ilse
09-22-05, 11:25 PM
ive done my first bicycle tour and it was amazing.
i began in florence, italy on may 10th; after spending two weeks with my cousin, getting over jet lag.
From there it was an incredible ride south to sienna, east to cecina, northwest to pisa, and northeast up the italian coast, including the formidable cinqua terra.
From the French border, it was on to Nice, and then north on the Napolean route before turning west through Le Gorge Verdon, southwest to Aix-en-Provence, further west to Arles, down through the Camargue marshland, Nimes, a wide arc through the hills of Languedoc, Carcassonne, back east to the coast and down into Spain.
Through the spanish pyrennees. Figueres and Pamplona at both ends with not much but incredible cycling in between.
Back into France, it was to the coast then back in to Bordeaux, north north north, untill my bike sufferred a broken hub, at which point i walked it from one town to the next (only 8 kilometers) for a new wheel. i continued to Dieppe where i took a ferry to England.
From the port town I took a train, yes, a train, to London. I slept for two weeks on my friends' couch. In the few hours that i was awake, aside from goofing off and going to rock shows, i braved cycling around london. It's very dangerous.
I took a ferry to Cuxhaven and continued down the Elbe to Hamburg, Berlin, Leipzig, and further southeast to Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic.
I rode then to Prague and stayed there for a few weeks, before coming back to Austin.
Forgive how dry this post is. it was alot of travel to just sum up. Just know, long bike tours are phenomenal. Riding untill dark, camping in the wild, getting by on crap french, getting a standing ovation at the end of Gorge Verdon by a bunch of Dutch tourists, drinking cheap wine through the camargue, being invited into the home of a couple who fixed my bike when it decided to up and fall to pieces in Italian rush hour, riding through a cloud in the eastern pyrenees, so many fantastic things.
thanks for letting me rattle all that off to you.
i began in florence, italy on may 10th; after spending two weeks with my cousin, getting over jet lag.
From there it was an incredible ride south to sienna, east to cecina, northwest to pisa, and northeast up the italian coast, including the formidable cinqua terra.
From the French border, it was on to Nice, and then north on the Napolean route before turning west through Le Gorge Verdon, southwest to Aix-en-Provence, further west to Arles, down through the Camargue marshland, Nimes, a wide arc through the hills of Languedoc, Carcassonne, back east to the coast and down into Spain.
Through the spanish pyrennees. Figueres and Pamplona at both ends with not much but incredible cycling in between.
Back into France, it was to the coast then back in to Bordeaux, north north north, untill my bike sufferred a broken hub, at which point i walked it from one town to the next (only 8 kilometers) for a new wheel. i continued to Dieppe where i took a ferry to England.
From the port town I took a train, yes, a train, to London. I slept for two weeks on my friends' couch. In the few hours that i was awake, aside from goofing off and going to rock shows, i braved cycling around london. It's very dangerous.
I took a ferry to Cuxhaven and continued down the Elbe to Hamburg, Berlin, Leipzig, and further southeast to Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic.
I rode then to Prague and stayed there for a few weeks, before coming back to Austin.
Forgive how dry this post is. it was alot of travel to just sum up. Just know, long bike tours are phenomenal. Riding untill dark, camping in the wild, getting by on crap french, getting a standing ovation at the end of Gorge Verdon by a bunch of Dutch tourists, drinking cheap wine through the camargue, being invited into the home of a couple who fixed my bike when it decided to up and fall to pieces in Italian rush hour, riding through a cloud in the eastern pyrenees, so many fantastic things.
thanks for letting me rattle all that off to you.