Your suggestions for Father/Daughter destination, please

[NZEric]

Hello,

My daughter (13-years-old this summer) and I take a 2 - 3 week tandem ride every summer. We rode the Katy trail in '05, cycled the Canadian Rockies in '06, and rode the Danube in '07. We go light bike, heavy wallet and don't book in advance, but find a place to stay each night. We like to do 10 - 12 days of 40 miles or so, and we really really like to be away from cars if possible.

We're looking for ideas for routes this summer. We're considering Canada again, but on the Atlantic this time (http://www.atlanticcanadacycling.com/) and want to know if any of y'all have some great suggestions for us.

Thanks so much.

Eric

[StephenH]

I haven't been there, but that Erie canal trail sounds sort of neat.

[djembob02]

I just want to say you're adventures sound awesome. Great family time! I ride a triplet with my partner and 6 year old daughter. We take a supported touring trip every summer. Last year we did the Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure. I really want to take a 2-3 week trip sometime. Good luck.

[specbill]

Eric...Allegheny Passage/C&O Canal... ' hope this 360+/- mile ride will be fun and challenging enough for you. It is a beautiful ride and 98% of these trail miles are absolutely car free depending upon exactly where you start or end in Pittsburgh. You will need to do some easy homework to insure finding a satisfactory place to stay each night. There is a lot of info available at www.atatrail.org (http://www.atatrail.org) and on some of the links from that site.

Bill J

[johnlyons53]

We had a fabulous time on Prince Edward Island last summer. The Confederation Trail, which runs the length of the island, is very nice. I would mix up parts of the trail with coast roads and interior roads. The people are friendly and the food is great.

[dbg]

Eric...Allegheny Passage/C&O Canal... ' hope this 360+/- mile ride will be fun and challenging enough for you. It is a beautiful ride and 98% of these trail miles are absolutely car free depending upon exactly where you start or end in Pittsburgh. You will need to do some easy homework to insure finding a satisfactory place to stay each night. There is a lot of info available at www.atatrail.org (http://www.atatrail.org) and on some of the links from that site.

Bill J

I have always wanted to do this trail combo as well. I think it would be so cool to start in Pitt and end up cruising into the big city (DC / Georgetown) along the canal. My only concern would be finding accommodations along the way. A trip account I read suggested that the C&O trail was so independent from surrounding population that it was difficult to find hotels. They suggested it should be treated as a camping trail. Might want to have ideas for accommodations planned in advance.

[djsincla]

Hello,

My daughter (13-years-old this summer) and I take a 2 - 3 week tandem ride every summer. We rode the Katy trail in '05, cycled the Canadian Rockies in '06, and rode the Danube in '07. We go light bike, heavy wallet and don't book in advance, but find a place to stay each night. We like to do 10 - 12 days of 40 miles or so, and we really really like to be away from cars if possible.

We're looking for ideas for routes this summer. We're considering Canada again, but on the Atlantic this time (http://www.atlanticcanadacycling.com/) and want to know if any of y'all have some great suggestions for us.

Thanks so much.

Eric


San Juan Islands - Riding from B&B to B&B - Try and stay two nights at each Island/B&B so that the middle day can be dedicated to riding around without all your gear.

[dbg]

I've also wanted to do the Erie Canal also but am trying to figure out how to mount bikes onto a pontoon base and interface the drive train into a water propeller. Then we could do it on the water. Also haven't found anybody willing to do it with me. The family thinks I'm crazy.

[cooker]

There's been a lot of publicity around fairly newly opened Quebec trail system. La Route Verte (The Green Route). One potential problem is that in rural francophone Quebec there can be some mild hostility towards English speakers, but probably not so much in the tourist/hotel industry. Hopefully someone from Quebec or who has ridden the route can comment
http://www.routeverte.com/ang/

EDIT: remember too that the Canadian dollar is now more or less at par with the US dollar so Canada won't be as cheap as it was.
EDIT2: Or are you from New Zealand?

[cooker]

I've also wanted to do the Erie Canal also but am trying to figure out how to mount bikes onto a pontoon base and interface the drive train into a water propeller. Then we could do it on the water. Also haven't found anybody willing to do it with me. The family thinks I'm crazy.

That's funny. How about an in between system, where you tow two inflatable kayaks in a bike trailer, then paddle one and freight the bike on the other for water portions

[mchell]

I can suggest two possibilities. My wife and I have tandemed (Rans Screamer) with Atlantic Canada Cycling, PEI, and found it to be a wonderful adventure. PEI is not flat in the interior, so sticking to the coastline is best. We found the Confederation Trail boring after 20 km and preferred the lightly travelled roads and highways. ACC offers other tours in the Atlantic region as well.
We have also done Le Veloroute des Bluets, around Lac Saint Jean, in the Saguenay region of Quebec. 256 km dedicated, paved bike route; a relaxing fairly level 4 day journey. We've done it twice; camping self supported pulling a BOB, and also B&B. There is no English spoken in this part of rural Quebec. None. Not even at the larger hotels. But, we found everyone to be friendly and patient with our attempts to communicate in French. We are looking forward to doing this route once again soon!
Good luck,

Mike

[veloellen]

John, did you camp on PEI or stay in hotels? what tine of year? I'm very interested in hearing more!

[Michel Gagnon]

If you like short distances, lots of small villages and rural roads, then PEI is good. There are lots of friendly people, and apart from the zone around Cavendish Park (lots of tourists), you should be OK.

Apart from that, if you look for nice routes in the Maritimes, I would say that both New Brunswick and Nova Scotia offer lots of good cycling.

In New Brunswick, use the 1xx series highways, which are nice and good secondary highways that are now parallelled by a faster route. The interior is not too user-friendly (neither in car, by the way), but good touring can be done along the St. John's valley (roughly TCH highway 2), or on the Eastern and Northeastern shores (highways 8 and 11).

In Nova Scotia, the numbering works the other way. Avoid the 1xx roads unless you want to save miles (they have wide paved shoulders) and stick on the single digit or the 2xx and 3xx highways. Riding around mainland Nova Scotia is wonderful. Just avoid the Cabot Trail, unless you want long hills, good wind... and lots of tourist traffic.

[StephenH]

Maybe I had the wrong canal there...

[72andsunny]

How about the Pacific Coast? (40 mile days won't be enough time to go from Canada to Mexico, but pick and interesting 500 miles and go with that).

http://books.google.com/books?id=c9jk69QZqSIC&dq=bicycling+the+pacific+coast&pg=PP1&ots=oIKY1CRYiQ&sig=VGLuTGm5dVF7blw5rdP1LZZSHpg&hl=en&prev=http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLJ,GGLJ:2008-03,GGLJ:en&q=bicycling+the+pacific+coast&sa=X&oi=print&ct=title&cad=one-book-with-thumbnail#PPA24,M1

[johnlyons53]

John, did you camp on PEI or stay in hotels? what tine of year? I'm very interested in hearing more!

We camped for a week around the 4th of July. All but one of the evenings were spent in either provincial or municipal campgrounds. The last night was spent on a private golf course/campground. We cooked breakfast and dinner at our site and ate lunch on the road and our only problem was when we didn't buy dinner early enough sometimes. Some parts of the island are very rural with grocery stores far apart and we would sometimes find ourselves at the campground at the end of the day without dinner fixin's and so would have to set up camp and then head out for a store. BTW we ate a lot of potatoes. In early July the new potatoes are just in and when cooked are like eating whipped cream. Awesome.

Equipment wise we are self sufficient by pulling a Burley nomad with all the camping gear (about 50 lbs total) and panniers for clothes and purchases. The bike is geared low for pulling loads and we can travel indefinately and affordably. We toured the eastern end of the island and would love to go back and see the other end.

[NZEric]

Hey gang,

Thank you all so much for the terrific suggestions ... looks like Sophie and I have some great options! (We're actually snuggled in this snowy Boulder am, doing our research.)

Eric