Summer Hols on the Continent

[plum]

I went to all the trouble of buying a tent and bits and bobs of camping gear last year then it rained all blinking summer long and I never got to use any of it. So this year I'm thinking of distancing myself from England's verdant [and somewhat moist] pastures and heading into the EU. I'm a schoolteacher so have 6 weeks to play with, very limited cash, no cyclotouring experience whatsoever, and have never set foot on mainland Europe apart from the odd week's package to the Costa del Sol. I have a reasonable level of cycling fitness, 50+ miles per day sounds easy enough.

I'm not figuring on planning in much detail, I'll just head off and take each day as it comes. That way I reckon that if I find that I don't actually enjoy my own company for long spells I can just turn round and go home without too much fretting about wasted planning.

Question is which direction to head? France down to the Med and / or Spain sounds nice but looks expensive. Germany also looks expensive. Shame the Euro has gone the way it has because it's put the mockers on a load of possibilities. Somewhere cheap but still with nice weather would be ideal. Any suggestions?

[Wowbagger]

How good is your French?

My limited experience of cycletouring alone is that the need for company means one converses a good deal with other loners. It's 36 years since I studied any French (A level in 1972 and then my second subject at teachers' training college) and I reckon I would struggle to make myself understood or to understand a native French speaker.

It could get quite lonely.

[Regulator]

I went to all the trouble of buying a tent and bits and bobs of camping gear last year then it rained all blinking summer long and I never got to use any of it. So this year I'm thinking of distancing myself from England's verdant [and somewhat moist] pastures and heading into the EU. I'm a schoolteacher so have 6 weeks to play with, very limited cash, no cyclotouring experience whatsoever, and have never set foot on mainland Europe apart from the odd week's package to the Costa del Sol. I have a reasonable level of cycling fitness, 50+ miles per day sounds easy enough.

I'm not figuring on planning in much detail, I'll just head off and take each day as it comes. That way I reckon that if I find that I don't actually enjoy my own company for long spells I can just turn round and go home without too much fretting about wasted planning.

Question is which direction to head? France down to the Med and / or Spain sounds nice but looks expensive. Germany also looks expensive. Shame the Euro has gone the way it has because it's put the mockers on a load of possibilities. Somewhere cheap but still with nice weather would be ideal. Any suggestions?

Ferry from Harwich to the Hook of Holland, from only £20 return including rail fares.

Everyone in Holland speaks English and wants to practice it.  Campsites keep spaces for cycle tourists.  The food and beer is excellent.  Amsterdam.

What more could you want?

[bloomers100]

My tip is that when estimating how many miles you want to do each day allow for frequent map checks which slow you down. Having said that you'll have the long evenings to ride into should your day become extended.

They say you need to get south of the loire valley to get the better weather.

[gordon taylor]

France is a fantastic country for cycle touring; I don't think you could go wrong whether you are in the mountains to the south and east or the flat coasts of the west. So my advice is just go and see if you like it. French summer campsites are expensive in tourist areas but cheap when you are off the beaten track.

Solo cycle touring is my "thing." I love it - but Wowgagger touches on a point above - it can be lonely on campsites if you are the only solo and your language skills are limited. If that concerns you, why not try one of the CTC organised tours? They are highly recommended. Alternatively, look at the French Youth Hostels, they are good, cheap and sociable - assuming that you don't mind sharing a dorm.

I would find it very difficult to meander around on a bike, no matter how nice the weather or how beautiful the country. You might have a mindset (like mine) that always needs a purpose or goal: for example, Rome is barely 1000 miles from the French channel ports - why not cycle to Rome, or Madrid? That's a very, very easy three weeks - then fly back.

These routes/ideas are also on my "to do" list.

1) Ride from home to Santander, ferry back to Plymouth or Portsmouth.

2) Ferry from Harwich to Rotterdam, then ride to Roscoff, ferry back to Plymouth.

3) As above but first ferry to Calais - so it's shorter.

4) Checkout the Ryanair and Easyjet route maps and fly cheaply to absolutely anywhere that's about 1000 miles away - northern Spain, southern France, northern Italy, Denmark, Poland? - then ride home.

5) Go and visit friends/colleagues who have a house somewhere in France.

My last point (sorry for rambling) is that 50 miles a day is probably too short if you are just cycling. On a good day you'll be finished by lunchtime and then what? If you decide to visit cathedrals, or follow canals or paint or something - that's fine - but the afternoons and evenings can be long and boring if you don't.

Pick a target. 

[gordon taylor]

I like Regulator's idea too. I you find a comfortable campsite then you can do (what I call) cloverleaf touring - heading out each day to see a different part of the country. The Netherlands would be ideal - although my only experience of touring there was along the coast at the height of the holiday season - it was heaving with people and at times you just ride in a long convoy of Ortleib panniers.*



Obviously you can ride light most days and just move on to another campsite when the fancy takes.

* Some Dutch female cyclists insist on riding everywhere in bikinis, so I can't quite remember if their panniers were Ortleib or not.  
I got lost that day.

[MSeries]

My first tour was forty or so miles per day. I was solo in Denmark and it was wet for 10 days. I didn't feel much like exploring much in the afternoons once I'd reached my destination. So I'd recommend you keep a very loose itinerary, go somewhere where camping is plentysome and with things that interest you for once you finish the daily ride. 

[tatanab]

France is a fantastic country for cycle touring; I don't think you could go wrong whether you are in the mountains to the south and east or the flat coasts of the west. So my advice is just go and see if you like it. French summer campsites are expensive in tourist areas but cheap when you are off the beaten track.

Agreed.  France is now where I spend most of my holidays.

Solo cycle touring is my "thing." I love it - but Wowgagger touches on a point above - it can be lonely on campsites .

  Me too. Although every few evenings I find another solo UK or English speaking tourist to chat to.

why not try one of the CTC organised tours? They are highly recommended.

although likely to be fully booked by now.  They are very popular, some leaders have quite a following.

I would find it very difficult to meander around on a bike, no matter how nice the weather or how beautiful the country. You might have a mindset (like mine) that always needs a purpose or goal.

SAme for me.  I like a goal.

50 miles a day is probably too short if you are just cycling. On a good day you'll be finished by lunchtime and then what?.

Riding with a goal in mind I do about 60 to 80 miles a day, although this can be severely curtailed by weather and terrain.  I get to somewhere reasonable about lunchtoime to mid afternoon (I start early) and am quite happy messing around town.

If you have no particular need to be back on  a set date then buy a one way ferry ticket and just go.  I admit that takes some confidence so maybe a return ticket is better.  That gives you the goal - I have to be in this place at this time to get the ferry/plane.  As Mseries says - keep a loose itinerary making up the daily route as you go.

[αdαmsκι]

As Greg says, The Netherlands would be one choice. There are ferries from Harwick to Hoek van Holland (StenaLine); Hull to Rotterdam (P&O); and Newcastle to IJmuiden (DFDS). The DFDS and P&O boats are overnight ones, while StenaLine runs both a day ferry and a night ferry. The day ferry is cheaper because you don't need to book a cabin, but you then spend day 1 on a boat.

There's loads and loads and loads of decent cycle routes around The Netherlands that are fantastically well sign posted - clicky for an outline. You could bimble up the North Sea coast, passing by Leiden, Haarlem and Amsterdam and into the province of Noord Holland. Visit the island Texel, or another of the West Frisian Islands and then cycle across the amazing Afsluitdijk and into Friesland? Or stick in the central part of The Netherlands, visiting places such as Amsterdam, Delft and Utrecht.

Getting around with English isn't a problem at all. The weather tends to be better than the UK, and more stable too. However, The Netherlands is in the Eurozone and it's therefore more expensive than it was a few years ago. However, if you want non Eurozone stuff than I you'll have to fly, or visit Denmark, and that's going put the price up.

You'll find quite a bit of information on yacf - for example: Best Cycle Touring map for Netherlands?

[iakobski]

The thing with the Netherlands is the weather's not likely to be much different from the UK, and if it's dry this summer then plum may as well have stayed and done what s/he was going to do last summer.

Out of the list in the OP, France and Germany were always relatively expensive so are very dear now the pound has fallen against the Euro. Spain is still good value for money even though it's in the Euro, especially for campsites, cafes, hotels and eating out (in smaller places, a 3 course meal w/free bottle of wine can be less than buying provisions and eating at your tent). Also look at Eastern Europe which can offer some pretty spectacular cycling.

Two issues are: as a teach you have no option but go at the most expensive time of year; and a lot of places that are expected to be dry in August are also unbearably hot for cycling. South of Spain will be sweltering away from the coast, as will Italy & south of France, unless you are high in the mountains.

Look at cheap flights to less popular airports, eg easyjet into Asturias is fairly cheap even in August, it's not as hot as the med coast, but you should get good weather (and if you don't you just cycle south for 1/2 a day and it will be dry).

As Wow says, language will be an issue, as soon as you're away from the resorts/cities English is not very widely spoken, so pick a country now and start learning the lingo, you've got a few months.

[arabella]

To which I add how hot do you want it to be if you are out in the midday sun cycling anyway? Also how much do you like lumpiness?

Get to channel
Take next available (overnight) boat, sleeping fitfully as you sail
Head S/SW or E depending on what weather you want - I prefer cooler so have gone along the coast throuh Belgium and Netherlands the Germany and turned north into Denmark and then Sweden (and ferry back from Göteborg).  (relatively flat - it's the western European Plain dontcha know)
Or keep going east towards Poland/Baltic States. 
Or turn south in Germany and aim for Austria/Hungary/Bohemia-Moravia and Slovakia then the Balkans.

Tourist Tony has done this before, once or twice.

[Domestique]

We shall be heading back to Holland again this year.
One thing I noticed about the weather in Holland, it was noticably worse, lots more rain, raining all day etc, when we where at the top of the country, Friesland, than it was in Arnham. At least it seemed that way to us 
This time we hope to roughly follow the Rhein from the Hoek to Nijmegen, then follow the German border down to Venlo before heading back towards the Hoek.
Also we will be travelling in August this time instead of June.

[Wowbagger]

I was discussing a potential cycle tour with my brother on Friday.

His son lives in Holland, but my brother was not particularly interested in a cycle tour there: "It's a rather boring country. The cycle routes are good, but otherwise it's just more of SE England: flat & overcrowded."

I add that this is not my opinion: I don't have one as I've never been there.

We are considering a trip to Denmark next year, at the end of May.

[αdαmsκι]

His son lives in Holland, but my brother was not particularly interested in a cycle tour there: "It's a rather boring country. The cycle routes are good, but otherwise it's just more of SE England: flat & overcrowded."

That's not true. There's nothing like the wilderness of northern Scotland, but despite the population of The Netherlands it can be fairly empty. The Randstad is crowded, but even in that area there's plenty of greenery, such as the Groene Hart (Green Heart) region. Get away from the Randstad and it's a lot quiter, for example north of Meppel there are a lot less people, and you have loads of lakes, canals and it's more like a waterworld. The Veluwe is another relativey empty, but beautiful place. There are a number of areas I've not been to, Limburg and Zeeland spring to mind, but a quick look on google maps suggests some of those areas are probably uncrowded, too.

(Wowbagger; I realise the opinion expressed in the quote isn't you're view of The Netherlands, but I couldn't leave the statement unanswered.

[plum]

Lots of useful talking points in there thanks. Loneliness isn't going to be a problem, inasmuch as if I get lonely or bored I'll just go home and carry on as normal. I'm very much a cup-half-full sort of person, if I don't enjoy it then at least I'll have learned something about myself.

Language might be an issue, I'm at the shouting and gesticulating level in all languages bar one, and I'm from the black country so there's arguments for and against my abilities in English. I've followed one piece of advice already and installed Rosetta Stone and the French packs, at first glance I seem to remember a bit of schoolboy french so I'm sure I can get somewhere with that.

Setting goals sounds like a good idea, I like the idea of distance, seeing how far I can get that sort of thing. Allowing for plenty of stops and touristy stuff it'd still be cool to head in a straight line from England and see where I end up. France down to Spain sounds nice, I would think that going local and cycling early/late and taking siesta during the hot times would be an efficient way to travel. Germany through to Eastern Europe sounds great in principle but I figure laguage would really become an issue, maybe for another time. Northern Europe/Holland etc doesn't sound like it's going to do it for me other than maybe as a pass-through to sunnier places, I want something as different as poss from the UK summer. Then the clover idea also sounds good, I need to grab a lonely planet and see if I could find enough destinations to keep me interested while I camp-site hop every few days.

A quick bit of googling makes the following point though, Spain is apparently the second hilliest country in Europe. Not really a train smash, just a bit of extra planning to avoid the big ones. How about Italy, no one has mentioned that?

[Deano]

Germany's not too expensive for eating, and for booze

I've always liked the look of the Rhine cycleway, which you could start in Rotterdam.  Just turn back and head for home when you get bored, or run out of time.  Tons of history, far too much to summarise.

As to travelling on your own, it's never bothered me, but I do like my own company, and I doubt you'll encounter any trouble with non-English speakers in the Netherlands, though you have to be a bit more outgoing in Germany, where people are less likely to approach you, IME.
 

[Speshact]

Unless you're desperate for hills, a good first tour is to follow the Rhine from Rotterdam through to the South of Germay. I went two summers ago and was swimming in warm lakes in Holland then cruising by the river through Germany. Always a decent campsite, normally someone to talk to if you make a bit of an effort. Not too hot or cold. I went down to Tuscany afterwards and the hills and the heat combination made it quite unpleasant outside early morning or evening.

This summer I'm tempted by Atlantic to Mediterranean through France - following the Canal du Midi.

[mark]

Lots of useful talking points in there thanks. Loneliness isn't going to be a problem, inasmuch as if I get lonely or bored I'll just go home and carry on as normal. I'm very much a cup-half-full sort of person, if I don't enjoy it then at least I'll have learned something about myself.

Language might be an issue, I'm at the shouting and gesticulating level in all languages bar one, and I'm from the black country so there's arguments for and against my abilities in English. I've followed one piece of advice already and installed Rosetta Stone and the French packs, at first glance I seem to remember a bit of schoolboy french so I'm sure I can get somewhere with that.

Setting goals sounds like a good idea, I like the idea of distance, seeing how far I can get that sort of thing. Allowing for plenty of stops and touristy stuff it'd still be cool to head in a straight line from England and see where I end up. France down to Spain sounds nice, I would think that going local and cycling early/late and taking siesta during the hot times would be an efficient way to travel. Germany through to Eastern Europe sounds great in principle but I figure laguage would really become an issue, maybe for another time. Northern Europe/Holland etc doesn't sound like it's going to do it for me other than maybe as a pass-through to sunnier places, I want something as different as poss from the UK summer. Then the clover idea also sounds good, I need to grab a lonely planet and see if I could find enough destinations to keep me interested while I camp-site hop every few days.

A quick bit of googling makes the following point though, Spain is apparently the second hilliest country in Europe. Not really a train smash, just a bit of extra planning to avoid the big ones. How about Italy, no one has mentioned that?

Rosetta Stone is excellent, Pimsleur language CDs are another good way to learn a new language.

Italy is beautiful, I've done a tour in Tuscany/Umbria and another in Sicily, I'd like to get back some day. Sardinia is on my list as well. I got to Tuscany in May 2006, I managed to avoid the worst of the tourist crowds. I was told that by June of most years, any place in Italy worth visiting is overrun by tourists. My impression was of plenty of campsites along the coasts, along with lots of beach resorts and tourists, far fewer campgrounds inland where I found the best riding. There are a decent number of hostels around, though. I carried camping gear and used it about 50% of the time in Tuscany and in Sicily.

Lonely Planet publishes excellent cycling guides to Italy and France, among other countries. Rough Guide travel guides are excellent, nothing cycling specific but geared toward a traveler with a modest budget and a youthful outlook.