In winter I tend to get all wanderlusty. I want the giant adventure where I cycle 1000 miles a day and see all there is to see before arriving at a site by 3pm and chilling out with wine and cheese. It taken me a few years to realise that this isn’t quite realistic. It’s taken me a while to realise that I like a journey, a start and a finish.
I spend the darker months planning this journey. I trawl forums and cycling sites to find inspiration for adventures. This summer I wanted to keep it simple, probably use the Newcastle to Amsterdam ferry and go somewhere new. That was my criteria. First stop, hit the Deutsche Bahn website to find out where I can go from Amsterdam central, with a bike. Turns out quite a few places. I like a night train so I looked for one of those. One to Zurich looks promising, space for bikes. What can I do with that?
Turns out that what I can do is the first part of Eurovelo 6. It is probably the best known of the EV and runs from the Atlantic to the Black Sea and includes the Donauradweg which I did a few years ago. And loved. There’s a limit (in theory) on gradients and there are signs every mile or so. Its cycle touring made easy. My plan (as it stands) is to get the ferry, then the train, then another train or cycle (depends on my navigating out of Zurich feelings) to Rhine Falls then just cycle to Nantes.
Surprisingly there are no guide books but, I’ve hit Stanfords and got the maps. The route takes me from the Rhine, long the convenient Rhine canal, through Alsace, Burgandy, then along the Loire to the sea. It should be wine and chateau tastic.
The massive scale 1:100000 (1 cm = 1 km) makes the whole thing look like the journey of a life time. Maybe it will be?
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