Generic Touring Thread

Now he's talking about minefields near the borders...

Yeah I thought it's a motorway. But there is a lot of strava action on it when I looked on the heat map. More so after Veles.

Turns out he's only driven on it further south in Greece where it's 4+ lanes...

Looks like there's a decent hard shoulder in the Macedonia section and after a while when you get into Greece, but not around the border.

It was one of the busier cities I crossed through in the Balkans, but still nothing compared to London IMHO.
The route south from Kacanik to Skopje was good, downhill with mostly good quality road.
I used the R1102 which runs parallel to the E75. It's okay but the road quality goes to shit at times (especially between Katlanovo and Otovitsa where it turns to gravel).
The Macadonian drivers where the worst I came across all the way from Ireland to Istanbul. I'm not sure I'd be risking my life on the E75 but it did look like a superior road assuming there's a hard shoulder to hide in and you're within the rules to ride there.

I crossed into Bulgaria rather than Greece and left your route at Negotino so can't comment further but other than the bit mentioned above the road was reasonable.

HTH

Great help thabks.
I'll look taking the motorway. Sod gravel!
If there's a shoulder then I'm all for it.

I have seen a website re cycle routes in France that has lots of routes shown on an interactive map. You can click on the routes and get info on them. It is not this one: http://en.francevelotourisme.com/base-1/itineraires - planning a North to South of France this summer and this map would be really useful. Any suggestions? Cheers

Good call I think. And the motorway will be way faster and more direct

Yes. I read on someones blog that they used the motorway and the police were OK with it, but not sure from what point they were using it.

Is this the section that has gravel? Is it bad?
Of the R1102.

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Yeah that's the one. It improves again as you reach the lake...
It's rideable but was really quite unpleasant on my 1.5" tyres so can only imagine what 25/28mm would have been like.

Thanks. Motorway then!

Good info on the NC500 uber_gruber. Considering this myself for the end of summer (hopefully post-midge, right?). Would you suggest doing it counter-clockwise then? Been reading Mike Carter's book 'One Man and his Bike', which is a good lighthearted read if anyone's stuck for bike related books, in which he cycles the coast of Britain CCW and never complained of headwinds, at least not in the Scotland part of the book.

Thanks for the great info on the NC500 RankinJ & Uber_Gruber. I can only do it July/August, as I work in education, so will just have to brave the midges. Considering both of you have suggested that the East coast isn't so spectacular, corroborating the few other reports I have heard, I think I may adapt the route to stick to the west, and possibly include the Isle of Skye.

And we're off.

Awesome! I'm well jel.

"Some of Kosovo was OK, it was just the area around Prishtina and also between Prishtina and Skopje that was so bad."

"Kosovo seemed OK if a bit beaten up until I got to Prishtina. The road from Prishtina to Skopje was super dangerous, one one the scariest I have ever been on. Narrow, rough and very, very busy. There are also few places to eat anything decent in Kosovo. I didn't enjoy it. There were big convoys of cars going and high speed and honking all the time. There were also numerous dead dogs in the road. It was not pleasant."

This is more north of where I am riding (and probably you) so it might not be relevant just thought I'd mention.

"Kosovo seemed OK if a bit beaten up until I got to Prishtina. The road from Prishtina to Skopje was super dangerous, one one the scariest I have ever been on. Narrow, rough and very, very busy. There are also few places to eat anything decent in Kosovo. I didn't enjoy it. There were big convoys of cars going and high speed and honking all the time. There were also numerous dead dogs in the road. It was not pleasant."

Sounds like anywhere in the Balkans.

I guess everyone's experience is different but I loved Kosovo including the food. I found the traffic generally okay (as skinny say, by Balkan standards) and the E65 headed south to Skopje (I joined from the R116) when I travelled it was glorious. Smooth, downhill with nice bridges and tunnels to the border. I will admit that it was less plesant after the border but I think I remember something resembling a hard shorlder from the border to Skopje.

@ fahren too

Sorry for late reply.

The prevailing winds are East to West, when I did it it was more NE to SW, but you can see from the route map what that does compared to the East coast.

I think taking the train to Thurso and starting there to do it ccw would negate the winds and would clear a few days and skip the least scenic part of the route. Skye is beautiful-if you don't have much time a route I'd recommend is from Broadford to Elgol, and from Broadford you can also ride to Kylerhea and take a small ferry over to the mainland at Glenelg-the old military road there is a spectacular climb and you can either come back round over the bridge onto Skye via Eilean Donan castle or head South down the coast of Loch Hourn to Corran and take another ferry to Ardgour. I'd check if/when it is running prior though.

Has anyone got any GPS routes for a trip from the UK to Italy? I'm meant to be going to Perugia and Sicily next month but thinking maybe I should cycle instead of flying. Cash poor time rich at the moment!

Just asking before I start planning

Anyone got experience of Dunnoon / Gourock / Argyle areas up to Fort William?

Going up with a buddy at the end of the month. We're planning on Wild Hammocking.

A recent night testing wasn't pleasant coz we set up in the dark in a shitty damp area.

Just wondering what the forests are like, are they Hammock friendly (8' x 4' minimum open space between trees) or have fucked up choosing hammocks coz trees are too tightly planted.

I've spent some time up there. In general, the spruce plantation forests are quite impenetrable.

Thanks. Not really the news I was hoping for. Oh well, we'll just have to set up in day light with carry outs.

That looks like a great trip. I am having so much trouble picking my next trip, but I do like the idea of that route.

Rode across the sea which was epic. ~35•c heat and very little shade all day made the 45 mile day surprisingly tough.

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