4 months, Ireland to Italy, April to August
 

[FONT=Arial] Is anyone else planing on riding Europe from April on ?
Anyone who has experiance that could give me some advice ? I am new to touring, my biggest concern is navigation. I can't seem to find a map that names backroads. Is a mountain bike with touring tires and converted crank completely ridiculous ?

Try the Michelin Maps- they worked well with me when I was using them.

Personally, I wouldn't tour on a mountain bike unless I was doing a lot of backroads riding, but whatever works for you, I'm not going to judge. Good luck!

Koffee

I don't think you're crazy for touring on a mountain bike -- infact, I doubt I'd even consider touring on anything else. If you're anything like me you'll still be tinkering with your route right up until the very last (even after you set off), and only a MTB gives you the freedom to go literally wherever you like on a whim (or on local advice which is something I've come to rely on for touring).

An MTB with touring tyres is quite OK for touring. Lots of people use them. Ive been accompanied by riders on MTBs and they have not been noticeably slower then me on a touring bike.

Mapping is a problem. You need a smaller scale map for planning your general route, and a large scale map which shows smaller roads and trails. Large scale maps cover a small area, so you need lots of them. It is pretty easy to buy maps locally, in every town and most villiages. Dont over-plan your route in advance. Have a general idea of where you are going, then use locally purchased maps to chose the particular road.
When Im riding in new territory, I like to take the smallest roads possible, and take in some trails where I can.

Thanks for the tips.. very helpful

The UK is the most mapped area on earth, with Ireland a close second. You will find Ordance Survey maps ('OSGB' on a GPS) available, they are very detailsed and come in 1:10,000, 1:25,000, 1:50,000 and 1:100,000. The 1:50,000 are good for cycling

http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/

You might also want to get the cycle specific maps for both Ireland and the UK from SUSTRANS

http://www.sustrans.org.uk/webcode/home.asp?ID=1

There is also a wonderful shop in London that does world maps mail order world wide

http://www.stanfords.co.uk/