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How to plan a cycling holiday

by Cathryn Boast
continued from page 2
PlOTTING YOUR ROUTE

Once you've picked a country to tour, you need to decide on a route to follow. This is a key step, so take your time.

  • The easiest place to start is online. Nearly all countries have their own tourism website, and all those I've looked at either have bike routes highlighted online, or links that take you through to suitable sites.

  • Raid your local library or bookshop. Lonely Planet, for example, does a small range of cycling guides that can be useful. Alternatively, buy a more general travel guide to the country you've chosen, and plot yourself a course around things you want to see.

  • Mileage. This depends on how fit you are, how much cycling you do and who you're going with. We did about 40 miles per day, which some hardier folk have laughed at, but it allowed us to pootle along, take photos, stop for various attractions and still feel like we'd cycled a long way. If you have a child with you, the most you should work on is 25 miles a day, believe me, that will still feel like a long way.

  • If you're still uninspired, steal someone else's route. If you type 'cycling holidays in France' into www.google.co.uk you'll get numerous websites of companies who run cycling holidays. Why not see if any of their routes are online, and use those as a source of ideas?

  • Don't be afraid to use the train to transport your bike from place to place. You need to find out where and when you can take bikes on trains, and if you need to buy bike tickets (we did in Austria). Normally the national rail operator's website or their tourist office can advise.

  • Where can you hire bikes? Most guidebooks give you this information. I'd phone up or email to check before you set off.


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