Le Tour de Europe

Summary

Dates: 16 June - 29 July 2005

Countries: UK, France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Luxembourg

Temp range: 10-36 deg C

Distance: 1,705km

Rainy days: 2 (while riding)

Introduction

I’d been keen to do that “cycle tour in Europe” for years, so when a mate (Graham Watson) in the UK said he was going to cycle along the Rhine and around the Bodensee, (Lake Constance) with a stage of Le Tour de France thrown in, I was hooked.  I planned to be with Graham for two weeks, then a few weeks just wandering wherever the wind was blowing. I wanted to do the minimalist thing with the backpack and credit card but as I started putting gear together it was obvious that it wasn’t going to fit into a reasonable sized backpack.  And I read that a backpack on your back all day can become tiresome.   So, I ended up with an overnight bag strapped to the top of my rear rack.  This worked ok, as it was easy to get on and off trains and to take your gear into your room at the end of the day but it wasn’t that stable.  So, for all my subsequent tours I have fitted panniers, which remain half empty these days, to the rear rack. 

Luckily, I had a brother-in-law (Dale) in London so was able to base myself there when not touring and enjoy that amazing city.  I was also able to unpack the bike (just went over with a used bike box from the local bike shop which worked well) and have the box and the packing material for the trip home.  It’s nice to have somewhere interesting to do a few rides around to shake out the jetlag and check that the bike and gear has survived the baggage handlers. For a huge, busy city London is surprisingly bike friendly, and there is always something to do and see that time of the year. As it turned out it was also safer to ride around London than catch public transport, as I was there for the bombings, which were just awful. 

Met my riding partner in Hope Valley, near Sheffield and caught the “Bike Express” (bus for people, trailer for your bike, website – www.bikeexpress.co.uk) out of the UK, through the Chunnel and into France.