Originally Posted by
gribley
I was actually just driving in Normandy last month, and the roads were among the narrowest I've ever seen -- they would have been simply terrifying to bike on, with barely enough room for two cars to pass, and no shoulder at all. I had a similar problem in Scotland, where the shoulders were nonexistent by American standards; and in many places there just weren't "back roads" in the sense of being little used. It was often stressful. I'd like to find good back roads for relatively safe riding, at least better than those I saw in Normandy...
This is Europe you're talking about. "Back roads" are narrow, most of them were laid down before the invention of the internal combustion engine. As for shoulders, forget about it - very often they don't exist.
You'll get used to it. Cycling in most European countries (even the UK) is safer than in the States, sometimes dramatically so. Driver behaviour towards cyclists is often better, too.