Next year's tour

[Tourist Tony]

Well, I am humming and hawing and qobbling. I want to do a Transpondian expedition, but I have never been there and would prefer a little taster before taking the deep plunge. I can't really afford another massive long-haul tour for a while, so I am now looking at options.
One is to take a cheap package to Majawka and ride around on a hire bike. That would allow me to combine birding, hillwalking and riding (and sea swimming, which I adore). The trouble with that is that package trips for single folk, or even just hotel rooms, are overpriced; even if you are occupying a garret with a single bed, you are still charged a supplement.
Another is to have yet another bimble along the Med coast in France. Done that rather a lot, though.
And then there is the idea of the Danube cycleway, which begs the question: whither and whence? I could fly back from Budapest....

Thoughts, people?

[teethgrinder]

I'm doing this
Christmas (in) Turkey
at Christmas.
An apartment for 6 costs £150 off season. If you are there when I am (I'm thinking of getting there on 13/14 December and coming back on around 3rd January) then it's £75 each for a week, less if anyone else joins us.
So far, I am the only definite. Regulator and Mr R are possibly be interested too, allthough maybe not for 3 weeks.

[gordon taylor]

I bang on about North American touring to anyone who will listen...

Adventure Cycling Route Network - Adventure Cycling Association

My experience of three of the routes on that map are great. Can you get cheap flights through the job?

Go West, young man. 

[Tourist Tony]

No cheap flights, specifically barred, but I have airmiles enough for a free return with BA.....

[Clare]

What Gordy said 

[gordon taylor]

I met a bloke on tour last year who was thinking of doing a LeJog and I persuaded him that Perth to Sydney would be much more fun. Anyway, he did the Oz route and didn't enjoy it at all...

Whilst he hasn't come running after me with an axe and a huge plane bill, I now get anxious about recommending routes to others who might have other preferences. I suppose I should ask on here if anyone has every toured in the states and NOT enjoyed it before yapping on about it all the time.

Remember, (natch) that the southern states are baking hot in the summer months.

The beer is poor.

The waffles are magnificent.

The farm dogs are a constant menace.


There, I've restore some balance. 

[Tourist Tony]

Just spotted another possibility....Fly to Innsbruck, ride the Inn to Passau, then the Danube to Budapest, fly home.

[CAMRAMan]

Just spotted another possibility....Fly to Innsbruck, ride the Inn to Passau, then the Danube to Budapest, fly home.

I assume with your handle that you appreciate good touring routes. Having done the Danube Cycleway, I think you would be disappointed. Boringly flat and teeming with locals on day rides in the busy season. You could consider the route south of Budapest, but once you hit Serbia, I'm unable to advise, though there is a website of the route somewhere.

Flying from Budapest is easy. easyJet do the route to Luton, and Ryanair will get you back to several of the smaller UK airports. The latter is not recommended for cyclists, however. BA & Malev fly to London, buit Swiss have always given me the best value flights from Brum.

Transylvania would be a good option. The scenery is stunning, prices cheap and it has a certain cache amongst bat-lovers I think some of the cheapos now fly to Cluj.

Avoid summer. It was 40C+ when I did the Danube route last year and no fun at all in that heat. May is great out here. June starts to get sweltering. I'll be back in Blighty by the time you go, but I'll be happy to pass on any wisdom I may have gained in the last 8 years...

[Ariadne]

I haven't ridden the Danube path but have been told it's 'for pensioners', and having ridden for four or five days on the Elbe path I can believe it!

It was flat, dull, and poorly surfaced: probably fine if you ride slowly on a bike with lots of suspension (as hundreds and hundreds of German tourists were doing) but it got a bit tiresome.

The 'driveway' bits:


The 'grassy' bits:


The constant waiting for a ferry bits (these were quite fun, actually, but could mean a hold up of an hour if you arrived at lunchtime!):

[Ariadne]

Actually - I was thinking about this last night and I've probably been a bit unfair - there were also large bits of the route that were either tarmac or (more usually) smooth gravel - so it's not all bad. But even the gravel gets wearing, and all the other cyclists get a bit tiresome too 

[bikepacker]

I met a bloke on tour last year who was thinking of doing a LeJog and I persuaded him that Perth to Sydney would be much more fun. Anyway, he did the Oz route and didn't enjoy it at all...

Whilst he hasn't come running after me with an axe and a huge plane bill, I now get anxious about recommending routes to others who might have other preferences. I suppose I should ask on here if anyone has every toured in the states and NOT enjoyed it before yapping on about it all the time.

Remember, (natch) that the southern states are baking hot in the summer months.

The beer is poor.

The waffles are magnificent.

The farm dogs are a constant menace.


There, I've restore some balance. 

But unexpectedly, the people are great. Except for parts of Florida.

[mark]

Remember, (natch) that the southern states are baking hot in the summer months.

The beer is poor.

The waffles are magnificent.

The farm dogs are a constant menace.


There, I've restore some balance. 

Along with the southern states, large parts of the US can be baking hot and humid in the summer. Get a globe and compare the latitude of any part of the US with the UK for an idea.

The nationally distributed beers are indeed poor. There are, however, lots of surprisingly good local beers and microbreweries.

[Greenbank]

Get a globe and compare the latitude of any part of the US with the UK for an idea.

That's a massive simplication. Everywhere in the contiguous United States is south of the mainland UK so why are there parts of the US that get far far colder than anywhere in the UK ever gets?

The US Climate is ruled by primarily by the jet stream and, subsequently, El Niño and La Niña along with its geography.

Anyway. I used to live in the mid-west. Close to 100% humidity and temperatures over 40^oC sometimes only dipping to 32^oC overnight. Prolonged exercise in these conditions is unbelievably hard.

[Tourist Tony]

It's a simple case of "continental climate" as opposed to maritime.
Ariadne....Those bloody concrete dual track things....had them this year in Saxony etc

[Tourist Tony]

Just spotted another possibility....Fly to Innsbruck, ride the Inn to Passau, then the Danube to Budapest, fly home.

I assume with your handle that you appreciate good touring routes. Having done the Danube Cycleway, I think you would be disappointed. Boringly flat and teeming with locals on day rides in the busy season. You could consider the route south of Budapest, but once you hit Serbia, I'm unable to advise, though there is a website of the route somewhere.

Flying from Budapest is easy. easyJet do the route to Luton, and Ryanair will get you back to several of the smaller UK airports. The latter is not recommended for cyclists, however. BA & Malev fly to London, buit Swiss have always given me the best value flights from Brum.

Transylvania would be a good option. The scenery is stunning, prices cheap and it has a certain cache amongst bat-lovers I think some of the cheapos now fly to Cluj.

Avoid summer. It was 40C+ when I did the Danube route last year and no fun at all in that heat. May is great out here. June starts to get sweltering. I'll be back in Blighty by the time you go, but I'll be happy to pass on any wisdom I may have gained in the last 8 years...

Yeah, I've ridden a couple of tours....