Along a sand path next to the canal – on and on along the green, shady waterway. A bit bumpy, but peaceful and pretty. A cycle of solitude, finished with a lovely dinner invitation at the camping ground.
Click here for map and gpx download.
Day 2. 120km. Égreville – St Cyr en Val
Posted: June 23, 2014 in Cycling, FranceTags: Cycling, France
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A ride through the old and the new. The old: beautiful Paris – overflowing with memories of the last 26 years. Bathed in warmth and sun, I cycled through memory lane. The new: Following the Seine upstream I discovered the meandering valley, and met my lovely Warmshowers hosts – Nicole and Claude – at their house in the rolling hills of wheat.
World Cycle: Longer route through Greece?
Posted: June 16, 2014 in CyclingTags: Albania, Cycling, Greece, Macedonia
Its less than 3 months now before I leave on my big bike trip from Eindhoven in the Netherlands to Australia. I have done the first wave of sorting out my clothes, papers, other ‘stuff’. Next week will be my training run – testing out all my equipment, when I will cycle to friends in Limoges in the centre of France. Stay tuned for a practice blog on that trip.
But now, I am updating and refining my planned route. I will have a whole 3 months to make it from Eindhoven to Istanbul, and I think I will really need 2 or less. No problem. Europe is beautiful, and there is a lot to see. If I have time, I would like to see more of Greece and then south western Turkey. It is hard to find suggested gpx routes through Greece. This alternate route through Greece is the Eurovelo 8 route ending in Athens. After Athens, I could take the boat to Izmir and continue on in Turkey. Click here to see a zoomable version of the map, and download the gpx.
Alternatives in Albania and Greece
Do you have any tips for getting to Athens? And, more importantly, do you know about which boats run in the winter (November)? I could even think about cycling along Crete, then to Rhodos, and catching a boat to Fethiye in Turkey, although, I don’t think there are any boats running in the winter. I guess and hope there will still be boats between Athens and Izmir in the winter..
I’m looking forward to seeing more of Greece. I hope it eventuates!
World Cycle: Route through Australia
Posted: May 20, 2014 in CyclingTags: Australia, Cycling, World Cycling
The last leg of my route planning for my big world bike trip – Australia. I start in Darwin, and end in Adelaide. I haven’t decided which way I want to get to Adelaide.
The shortest way is ‘down the middle’. I have done this before in the car several times, and would like to see something different.
Two other options are along the west coast, or along the east coast. The west coast is attractive as it is so remote and unvisited. I have never been there, and would like to see it. I have been to the east coast. There are a lot of attractions there, and also more people.
I will decide what I do when I am there.
Route across Australia
World Cycle: Route through South-east Asia
Posted: May 19, 2014 in CyclingTags: Cambodia, Cycling, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, World Cycling
The planning for my big world bike trip continues, extending the route through Europe, and then central Asia. The further away I plan, the more vague it gets. The aim is to see if the plan is at all realistic. Are there boats where I think there are? Can I get visas for these places? And for long enough? Actually, I suspect the answer may be no for some of these countries. Indonesia, for example, is so big, I may not be able to cross it while still having a valid visa. Visa extensions of one month at a time are possible, but take 10 days to process. All this kind of stuff will be addressed en route.
Route through South-east Asia
Also, the plan of south-east Asia may be turned completely on its head if I am able to enter Myanmar. If this is possible, I will cross to north-east India through Myanmar rather than passing through Laos and Cambodia. A possible fly in the ointment is if I can’t get a long enough Chinese visa. I guess I will have to just go with the flow. Maybe Pakistan and the KKH Highway instead of Tibet? I am hesitant about this. It may be too dangerous. Let’s see.
Here are the countries I will be cycling through with some thoughts on my route through them.
A break from my bike trip planning, to some thoughts about the planet and humanity’s next great challenge and exciting transformation. I have just finished reading a book by a fellow Australian from Adelaide. I am inspired and excited at the same time. I believe the world will be in a different place in 5-10 year’s time, and I want to be part of the transformation. The Great Disruption, by Paul Gilding.
The Great Disruption by Paul Gilding
World Cycle: Routes through the Caucasus
Posted: April 24, 2014 in CyclingTags: Armenia, Cycling, Georgia
I will have over 3 months to get from Istanbul to Dushanbe in Tajikistan (as part of my bicycle trip from the Netherlands to Australia) to meet up with Chris before we cycle the Pamir Highway and then through Tibet. I understand that it should take about 2 months. Allowing several weeks for visa applications, I should still have a few weeks to meander a bit. I have decided to plan to go through the Caucasus states of Georgia and Armenia. They sound very beautiful. Many cyclists report lovely stories from there.
Gergeti Trinity Church. Photo Zenon Guse
I plan to let my route be dictated by how it all develops, depending on the time that I have. To make some rough time planning, I have made a baseline route. Here are my planned routes for Georgia and Armenia.
All suggestions are welcome!
Matthew and the art of bicycle maintenance
Posted: April 6, 2014 in CyclingTags: Cycling, Netherlands
I remember Thursday mornings in year 8 at high school in Australia. Tech studies – woodwork. I dreaded it with a passion. 30 years later I am afraid of touching my bike – I might stuff it up. Not good if I am to cycle around the world. So, biting the bullet – Matthew and the art of bicycle maintenance.
Embedded maps on wordpress.com
Posted: March 10, 2014 in UncategorizedTags: EveryTrail, gpx, plugin, wordpress, wordpress.com
In this post I examine different options I have found in posting cycle routes on a free wordpress.com blog.
For my upcoming cycle adventure I want to track my trip, and post the route on my blog. I use a wordpress.com free blog. As many have noted in various forums, most iframe and flash elements are blocked due to security concerns on wordpress.com, which means it is quite difficult to post a freshly tracked route on your blog – especially when the post is created from the WordPress smartphone app.
In the past I have tracked my route with the EveryTrail smartphone app, and embedded the track on the wordpress.com blog using a flash workaround. This map often takes a long time to load, and is not visible at all when viewed from a smart phone. Much preferable would be an iframe element like on the TwistingSpokes blog. (Martin and Susanne from TwistingSpokes say they use a wordpress.org blog with a google maps gpx viewer plugin. WordPress.com does not allow plugins.) This loads quickly, and is also viewable on a smart phone.
It is possible to use iframe directly with google maps on wordpress.com, and so, if you can import your tracked trip into google maps, you can then post it on the blog. This can be done in several steps (which cannot be done on a smart phone).
- Save the recorded gpx file. (Using EveryTrail, the download gpx file option is in the bottom right of the screen.)
- Convert the gpx file into a kml file with GPS Visualizer. Save the converted kml file.
- Open google maps in the classical interface. Go to My Places and click on Create with Classic MyMaps.
- Click on import and then load the kml file just created.
- Click on the link button and then copy the iframe text. Post this in the wordpress.com post.
Below is the EveryTrail flash version of the map, and the iframe version described in this post.
For my blog, I intend to use the iframe version when I have more time and access to wifi.
World Cycle: Route through Asia
Posted: March 5, 2014 in CyclingTags: Armenia, Bangladesh, China, Cycling, Georgia, India, Iran, Nepal, Tajikistan, Tibet, Tibetan Plateau, Turk, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, World Cycling
Why plan in such detail? And so far ahead? Well, that’s my ordered side. Things need to be arranged. Leave nothing to chance. And that is exactly what a trip like this can never be like.. That also makes it exciting. Still, planning can help make broad global decisions that will affect the whole trip. And it is also a lot of fun!
In September 2014 I will be leaving Eindhoven, the Netherlands, to cycle to Adelaide, Australia, where I was born. After cycling through Europe in 2014, the second stage of my trip starts in Istanbul in Turkey around March 2015, and sees me end somewhere in South-East Asia. There are lots of options, and lots of decisions to make. Here is the current planned route.
World Cycle Trip 2015: Route Through Asia
At first I was a bit irritated when I discovered that, perhaps, my timing was a bit skew. I have planned too much time. Leaving Istanbul in February/March to get to Tajikistan on June 1 where I would meet up with my cycling friend Chris. But, hey, this is a cycle trip of a lifetime. No stress. No hectic agenda. I am going to take my time and see places not many people have the privilege to see. I am going to take detours. This route is the basis. I am now collecting ideas for detours – interesting places to see and things to do!
Here are the countries I will be cycling through with some thoughts on my route through them.
- Turkey
- Georgia
- Armenia
- Iran
- Turkmenistan
- Uzbekistan
- Tajikistan
- Kyrgyzstan
- China
- Nepal
- India
- Bangladesh
In Turkey I might stick to the Black Sea coast and enter into Georgia, Armenia, and possibly Azerbijan. But in the correct order. The relationships between the countries in the Caucus are complex, and in researching the trip I am discovering things I never knew existed – self proclaimed countries recognised by no-one except themselves – Abkhazia and Nagorna-Karabagh.
In Iran I may head south through Isfahan and Shiraz as recommended by Bernadette Speet. The major decisions that affect the global route take place in China. Strict laws in the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR), expensive (compulsory) tours that need to be taken there, roads blocked for tourists, length of Chinese visas, timing of wet and hot season in Bangladesh, lack of roads leading to massive detours on the Tibetan Plateau, the impossibility of crossing Myanmar. All these affect my route through China, and, inevitably, what the whole trip looks like. I would like to have a connected route entirely covered by bike – and I would like to see Bangladesh. The only option is to fly.
My planning continues – fine tuning the European and Asian route, and also putting together the third and final stage of the trip – the ‘South-East Asian’ leg.. 🙂
arctic-cycler.com 