UK (all)

Travelling by bike in England, Wales, and Scotland. Another fine and very nicely illustrated report from the impressive collection of Martin Wittram.

An excellent report, with lots of practical information. Even if you don't know French, look at it for the beautiful pictures.

Taking three weeks off to tour England by tandem was the trip of a lifetime. Great riding, good weather, and lots of help from friends along the way made a truly memorable experience for us. We planned relatively short mileage days and allowed several days off the bike for some typical ``tourist'' days.

The riding in England was superb. The route we planned took us to some of the most scenic and pastoral settings imaginable. Except for London, riding in cities, towns, and villages posed no problems for a tandem. Using England's trains for covering long distances was relatively easy, but required some planning ahead to be sure space was available.

Total luggage weight was about 15 kilos, of course I had no sleeping or cooking gear. My beloved mount is an early 80' racing Vicini with Columbus SL steel frame and Dura Ace. Gearing is limited to 52/39 up front and a six speed rear cassette ranging from 13 to 23. Blindly overestimating my level of fitness I didn't even bother adding a 25 cog. At the time I thought that England was mostly flat...

Travel Notes:

• Thumbs up to: French friendliness, secondary road system, campsites, the bread, wine cheese, pate, supermarkets.
• Thumbs down to: the April weather, birds that chirp all night long.
• Most bizarre sight: we spotted 3 English train spotters on holiday watching the trains go by.
• The gift for the person who has everything: a waterproof baguette holder

The idea of cycling in Europe had hit me in England in June: I was cycling from my home in Oxford up to Yorkshire and persistently got lashed by wind and near freezing rain, a thought quickly formed in my mind: time to head south and do a proper cycle trip - to the sun.

From Santiago I headed west to Cabo Finisterre, and Galician equivalent of Englands Lands End, jutting out into the Atlantic, pointing to the American continent. One local I asked directions from said to me; 'Finisterre really is the end of the civilized world', and looked out west towards America. It was a longish days cycling, 140km, and into a head wind, but nice and warm, about 27 degrees.

After lunch I coasted back down the hillside and took the southern fork along Luskentyre bay. This led me on round the west coast of Harris, a superb landscape of broad sandy bays, interspersed with black rocky points and all backed by the rugged mountains inland. I made my gentle way along here, pausing in particularly attractive spots to study the geology or write a postcard.

Cycling in the Welsh hilly land.

A family cycle tour in north-western part of France in 1997. We started the tour at Gatwick airport, and southern areas of England are included in our description.

Europe Tour 1997 started in Nyköping (100 km south of Stockholm) and continued to Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Paris, the Normandy coast, Jersey and London, before returning to Sweden via Denmark totalling just over 4000 kilometres.

The splendidly organized (Ha, the Web!) report of an extensive tour of Scotland. A must-see!

Balloch, Lochearnhead, Oban, Glenfinnan, Sleat Mountains on Skye, Portree, Shiel Bridge, Inverness, Loch Lochy, Kingussie, Elgin, Fraserburgh, Aberdeen, Aboyne, Bridge of Cally, St. Andrews, Edinburgh, Galashiels, Gretna, Parton, Ayr, Johnstone.

Family cycling at its best!

These pages are a little recollection of the holidays we took in the Highlands during 1996 summer. The main part of these Scotish holidays was a tour of the Hebrides and the Highlands. On our way down to France, we also made a stop to the Isle of Arran.

It was a leisurely tour: about 650 km (400 miles) in 14 days. Certainly not a great feat for Martine and me, but more so for Nicolas, who was 8 and rode all the way. [...] I've always found that planning a route is very easy, as soon as an organizing idea has been decided. For our first trip in Scotland, I settled on ``riding the waters'': ferrying to the islands, musing along lochs, and paying a due visit to the most famous of all. We don't regret this choice. We are now specialists in ferries (from liners-like to pedestrians-only) and it was fun to see Scotland from the sea also.

Wayne rides through France, and has a look at the Tour on the way.

Wayne rides through France, and has a look at the Tour on the way.

Our tour took us through several of the rural areas of central England, and we experienced very pleasant and relaxing cycling on the B and unclassified roads. This may come a bit as a surprise regarding that the area crosses the central urban and industrial belt stretching from Greater London to the Midlands (Birmingham).

See also the Biking Gallery of photographs.

Includes maps, and plenty of pictures. One cannot make a 1000 mile bicycle trip such as this without a few amusing incidents. At Bettyhill on the final day we met a lady in a cafe where the following conversation took place Lady: ``So you are cycling. Have you come from far?'' Martin: ``No, not really. Only from Land's End''.

Menlo Park, London, Inverness, Aberlour, Aberdeen, Montrose, St. Andrews, Edinburgh, Yetholm, Rothbury, Once Brewed, York, Sherwood Forest.

The Rough-Stuff Fellowship is a cycling organisation dedicated to the pursuit of cycling on bridleways, byways, drove roads and tracks. The RSF was formed in 1955 and now boasts over 1000 members nationwide with local groups scattered around the country.

The Rough-Stuff Fellowship have a limited selection of off-road routes. These include: Eastern Alps, Central Alps, Western Alps, Massif Central, Pyrenees, Picos de Europa. These routes are listed in greater detail with maps descriptions of the route including exact position of the start and finish of each route. These routes have been compiled over the forty or so years the RSF has been in existence. It is important to note that the these routes have been completed by RSF members mostly using camping equipment and standard touring bikes, not mountain bikes.

On these pages we will show you the cycling pursuits of John and Daniel Gould (from Australia) and our friend Peter (from Japan).Our challenge will be to ride from London to Istanbul through 12 countries in 2 months while having a great time and seeing the sights. Peter should be there to Italy and then its just 2 unless anyone else wants to join us. For father and son John and Daniel the quest will also try to raise money for Odyssey House.

A site filled with tours all over Europe, Africa, Asia, and America.

Wenn Ihnen in Norwegen jemand auf Ihre Frage nach Steigungen mit ``mostly flat'' antwortet, seien Sie gewarnt: flach hat in Norwegen eine andere Bedeutung als in den Elbmarschen. ``Meistens flach'' bedeutet in Norwegen: Steigungen unter Hundert Meter. Chris Heymans, einer der Organisatoren und Planer der North Sea Cycle Route, fuhr übrigens einige norwegische Strecken, auch solche mit ``stiff Uphills'', mit seinem Brompton-Faltrad (natürlich mit Gepäck). Es ist eben alles relativ. Relativ ist, europaweit gesehen, auch die Qualität der Radwanderwege. Eine in Deutschland unglaublich miese Qualität bedeutet im restlichen Europa das Gegenteil.

Sie sollten also, wenn Sie eine längere Strecke auf der North Sea Cycle Route fahren wollen, Ihre Vorstellungen von ``gut'' und ``schlecht'' in ``anders'' wechseln. Erfreuen Sie sich an dem ständigen Wechsel der Landschaften. Lernen Sie immer wieder interessante Menschen kennen und genießen Sie das Flair der Dörfer und Städte rund um die Nordsee. ``Jeder Tag ist wie Weihnachten, jeden Tag eine Überraschung''. Dieser Slogan passt am besten zur Northern Opening Tour durch Schleswig-Holstein, Dänemark, Schweden, Norwegen und Schottland.

Tabular data and altitude profiles of mountain passes all over Europe.

This has been a difficult trip, this touring in Ireland. Every day I've gone out on my bike, regardless of the weather. I've struggled against headwinds, winched up slopes that went on for miles. I've gotten wet a great deal, and gotten chilled quite a few times, only getting warm again by adding more layers and pedalling harder. I was really looking forward to this ferry ride back: a chance to relax and stay warm.

Several cycling travel stories and detailed descriptions with profiles of 17 of the most beautiful climbs in 7 different European countries.

The travelogue of a cycling trip in the Scottish Highlands and Islands.

Reports and pictures from various mountains of Europe, America, and Australia. Partly in Dutch.

Trailsource has started a collection, among others, of European Mountain Bike Trail Descriptions. Mountain Biking TrailSource is your online adventure guide to the best mountain bike trails around the globe! You'll find over 4,000 singletracks in 100 countries.

I took a long holiday to explore bits of Britain by bike. Since I like off-road cycling at least as much as on-road, I used my old Trek hardtail. I put skinny slicks on it to cover ground quickly by road, and put knobblies on it for off-road use. [...] My first destination was Wales. I left from home on July 9th, heading towards Cardiff, stopping by the Forest of Dean on the way. I stayed at the Neuadd Arms Hotel for a week, and I participated in the Mountain Bike Bog Snorkelling Championships. From there I headed north on the Lon Las Cymru (Welsh National Cycle Route and Sustrans Route 8).

The story of a cycling trip around England's Lake District: Bowness-on-Windermere, Patterdale, Bassenthwaite, Buttermere, Boot, Whitehaven, Boot to the coast and back Boot to Bowness-on-Windermere.

An excellent site with many good trail descriptions in Great Britain, with some excursions to mainland Europe and Africa

This site is for all Mountain Bikers who love the challenge of an Offroad Adventure. Offroad Adventures - Online is an online resource packed with a collection of full ride reports, routes guides (some including maps), preparation tips, equipment, images to inspire and practical advice.

To get the most from Offroad Adventures - Online you will need to spend time to read the many articles written by Real Mountain Bikers, the equipment reviews and the advice given by riders who have ridden epics in the past.

A quarterly magazine aimed squarely at trail riders in the best traditions of the magazines that have been and gone. We make no apologies for taking inspiration from MTB World and Max MTB. They were great mags, full of the sort of riding that the majority of mountain bikers have adopted as their lifestyle. In fact the buzzwords 'Inspiration' and 'lifestyle' are key to the philosophy behind the magazine.

This site is intended to offer ideas for cycle trips in and around SE Scotland and NE England. The routes are not graded in any way but comments should give some idea of their nature. They are not meant to be prescriptive but are just suggestions - obviously you can adapt them to suit your own needs.

A collection of some 84 (as of October 2005) routes in the triangle Edinburgh-Carlisle-Newcastle. Click the number on the map to access the page for the relevant tour - you will get a detailed description and a map of the tour. A very fine job, John!

An UK bicycling magazine. Articles, forum, tests, workshop, routes, race calendar, race results, ads. The routes are especially interesting and include East Anglia, Northumberland, New Forest, Hampshire, Kent, Peak District, Hebridean Islands, West Cork in the Republic of Ireland, Wales, Cornwall, and others.

Journey planner, timetables, today's rail travel information, train operating companies, travel bureau links.