Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

My wife and I are in the early stages of planning a 3 month self supported pannier tour of Southern Europe in the spring/summer of 2018. We are interested in any recommendations for online or printed resources. Any tips and general advice including suggested routes from people who have travelled in the area would also be welcomed. We would prefer to ride quiet backroads and camp wherever possible. Cheap accommodation such as Gites would be considered. Our bikes are Rohloff equipped Thorn Ravens and we have a full complement of camping gear. We have fine- tuned our equipment during extended Australian touring adventures, several in remote areas such as the Mawson trail in South Australia. We have traveled to New Zealand with our bagged road bikes, and have backpacked in The U.K., France and Italy. We live in Adelaide.

I would suggest a lot of time in southern France, particularly Provence. Cycling highlights for me were the Luberon, the Camargue, the Gorge of Verdon, Pyrenees and the southern Alps. Plenty of camp grounds and opportunities for wild camping, and France's D Roads - minor back roads with little traffic which criss-cross the countryside - were a delight. I used a Michelin motoring atlas, 1:200,000, and just tore out the relevant pages. I was there in May and early June, weather pleasant then, apparently it can become quite hot in summer. Away from the cities the people were so friendly and welcoming - "Bonjour Monsieur" all the time - and I felt like a hero in the mountains.

I was there in 2004, hopefully not too much has changed.

Merci beaucoup Greentourer ... sounds like just what we are after. I have heard of the Michelin atlas and maps before, and will investigate further. I would be interested to know if similar experiences can be had in rural Spain and Italy. We like the Italians ... never been to Spain.

You didn't mention them. Perhaps the EuroVelo Routes are too obvious.

Route 8 looks rather enticing...

Yes Ron ... stumbled upon the EuroVelo Routes a few days ago. Definitely route 8 ... thanks

We'll be doing part of the Croatia and Montenegro section of EV8 in late March and all April, I don't think much of it has progressed to on ground development but will let you know in a couple months time.

Thanks LG ... enjoy