We are now sitting in our hotel in Paris with a long wait until we are picked up for our marathon journey home.  The beginning of this adventure seems such a long time ago I really have to think hard to remember what worked and what didn’t 

Bike Storage in Munich

The checking in last year was very easy. My Place Self Storage has a branch very handy to central Munich, we were able to pay for a years storage which seemed to be the simplest thing to do. It also has branches all over Germany and I would highly recommend them.  When we arrived to pick up the bikes we were recognised and apart from rather soft tyres the bikes were in good order.  I had been a bit concerned about how my battery would be after being left with no charging for a year.  We had followed the suggestion of leaving it about 80% charged and it was still about 80% charged 9 months later.  We did get the bikes checked over by a nearby shop but apart from changing bike pads all was fine

Munich to Saltsburg

We had a Bikeline guide to cycleways around Munich and this was good - one stupid thing I failed to mount my phone on my handlebars the day we left Munich so there was much stopping and starting as we escaped the city.  When we got a bit further away I had the Bikeline Mozart Radweg book.  We had quite a bit of trouble on this section largely because it was difficult finding accommodation probably because of the time of the year, it was often well off the route and involved  a lot of tracks wth loose steep gravel.

Alpers Adria Radweg Salzburg to Grado

Absolutely fantastic. The Bikeline book talks it up to be much more difficult than it is.  There is  lots of variety, we found accommodation easy to find and not too expensive, the infra structure is fabulous and it is the sort of ride you wish would go on for ever.  

To Venice

This was very busy holiday time so we decided to take to train from Aquilea to Venice  then get the ferry to Lido to continue.  Note you have to get the vehicular ferry which leaves from Trochetto Harbour (where  all the cruise boats etc dock) - it is well sign posted

The Po Radweg

Again there is a Bikeline Guide. The part on the outer islands of the Venice Lagoon to Choiggia is wonderful and very different, it involves ferry crossings which go regularly and have no trouble accepting bikes. Once you get on the Po you are largely riding on the stopbank of the river well protected from traffic.  This power house of Italy is interesting with extensive agriculture and wonderful towns like Cremona and Piaceenza There was heat wave while we were riding it and riding day after day on a stop bank with temperatures getting to 40degrees can get a bit monotonous - if you do this it should not be in the height of summer - we didn’t see a single other cycle tourist!  We had intended going all the way to Turin  but pulled the plug at Piacenza and took the train to Genoa.

The Italian Riviera Genoa to Menton

We just had a road map of the Ligurian Coast but absolutely adequate.  It was hot, very crowded with holiday makers, very expensive and the roads were busy BUT we loved it - the buzz of it was amazing  It says not to ride out of Genoa but we followed the Anderson’s advice and did - absolutely no trouble at all, much easier than struggling with the train.

The South of France Menton to Arles

We had a French guide .....This was Ok but found we used Komoot a lot. The ride was great with lots of interest, it is not easy as Provence is very hilly. Prices because we were still in the holiday season were again high but we were getting used to it!  We decided not to ride the Canal de Midi because of the very bad reports we had had of the state of the cycle way but instead got a train from there to Avignon

Avignon to the Atlantic

This is a Rolls Royce cycleway , the signage is good , was fairly easy for most of it to find accommodation at appropriate intervals.  The only part we found tedious was from Bordeaux to the Atlantic - a fantastic high speed cycleway in a dead straight line through what really looked rather like waste land.  We should have taken the alternative route we had taken on another occasion which is full of interest as it winds its way through vineyards and little towns

The Velodessy Lacanau to La Rochelle

The Velodessy which runs from Brittany to the Spanish border really just joins up a whole lot of existing local tracks, as such it is very variable and winds all over the place.  Parts of it are lovely but there are other parts where the road alternative is the better option. Signage again is great in parts but nonexistent in others. We had a guide..... but you really need to have GPS as well I think. No problem with accommodation but of course it was now September. You are going through prime family beach holiday areas so there are wall to wall camping grounds

VeloFrancetta La Rochelle to Niort

This was something of a disappointment as we had done the other half from Saumur to Normandy and loved it.  It is extremely poorly signed and even with GPS hard to find your way at times. One day had fantastic and different places but on the whole we found it a bit lack lustre.  We pulled the plug at Niort (which actually is an interesting town) and got the train to Tours

Tours to Paris (Moret)

We have a fantastic guide with routes from Tours to Namur .....  It was wonderful all the way first along the Loire then the Canal d’Orleans and for us finally along the Loing River.  Naturally signage is patchy but the maps in the guide are excellent and like everyone we had GPS backup so no problems. Everyone appreciates the Loire but the Canal d’Orleans and the Loing are just as lovely, we took it very slowly as we had so much time but it was a really lovely end to our journey.

Books and maps

Mozart Bike Trail (Cycleline) ISBN 3-85000-192-X

Alpe Adria Radweg (Bikeline) ISBN 978-3-85000-465-7

Po-Radweg (Bikeline) ISBN 978-3-85000-143-4

Michelin map 352 Liguria

La Route du Sud a Velo  de Menton a Beziers (Velo Guide)                            ISBN 978-2-7373-5354-3

Canal du Midi (Bikekine) ISBN 978-3-85000-581-4

Le Canal des Deux Mers a Velo de Royan a Toulouse (Velo Guide)                         IBSN 978-2-7373-6915-3

La Veloroute Atlantic Tome2 (Itineranceavelo)  

La Velo Francette de la Normandie a l'Atlantic (Velo Guide )                                 ISBN878-2-7373-6910-0

Loire a Velo (Bike Guide) IBSN 978-2-7373-5001-6

Namur-Tours a Velo (Charmina Edition) IBSN 9782844663177

Michelin Tourist and Motoring Atlas France 1:200,000

All these can be bought online from Standfords London, The Book Depository (usually cheaper because they dont charge delivery or from Cartovelo (www.cartovelo.fr)

Electronic Navigation

We just used Komoot on my IPhone mounted on my handlebars found if it was giving us too indirect routes I changed it from cycle touring to road cycling - it worked well.  In towns looking for hotels often used google maps Although we had Ride with GPS I never used it

Prices

Since we first started cycle touring we have found prices of accommodation have gone up a lot. Breakfasts in French hotels are usually between 7.5E and 14E for a fairly unsatisfactory meal. In France we are nearly always paying about 100E a night now also find that food in restaurants is pretty expensive so very often we buy pre prepared salads in supermarkets at a reasonable price.  Coffee varies a lot in the country we could pay as little as 2E for a cafe creme but usually it was much more - we spent a lot of money on coffee. Hotels in Germany and Italy (except by the Coast) were generally cheaper and included a substantial breakfast. I wont even mention costs on the Italian Riveria in the height of summer.

We had virtually no bike trouble but when we did it was extremely cheap.