So yeah, I am interested in riding around Europe in July of 2013. I would be arriving in the Netherlands the end of June beginning of July. I am looking at a 4-5 week trip. Id like to head off to eastern Europe and then head back to make it a round trip. Maybe swing in to Russia just to say I have been there. I have no proposed route or real plan. Off the top of my head, I would think after I arrive in the Netherlands, head northeast towards Finland, over to Russia, down south back through Europe and then head around back up to the Netherlands. I don't want to do a marathon day of mileage, nor do I want to be doing 100km a day either. I'd like to stay off highways and stick to the back roads as much as possible. Ferries, trains or any other mode of transportation that add to the route is all good with me too. As said, I don't want to make this a total mile after mile bike trip. I also dont want to spend all day doing nothing but touristy stuff. I'd like to get going fairly early in the day (I'm not a guy to sleep in), have a leisurely day of riding, seeing the sites or just putting miles on. All would depend where we were on that day. I'd like to stop earlier in the day to find a camp site, hotel or whatever accommodations we could find. After we settle, I'd like to either meet some of the people in the camp ground or if staying in a hotel go in to town to visit a pub and meet some locals. I'd like to do a few days riding and have day off also. (Time at that point to do touristy stuff or spend the day in town at a pub, or what ever else seemed good at the time.) Ideally I'd like to find a concert, adv rally, festival or party along the way to spend a couple of days at. Anyone interested in joining me on something like this? I've done a couple of trips before with people i have never met, and I'm kind of getting an idea of what people I like to travel with. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't, if you like the idea and we don't get along, I'd have no problem with someone saying half way through the trip "see you later I have had enough" and we each go our separate ways. Any routes, tips or destinations would be greatly appreciated too.
I'm kinda fixated on the Alps (see links in sig below), but if you're keeping to backroads, 250-300kms/day is realistic - taking time for flower-sniffing, taking pics and visiting places.
I was playing around in google map today and wondering where i would like to go. Two of my friends are going to Ukraine, Crimea, the other friends are heading towards Alps and stuff. As i was in Crimea last summer, i feel i dont want to spend all the time there again this year. So I came up with this: http://goo.gl/maps/fWOqU It's all very unclear atm, as we must get the dates match. Only thing fur sure is that it will going to happen in July. If everything goes well I will start riding first week of july, then meet with my wife in Odessa some time later, to pick her up from the airport and ride to Crimea and back home from there. I'm planning to do camping most of the time. Like to have beer or more in the evening and so on If you find my route intresting, maybe we could meet somewhere, if not, thats OK. If things are more settled, i will write here. PS: English is not my native language, i'm sure my grammar is the worst ever
While going through Poland it is worth to drop by Krakow or Wroclaw. Really nice towns. Around Krakow You also have a historical Wieliczka salt mine which is open for sightseeing and really cool and Aushwitz concentration camp (not the most joyfull place and a bit of a shocking experience, but really worth seeing how it actually looked like).
