Sorin Davidoi#bikepacking trip, day #1. We took an early morning flight to Bilbao and visited the city a bit. Got reacquainted with cycling in 30°C. 12 km.
#bikepacking trip, day #2. Passed through Guernica on the way to the Atlantic coast. A day that felt like a heat training day, one of probably many to come. It did end with a dip in the ocean though. 64km.
#bikepacking trip, day #3. We mostly kept along the coast but had to deviate due to a road closure, which proved an unexpected challenge. Otherwise an amazing day eating pintxos and swimming in the sea. 70km.
#bikepacking trip, day #4. We accidentally intersected with Triatlón de Donostia and had to reroute around it a bit. Reached San Sebastián and continued onwards into France. Dipped one last time in the ocean as tomorrow we'll be leaving the coast. 56km.
#bikepacking trip, day #5. We left the Atlantic coast and started heading eastwards, passing through Pas de Roland. The water fountains are more rare than in Spain which requires a bit more planning, especially in this heat. Lovely rolling hills in the countryside. Started seeing the Pyrenees peaks in the distance. 110 km.
#bikepacking trip, day #6. We passed through Pau, which will host the Tour de France for the 76th time in a few weeks from now. Another hot day but we had some nice sections along Le Gave de Pau where we managed to cool down a bit.
I wish I paid a bit more attention when making the route, as the V81 cycleway that we followed in some sections takes some detours that we could have done without in this heat.
#bikepacking trip, day #7. Finally the heat broke as we had an overcast day with only around 25°C. We passed through Lourdes and then turned towards the Pyrenees, camping at over 1000m right before Col d'Aspin. 60 km.
#bikepacking trip, day #8. It rained during the night and the morning greeted us with a heavy fog as we climbed the final hundred meters towards Col d'Aspin. From there we descended to Arreau and then up again to Col de Peyresourde. After these two mountain passes we descended along the Pique river and after a final small climb set up the tent. 80 km.
#bikepacking trip, day #9. We kept heading eastwards and after passing Col de Portet d'Aspet we rejoined the V81 cycling path on probably its most beautiful section - Saint-Girons to Foix. 107 km.
#bikepacking trip, day #10. We entered Cathar country and passed several castle ruins as the landscape of the Corbières Massif slowly took over. It rained just enough in the evening to put on the rain gear (we didn't carry it for nothing after all!). 92 km.
#bikepacking trip, day #11. We departed Bugarach and passed the impressive Gorges de Galamus as we kept heading towards the sea. The change in landscape that slowly started happening after we left the Pyrenees was complete - the farms were replaced by vineyards and occasional olive trees and the earth became more arid. 6 days after we left the Atlantic coast we reached the Mediterranean just north of Perpignan. 103 km.
#bikepacking trip, day #12. We decided to skip the coast so we took a train to Montpellier and visited the city. 14 km.
#bikepacking trip, day #13. We left Montpellier and headed northeast, slowly putting more and more distance between us and the coast. In the first part of the day we cycled quite a bit along irrigation canals, while the second part proved more challenging due to it being on more trafficked roads and having strong headwind. 84 km.
#bikepacking trip, day #14. Someone didn't want us to leave the campsite. The Mistral slowed down a bit but we still had headwind almost the entire day. We cycled along the Rhône as we entered Provence and passed through Avignon, ending the day in Bédoin. 73 km.
#cycling #velo #france #avignon #cat #provence #rhone #bedoin
#bikepacking trip, day #15. Having set our eyes on the summit the previous day, today we climbed Mont Ventoux. There were lots of cyclists doing the same, but nearly all of them on road bikes with no bags - we felt a bit jealous as we were pushing all our stuff up the mountain. From there we continued through the valleys of Provence, passing through lavender fields and olive tree plantations. 72 km.
#bikepacking trip, day #16. We took a final look at Mont Ventoux in the morning and kept heading north through Provence and Dauphiné. We passed lots of apricot and lavender fields as we kept going up and down in the rolling hills. 81 km.
#bikepacking trip, day #17. We reached Grenoble after climbing Col de Menée and enjoying the long descent that followed. A spoke broke after reaching the city but we managed to get it fixed just before the shops closed for Sunday and Bastille Day. 94 km.
#bikepacking trip, day #18. We left Grenoble and avoided mountain passes by first following the Isère river and then passing by Lac du Bourget. Another hot day but we did stop to dip in the lake. Camped at a farm overlooking Annecy. 106 km.
#cycling #velo #france #grenoble #dauphine #annecy #lacdubourget
#bikepacking trip, day #19. We descended into Annecy and were supposed to have a rest day, but in the end we couldn't resist cycling around the lake. Started planning the trip back to Denmark. 60 km.
#bikepacking trip, day #20. We left Annecy but not before grabbing some souvenirs from Matchy Cycling. We crossed into Switzerland in Geneva and continued on the north side of the lake until close to Lausanne. 92 km.
#cycling #velo #france #annecy #switzerland #geneva #geneve #schweiz
#bikepacking trip, day #21. We took a train to Basel, spent some time in the city and then boarded another train to Hamburg. We think we have fully figured out the entire return journey, now we can only hope that we don't miss any connections due to delays. 17 km.
#cycling #velo #switzerland #schweiz #basel #sbb #deutschebahn #germany #deutschland
#bikepacking trip, day #22. The train arrived in Hamburg delayed by one and a half hours, so that left a bit less time for night time cycling in the city. Six trains later (and two last minute cancellations) and some cycling on a section where DSB is running replacement busses, we finally arrived in Copenhagen in the afternoon. 40 km.
#cycling #deutschebahn #germany #deutschland #hamburg #denmark #copenhagen #kobenhavn #crossborderail
In total we cycled 1555km over 19 full days of cycling, with 19200 meters of uphill.
Spent 17 nights in camping places, 3 in hotels and unfortunately just one wildcamping.
The weather was just what we expected with the exception of the first week, where the heatwave pushed us a bit to our limits.
The highlights of the trip were the Atlantic coast in the Basque country, some sections of the V81 cycling route, Montpellier and Provence.
Things we would have done differently in retrospective:
- skip Pau and keep the route closer to the mountains in that section, maybe go to Carcassonne instead later on
- climb over Col du Tourmalet - we feared the mountain climbs a bit, especially given the heat, but they were manageable
- take a train from Montpellier to Avignon - the route had quite a bit of traffic and strong head wind the entire day
- farm camping - the two farms we stayed at were exactly what we needed at the end of the day
- skip Pau and keep the route closer to the mountains in that section, maybe go to Carcassonne instead later on
- climb over Col du Tourmalet - we feared the mountain climbs a bit, especially given the heat, but they were manageable
- take a train from Montpellier to Avignon - the route had quite a bit of traffic and strong head wind the entire day
- farm camping - the two farms we stayed at were exactly what we needed at the end of the day
Mark Chick@sorin Thanks for your posts and photos. It looks like you had quite an adventure.
Tom@sorin Thanks for Sharing your Adventure. 🙂👍 It was a pleasure following you in digital ways 🙂
GuacamOlé 🥑@sorin If you haven't yet: Cycle through the "St. Pauli Elbtunnel" It's worth it
(and if you need a break from cycling: Walk through the Elbtunnel. Still worth it :) )
[Oh. Too Late :) You are already away; Next time, then]
Gina@sorin Annecy is so beautiful 😍
Samuel 🚴🏼🍻@SamyTerje Thanks! We packed them in cardboard bike boxes, so we discarded them at the airport when we arrived (we're taking trains back to Denmark). We considered getting proper boxes but the hassle of transporting them wouldn't be worth it for us.
@sorin good trick and always great to share best practices for bike transportation. FYI, our last light solution for mandatory french TGV packaging 😉 https://artefact.eco/products/housse-de-transport-velo
@SamyTerje That looks great! I sometimes get the urge to go bikepacking in Sweden, but SJ doesn't allow bikes unless unmounted, this might come in handy for such trips.
@sorin playing with rules and only 300g 👍