Need Help Planning My First Tour.

RedandBlack

Greetings,

I've been following the forum for about a week now and I've decided to join. Recently, I've decided to follow my dream to travel Europe by bike. I'm handling the gear part alright for now, but I'm having major problems with planning the route. I've never done anything like this and I don't speak anything other than English. I would like to land in either Porto or Lisbon, Portugal around Nov - Dec, travel South into Spain and up the Mediterranean coast, hop the Alps by train, down Italy to the boot, hop over to Sicily, visit Palermo, and then take a ferry to Greece and bike to Athens. My question is, how do I accomplish this? I feel that paper maps would require dozens of pages for each leg and I won't have access to a printer most of the time (I plan to do a lot of wild/stealth camping). However, a GPS would think I'm a car and tell me to take major highways. How do I get started? Thank you so much fellow travelers.

culverwood

It sounds as if you have plenty of time and although you have a plan in mind it need not be hard and fast. You may want to follow a different path to the one you have planned. I would buy maps locally wherever you are and many tourist offices will have free ones of the immediate region. Use the tourist offices as they will have access to cheap accommodation and had you thought about one of the pilgrimage routes like the Camino de Santiago where there is plentiful very cheap accommodation.

Bikes and trains are always tricky, many take them many do not and sods law means not always the ones you want to use.

salsarider79

That sounds amazing! All I can add to the above post, is to take your time and enjoy it. I took maps last year, and hardly used them. There are some very good external batteries you can get for not a lot of money, and makes taking a GPS more practical. The garmin edge touring seems to work well, and won't take you on main roads, it's cycle specific so should work for you. There are some very good cycle routes, similar to the national cycle network around the UK. Might be worth a look..... Enjoy

andymiller

My advice would be to start small - start with a tour near where you live where you have an idea what to expect. Then build from there.

If you'll excuse the pun, I don't want to rain on your parade, but around the Mediterranean it rains a *lot* in winter (especially November and December). And it gets *cold* - I'm in Sicilia at the moment and you'd be surprised at how many roads have signs requiring people to carry show chains in the winter months.

I suggest you check out weatherbase.com and compare the weather stats for the places you want to go to, with the weather in a place you're familiar with.

As far as maps are concerned the easiest thing is to buy a GPS like a Garmin eTrex 20 and then load onto it the (free) Open Street Map maps for Europe and/or the countries you're interested in. I'd also recommend carrying 1:200,000 maps as well - although if you need to save weight *maybe* 1:400,000. I mainly use the analogue maps for planning and getting an overview.

I carry a laptop for routeplanning - if I'm riding in a mountainous area (and even if I'm not) I like to be able to produce altitude profiles to avoid unwelcome surprises.

I load my routes onto the gps as tracks. I avoid using autorouting as the results are too unpredictable - although I do on occasions use it to tell me how far I am from my destination.

I've yet to find an easy way to use a tablet to plan routes, produce gpx tracks and load them to a GPS.

RedandBlack

Thanks for the replies. I've heard Sicily is beautiful and the people are wonderful. I'm a bit surprised at the need for snow tires. I guess the Med isn't all olive groves and sunshine like I pictured.

I'm planning on leaving in Nov/Dec for several reasons. Airfare is significantly cheaper, I'll have all my gear/prep/planning done around that time, I'm planning on leaving my current living situation around then, and I want to get started in the off season when everything's cheaper and I don't have to deal with as many tourists. I figured the Med would have the nicest weather around this time so that is how I'm planning this first leg. The numbers I saw were averages highs around 60F for this time year. Should I be expecting colder or just wild fluctuations day-to-day and place-to-place? If I were to start in Nov-Dec would my route be a good start or would you recommend another part of the continent due to weather, difficulty of roads/route planning, etc...?

It seems like GPS with a laptop and some paper maps is the advice I've been getting all over.

andymiller

Hi

I appreciate that it's disappointing when you have a dream and you come on an internet forum and someone tells you that maybe your great idea isn't so great. But sometimes it's the answers that you don't want to hear that are the most useful.

The problem is that the Mediterranean in winter is high risk. You can enjoy sunny warm days, but when it rains it rains really hard. I mean *torrential* rain. Imagine that you've spent the day riding in the rain. You pitch your tent and it's still raining. You wake up next morning and it's still raining and you have to put your wet clothes back on and get back on your bike.

It's also worth bearing in mind that Italy, southern Spain and Greece are mountainous countries and in the mountains it will be a lot colder than at sea level. Yes you could stick to the coast but the coast is often the dullest and least interesting part - especially in winter.

In total I've spent the best part of three years cycle touring in Italy, Corsica and Andalucía, and I've also spent a couple of winters in southern Italy. I really seriously wouldn't tour in winter.

The saving on your airfare will be marginal compared to the costs of the trip as a whole. Most campsites, and many hotels and restaurants, close at the end of September for the winter (coming here in early May many places were only just opening up with limited facilities). Believe me there are few places less interesting than a seaside town that's closed for the winter.

My advice: wait until early Spring next year. Use the time the go on a tour nearer home - so you have some experience of cycle touring and camping before you embark on a long tour.

If you really really want to go touring in November then I'd look at going say to Central or Latin america (I'm assuming you're in the US).

mercia_man

Wise words from andymiller who knows what he is talking about. I would not recommend cycle touring and camping outside April-October in Europe, even on the Mediterranean coast. I know from bitter experience what he means about trying to ride, camp and ride on each day in constant rain - and that was in early June in southern France. Trying to do such a trip in the real rainy and cool months would be a gamble.

I also agree with getting 1:200,000 or possibly 1:400,000 maps. If you are really keen to save weight you can buy them as you go along and throw them away or post them home when you have finished with them. Using a map is far better for planning and for choosing and varying your tour when you are there rather than slavishly following a route chosen for you by your GPS. For me, much of the appeal of cycle touring is making on-the-spot decisions to explore little roads. I love maps - maybe it's a generation thing!

But good luck with cycle touring. It's given me so much pleasure over the years.

RedandBlack

Thanks for all the replies. I must admit, this is a learning experience for me. You said you would not recommend touring Europe in the winter. I would like to stay at least a year in Europe. What would be the best ways to continue my trip in the winter months? Post up in a southern city and ride it out (though that sounds very expensive)? Find a safe place for my bike and continue by train/foot? If the weather is as bad as you say it is maybe it would be wise, but disappointing, to start in the spring. I'm planning a few day trips over the summer so that I can get used to the bike/camping/lifestyle though I feel that if I stay for winter I would just be spinning my wheels (yes, pun intended). Lots to figure out...

22camels

Have you thought about Morocco and further south (Western Sahara, Mauritania)? I've not been myself and I'm not experienced, but I've been looking into it as a possible future touring destination. It would surely be the warmest place in the winter months that is within easy reach from the rest of Europe (I think there is a ferry crossing from Spain). In fact as I understand winter is the best time to go (though it still gets chilly). You could probably spend 2-3 months down there, starting in Morocco, going down further south (have to check the latest safety situation though) and then back up. It's going to be a much more challenging destination for a first tour though, than say Portugal or Spain, and it's not for everyone, but some people really like it. Look it up on google or crazy guy.

Bo Duke

Some excellent responses, take heed! I worked a winter in Greece and it was freezing, snow, ice, unheated hotels,,, utterly miserable. I vote for April onwards, foot passenger down to Bilboa/Santander, would recommend the ride to Vigo, then down to Porto/Lisobon/Algarve. Having gone so far, Gibraltar is a must then head up to Madrid then Barcelona.In all honesty if that hasn't warn you out then go take a look at Italy but I suspect a full Iberian tour would be sufficient. Link up with the Vuelta a Esapana. I do everything by paper maps... they're rel and are so simple to use and f course they don't need batteries. Go for it.