Any advice on a possible tour destination summer 2015

waltho bum gravy

Hi all,

I am looking to organise a 4/5 day tour next summer. There will most likely be 2 of us on the tour. Both of us are recreational cyclists of a similar level of fitness. That level is marginally above average for the population of 35-45 males but probably below average for the members of this board. What I'm looking for is some ideas on a possible destination for our tour.

I have organised and been on several tours over the years and most have been in France. I was looking to branch out a little, but nothing too exotic or wild.

To this end I thought about Corsica but have become a little bogged down with the logistics. It seems the only direct flights from London go into and out of the island on Sundays which renders a 4/5 day tour near impossible.
I then considered the heel of Italy, riding a circular tour from Bari to Brindisi. Has anyone got any advice about this region at all? Other than I'm a little stuck. I know I shouldn't be as there are a million places to go but my mind's a bit of a blank.

Can anyone offer any help with some tour ideas in other countries, Spain, Portugal, Croatia perhaps?

mjcaskey

I know this perhaps is not on your list --- but maybe look at the website Chamonix.net re the Tour du Mont Blanc, 4 to 5 days through three countries.
If you want to see more detail re our trip (4 days) see cyclingmontblanc.blogspot.co.uk

Its circular (obviously), Geneva airport has good links to the Chamonix valley by bus with bike for about 30 euros one way per person door to door. About 26000 feet of climbing but all doable especially over 5 days.

william svan

Great thing is the pico veleta in Spain! Must do. 3,396 meters high….

Book via http://www.roadcyclingholiday.com, great guy (Albert) who is dutch (speaks english too as well as spanish which comes in handy in this area). He based at Sierra Nevada and organizes everything for you - routes, hotels, bikes.

You will love it, say hi from William

ronnierocket

You could fly to Nice and get the ferry to Corsiaca. The Airport is very near town.

TFC1

I recently did an organised charity ride from Madrid to Lisbon in 5 days. Just over 500 miles. My first big tour after 9 months of road riding. I even have the Garmin routes savid if it helps!

homers_double

I'm organising a four day riding weekend around Lake Como, there's a thread about it in here.

t4tomo

Mallorca is always popular

insella

How about the Prosecco countryside of rolling hills, with some pre-Alps right there too. Maybe asolobiketours.com can offer you what you would like

borisface

I go somewhere every year with a few mates for a weeks tour in southern Europe. My advice would be as you are only going for a short period of time, I'd suggest going somewhere that is no more than a couple of hours flight away and fly to an airport which is relatively rural ie not near a capital as you'll have a couple of hours ride to get out of burbs. Otherwise you'll spend a day getting to where you want to go and another day to get back. We had a great tour to southern Greece but it was a 4 hr flight and Greece is two hours ahead then we had to get out of Athens which meant that we didn't start cycling until about 5pm on the first day. Getting an early morning flight is a good idea as it will mean that you'll reasonably get somewhere by lunchtime and if you book the first night's accom before you go then you have a definite goal and don't waste time trying to find somewhere to stay. Nothing worse than arriving somewhere late and finding that there are no rooms.

As a rule, smaller airports tend to be further away from centres of population which means you get to cycle in the countryside quicker. You mention Portugal as a destination, if you do Lisbon and Porto are both quite large cities and it takes a bit of time to get into decent cycling country. Faro maybe a better bet. Some of the southern Spanish airports like Malaga are near to some good, hilly, cycling.

Another option could be to stick the bikes in a car get a channel crossing and drive for 4 hrs or so, dump the car and do a circular route. You could be anywhere from Southern Belgium (Ardennes) to Germany, Holland, Northern France all great cycling areas. It'd be loads cheaper too.

massivecompacthalo

Try flying into Girona and heading 40mins out to the region of Osona, Catalunya. Stunningly beautiful, quiet, vast selection of climbing inc Vallter 2000 and the like. Even poss to ride in and out of France. Loads of accommodation options and good food!

andymiller

waltho bum gravy wrote:

To this end I thought about Corsica but have become a little bogged down with the logistics. It seems the only direct flights from London go into and out of the island on Sundays which renders a 4/5 day tour near impossible.

One option would be to fly to Bastia and then fly back from Ajaccio (in fact for 4/5 days I'd say that's by far the best option). skyscanner lists flights from Ajaccio to a variety of airports. None to Stansted, Heathrow or Gatwick, but if you're able/willing to cast your net a bit more widely then that might be a possibility.

EDIT: I've just realised that I forgot to check the 'prefer direct flights' checkbox, and there aren't any direct flights from Ajaccio. what a pain.

There are ferries from Ajaccio to Nice, so you could in theory get a flight from Nice. yes I know it's a pain and on a 4/5-day trip a day's ferry ride isn't feasible, but the coast of north-west Corsica is one of the world's great bike rides so would be worth squeezing an extra day's leave if you can.

Another option might be to fly back from Alghero in Sardinia go via Sartène to Bonifacio and then get a taxi. There's also a ferry from Propriano but it's less frequent.

waltho bum gravy wrote:

I then considered the heel of Italy, riding a circular tour from Bari to Brindisi. Has anyone got any advice about this region at all?

Not exactly what you specified but this may be helpful:

http://italy-cycling-guide.info/puglia/puglia-tour/

Bo Duke

TFC1 wrote:

I recently did an organised charity ride from Madrid to Lisbon in 5 days. Just over 500 miles. My first big tour after 9 months of road riding. I even have the Garmin routes savid if it helps!

That sounds a cracking ride! What route did you take?

Grassy arse.

veryandycroatia

Zadar Croatia is the place to go, look at this company "Zzuum" Michelle will help you out with a holiday to suit your requirements. Great Place, Fantastic People, Cheap to eat and Drink, All English speaking which is a big help.
You will not be disappointed

waltho bum gravy wrote:

Hi all,

I am looking to organise a 4/5 day tour next summer. There will most likely be 2 of us on the tour. Both of us are recreational cyclists of a similar level of fitness. That level is marginally above average for the population of 35-45 males but probably below average for the members of this board. What I'm looking for is some ideas on a possible destination for our tour.

I have organised and been on several tours over the years and most have been in France. I was looking to branch out a little, but nothing too exotic or wild.

To this end I thought about Corsica but have become a little bogged down with the logistics. It seems the only direct flights from London go into and out of the island on Sundays which renders a 4/5 day tour near impossible.
I then considered the heel of Italy, riding a circular tour from Bari to Brindisi. Has anyone got any advice about this region at all? Other than I'm a little stuck. I know I shouldn't be as there are a million places to go but my mind's a bit of a blank.

Can anyone offer any help with some tour ideas in other countries, Spain, Portugal, Croatia perhaps?

prb007

Pick a country, any country...just go and ride it! We continue our Odyssey southwards...Did JoGLE in 2011, E2E France, (Cherbourg to Nice) in 2013, Nice to Rome (100km/day for 8 days) in June of this year... next one could be this... https://goo.gl/maps/dWPsd