Search found 30 matches

by RobCyclist
4 Oct 2018, 1:54pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: [Video] Bicycle tour from London, to Brittany France
Replies: 0
Views: 397

[Video] Bicycle tour from London, to Brittany France

Hi guys, if you're interested I have created another 4k scenery video of my London to Roscoff bike adventure (below);

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mO9mOvrcW7Y


I followed sustran's cycle network routes in the UK, and Eurovelo 4 in france along the Brittany coast - which I highly recommend. Very scenic.

The route went via London, Reading, Winchester, Southampton, Portsmouth, St Malo, St Breuic, Lannion, Moralix and Roscoff.

Lots of hills in france but other than that all good. If you had any questions I'd happily answer.
by RobCyclist
17 Sep 2018, 12:51pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: London to York - By Bicycle - [Video]
Replies: 7
Views: 620

Re: London to York - By Bicycle - [Video]

Fair play mate two days is impressive! Your route looks an interesting route as well, we seemed to go through a few similar places :) All the best Rob
by RobCyclist
15 Sep 2018, 9:32am
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: London to York - By Bicycle - [Video]
Replies: 7
Views: 620

Re: London to York - By Bicycle - [Video]

Chat Noir wrote:What a good record of your ride and a reminder of how intense the light has been this summer. I did a London - York a few weeks ago now, lovely ride, but not as interesting as the route you took (Bedford, Stamford and Lincoln).

Thanks for posting the link, keep up the good work!


Cheers, yeah it was very hot cycling this last month. But rather that than cold. And nice! did you follow cycle routes or did you make your own way up to york?

Thanks,
Rob
by RobCyclist
15 Sep 2018, 9:29am
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: London to York - By Bicycle - [Video]
Replies: 7
Views: 620

Re: London to York - By Bicycle - [Video]

videoman wrote:Great video which I really enjoyed, UK to Poland was great as well. Thanks for sharing.

No worries, I appreciate that thank you glad you enjoyed them videos :)
by RobCyclist
13 Sep 2018, 2:11pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: London to York - By Bicycle - [Video]
Replies: 7
Views: 620

London to York - By Bicycle - [Video]

Hi guys, if your interested I've just edited a scenery video of this years bicycle tour. From London to York.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WOwZd2ZvBM

The route went through; Bedford, Peterborough, Lincoln, Hull and York.

The tour was 5 days, didn't go at the fastest pace but all in all was a nice tour (except for my phone getting run over :/ and getting a migraine in york). Originally was hoping to get to Edinburgh but york was a nice city to end in :)

I'm happy to answer any questions if you had any,
Cheers Rob
by RobCyclist
12 May 2017, 3:14pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: London to Dublin - 4 minute bicycle tour Video
Replies: 0
Views: 2197

London to Dublin - 4 minute bicycle tour Video

Hi everyone.

I cycled London to Dublin last October. And here is a 4 minute ride along video if anyone is interested. I really enjoyed this cycle tour.


[youtube]jiEaxauQhZ0[/youtube]


The cities I went through were; Oxford, Birmingham, Derby, Nottingham, Sheffield, Manchester, Liverpool, North Wales, Holyhead then a ferry to Dublin.

Cycling across the peak district had some really nice sights. And the North Wales coast was amazing.

I had 3 full days in Dublin. I wanted to head for Galaway but annoyingly I had to come home for jury service! But yeah I had a great time in the Irish capital. I followed some sustrans national cycle network routes from city to city.

Happy to answer any questions if you had any.

Thanks,
Rob
by RobCyclist
2 Apr 2017, 11:09pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: London to Berlin / Poznan - Ride along video - Into Eastern Europe - 1080p :)
Replies: 2
Views: 802

Re: London to Berlin / Poznan - Ride along video - Into Eastern Europe - 1080p :)

Thanks man, and yeah I was lucky with the weather and it was my favorite holiday I've been on :)
Cheers. Rob
by RobCyclist
31 Mar 2017, 1:29pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: London to Berlin / Poznan - Ride along video - Into Eastern Europe - 1080p :)
Replies: 2
Views: 802

London to Berlin / Poznan - Ride along video - Into Eastern Europe - 1080p :)

Hi all, I've just finished a video that took me a fair while to make, a ride along (gopro) tour video of my London to Poznan (Poland) trip, that goes through Netherlands (Den Hagg, Utretch, Arnhem), Germany (Munster, Bremen, Hamburg, Berlin), Poland (Poznan). It's a 15 minute video that gets to Hamburg in 4 minutes so it's quite quick...difficult to make.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilBeQ4p_dWQ [if your interested watch in 1080p]


Image


I was away for over 3 weeks. 4 full days in Berlin, 2 full days in Hamburg and 2 days in Poznan :)

Poland was my favourite country very different. Lots of trees, not so nice flats and the R1 / R2 cycle routes that go to Poznan have an unusual amount of sand tracks which I thought were interesting.

I had the sun most of the way, heat wave in Hamburg. And every day in Polska was 30 +

Really enjoyed the trip.

I got a really bad cough (from pollution) in the end so had to end the trip sadly (wanted to head for Warsaw). I got the train / Hook of Holland ferry home from Poznan (28 hours).

I didn't get one puncture or mechanical problem on my 1488 miles. :P

I followed the popular Europa radweg R1 cycle route going to Berlin for about half the journey, I diverted from this route so I could check out Hamburg. A very cool port.

My longest ride yet. And my favourite.

The cycle routes from the Polish border to Poznan were much better than most UK national cycle network routes I've been on, and I wasn't sure what to think of the polish drivers at first but they always pass with room. My experience of poles were very friendly, I got invited into someone house (13:12 on the video), and some polish "rapper" I met in the border town Koztryn let me use his computer to download some maps for my gps. I only had maps for London to Berlin :/

I hope you enjoy if you watch. :P For me the route from Dutch Border - Hamburg was below average, Hamburg to Berlin was very nice. And Berlin onwards was amazing. Would recommend.

If anyone had any questions I'd happily answer,

Cheers
https://youtu.be/ilBeQ4p_dWQ
Rob
by RobCyclist
1 Aug 2016, 11:04pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: VIDEO of LONDON to Frankfurt. My best tour so far. 720 miles
Replies: 3
Views: 506

Re: VIDEO of LONDON to Frankfurt. My best tour so far. 720 miles

skelo wrote:looks like a great tour Rob, thanks for sharing it

I'm hoping to do York to Italy next year on my trike(due to a disability) and plan to follow the Rhine from Rotterdam to Basel,before trying an assault on the Alps!

The cycle paths on your video look pretty good (and, crucially, flat!) and having watched your video, I am thinking of maybe getting the ferry from Hull to Zeebrugge(rather than Rotterdam) and cutting across Belgium to Cologne might be a more interesting and scenic option?
c



No worries man, thanks for watching.

And nice york to Italy sounds impressive! hope it' goes alright. Yeah the route I went was very flat and I would recommend it. If you wanted some gpx files of the routes that I cycled then I'm happy to send you them.

The river Rhine going towards Switerzland is all up hill (makes sense) but when I was cycling it I barely even realised that, it felt flat to me. So on a trip to italy, I think the Rhine is definitely the most logical route (as most of southern Germany is hilly if I know my geography) .

One of the main factors that made me do the route that I did, as opposed to going to Rotterdam was the cities that I would pass in Belgium. Brussels, Brugges and Ghent. I didn't think there were many interesting places like that in that part of Netherlands that I would cycle (maybe I'm wrong, I don't much about Nl if I'm honest)... so I chose the route that I did. I also decided to join at dusseldorf, rather than somewhere like Colonge because again, I looked at some terrain maps and this route would be a fair bit less hilly... which for me was important too, as I was cycling on a what I believe might be a slip disc so couldn't be buttocked with the hills... Also Dusseldorf was another massive german city to tick off.

The English people that I met on the tandem started in Rotterdam. Think they said they enjoyed Netherlands more than North Germany (I met them near Koblenz). As in the routes were a lot easier to follow, in Netherlands they have maps and sign posts everywhere and the drivers apparently were better for them in Netherlands. So maybe Netherlands would be just as good.

I had a gps on my trip, I think without one it would be pretty difficult to cycle what I did as I was on multiple different routes (which weren't very well sign posted at times). The longest two routes I was on was the River Rhine, and the Lf5 flanders cycle route (Brugge to Dendermonde). I went on hundreds of different local routes from Leuven to Dusseldorf, which would be a nightmare to navigate without a gps... and I went on some from Dendermonde to Brussels as the lf5 river route doesn't go through the capital.

All in all, I don't know for sure. I would recommend Belgium. Netherlands has a better reputation for cycling, but Belgium in my opinion would be more interesting.

Good luck with your trip anyway
by RobCyclist
31 Jul 2016, 12:15am
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: VIDEO of LONDON to Frankfurt. My best tour so far. 720 miles
Replies: 3
Views: 506

VIDEO of LONDON to Frankfurt. My best tour so far. 720 miles

Hi all,
I decided to do a 9 day cycle tour from North London to Frankfurt in Germany earlier this month. If you're interested in watching said video, it's linked below [sadly seems to be blocked on mobile devices :(]. I spent a week making this one so hope you enjoy it :)

The tour went through: London, Rochester, Ashford, Dover, Dunqirk, Ostende, Brugges, Ghent, Brussels, Dusseldorf, Colonge, Bonn, Koblenz, and Frankfurt.

https://youtu.be/aQwYClxrEpo?t=147

https://youtu.be/aQwYClxrEpo?t=751

(I timestamped two parts I like - Belgium, and the rainy day but you choose what you want to watch). Make sure its 1080p

For me this was the best tour, and the longest one that I've been on to date. Germany in my opinion was amazing and I would recommend it to anyone. I went along the River Rhine from Dusseldorf to almost Frankfurt (the Rhine had amazing views) and I also cycled through many local routes which were just as interesting to me, it was clear that a lot of effort had gone into building them.

For me England was the worst part but that was likely influenced by the weather, Belgium was way better than expected. I was only in Netherlands for about 50 miles so I can't really comment on that country. But as I said, Germany for me made the trip, Colonge & Bonn seemed very historic and Frankfurt for me seemed like an American city (if I can say that). Out of everywhere I've been in Europe I'd say Frankfurt is the most similar to an American city (due to the skyline).

I had a few interesting things happen. On the night before the last day I met two people around my age (20) that lived less than 10 miles away from my house, just in the middle of nowhere along the Rhine. They were tandem cycling to Basel which I thought was pretty cool.

I also was stopped 5 times in Frankfurt by people asking if I wanted to buy drugs (I think because my eyes were bloodshot from the sun so looked like I've done too much weed or something), and Brussels felt very stange / sinister (video kinda shows it). Military trucks everywhere, likely from the recent terror attacks.

I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thanks
Rob
by RobCyclist
4 May 2016, 7:42pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Advice / Touring Partner wanted for UK to Scandinavia!
Replies: 29
Views: 2818

Re: Advice / Touring Partner wanted for UK to Scandinavia!

khain wrote:I've cycled that route (roughly) between Oslo and Gothenberg but in the opposite direction. It's nice enough but a bit boring compared to the fjords further north. The area around Oslo is very forested and can be a bit monotonous.

It's still a great cycle and the Swedish coast is very nice but I can't help feeling the route would be more interesting in the opposite direction, as it would build more, or even heading north from Bergen towards Trondheim. You'll kind of feel like you're winding down towards the end by going south.


Hmm lots of people here seem to recommend Norways West coast over going to Sweden, so might end up getting a cargoship to gothernburg (so I can see a bit of sweden and I know that route exists as well) and then head towards trondheim. Not decided what I'll do, but thanks for the comment.
by RobCyclist
4 May 2016, 7:36pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Advice / Touring Partner wanted for UK to Scandinavia!
Replies: 29
Views: 2818

Re: Advice / Touring Partner wanted for UK to Scandinavia!

CBreeze wrote:
and to answer this, I would be interested in viewing the gpx files. Although, as you have already spent probably a lot of time replying to me (which i appreciate) don't feel like you have to.


GPX files from Gothenburg to Trondheim:

https://ridewithgps.com/trips/8776693
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/8776691
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/8776688
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/8776687
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/8776685
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/8776715
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/8776713
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/8776711
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/8776712
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/8776708
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/8776710
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/8776706
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/8776707
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/8776705
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/8776704
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/8776702
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/8776700
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/8776699


Thanks man! really appreciate your doing that. Will come in handy, especially as I'm now considering going in the opposite direction from Gothenburg to Bergen / Trondheim. I know where I can potentially camp now. You seem to have covered some large distances too. Nice.
by RobCyclist
23 Apr 2016, 10:05pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Advice / Touring Partner wanted for UK to Scandinavia!
Replies: 29
Views: 2818

Re: Advice / Touring Partner wanted for UK to Scandinavia!

I recorded all my routes so have all the GPX files if you are interested (from that you can figure out where I camped etc if you are bothered).


and to answer this, I would be interested in viewing the gpx files. Although, as you have already spent probably a lot of time replying to me (which i appreciate) don't feel like you have to.
by RobCyclist
23 Apr 2016, 9:35pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Advice / Touring Partner wanted for UK to Scandinavia!
Replies: 29
Views: 2818

Re: Advice / Touring Partner wanted for UK to Scandinavia!

Thanks for all the new responses Vorpal, CBreeze & hufty and I appreciate the time you've spent helping me.

Now I just have to make sure I can get the cargo ship :) Will be looking at booking next month. Prepared to fly if I have to.

Cheers
Rob

Edit: Interesting pictures too, thanks for sharing.
y
by RobCyclist
21 Apr 2016, 12:51pm
Forum: Touring & Expedition
Topic: Advice / Touring Partner wanted for UK to Scandinavia!
Replies: 29
Views: 2818

Re: Advice / Touring Partner wanted for UK to Scandinavia!

iviehoff wrote:Each airline is individual as to what it demands of cyclists, and what it charges. So don't assume you'll be OK, but look very carefully at the rules and charges concerning bicycles of any airline you are considering booking with. Some airlines let you put your bike on in a soft bag, some demand a stiff box, and some demand a small box or boxes that would require very extensive dismantling. Sometimes the airport also matters, for example Norwegian refuses to load bicycles at Gatwick.

I have a suspicion that you will find Norway more boring as you get closer to Oslo, and you might wish you were back in the mountains after that. Cycling doesn't have to be steep if the road goes around the mountain rather than over it. From Bergen you can follow a signpost cycle routes northwards along the coast all the way to Bodo that is mostly not very hilly, but still has magnificent mountain and fjord scenery.


yeah I probably would find the scenery in Sweden boring and whatnot, but I've been wanting to go to the country for a while now so happy to try it. And thanks for all the info.
Rob