2600 miles in 1 month round europe, possible??

2600milespoppyappeal

I am a 19 yr old first year uni student at york and this august i will be cycling 2600 miles solo and unaided through europe starting in france at limoges, then to monaco, pisa, rome, naples, venice, innsbruk (austria) munich, stuttgart, strasbourg, paris then back to limoges. i plan to do this in 31 days in august, so averaging 100 miles per day with rest days every 5 days or so. This is for charity (royal british legion) and have raised over £1200.
I am being lent a dawes galaxy plus by a local bike shop for the trip, i have just got all my kit at trade prices so it came to £450, so thats rear panniers, handlebar bag, cycle clothes so baselayers, bib shorts, jerseys, gloves, sun glasses, cycle computer, helmet, shoes.
I stil have a tent to get and a sleeping bag (i'm camping most nights) but thats waiting for a little bit.
What i needed help with was a GPS unit, i dont need top of the range stuff but a simple unit which will be able to show a map with a marker of where i am and where i need to go. i am looking for a solar charger for my electric bits like phone, ipod, gps etc so if you guys have any tips or know anything about any of those please do let me know.also if you have any more advise or things that you think i should know please put them up i would be very gratefull as i am not a cyclist, the most i do is cycling to the pub.

if you are interested there is a facebook group, just search: Phil charlesworth cycles 2600 miles for the royal british legion

also the website for the trip is: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/1man1bike2600miles

if you want to contact me please email: philip-charlesworth@hotmail.com

Thank you very much for any feedback and advise, its all very much appreciated

Bensadventures

Hi Phil,

This sounds amazing. I would love to take a month out and do this but work calls.

I have done a number of tours round Europe. I have approached them in a number of ways - some planned to the detail and others on the spare of the moment. Both ways work! But for the distance you're doing and the time restrictions I would plan as much as you can and be realistic with the distance you can achieve. Training does help (a lot) but you will build up your fitness as you go along. Distances will become easy over the days and weeks. Only advice is:

Start the day early. Get up at 5am and make sure your on the road by 6:30am. By doing this you will easily get 50-60 miles done by 1pm. Then you can look for a camp site at 4pm. 80-100miles in a day with plenty of time to chill, eat and rest.

Re tent - I would recommend and Vango Benshee 300 - quality little tent and perfect for touring. I think I got mine for £60. If I remember the website I will post it on here for you.

I hope it helps.

Good luck with this awesome adventure.

Ben

2600milespoppyappeal

i am tying to do as much planning as possible in my free time, going over the route. one question, is there a good mapping thing on the internet for bikes? something looke google maps? that would make things alot easier i think.

my plan is to get up as the sun rises, as i'll be camping pretty much the whole time the sun will wake me up anyway and i can get most of it done by lunch time then find somewhere to have a short break, probably find a beach somewhere when im in italy, and then soldier on till i find a suitable place to pitch a tent.

From what i've seen with the tents vango are the most popular, i like them too, i used one when i did my gold DofE expedition, very light and easy to put up. but i'm hoping the university OTC will be able to lent me a tent and a lightweight sleeping bag.

Thanks very much for your advise, am off on a run now, try and get used to this hot weather.

Phil

Flavio

Bensadventures wrote:

...Get up at 5am and make sure your on the road by 6:30am. By doing this you will easily get 50-60 miles done by 1pm. Then you can look for a camp site at 4pm. 80-100miles in a day with plenty of time to chill, eat and rest.

I would add: and go to sleep at 8:30 pm, otherwise sleeping hours would be too few.

Congratulations for the expedition!!