Planning a bike trip? (page 7 of 37)

Hi ipe, Back in 2008 I bought Louis Simon Roy’s "conversation guide," which was super helpful (way more than Lonely Planet—like, knowing how to order steak fries in the Altai isn’t exactly a game-changer). Learning Cyrillic isn’t hard at all... For spoken practice, I’ve been working with his "initiation method" for two months now, putting in 3–4 hours a week. I’ve gone through 8 of the 12 lessons, and it seems really productive—this little combo of themed texts, translations, grammar, plus audio discs to ease into the language. It’s one of those "agglutinative" languages, as the experts say, with sounds that twist our tongues and ears a bit. There are a few noticeable typos, but they’re not too distracting and actually keep you on your toes. It’s super pedagogical, methodical, and practical. I’m pairing it with an online Mongolian-French lexicon http://www.istb.univie.ac.at/mongol/dico/, in preparation for a six-week trip this May–June to put it all into practice. You can find his method for sale on www.voyagemongolie.com. Let me know if you need anything!

Hi there! My plan for this year? Simple—I’m sticking modestly to France. Leaving on May 17th from Tournon in Ardèche with two friends to visit the Roquefort caves and see the Millau Viaduct. We’re set to return to Morestel in Isère on the 27th, so 10 days later and around 900 km, heading back up through the Drôme and Vercors. Gilles

Hi everyone, For me, things are getting more concrete—it's D-42! I leave from Toulouse, then fly to Toronto, take the train to Vancouver, and after that, I'll bike south. I just put my blog online here: http://grandpedaleurlibre.org/ It’ll keep evolving over the next few days because I’m still making technical tweaks so I only have editorial updates to do during the trip.

hi pvirlo if I understood correctly (D-42), you won’t be joining us for the Beaujolais weekend at the CCI? Actually, your trip shouldn’t be too tough—you’re just heading downhill to Ushuaia. Wishing you tailwinds for your ride.

Hey Alain, Nope, I’ll be on the plane during the CCI weekend in Burgundy, but I hear you can find good wine outside Beaujolais too. ;)

Hi there, Two mini plans on the agenda from April 6th to April 18th: the Cathar castles from Cucugnan to Pamiers, then the feeder canal for the Canal du Midi starting from Lake Saint-Férreol. After that, I’ll continue along the Canal de Garonne (Toulouse to Moissac with its canal bridge, and Agen) and finish in Bordeaux, returning to Lyon by train. I’m going east to west to keep the sun at my back (though if the weather’s bad or the wind’s against me, I’ll have it all wrong—so much for my great plan!). See you on the trails, JC

I’m from the Aude region, and you’ve got a good chance of hitting a headwind... and when it blows, it blows hard. I hope you get the Marin wind coming from the Mediterranean. Have a great trip in the beautiful Corbières area. Bye, Maxou11

Me too—after taking the train to Agde, I plan to ride up the Canal du Midi and then the Garonne. I thought the wind would come from the Mediterranean, at least at the start.

It’s true that in France, the prevailing wind comes from the west. Is it really that strong along the canal, or are we somewhat sheltered by the trees? cyclo78

😏For me, departure on 05/01 from Bordeaux to Valence "FRANCE", passing through St-Émilion, Bergerac, La Roque-Gageac, Souillac, Gourdon, Cahors, along the Lot River to Capdenac, Entraygues-sur-Truyère, Laguiole, Aumont-Aubrac, Langogne, Pont de Labeaume, St-Pierre-de-Colombier, and what wasn’t planned—paying homage to Jean Ferrat in Antraigues-sur-Volane, Vals-les-Bains, St-Privat, St-Étienne-de-Boulogne, Freyssenet, Privat, St-Cierge-la-Serre, La Voulte-sur-Rhône, and finally Valence. Around 1000 km.

If anyone’s interested, I’ll finalize the roadbook and maps, which I’ll put in PDF format. As a bonus, there’ll also be the .kmz track for Google Earth. And even better—if you want to join me for the trip, you know the procedure => PM.

That’s for June.

Late May to early July: Paris => Gex => Valence => Aubagne.

And in September, Alsace or the D-Day beaches—I still don’t know yet.

Hey, has no one thought about putting roadbooks online? Or does it already exist, and I just didn’t search well enough?

Best regards, Spader

on the canal path sheltered from the prevailing wind "le cers," equivalent to the tramontane. Have a great trip! Bye, Maxou 11

biking in albania from tirana heading to dagti park, burrel, skoder, theth park, fierze, koman, vlora, gyrokaster, berat, then back to tirana quite the adventure on two wheels!

Hi Cyclo78, I’m in Toulouse and I can tell you we get wind pretty often here. It’s either westerly winds (the most common according to weather stats) or the *autan* wind (southeast, less frequent but more annoying because it’s drier and can be more turbulent).

The weather is impossible to predict three months in advance, and in both cases, if you’re riding straight into it along the canal, it’s a nightmare. Westerly winds tend to blow in winter and spring, while the *autan* mostly blows in autumn but can also hit in the middle of summer (the worst, combined with heat) and in spring. It can even shift direction within the same week. However, for the *autan*, they say here it blows for 3, 6, or 9 days straight. In short, it’s impossible to recommend riding the canal in one direction or the other based on the wind—it’s totally random. That said, after Montauban, the *autan* pretty much disappears. (Unless it goes by another name there?)

Good luck!

Hi kikilecyclo, and thanks for the info. When you get back this summer, keep us posted on your trip—it’ll help me wait patiently! :)

Hi there,

To warm up a bit after an endless winter, we're heading south. We’ve booked a flight from Basel to Cagliari on May 8, then we’ll cycle back along the west coasts of Sardinia and Corsica to reach Bastia via Cap Corse. After crossing by ferry to Toulon, we’ll head to the Canal du Centre in Paray-le-Monial via Avignon and Entraigues/Volane. We’ll return home via Dijon and the EuroVelo 6 route. We’ll use an IGN Evadéo GPS powered by a dynamo hub with a 12V buffer battery for navigation.

In August, though, we think it’s best to avoid the southern campsites, so we’ll head due north to reach the Elbe in Hamburg. From there, we’ll follow the cycle path to the North Sea up to the Danish border, then take the Baltic Sea cycle route into Poland. The return route isn’t set yet, but in Germany, the network of cycle paths gives us plenty of options.

See you around!

http://hautlepied.blogspot.com/

We're preparing a bike tour of France!!! Might as well enjoy our own country before heading off to other lands.... There’s so much to see and discover right near home!

So here we are, two "dromedaries" who’ll be setting off with our bikes fully loaded in early August 2010. Maybe this trip will last 2 or 3 months, depending on the people we meet along the way..... For now, we’re training... hehe * See you soon, and good luck to everyone with their ambitious plans!

Hey hey

As usual, the other one’s gonna tap me on the shoulder, so I’m hitting the road to grab my saddle— Paris / Grasse / Dax / Paris. We call that paid leave; it’s been going on for 15 years now.

Direct no stopover

Hi there, For me, the chosen route will normally be through the Cantal mountains, via Puy Mary, then Le Lioran, heading next toward Lozère and the Cévennes to climb Mont Aigoual and catch a glimpse of the Mediterranean Sea in the distance... Returning via slightly flatter lands in Aveyron, then Lot, and finally Dordogne. Hoping for sunshine in the sky and in the welcome, since I’m planning to stay with locals as much as possible or pitch my tent in your gardens!!! Just sayin’!!! A solo journey of about 1000 to 1200 km in early July over 15 days. See you soon,

Guillaume

Hi Joan, I’m planning to bike through your region (Alsace, via Mulhouse) in September. Are there any must-see spots I shouldn’t miss? I’m cycle touring and plan to spend 3 weeks there. Thanks!

Luc

Hi Denis!

I’d be delighted to swing by your place! Albi... mmmhhh... I should be there around mid-June if all goes well.

See you soon, maybe!

Edouard

You must be talking about "Gone with the Autan" 😛