISBN 1-905203-25-X published by Pen Press).

How does it feel to trade comfort and security for life as a nomad and to pare one's life down to the bare necessities? What is it like to push at the frontiers of one's physical and mental endurance?

``Why Don't You Fly?'' is the account of an epic adventure in search of an elusive sense of identity in which triumph, disappointment, discomfort, exhaustion and exhilaration all trade positions against a backdrop of prodigious physical endeavour. During a gruelling 16,500-mile examination of physical and mental stamina the author ate and drank in roadside cafés in the company of inquisitive lorry drivers and shared dormitories in remote Chinese villages with fascinated farm hands and gleeful mosquitoes. Sceptical western existentialism met religious fatalism in the restaurants and teahouses of the Middle East and India in the course of a physical and spiritual journey that constantly raised questions about the attitudes and values that prevail in the West.

The Website includes a chapter-by-chapter synopsis of the book, a sample chapter and 93 photographs.

This tour includes scenic detours around Greek islands, the Peloponnese, and proceeds through Italy, Austria, and Germany. This site also has tours in the USA: Colorado, Wyoming, Montana; and in Portugal and Spain.

This tour includes scenic detours around Greek islands, the Peloponnese, and proceeds through Italy, Austria, and Germany."

Lisbon's trams are something special - You meet the nicest people in the pouring rain - A ride to the Foia Summit - Islam plays a big historical role here - From the Rainy Coast to the Algarve Coast - Cabo de Sao Vicente - the High Algarve versus the Low Algarve- Was that a mountain lake or a large puddle ? - the Moorish castle next to the Catholic Church.

Lost and confused in Sevilla - the Western Pueblos Blancos - a place of great national touristic interest (the Costa del Sol) - the ride to the rock (Gibraltar) - the un-Sevillianized side of the the mountains (the Eastern Pueblo Blancos) - a meeting with another cyclist - the endurance challenges of Granada - Eating out Iberian style - Coke cans and the art of bicycle repair - the skirt of the mountains (the Alpujarra road) - the cycle tourist as caveman - more.

From Avila, great cycling on the northern slopes of the Sierra de Gredos leads into the dramatic north east corner of Extremadura via Candelario. Good climbs over the Puerto de Honduras and through Piornal follow before travelling southwards towards the beautiful town of Trujillo. East over the hills to Guadalupe completes a rich Extremaduran experience followed by an interesting return to Madrid that includes a trip along the via Verde de la Jara.

The mountains of the Sierra de Gredos lie to the north west of Madrid and regularly feature in la Vuelta - the Tour of Spain. As well as providing the opportunity to tackle some interesting climbs on quiet roads, travelling west through the Sierra de Gredos leads to the fascinating area of northern Extremadura. The return to Madrid contoured the slopes of the hills to the south of the river Tajo, through some very quiet roads, eventually leading to Toledo and Madrid.

The mountains of the Sierra de Gudar and El Maestrazgo lie due north of Valencia. Maestrazgo spans the boundary between Aragon and Valencia. It is one of the most sparsely populated areas of Spain, rich in historic detail and with a fine network of roads that link the ancient villages. Returning to Valencia from the west, via the Sierra de Javalambre, provides access to some quite different but equally impressive roads and scenery.

This webpage is intended to provide information for cycle tourists who may be considering tours in the countries I've visited. For more information, journals and pictures leave a message in my guestbook or send me an email.

`` Yes, it's hot. But we've seen worse haven't we my friend. There was that day east of Warnambol when the chip seal melted and the chips stuck to the tires. A few revolutions later we had flats front and rear. So we pushed for a mile seeking shade to repair the punctures. And the flies Ah! And there was that time in Zamorah. Ah! But not now.''

Although the tour that I had on the legendary climbs of the Tour de France in 2004 tempt me back to indulge in nostalgia, this year (2005) I decided to bicycle on the cols of the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de Suisse, and beside it to take part in the hard Fausto Coppi bicyclemarathon / gran fondo, which is a real challenge with its 187 km and has 4400m height difference.

Before the fantastic marathon, I bicycled to France to climb the Col de la Moutiere, and when I were there it was logical to climb also the 2802m Cime de la Bonette. Both cols are unforgettable.

Next to Briancon I enjoyed the nice Col du Granon (2413 m) which was not only steep but very beautiful. In 2005 at the Colle Finestre (Italia) there was a hard fight between profi Giro d'Italia racers; on my tour I had the most remarkable experience after a light rain, when the Sun could shine between the clouds.

In Switzerland I had cold weather for days, but I could climb nice cols. I loved Grimselm because I enjoyed very much the feeling of a triathlon race, and I loved Gotthard because its ``old'' feeling - thanks to the cobblestoned road.

In the last 3 days - through sunny weather - I went up to the legendary Passo Gavia, Passo Rombo / Timmelsjoch and last day the 2829m high Gletscherstrasse. The highest point on the last day!

Danube Bikeway starting from Passau, Germany to Vienna Austria.

In 2004 I succeeded in cycling through the French Alps, which had been one of my Great dream, plan for years. For years I felt that a tour in France can have more problems than in the nearer countries, but with the experiences of my tour in 2003 (along the Adria and to Montenegro), in 2004 I felt enough encourage to cycle up to the famous french cols. I had read a lot of travelogues (Trento Bike Pages, Velofahren.de, biketrip.org, etc.) and I tried to think about every problems which can occur through a French Alps tour: weather, busy campings, the effects of the Tour de France, and maybe some mechanical problems, etc.

In the first two days and in the last two days I had some problems, adventures, but just between the high mountains of the French Alps everything happened well. During the 12 days between the mountains, I climbed almost all of the passes / cols, that I planned for the whole tour, this means 21 serious ascents, 13 of them are above the height of 2000 m. The most famous cols where I cycled are: La Bonette (2802 m), Col du Galibier (2645 m) , Col d'Izoard (2361m) , Alpe d'Huez (1860m), Col de Iseran (2770m), Col Agnel (2744m), etc.

Although there was 1 or 2 rest days in the plan, as I didn't have any serious - whole day long - rain through the tour, every day I was riding my bicycle. The beautiful nature and the experiences, adventures, ascents gave my power to climb them. Usually 1-2 days with panniers were followed by a ``light'' day without panniers (but with 2 climbs).

It began as a crazy idea whilst on holiday in France back in 2003 and within a couple of weeks had turned into a serious plan. Now after two years preparation and a couple of false starts we're finally off.

The plan is to ride from our home in Chesham to the south coast city of Portsmouth where we can catch a boat to Bilbao on the north coast of Spain. Then we'll cross France to the Black Forest in Germany where we can pick up the famous Danube cycle path which we plan to follow to east to Vienna. After that we want to spend a couple of months in the Alps before heading south for a lap of Italy. The final leg of the tour will see us cross France again to the Pyrenees before we head south to Spain where we plan to follow the coast round to Portugal and back into Northern Spain where we can catch the boat back to England.

This was my second European bike tour, primarily following the Rhine and Mosel rivers. I started in Frankfurt, cycled down the Main to Mainz, then north along the Rhine to Koblenz. I then went up the Mosel Radweg as far as Metz, France, took a train over the Vosges mountains to Savern, then followed the Marne au Rhin canal to Strasbourg. I concluded my trip by again following the Rhine, back to Mainz and Frankfurt.

These pages describe a week long cycle tour through Southern Tuscany in May 2005.

A number of the rides were inspired by Iris Origo's compelling description of life in Tuscany during the Second World War ('War in Val d'Orcia - An Italian War Diary - 1943-1944') and James Hudson's article ('Tuscany, the Hills, the Gelato') in the January/February 2005 issue of Adventure Cyclist which was illustrated by Sue Kemp's water colours.

We take two weeks bike tour at Romania. We started our trip from Csík (Ciuc) basin, across Carpathians to Moldova (part of Romania). When we left Moldova, there was a terrible waterflood (you can see it in the pictures).

We joined three traditional dance festival: Csángó festival at Fundu Racaciun, an other at Ghimes, and Gipsy festival at Commandau, and recorded traditional folk songs, you can find them (and others) in our home page.

27 days of cycling throughout the Pyrenées and Cantabria (start and finish in Lourdes). On 27 days I cycled 4474 km (165,7 km/day); 83551m (3095m/day) (height meters) and visited ca. 241 cols. (Only counting the 24 full cycling days, I did 4131,5 km (172,1 km/day) and 77108m (3213m/day).) The longest day was 274,5 km from Esterri d'Aneu in Spain to Lourdes (via Mourenx). Max height meters on one day was 4270m. Got a gold classification in the l'Etape du Tour race (the day after cycling 274,5 km) on a half-decent time around 6h30mins (ca. 2 hours slower than the Tour de France winner this year). Steepest was the famous Angliru climb in Asturia (26%). Lots of facts, but some nice photos and stories.

I thought it was not so difficult to go up to the Gavia pass, but it might have something to do with getting used to these long and steep climbs. I also learned from the italian the day before that the Gavia road had been paved since two years back all the way (something I was not totally sure on after reading about it elsewhere). The steep part begins at Sta Caterina Valfurva (1738 m). Before this I took the photo just beside here and it is apparently the Punta S. Matteo mountain top (3678 m) one sees here (it looked much better in real life!). I was a very beautiful road to go up and it seemed so nice and still it was difficult to really comprehend I would be in Milano later in the day. Just behind the corner where I took the photo, cows were walking up a terribly small path in the terribly steep hillside. I wondered if they would lose balance and fall down on me if I called at them. (Original text selected by Andreas C.)