European weather early to mid June?

[Tangled Metal]

I'm looking at sorting out our main summer holiday which will be 2 weeks in early to mid June. We're looking at Europe for a tour on bikes without the use of a car. We're traveling from northwest England. We have family in the northeast which possibly makes Hull and Newcastle as a good ferry route for us. We can get trains in Europe with bikes in reckon with Germany being a good country to get to.

The question i have is which part of Europe that's easily accessible by bike/train combo has the best weather? Last year we had 2 weeks of rain in Scotland. This year we'd like sun and warm but not too hot. I don't know what Germany and Netherlands will be like in early june.

So does anyone have experience of a June tour in Europe? Germany to Netherlands i reckon but how easy is it to get into a nice area of France?

Any knowledge/experience of the typical weather?

[hamster]

Netherlands I typically reckon has Southampton's weather 24 hours later (I used to work in southern NL two days per week). In mid-summer Netherlands and Northern Germany is much more likely to get a high pressure area over it for long sunny periods. The further south you go in Germnay the more reliable the weather becomes.

[karlt]

Personally I wouldn't go anywhere south of the Lizard between June and September, but that's just me. It depends on your definition of "too hot"; I define it as <50% cloud cover and >24C

[Vorpal]

I would think that you could go pretty much anywhere that doesn't have mountains, and get decent weather. Good weather is more likely further south. If you are looking for a touring route, I recommend the Danube or the Rhine, if you haven't done them before?

[Tangled Metal]

Well holidaying in the UK for over 10 years I'm now hoping to experience a summer that lasts longer than a few weeks in May/June. I'm talking consistent 25 degrees or more with sun and little cloud. Guaranteed dry weather at least.

I seem to remember parts of Netherlands i visited north of Amsterdam (can't remember where but edam country i think) seemed to have the same weather as northern England. Warmish (low 20s) but also as likely to have a colder rainy day in the middle of nice weather.

France strikes me as heaving a decent summer to the south and east. Northern coast i don't know but west coast used to have decent weather but the odd wet day too. We used to go down to a place on the west coast asva kid and it was great weather for almost all of the 3 weeks at the end of August when we went. Too Awkward for us to get to without a car though.

Germany seems like a better chance of having good weather. However family took a motorhome through Germany to Italy a few years now and have experienced temperatures that were nearly unbearable. They ended up rushing through Germany and Austria a bit quicker than planned with the ac on full.

[foxyrider]

IME north European weather at that time is generally not bad but that's no guarantee of no rain. Temperatures are generally mid 20's but i've had higher. You can get historic weather data on various weather sites but you'll need to have a bit of a plan (where you are going) to get the best info. The further east you go the more settled the weather in general.

If you are in a car it's about 2 hours to Germany from Rotterdam - depending on where you want to go of course. The likes of Bremen (good base for Friesland and the coast or access into Luneberg Heide - both great areas for family trips with loads of stuff to see and do without any real climbing on quiet roads/trails) will take 3/4 hours. If you want some more specific places to visit just ask - there is plenty to see for everyone.

My experience with Holland is that whilst the riding is very pleasant, finding stuff to actually see and do is more problematic. Museums etc are very much concentrated in the main urban centres (eg the Louwman motor museum in the Hague and the excellent maritime museum in Rotterdam) and kids will likely get bored quickly by mile after mile of dykes. The islands are the best attraction but are not cheap to get to.

If you want to go to France use Hull- Zeebrugge but beware - because of the landscape the French weather can be more changeable - consider some of the weather in recent tdf's! You will have a very long drive south to be more assured of good weather.

[PDQ Mobile]

Very frosty!

[hamster]

I'd go with southern Germany, down the Danube. It's easy to access by train and offers the best chance of stable warm weather.

[Vorpal]

Well holidaying in the UK for over 10 years I'm now hoping to experience a summer that lasts longer than a few weeks in May/June. I'm talking consistent 25 degrees or more with sun and little cloud. Guaranteed dry weather at least.

I seem to remember parts of Netherlands i visited north of Amsterdam (can't remember where but edam country i think) seemed to have the same weather as northern England. Warmish (low 20s) but also as likely to have a colder rainy day in the middle of nice weather.

France strikes me as heaving a decent summer to the south and east. Northern coast i don't know but west coast used to have decent weather but the odd wet day too. We used to go down to a place on the west coast asva kid and it was great weather for almost all of the 3 weeks at the end of August when we went. Too Awkward for us to get to without a car though.

Germany seems like a better chance of having good weather. However family took a motorhome through Germany to Italy a few years now and have experienced temperatures that were nearly unbearable. They ended up rushing through Germany and Austria a bit quicker than planned with the ac on full.

Southern France and Germany normally have moderate warm temperatures that time of year, but also moderate rainfall. Many places along the northern shore of the Mediteranean experience the same. Some parts of Spain have little rain that time of year, but are likely to be rather warmer.

June is a time of year where pretty much any place in a moderate continental climate can experience a wide variety of weather, even in a short period of time. You might get lucky and have a couple of weeks of good weather, or might get unlucky and have a couple of weeks of 10 degrees and rain. Or 30 degrees and humid weather. More likely, you will get decent weather, with the occasional day of rain, whereever you decide to go.

If you want 25 degrees every day, and no rain, you need to head for Malta, or something, not continental Europe.

[Tigerbiten]

The important question is how far do you want to travel on and off your bikes.
250-300 miles per week for a relaxed tour or double that for a quick tour.

You could do a straight run like Berlin -> Home or a circle like the 3 rivers starting at Mainz -> Rhine -> Danube -> Canal -> Main finish back at Mainz. I think both work out around 600 miles.

[whoof]

I've been touring in Europe for the last two weeks in June for the past 13 years. From memory;

Bilbao -Toulouse: Good weather some showers in the afternoon in the mountains.
Toulouse- Barcelona: As above getting hotter the closer to Barcelona
Toulouse- Toulouse: Good weather some heavy rain in the afternoon in the mountains
Toulouse -Nice: Very good weather 25 degree plus and sunny
Bergerac- Bergerac: As above. But it had rained almost every day for two weeks before our arrival and started again as we got to the airport.
Avignon - Avignon: Very good weather 25 degree plus and sunny. One exception the night before the Ventoux when it lashed down, next morning blue skys, light winds and warm for the climb.
Geneva - Nice. Lovely weather towards Nice. In the mountains changeable with some high passes still closed due to snow.
Bastia-Bastia: On the whole good with one day of heavy rain.
Prague - Krakov: No rain, warm and sunny every day. Still 35 degrees plus at 7pm we were told this was exceptional.
Milan - Lyon: Good to warm especially toward Lyon. A couple of rainy days near Albertville.
Strasburg - Geneva: Quite a lot of rain.
Vienna to Venice: Austria had British summer weather, not hot with a fair bit of rain, we were told this was unusual for the time of year. After the mountains in Italy it was nice and hot 35 degrees. Mrs Whoof put a bag of frozen peas on the back of her neck on the way to Treviso.

[Tangled Metal]

Young child with us so not far each day. We're planning on surface travel only without a car so that gives logistic issues for a lot of areas.

I'm kind of thinking away from Netherlands and the coast. Friesland (IIRC there's a Netherlands and German version) is out. I think my partner's been in the German coast up there before so we know that's not likely to have the best of weather.

[steady eddy]

Last year Zeeland in early June was hot for three days, warm and mixed clouds and sun for three days and overcast/wet for one day. Much the same as our neighbours had at home in Norfolk the same week! They are of course both great places to ride a bike.

[pq]

My admittedly biased opinion is that you just can't beat southern France. (biased because I live there).

French trains are good for bikes, provided you avoid TGVs (The Deutsche Bahn web site, bizarrely, is better than any French site for bike info on French trains)

Weather in June is reliably good, although it varies a bit. Down by Carcassonne you'd be very unlucky to get rain, and if you did it wouldn't last long. We're further north near Toulouse which is much greener and therefore more chance of rain, but still unlikely in June. Warm temperatures are guaranteed, but the 100+ uncomfortable temperatures come later.

The tourist hordes haven't descended in June, so the roads are quiet and accommodation is easy to find.

[eileithyia]

Take your pick; I've had anything from a heatwave in Eire, to some days of very heavy rain in the Dolomites / North Italy(where we cut short the days riding in favour of not camping that night) with some glorious sunny warm days inbetween admittedly, to pleasantly warm and extremely hot in mid-germany in the Black Forest / Rhine Valley area. To some nice settled weather in Poland and nice but very windy weather in the Montpellier - Orange regions.