London - Slovenia. How long?
ketsbaia
Posts: 1,718
Thinking of cycling to Slovenia this summer/autumn. Anyone done that before? How long do you think I should allow? Is it doable in around 6 days or should I allow longer? Will have minimal luggage - just a pannier rack and two panniers.
Should have built up some awesomeness by then as well.
I realise this isn't specifically about commuting, but it would be for 'work', so it kinda qualifies.
Should have built up some awesomeness by then as well.
I realise this isn't specifically about commuting, but it would be for 'work', so it kinda qualifies.
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That sounds like an awesome adventure! Hopefully I can help by sharing my experiences:
I've done two big tours, one from Reading to Edinburgh (6 days) and another from Prague to Berlin over 4 days. Based on that I think 6 days sounds a bit ambitious.
My immediate thoughts are:
- How much is the objective to cover miles as opposed to absorbing experiences along the way?
- How much gear do you intend to carry: will you be staying at hotels/hostels or will you be more self sufficient (tent, even cooking gear)?
- What is your current fitness like?
- To what extent do you intend to plan your route vs. making it up as you go?
For my Edinburgh tour I went via all the National Parks, so covered ~830km. I did it with two panniers, and a bar bag - stayed in youth hostels so it sounds a lot like what you're planning.
At the the time I was in good shape, so that average daily mileage would have been a piece of cake for a weekend road ride, but I found the combined effect of weight, additional wind resistance and the sharp climbs of the Peaks, Dales and Lake District made the daily targets a big stretch to the point that I felt like I was just pushing on and not really getting a chance to enjoy the places I was riding through. It was like being an eating, farting pedalling machine. I had filthy weather for most of the trip too - you need to factor that in, particularly in terms of the clothing you need to take with. Navigation wise, I pre-planned the route in great detail, so worked off a prompt sheet with mileage instructions. I'd recommend this, as navigating by GPS is more time consuming.
In all I think the daily mileage for this trip was a good compromise if you want a challenge, but I don't think I'd want to try doing 20% more mileage a day - as the number of daylight hours might start to be a problem.
For my Berlin trip I flew into Prague with the bike in a cardboard box (which I discarded at my Prague hotel), then picked up a box from a LBS in Berlin for the return flight. I took it much easier in terms of daily mileage (about ~390km over 4 days). But I did take a tent. I also navigated by GPS combined with a paper map rather than detailed pre-planned routes. I wasted a lot of time (and mileage) this way, taking wrong turns and trying to work out where I was. I did the trip in spring, but ended up not using the tent as much as I'd intended because it was bleeding cold (ice froze on the inside of the tent!) - this meant a lot more expense on hotels. Overall though, I enjoyed the exploratory nature of this trip, and with less mileage per day, I enjoyed that I could soak up a lot more of the places I was riding through. For example, I enjoyed a brilliant chat with a Polish builder at a random bakery in an equally random German village (and with it, a free salami roll).
I hope this helps. And perhaps this pic will spur you on a bit too:
ps. Curious, how does this qualify as "work"?David
Engineered Bicycles0 -
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And to give you an idea what I carried for the Berlin trip. For the Edinburgh trip it was the same, but minus the tent and sleeping bag. Basically two panniers plus the bar bag. The bar bag is very handy - a must have!
David
Engineered Bicycles0 -
Yup I agree with what they've said. If the time is flexible I would take longer. I did LEJoG in 9 days, 100 miles a day, and that distance was pretty much at the limit of what was enjoyable.
I had a similar luggage setup to Roastie. Very small tent + sleeping bag in one of the panniers, but stayed at hostels most nights.
Also agree that a barbag is essential! Mostly for food, but also camera, phone, sunglasses, suncream, etc etc. I had a map on top of it just cut out of a road map, so improvising route wasn't hard.- Genesis Croix de Fer
- Dolan Tuono0 -
Had a similar setup for Munich trip last September.
I did 1000km in 7 days, which was getting towards the limit of what I'd find enjoyable.
Logistics were simple. Ferry to Hook of Holland, then sent on a tardis to pack the bike for return
http://www.groundeffect.co.nz/product-d ... ar-bag.htm
Podcasts and audiobooks are a great help.
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Cool. Looks like I'll maybe take a bit longer over it then. Won't be taking a tent - it'll be hotels/hostels all the way - but I think two panniers and a bar bag will be about right.
Current fitness levels are pretty abysmal, but I'm planning on sorting that out over the next few months.
It qualifies as 'work' in that I'll be writing about it with the hope of getting it published somewhere. I'm going in search of a Slovenian brewery with an odd name that I first heard about during an evening of talks on fishing and cycling, weirdly. Thought about flying there, but I'd really like it to be a proper quest rather than just a, ahem, flying visit.0 -
Guess I also need advice on bike. Was thinking of adapting an old Ciocc steel-frame into a tourer/towpath bike, but do you reckon I might need something with more comfortable geometry?0
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ketsbaia wrote:Cool. Looks like I'll maybe take a bit longer over it then. Won't be taking a tent - it'll be hotels/hostels all the way - but I think two panniers and a bar bag will be about right.
I did my LEJOG using a mix of hotels, B&Bs and hostels and as such travelled very light - did it at the end of May so it wasn't quite as much of a gamble on the weather...I managed to get by with two sets of cycling kit and one set of clothes for dossing in the evening.
Everything originally fitted in a Carradice Barley but after the support unfortunately broke on the second day I ended up with a generic bag / rack as shown here on my Flickr account.
Navigation-wise I printed out each day onto an A7 card which I laminated for reference, but relied on a Garmin eTrex Vista HCx - it runs on AA batteries so there was no chance of it running out of juice on me. Had I not left it on overnight on two occasions it would have easily survived the two weeks on one set of lithiums.
Your trip sounds awesome. Enjoy it, however you do it!0 -
It isn't essential to have a proper touring bike, but the more relaxed geometry does make the riding a bit easier by making the bike less fidgety with a load. Does the old Ciocc have rack mounts? I'd say these are essential as workarounds aren't great.ketsbaia wrote:Guess I also need advice on bike. Was thinking of adapting an old Ciocc steel-frame into a tourer/towpath bike, but do you reckon I might need something with more comfortable geometry?David
Engineered Bicycles0 -
UndercoverElephant wrote:Even the most direct route is around 1,000 miles. I don't know how much fun you'd have riding that in six days.
Amen to that.
Call it 1200 miles with a bit of wiggling around to avoid main roads (could be even further).
200 miles a day is very achievable, but doesn't allow you a lot of sight-seeing time (which is one of the best things about touring). Camping becomes a pain in the behind at those distances (you'll be on the road somewhere between 15 and 20 hours a day) - pitching tents etc. is the last thing you want to be dealing with after that. So, you'd tend to have to rely on hotels/B&Bs - which means you have to reach point Y by night-time whatever happens (mechanicals, bad weather etc.).
All in all, not fun touring.
We tend to do 50-75 miles a day touring - but we like to take plenty of time off the bike to eat local grub, see the sights etc.0 -
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It's becoming more of an undertaking than I bargained for. While I'd love to spend a good three or four weeks doing it properly, I'm not sure I can afford that kind of time. Hmmmm.
If only I could get someone to pay me to do it before I head out there, I could justify the time. Would be great to only have to do around 80-90 miles a day.0 -
Take a look at the Hook option. You get a late train out of London, then sleep and have breakfast on the ferry. Day 1 basically starts early on mainland Europe, which would save at least a day.
A frame with rack mounts would be best. I use a condor fratello, rear panniers only and have had no problem using Durano+ 23c tyres.0 -
Ooooh, London to Slovenia, you could do Stelvio!
Two weeks is probably a fair time to do it in. Would be very interested to hear your route. I'm planning a trip to Italy at the moment.0 -
notsoblue wrote:Ooooh, London to Slovenia, you could do Stelvio!
I know. :shock:
Not planned the route yet. That should be fun.0 -
ketsbaia wrote:notsoblue wrote:Ooooh, London to Slovenia, you could do Stelvio!
I know. :shock:
Not planned the route yet. That should be fun.
This is the latest version of my route....
http://goo.gl/maps/kn7bz0 -
