Machka 

Thanks!


We're on a 7.5 month Round-the-World, mostly cycling tour. Hong Kong > Taiwan > Japan (Hokkaido) > Scotland (and a bit of England) > The Netherlands > Germany > Luxembourg > France > Switzerland > France ... and that's where we are now, cycling up the west coast of France, along the Atlantic Ocean. We're 3 months and 9 days into the trip. We're using a variety of methods of transport including airplane, train, ferries, cars, and of course our Thorn touring bicycles on as many days as possible. We're still in France for a little while longer, then back up into the UK, and then over to North America for a while.



Taiwan was great for it's cycle lanes ... huge smooth paved shoulders for bicycles and scooters ... and it would be tempting to spend a bit longer there and cycle southward from Hualien. We did a bit of that, but not as far as we might have liked. We only had 6 days there, not enough. And there were heaps and heaps of people on bicycles, scooters and all sorts.

Japan, specifically Hokkaido, had some great cycling paths as well. Long, smoothly paved wide paths through rural areas. They got a little bit sketchy in a couple places, but the traffic wasn't too heavy so we were fine. We had 10 days there and would really like to go back and spend a month. There weren't many riding. We'd see lots of people in the more populated areas, but only the occasional person in the more rural areas.

In Scotland we kind of hopped all over, and mainly used the roads until toward the end, then we joined the North Sea Route which took us on a lot of the very quiet backroads. Scotland is great for all the little meandering backroads with next to no traffic. We were 3 weeks there and could easily spend a month or more. In certain areas, like on the path that runs the length of Loch Lomond, there were quite a few cyclists, but when we got on the North Sea Route there weren't a lot.

Then we crossed to Europe and decided to cycle the Rhine Route. It was a bit of a disappointment. There are sections which are pretty good, but then there are sections which just aren't very good at all. Toward the end, the last 2 or 3 days, were pretty good. All of a sudden there were decent paths finally. There were lots of people riding at least sections of this route. Many of them appeared to be day riders or maybe weekend tourists (lightly loaded).

Luxembourg doesn't have much cycling infrastructure from what we could tell, and most of the riders there looked like pretty serious roadies.

Switzerland had great paths, probably some of the widest paths we've seen, and a reasonable number of riders.

France kind of took us by surprise. We've both cycled quite a bit in France before, and have enjoyed it. When we first entered France out of Luxembourg it was good. We got onto a route along the Moselle which was lovely. But when we got into France the second time, out of Switzerland, we were plunged into quite heavy traffic. We went from there by train to Perpignan, and again, heavy aggressive traffic. Not too impressed. So we caught a train up to Bordeaux, and it has been lovely since. I'm astounded by the paths in this part of France. I explain in my journal how a cyclist could easily do a century out of Bordeaux, about 90% of which would be on nice, smooth, beautiful, relatively empty bicycle paths.

I have to say, I'm NOT a MUP person. But the ones I've encountered in Taiwan (although those were more like shoulders), Japan, and most of Europe (excluding a large portion of the Rhine Route) have been quite good. Well paved, smooth, and empty. I wish they'd install similar paths in Canada and Australia.


I've done an extensive write-up (journal) about the trip starting here: http://www.machka.net/RTW_2012/RTW_2012.htm