Crossing europe - need some tips

[Alexievier]

Hi, last year I've spend cycling on my road bike preparing for my first 100 mile cycle which I managed to finish. After many months of training I've been hooked up to cycling. After a while I've went further and bought second bike - touring this time (custom made thorn nomad) which I've used on few trips (two days max - aprox 80 miles per day - fully loaded). For a while now I am thinking of going for some long vacation which involve quitting job and going somewhere out there
2014 - that a date to test all of above in big scale - trip to France - from St Malo to Bilbao in 10 days - to make sure that I am able and to prepare myself to long journey.

The plan is to cross Europe in 2015 in six month (between April and October), daily aprox 100 km, mostly camping (to wash) and wild camping (to save some money/spend some time alone), I want to ride alone, I already have all gear (bike, clothes, gps, camping equipment and others - tested few occasions - still adding some more during the preparation time), my level of fitness is good enough (still cycle regularly).

I've been thinking about connecting eurovelos but read somewhere that not all of them have been finished. Need some tips / advises about the route to chose from.

Added some rough plan made in 5 minutes (it is around 4000 miles which give me around 70 days - much more if ad some rest days and slower stages [hills etc] but still not enough).

Waiting for some infos.

Thanks !
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[psmiffy]

Sounds like you have it cracked - got the bike - got the gear - you've got a route - I wouldn't worry about eurovelos - just go where you want to go - by the time you have done St M to Bilbao you will have worked out what works for you.

My own philosophy is not to plan too much - I have an overall route plan in my head and then make up the day to day route as I go along - the only bits that need any planning of note are getting to the start and some idea of how to get back from the end.

As to extra bits of route - try to take in western Norway - not too early in the year - but definitely not too late - otherwise touring i find is more interesting the further south you are - probably not as long as you are intending but my cgob below may give you an idea of the places that you already have on your route

[Alexievier]

Hi, thank you for reply - still reading your story and gather the infos but I am inspired now - as long as I will have the rough plan where to go (at the moment I live in Somerset but originally I come from Poland - so my trip is "long way home"), and as long as occasionally will have the internet access (is it hard to get ? I bet easy in western but not eastern Europe) I can quickly change the road plan using Garmin map tool. Will consider north areas of Europe to add some distance.

Thank you again and awaits for more inspiration !!

[gordy]

Internet access is everywhere. I was touring in Poland/Ukraine/Kaliningrad earlier this year and the easiest access was in McDonalds restaurants.

[psmiffy]

Internet is dead easy in most of Europe coffee shops MacD etc - in Poland I came across many towns that had free wifi in their central area

[eileithyia]

Even though I have never done a long trip, only up to 3 weeks max, I still follow the above advise, do not over plan your route. As long as I knew I had time to get to my finish destination, I have changed altered stuff I have done as I have gone along, spotted a route I previously had not thought about doing on the map. Am a bit old fashioned in that I like paper maps, and will sit pouring over them... and will have the day's map on my map clip.... as I am riding along I have even changed route and decided to go down that lane rather than this one.....
After an easier than anticipate day in Ireland one year, I added an extra loop to another day etc. Always have some days aside for the touristy stuff, or just taking a day out because the weather is appauling, and remember, while it is a cycle trip, there is always public transport to get you out of trouble.

Internet is far more widely available in Europe in my limited experience, when we were in Spain a couple of years ago many towns offered free wife in town squares or in areas by bus stations/ train stations. Far more cafes/bars/restaurants have embraced the free wifi culture than this country we are only just catching up...

[andymiller]

Added some rough plan made in 5 minutes (it is around 4000 miles which give me around 70 days - much more if ad some rest days and slower stages [hills etc] but still not enough).

Be wary of Google maps. It's a great tool, and yes you can plan a route with it, but Google doesn't know which are the quiet, scenic roads and which are the interesting places to visit. Traditional maps (at 1:200k) still score for route planning as they show the scenic roads (as well as other useful information such as roads with particularly steep gradients, and heights of passes).

I'd second the advice about not overplanning - I tend to carry a bunch of maps marked up with campsites and improvise from there. But while I'd say don't overplan I think it is well worth taking time to research the countries on your route, so you have a better idea of interesting places to go. This is a great way to spend long winter evenings.

I wouldn't set yourself overly-ambitious mileage targets - it's one thing to do two consecutive 100-kilometre days but another to do it day after day for months on end. Plan to be flexible - ie give yourself lots of options rather than one pre-programmed route that you stick to rigidly.

Your route looks like a decent basis, but instead of adding in more countries I'd suggest taking more time in the countries that are already on your route.

As for your route through Italy, I'm not sure exactly what route you are planning to take but I would suggest turning north from the Ligurian coast at some point and going through Piemonte towards the Lago Maggiore and then through the lakes and mountains of northern Lombardia and into the Dolomites. From there you could either head south-east towards Trieste or eastwards through the PusterTal and the Drau Radweg cycleway via Lienz in Austria (which IIRC then heads towards Maribor in Slovenia).

There's lots of information about possible routes through northern Italy on my website http://italy-cycling-guide.info.

Free WiFi internet access is widely available and you don't have to rely on Macdonalds - you will inevitably pass through some places with MacDonalds in them but IME the most interesting and authentic places *don't* have branches of MacDonalds so, if you get your route planning right, you won't see them very often.

Far more cafes/bars/restaurants have embraced the free wifi culture than this country we are only just catching up...

You can even get WiFi access in Argos - although I think I'd prefer to go to MacDonalds.

[Alexievier]

Thank you all for some good infos. At the moment I am trying to not use any of paper maps - it will be to many of them and financially it is a bit expensive (and heavy I have to say). Every time when I plan I use garmin connect to create the course, my gps unit is Edge 800 with OSM - which is free - as long as I have internet I can easily plan the next stop (camp side or when I need to - wild camp). I still read a article made by 'psmiffy' (http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page ... 09089&v=zv) which give me a lot of info about the principles of planning ahead. To be honest I don't care where I go as long as I will be in move. I am thinking to avoid crowded places, big towns etc. want peace and quite, rural and wild areas to see - that's why the planning is a bit tricky.
What you think about eurovelos - can I just use some bits and connect them in a route ? even if they not all finished the idea is there to use ?

[andymiller]

To be honest I don't care where I go as long as I will be in move. I am thinking to avoid crowded places, big towns etc. want peace and quite, rural and wild areas to see - that's why the planning is a bit tricky.

Sounds like you do care where you go - or at least which way you go.

Decent maps are worth the weight and the cost. Seriously: there've been plenty of times when having a decent map has meant that I could find a quieter saner route on minor roads when otherwise I might have taken a much less pleasant alternative. OK buying a map if you're only going to use it for a day or two would be silly, but if you are likely to be using it for a say couple of weeks then it's a reasonable investment that will repay you in terms of the quality of your experience.

For *route planning* (ie pre-planning at home) you can use road atlases - you can get a decent Michelin (or for Italy, the Touring Club Italiano) 1:200,00 road atlas for about £12. Some people tear out the pages they need and take them with them.

You can also use viamichelin.com which gives you online access to Michelin maps.

IME (in Italy) Eurovelos vary widely - some parts are very good indeed and represent the best alternative, but in other cases you may be better off simply looking for quiet, scenic roads (which is where a decent map comes in).

[Alexievier]

I agree with the map thing - but...At the moment I am planning to go next year from St Malo to Bilbao and - after research - I noticed I need 5 maps (+/-) to get me around 500 miles - so adding the distance I want to cross going throe whole Europe - the amount of detailed maps I will need is a bit big - it is not about the cost is about the simple idea of quantity. Still a lot to think about....

[Alexievier]

There is a choice of Michelin Local map (1/150 000) or Regional (1/200 000) - is the second good enough to consider or is better to use more detail map ?

[psmiffy]

There is a choice of Michelin Local map (1/150 000) or Regional (1/200 000) - is the second good enough to consider or is better to use more detail map ?

Either or - Ive used both - no real difference in detail - one is just a bigger version of the other

[Bike-Rich]

Interesting reading this, i'm planning a trip soon and have a good outline of the bike and gear I will be ordering but not maps/gps setup.

I've seen a few tourers with an actual map placed on front bar pannier (with waterproof cover), this seems ideal but i've not looked at any GPS or data loggers, don't want to be bogged down with gadgets but I think some sort of sat-nav would be a good ideal,

Any suggestions?
Thanks

[foxyrider]

Interesting reading this, i'm planning a trip soon and have a good outline of the bike and gear I will be ordering but not maps/gps setup.

I've seen a few tourers with an actual map placed on front bar pannier (with waterproof cover), this seems ideal but i've not looked at any GPS or data loggers, don't want to be bogged down with gadgets but I think some sort of sat-nav would be a good ideal,

Any suggestions?
Thanks

Get a bar bag, buy some maps, make sure you understand the key, job done. A barbag will act as trip central, it goes where you do, contains all your documents and valuables and helps redistribute a bit of weight! Take some sort of smart phone - you can then access the web and not be bogged down with lots of different stuff to charge/look after. If you need to find where you are, they all have some sort of location finder as standard these days.

A standard bike computer will log your distance/time ridden etc and a paper map is quite cheap and allows you to see the wider picture that a tiny gps screen won't.

[Barrenfluffit]

Maps are one advantage of eurovelo. A couple have cycling maps which just cover the area your travelling through in a linear fashion. The other solution to the map problem is to buy an atlas (with smaller pages) and use it one page at a time. With larger scale atlas's this is much cheaper than trying to buy enough individual sheets.