European Trips
Category: Travel
1,053 km (654 miles) over 18 days between Aug. 26, 2020 and Sep. 12, 2020. Read the full account on CycleBlaze here.
Spectacular alpine scenery and the spectacle of me attempting to lug my fully-loaded bike up some truly unreasonable gradients.
In the midst of the chaos of 2020, I found a window when the coronavirus regulations would allow European travel and I could fit in a cycle tour. Starting in Munich, I made my way into Austria and travelled the length of the country through some of the valleys and high passes. After a brief sojourn in the wine growing country around lake Neusiedlersee and across the border to Bratislava, I finished up in Vienna and home.
1,402 km (871 miles) over 15 days between Aug. 11, 2019 and Aug. 25, 2019. Read the full account on CycleBlaze here.
Poland, Czech Republic and Germany: A journey back to the west through Mitteleuropa
In 2019, I visited Central Europe on my summer tour. Taking a train into the heart of Poland, I returned to the west by a meandering route through hilly Bohemia. Beyond the beer and bombs of Plzen I crossed the width of the old East Germany, to make it back to the west in Kassel.
1,281 km (796 miles) over 16 days between Jul. 20, 2018 and Aug. 4, 2018. Read the full account on CycleBlaze here.
Taking the rivers Doubs, Neckar, Würm, Rhine, Mosel and Sûre across the Jura, Black Forest and Pfalz
The target of my tour of 2018 was to visit my friend Ben in Tübingen, where he was teaching. I wanted to combine France and Germany, so thought I would set off from somewhere in Burgundy, cross the Rhine, then check out the Black Forest. Unfortunately I dramatically underestimated the hilliness of that region, with exhausting consequences. Finally, in some record-breaking heat (some days were 41°C), I followed the Rhine back to the north and the Mosel into Luxembourg.
830 miles (1,336 km) over 17 days between Jul. 15, 2017 and Jul. 31, 2017. Read the full account on CycleBlaze here.
A meandering journey through the lakes, pines and gravel roads of inland Sweden
For my first major tour overseas after a long hiatus, I decided to see if I could get my home-built machine (the “Blue Shift”) right through the middle of Sweden. Most tourists either stick to the coasts, or go east-to-west from Stockholm to Gothenburg.
527 km (327 miles) over 11 days between Mar. 9, 2011 and Mar. 19, 2011. Read the full account on CycleBlaze here.
No camping or cooking, but a fair bit of emergency bike fixing were required.
My very first international bike tour, where I attempted to ride from Dunkerque to Luxembourg on a very cheap bike bought in Oxford. No camping or cooking, but a fair bit of emergency bike fixing were required.
Scandinavia, 2010. Flying to Bergen, then trains to the Sognfjord. A series of ferries up to Balastrand & Sogndal, then to the Geirangerfjord, Ålesund and Molde. Ferry to Trondheim, then train into Sweden, via Ostersund to Stockholm.
Continuing a series of blog posts written for the hikingcorte blog way back in 2010.
Sadly I never finished writing up the full account of the trip, including walking all the way to the west coast, being surprised while using the bathroom in a hotel in Evisa, and getting stranded at a tortoise sanctuary due to train strikes.
The end of the trip coincided with the Icelandic volcano eruption, which meant my planned flight back from Geneva was cancelled. I ended up stranded in Geneva for about a week, kindly accommodated by my good friend who was working on the LHC there, before the air and French rail strikes cleared enough for me to get home.
I do, however, still have the photos taken during the trip. Here they are with some brief explanations:
Continuing a series of blog posts written for the hikingcorte blog way back in 2010. Some of this information may be outdated!
This was the last day I had to explore the environs of Corte before heading on my extended hike to the west coast via the mare e mare Nord – out of several alternatives, I figures I could not visit Corte without also seeing the reputedly spectacular Restonica gorge.
My guide warned me that although breathtaking, during summer the accessibility of the gorge by car means it can get crowded with tourists unwilling to walk – traffic jams even develop, spanning the narrow road which weaves the 15km through the length of the gorge from Corte to the bergeries de Grotelle. But during early spring the trip up the gorge to the high mountain lakes, Melu and Capitellu, promised to be very worthwhile.
I was mesmerised by some photos I had seen of the lakes, seemingly sunk like craters in the high mountains and shrowded in mist. They looked rather mysterious and alluring, and should be very atmospheric if there are few other tourists about.
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Hiking Day 1 – The Arch of Corte
Continuing a series of blog posts written for the hikingcorte blog way back in 2010. Some of this information may be outdated!
As described in the last post, there are a whole bunch of good hikes you can do from your base at Corte. Combine this with Corte being the most well connected town in the region in terms of transport and the local hotels and facilities (as well as the fact that Corte is a proper town, interesting in its own right, unlike – for example – Vizzavona) makes it an excellent base for exploring the area.
I had two days before my big hike west over the Corsican watershead, one of which would be spent walking the Restonica valley and seeing lakes Melo and Capitello.
One my first day, however, I decided to break myself in with an “easy” walk. Based on some upside-down logic which escapes me now, for some reason I decided that a hike up to a local landmark, the Arch of Corte (or Arcu di u Scandulaghiu as you’ll sometimes see it). I also decided to do the walk with a full pack to test whether I was up to lugging all my stuff dozens of kilometers over the mountains. For some strange reason I failed to grasp that a vertical kilometer of ascent can hardly be described as an “easy start”.