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cycling in Europe with cali’?

Birty

Birty

Messages
313
Location
Highlands, Scotland
Vehicle
Cali now sold
Any road cyclists out there who know some great rides/routes in the warm parts of Europe? Got free time coming up (retirement!) and wanna spend time doing the above.. Round trips preferable so that my cali can be the hotel!!! Any tips clues please....
 
Any road cyclists out there who know some great rides/routes in the warm parts of Europe? Got free time coming up (retirement!) and wanna spend time doing the above.. Round trips preferable so that my cali can be the hotel!!! Any tips clues please....
I used to spend a lot of time in Calpe just north of Benidorm, you have a nice mountain range, flat rides north to Dernia and Valencia and of course the coast, Spanish drivers are probably the most sympathetic towards cyclist too, plus you can always take the Ferry to Mallorca which is a cycling racetrack now.

I used to do training camps in Mallorca but it’s much busier than it used to be, but the variety of rides you can do is superb.

Otherwise Nice, amazing foothills of the Alps and great coastal rides along the Cote d’azur.

I’m a big fan of Tuscany too but that’s a lot of up and down and for me you have to be fit to enjoy it, we took a holiday there after the MTB National Champs in 2015 and it was 40c every day, even though I was flying, the longest rides were 2 hrs, but you could ride the Strade Bianchi route around Sienna which is wonderful.
 
Anywhere around Nice as stated by Rod. Personally love SE Massif Central and Provence areas. Rode Paris Nice a couple of years ago, endless loops can be strung together around MC but one highlight of the ride for me was threading up though the Gorges de la Nesque.....stunning! Head out from Villes sur Auzon clockwise to Monieux via D492 then loop back via D5.
 
The area in Europe I keep going back to is the Vosges. The hills/mountains here don’t have the dramatic peaks of the Alps or Pyrenees as they are is more wooded and the climbs often have a plateau. Some challenging climbs and quiet roads. Lots of lakes as well to camp alongside for a post ride dip. It’s the area around Longemer and Gerdamer that I have been to a couple of times.


Other European areas I have ridden include

Austria – Walchsee as part of the triathlon & area round Kitzbuhel. Kitzbuleler horn climb is tough!

France - Alps mostly ticking off the big name climbs. Pyrenees I prefer over the Alps, did Atlantic to Med C2C a few years ago (not with the Cali). The riding around the Champagne region was very pleasant as well. Camped at Champagne Nowack which has been one of the club meet locations.

Germany – Mosel valley and Luxembourg border. Nothing epic but pleasant. Also did MTB riding in the Black Forest but couldn’t find many interesting routes. Mostly fireroad & trees, lots of trees!

Used the Cali as transport to Amstel Gold sportive.


Would agree on Nice area as above. Ridden there as well but flew down and rented a villa for that one.
 
Love
I used to spend a lot of time in Calpe just north of Benidorm, you have a nice mountain range, flat rides north to Dernia and Valencia and of course the coast, Spanish drivers are probably the most sympathetic towards cyclist too, plus you can always take the Ferry to Mallorca which is a cycling racetrack now.

I used to do training camps in Mallorca but it’s much busier than it used to be, but the variety of rides you can do is superb.

Otherwise Nice, amazing foothills of the Alps and great coastal rides along the Cote d’azur.

I’m a big fan of Tuscany too but that’s a lot of up and down and for me you have to be fit to enjoy it, we took a holiday there after the MTB National Champs in 2015 and it was 40c every day, even though I was flying, the longest rides were 2 hrs, but you could ride the Strade Bianchi route around Sienna which is wonderful.
Mallorca for cycling so thats an awesome suggestion thanks!!
 
08E7A6B1-6DD9-4012-9E76-ECB53B634CF9.jpeg 269B0EE2-BEFA-4B50-8729-4223DE1725AA.jpeg BC68E5D8-16F5-4BC4-8733-E39893CCBBF4.jpeg EB08E499-CEAC-4483-B64C-1C25902519D8.jpeg 6D8CCDF6-E825-4218-8BE1-6EB9565CAD33.jpeg 4C258B54-E63E-40EF-883C-207912F6D047.jpeg C3253A66-B33C-43EC-BDD6-C5F792036BC7.jpeg We are keen cyclists and have been on the Europe trip for the last 2years (4 two weekers so far)
We have plan A which is to get to a vague region
Plan A becomes plan B when we see the weather is worse so we look to stay locally for a few days....ACSI to hand!
Discover Loches and 3days of circular rides out
Have discovered Sarlat-la-Canéda and 3days of circular rides
Head to Bedouin. Cycle Mt V ......then cycle circular routes all around for the next 5 days agree with the gorges comment, bloody marvellous riding....one forced rest day due to storms.... made a den and watched downloaded films and scoffed beer and carbs!
Went to Argeles and climbed the Tourmalet and the col d’espagne
But I found it boring going up and back the same way, plus I was complacent and “bonked” so badly I was throwing up and it took an hour to stabilise to cycle the 20 miles back to the camp site... lesson learnt
Surprise 1night round Sancerre turned into two as we hit it at the spring wine festival and, well we fell in love with the area!
4 days round Chinon confirmed our newly found love of vineyards and independent growers. They are soo lovely to cyclists
We take note of the velo routes but often navigate our own way round. Discovered last year that when a velo route changes colour so does the road surface!Seems so obvious. Cobbles on a road bike gave me renewed awe status for the professionals, and a rubble surface was interesting to say the Least!
It’s just so much fun discovering places and being led by the sunshine and in “Gracie”!
Boring pics to illustrate!!!
 
View attachment 42829 View attachment 42830 View attachment 42832 View attachment 42835 View attachment 42836 View attachment 42837 View attachment 42838 We are keen cyclists and have been on the Europe trip for the last 2years (4 two weekers so far)
We have plan A which is to get to a vague region
Plan A becomes plan B when we see the weather is worse so we look to stay locally for a few days....ACSI to hand!
Discover Loches and 3days of circular rides out
Have discovered Sarlat-la-Canéda and 3days of circular rides
Head to Bedouin. Cycle Mt V ......then cycle circular routes all around for the next 5 days agree with the gorges comment, bloody marvellous riding....one forced rest day due to storms.... made a den and watched downloaded films and scoffed beer and carbs!
Went to Argeles and climbed the Tourmalet and the col d’espagne
But I found it boring going up and back the same way, plus I was complacent and “bonked” so badly I was throwing up and it took an hour to stabilise to cycle the 20 miles back to the camp site... lesson learnt
Surprise 1night round Sancerre turned into two as we hit it at the spring wine festival and, well we fell in love with the area!
4 days round Chinon confirmed our newly found love of vineyards and independent growers. They are soo lovely to cyclists
We take note of the velo routes but often navigate our own way round. Discovered last year that when a velo route changes colour so does the road surface!Seems so obvious. Cobbles on a road bike gave me renewed awe status for the professionals, and a rubble surface was interesting to say the Least!
It’s just so much fun discovering places and being led by the sunshine and in “Gracie”!
Boring pics to illustrate!!!
Wow .. awesome info/pics.. Got loads of routes in mind before but most were in one direction! Loops back to cali ! Follow the sun and see what happens !
 
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