Generic Touring Thread

Yeah i'd still take a bivvy as a backup. We did a mix of rocking up, and booking a few hours before on hotels.com etc

Thanks for the tip.

Laner was in charge of navigation and accommodation. I was in charge of beer/rad procurement.

Despite them being the toughest areas I really enjoyed Macedonia, Albania and Montenegro. Couldn’t believe we rode from virtual desert in Skopje all the way up to a ski resort on the first day. 10 mile climb after a long hot day was soul destroying but also rewarding. Cycling in Hungary is super boring unless you like it pan flat.

This summer I want to ride from Copenhagen (or maybe somewhere else in roughly that neck of the woods) to Berlin, possibly via Hamburg and then on to Fluff fest near Prague. Does anyone have any rough route suggestions?

why not start from http://www.ecmc2018.com/

It's a bit too late unfortunately, Fluff fest is the end of July so wanting to set off some time before then!

anyone done eurovelo 6?

I did a bit around nantes right at the start, it was très agreeable.

I've done bits between Switzerland and Croatia on different tours. Most is pretty, can get boring with being flat and samey. I'd ignore it in germany and go via Munich, Bavaria has good bicycle infrastructure generally so can make up your own route. Passau to Vienna is a really nice section. Budapest to croatia is boring and you don't even see the river that much, would route via Lake Balaton instead.

+1 about the flat and samey, I found this with all eurovelo routes.

it's just a bit too nice sometimes, if you're like me every now and then you want to go up a loose gravel track in the hills, or duck through a woodland on a dodgy path, or whatever. EV routes are a bit sanitised so you lose that fun, they make up for this by being very fast.

I agree. BUT the EV routes are really good for meeting other cycletourists so that's a plus for me

Did from Basel to Vienna last year. I really enjoyed it, but that's cause I like rivers and flatness.

Do people bring locks when wild camping for a few days? Obviously want to avoid hauling around a heavy lock, but trying to work out what to do with the bike when asleep in a tent.

no, just put it under some bushes somewhere off the path. anyway if you're wild camping you're not hanging around much before dusk/after dawn so people are v unlikely to see it.

Thanks, hoped this was the case.

as always with wild camping, the first time will feel a bit weird, then you get used to it, the amount of times I've woken up with people dogwalking next to my bivvy saying hi is extraordinary

Knowing my luck it'll be somebody's back garden.

Keep it near the tent. Trail something from bike to inside your tent porch using cord. If bike goes nighttime walkies, you will be awakened. This has the possibility to go badly wrong also.

nice opportunity to get some fresh water at their garden tap in the morning then!

Probably the easiest way would be following Elbe river. You can follow it all the way from Hamburg to Prague. Part between Dresden and Prague goes through sächsische schweiz and it’s especially nice.

Part between Budapest and Orsova

Has anyone done any of the NC500? Want to do Applecross in a few weeks and wondering about route choice. We were going to go Mallaig → Skye → Applecross → Kinlochewe → head towards Inverness and get on the train somewhere before Garve. The A896 looks lovely but A832 looks like a fast/busy road, just wondering how it is to ride that last bit towards Inverness.

We did Gairloch to outside Inverness in a day fully loaded and it really wasn't bad at all. Except the horrendous head wind that made we want to throw my bike in a loch :)
I had no issues with traffic on the A832. There was hardly anyone around and everyone overtook with buckets of room.
Even the A835 which was busier and faster was still relatively easy going and stressless.

https://www.strava.com/activities/970644792

We did a very similar trip last year. Let me know if you need any pointers or tips.

Cool, I immediately dismissed the A835 to be honest! We'll be doing Applecross to Inverness on the Sunday so we'll just go as far as we can before the last train to Edinburgh. Last train from Inverness is 18:55 but it's already 110km from Applecross to Garve, highly doubt we can make it all the way!

Solid ride anyway, the thought of doing 100km into a headwind makes me want to cry!

Yeah, we had a different route originally but decided to head back inland a day early and do some riding around Inverness and Loch Ness area. We were apprehensive about the A835 but it was all good. Even stopped to take in some really pretty waterfalls.