Calais to Basel

BMG100

Hi,

I'm sure plenty of people have done this trip, so I am wondering what it was like. How is the scenery along the way?? I am looking at generally heading across to Basel from Calais (staying above Paris). Is this route boring or ok? I will be camping as well - are there plenty of camp sites along the way?

If any one has any advice (suggested route, time taken to it etc) about this route it would be great.

Cheers

tatanab

I used to live near Basel. Towards the end of your trip I would recomend staying north to ride through the Vosges. Some very nice climbs there. Visit Colmar, a very picturesque and touristy town where the man who designed the Statue of Liberty lived and did his original modelling. Then take the flat lands by the Rhine, so avoiding Mulhouse which seems to be one of those places easy to get into but hard to find a way out. From just north of Kembs I would pick up the track alongside the western bank of the canal. Very peaceful and a good surface.

Should you be further south approaching Mulhouse, perhaps you've been over Grand Ballon, do not miss stopping at the cemetry on col du Silberloch. It is a monument to the 10s of thousands of troops of all nationalities that died on the hillside in the wars.

If you are flying back from Basel, the airport has 2 appproaches. One on the Swiss side and one on the French. Basel is a very pleasant city, a bit expensive of course, just watch out for the tram lines.

Camping - I cannot imagine any problems. I've camped many times in France and seldom had trouble finding anywhere. Certainly there would be no problem in the Vosges.

BMG100

Hey,

Cheers for the info. Will check out the places you mentioned.

Brent

Flavio

Hi, I'd suggest this path:
- Euroroute R1, a cycle route from Calais to Rhine;
- Rhein-Radweg, a cycle path which runs all along the Rhine, to Lake Constance.
We rode a part of Rhine in the last summer, and from Bingen to Koblenz was a wonderful landscape.
In my website (www.grandride.com) there are some maps and infos about.