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The terraced vineyards of Lavaux, overlooking Lake Geneva, were made a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2007. You'll see why as you ride from Lutry up the Route de la Petite Corniche, the Cote aux Vignes and then the Route de la Corniche before a fabulous descent down to Vevey. Then home, along the lakeshore.
As a hardcore roadie, it was my lunchtime training ride while working in Lausanne. But every variation is possible. You can even take the train up to Chexbres from Montreux and ride the route in reverse, downhill all the way. Stunning vineards, lakes, villages and mountains. You'll taste the effort everytime you drink the local white (with perch from the lake or fondue from nearby Gruyere) and it will have been worth it.
Great little place right in the middle of the Afan Forest, sandwich between the Afan and Glyncorrwg mountain bike centres. Basic accommodation but perfect for mountainbikers with a lock-up and jet wash, not to mention a cracking breakfast and pub dinner. Lush.
Lot Cycling Holidays is a family run business set in the beautiful countryside of the Bouriane, between the Lot and Dordogne Rivers.
Staying in the stunning converted barn in Mas de Flory, I was treated to fabulous four-course dinners every evening after touring the spectacular sites that the region has to offer. A very personalised holiday with carefully planned routes from John and amazing food and wine from the extremely talented Aileen, who in my opinion deserves a few Michelin stars!
I would happily recommend this to anyone, especially those who love cycling (at any level/ability) and great food!
www.lotcyclingholidays.com
Mas de Flory
Degagnac
46340
France
0033 565327002
Nearest train station: Gourdon
Nearest airports: Bergerac, Toulouse
For some peace and quiet take the ferry to Toronto Island. You can hire a bike and cycle around the island in about two hours. Stop at the delightful Wards Island where you'll find a collection of truly unique houses and the board walk. The are beaches too. The view of the City from the ferry is stunning.
Take the ferry from Queens Quay at the bottom of Bay Street.
This is a great way to see the Park, but I beg you all to wear a cycle helmet at all times and to exercise every caution you would on the open road. The Park is frequented by extremely fast cyclists, who sorry to say, do not always obey the traffic signals or even the most basic safety rules. People are killed and injured here every year by speeding cyclists. My 15-year-old daughter was hit from behind by a speeding cyclist and sent flying over the handlebars last summer in the Park, despite the fact that she was cycling in the designated bike lane, in a perfectly safe and orderly manner. The cyclist who knocked her off was admittedly concussed, but he started telling the attending police and paramedics that she had been the one who caused the collision, because she had ‘come out of nowhere!’ Luckily, other cyclists who had witnessed the incident stopped and gave their version of events, so we heard no more, but it was a very unpleasant experience and the speeding cyclist had to be taken to hospital. Also, if you are a pedestrian using a crossing in Central Park, be aware that cyclists seldom heed the crossing signals – quite often they are simply going too fast to stop. Use your ears and eyes to cross safely. Part of the problem is that not for nothing was Manhattan named the island of hills by American Indians. There are quite a few hilly parts in the Park and bikes can reach a fair old speed when going downhill. Please don’t be put off – this a fabulous cycle ride – but don’t assume that you are ‘safer’ in the Park and relax your guard!
We have found a perfect pair of gites near Cluny. They are simply but adequately furnished, no satellite dish or dishwasher, just plain comfortable living. We came for Taize and this place at the edge of a forest has such tranquillity it fitted with our week of meditation. You can sit for hours in the garden and hear no man-made noises: quite incredible in the 21st century. Knowing the area, we brought our bikes with us for some exercise. The cycle track the Voie Verte runs almost past the house and is amazingly flat so that you can go for miles without too much effort!
www.latuileriechazelle.com/uk/gites.html +33 385 50 19 55
La Tuilerie de Chazelle, 71460 Cormatin, Burgundy, France
If you haven't been to Central Park before and love bike riding, rent a bike and explore the park yourself. I found this company on Google - you can choose bike rentals or bike tours, price is good and the service is very nice.
Central Park Bike Rent
www.centralparkbikerent.com
158 West 56th Street New York, NY 10019
1-917-892-9279
www.centralparkbikerent.com
Gothenburg's Southern Archipelago is a cluster of eight verdant islands not dissimilar to the Isles of Scilly. But whereas the Scillonian ferry costs around £100, the boat to Vrannö, the island we stopped at, cost the equivalent of £1.20. Situated a gorgeous cycle ride down residential Gothenburg's clapboard-clad coast toward Salthomen, the island has around 380 inhabitants (though where they were on this gorgeous Saturday afternoon is anyone's guess), a fleet of curious bicycles with huge loading pallets mounted on the front, and a crystal clear, unfettered coastline. There are designated beach areas, but if you want to escape the maddening crowd of the 15 people sunning themselves there, a little adventurous initiative takes you around the island's coastline to vast green spaces, and craggy, rocky lagoons of opalescent, crystal clear (if cool) water. It's like a mini personal paradise.
In the summer season several boat excursions depart from Lilla Bommen harbour in the city center. Tickets and information: Göteborg's Tourist Information Centres + 46 31 61 25 00 or at Kungsportsplatsen and in Nordstan Shopping Centre (taken from goteborg.se)
Or, cycle down the clearly signposted coast to Salthomen and catch the ferry from there. We went in September, and the boats were running fairly regularly.
Accommodation in a city can be expensive. When I want to stay in Amsterdam I more often than not stay at any of the fabulous campsites dotted around Amsterdam. There is a central one just behind Centraal Station across the water or several others in the outskirts of the city - they are always a bargain and well maintained - give it a go, camping in the city is fun.
All campsite information can be found through the Amsterdam tourist board.
To fulfill my vision of cycling through vineyards, we headed into Beaune in Burgundy. We rented bikes across from the train station (watch out, everything is closed between 12 and 2!) and off we went on the 'velo-route' through the vineyards. The bike route was 22km there and 22km back, on special roads through the vines and going through the famous wine villages of Pommard, Volnay, Meursault. It was stunning scenery and we kept thinking it would be even better at the height of spring or during harvest season. I would recommend bringing a picnic and stopping off for a bite amid the vines.
We decided not to combine wine-tasting with cycling as we may never have gotten back to Beaune! We did a wine course at Sensation Vin in Beaune which was really eye-opening. I've loved red wine for a while now but I have to admit I don't know much about it: the different grapes, regions, appellations, etc. In an hour, the teacher managed to cram in all the basics and had us trying ('deguster') six different wines. By the end, we understood the different 'Appellation d'origine controllees' (AOCs) which ranged from Grand Cru to more regional appellations. We could also distinguish between the different tastes, smells, and colours and start to understand the reasons behind them.
This gave us a good basis for our real wine-tasting experience at the oldest wine cellars in Beaune, 'Patriarche' which span for 5km underground. Just imagine 5km of wine bottles ranging from 1904 to today. We wandered through the dark corridors lined with thousands of perfectly arranged bottles to find the tasting area where we sampled 13 wines. I had to learn the art of 'deguster' (spitting out the wine after you taste it), otherwise I don't think I would have come back up.
Sensation Vin - Beaune
www.sensation-vin.com/fr/
Patriarche Wine Caves, Beaune
www.patriarche.com/uk/index.htm
When you have had enough of the hustle and bustle of Montreal a 90 minute drive or bus ride will take you to the village of Sutton, a great base for discovering the Eastern Townships region of Quebec. The village has good restaurants and food stores, notably La Rumeur Affamee, and many of the lodgings such as Vert Le Mont B&B are certified 'Bienvenue Cyclistes' meaning you will be offered a healthy breakfast and a safe place to store your bike overnight. Radiating out from Sutton are a number of challenging bike routes including the Mont Sutton circuit and, just over the border in Vermont, the Jay Peak circuit.
www.infosutton.com Official guide to everything Sutton including a section on cycling or call the helpful tourist office on 1 800 565-8455
Veolia transport buses leave Montreal's Station Centrale bus station two or three times a day for Sutton.
www.bbsutton.com Vert Le Mont B&B website
Berchules is a pretty village in the mountains, near Cadiar. There is a great hotel, which is the base for a number of excellent walks in the area. There is also a mountain biking company called Pure Mountains, run by Jenny and Tim, that organises guided trails on excellent bikes. Would recommend it for the beautiful scenery and the fantastic trails, either on foot or by bike. Good for higher levels of fitness but best enjoyed by those who like big hills!
I went here to these gites with my children at Easter for a week's holiday, it was fantastic. The children loved the place. It had a heated pool, a great play area and loads of space for them to run around.
The gite itself was spotlessly clean, very well equipped, light and airy, and still homely and comfortable. There was loads in the area for the children and for us to explore, we didn't have a dull moment.
The owners were really welcoming and we had an Easter egg hunt and BBQ to finish off our week. A special place and a special holiday. We will definitely be returning in the summer.
Le Petit Husson
Charme
Charente
16140
France
www.frenchconnections.co.uk Property ID 149697
email : lepetithusson@yahoo.co.uk
Tel : 0033 5 45 30 21 74 leave a message
Airports - Poitiers
- Angouleme
- La Rochelle
- Limoges
Ferry Terminals - Caen
- La Havre
- St Malo
Railway station - Ruffec
- Angouleme
Warm & friendly B&B, incredibly helpful staff and reasonable at £30pppn - breakfasts are delicious and varied. Walk through a forest at the end of the road to get to the powdery sandy beach or hop on a train to the new forest for a walk or bike ride (rentals at Brockenhurst station starting from £9 for an afternoon bike ride)
www.thanethouse.co.uk
Poole
01202 761135
For a road trip to remember ditch the car and try cycling the Nullarbor, Australia. East to west or west to east, it doesn’t matter, the wind will always be in your face and the flies will be lapping up the sweat. Lets not forget the March flies biting your bum as you labour through the sand hills near Yalata. The upside? Camping under a star spangled expanse of sky in the middle of nowhere with only the dingoes for company, waking up to a mob of roos bounding past your head, whale watching from the immense Nullarbor cliffs, sticky date pudding at Nundroo roadhouse, beachcombing along the deserted beach at Eucla, complete strangers stopping to offer you a cold drink, the couple who cooked us a 3 course meal in their caravan, complete with liqueurs and finally the sense of achievement when you hit ‘civilisation’ at the end of your 1300km pedal. Would we do it again? You betcha!
If you haven't been to Central Park before they have a really nice and informative guided bike tour. You get to see movies scene sights, celebrity sighting, architecture and much much more. Or you can rent a bike and explore the park by yourself.
348 W 57 ST New York, NY
1-212-664-9600
www.bikerentalcentralpark.com
It’s so easy to look for the quickest route through somewhere familiar, but by ditching the car for a bike you have no choice but to go on the slow roads. This can shed a whole new light on familiar journeys leading you to small pockets of undiscovered rural life. This principle carried my fiancé and I with great ease and pleasure through 1600km of English and French countryside from London to The Pyrenees. By plotting a route that largely follows cycle paths and river valleys, it is possible to stay mostly on flat ground all the way from Dieppe to The Dordogne. The ease of the landscape means that you can take your time and by loading the bike with panniers and a tent perched on the back you have everything you need to be as flexible as you like. On this trip we cycled between 3 – 6 hours a day, stopping at villages that took our fancy for coffees, snacks and lunch, camping when we've had enough of being on the bike and stopping at some places for two nights to explore on foot when it suits. With the freedom and slower speed to that of a car or camper van you end up seeing much more of the country and can explore lesser trodden areas.
This has meant the trip has been rewarding not only from an exercise perspective, but we have found fascinating pockets of France that we didn't know were out there. From Dieppe we rode down the Avenue Verte for 40km South to Forges-les-Eaux, a disused railway track that has been paved for cyclists lined with big old crumbling farm houses and orchards. At Forges-les-Eaux we picked up small roads following the River Eure through riverside villages and woodland until we spied the 12th and 16th Century spires of Chartres Cathedral. After stopping to absorb some culture in Chartres, we spent a day cycling through France's industrial farming plains where the road cuts straight through crops that stretch as far as the eye can see. Hungry for prettier roads we joined the Loire river at Blois, whose castle is famed for spanning 4 centuries worth of architecture, and followed the river past perfectly manicured chateaus, vineyards and sunflowers all the way to Chinon. From the castles, wine and brocantes of Chinon we followed The Vienne River to the Medieval town Chauvigny and from there we weaved our way into the Dordogne, through back roads littered with rustic country mansions. Once we had mastered some of the hills of The Dordogne we followed the river from Ste Foy le Grande through to St Emillion, world heritage sight and particularly good feasting and wine territory. On leaving The Dordogne we continued further into the forests of Aquitaine to Bazas, a few thermal spa towns and then coast before it was time to climb up the breathtaking (and a little back breaking) foothills of The Pyrenees to St Jean Pied de Port.
Whilst these places could have easily been seen by car or camper van, being on a bike changes how you experience the country you are passing through. The lack of engine and main roads makes you considerably more at one with the surrounding environment, leaving birds and other wildlife undisturbed and in full view as you pedal pass. The lack of closed windows and doors also makes you an unintimidating and intriguing traveler, open to interactions with complete strangers wherever you are. Our holiday was littered with meeting new people: chatting with strangers wherever we are, receiving invitations for coffees, dinners and aperitifs.
Cycle routes and paths from England to France: thames-path.com/MU/avenueverte/discover/
Lacanau isn't one of France's most appealing beach towns and pales in the shadow of grand Arcachon with its Dune du Pyla to the south. However, it lies in the heart of the Landes pine forest, between the Atlantic and a chain of lakes, and the surrounding area's natural beauty is well worth exploring. Numerous establishments on the main road, Avenue de l'Europe, hire out bikes for the day or half day at very reasonable prices, and it's easy to get hold of a map of the extensive biking trails around the town from the tourist information centre (on the same street). Head south along the coast for views of the seemingly endless sandy beaches and atlantic breakers in either direction, or inland to explore the beautiful pine forests (some of Europe's most extensive). Dappled sunlight and the scent of pine and wild flowers add to the peaceful magic of leisurely riding through almost entirely flat back country. A perfect alternative to lying on the sand, and a healthy way to redress indulgence in local wines.
Lacanau Océan, Gironde, France. An hour's drive west from Bordeaux.
Buenos Aires has so many things to see and do that you just can't do everything on your own two feet. And so I recommend taking advantage of the cheap tours and public transportation in Buenos Aires. Especially for the bike-lovers!
Camaguey was relocated in the C16th and its maze-like street pattern designed to completely confuse (pirate) attackers. The best way to see the beautiful neo-classical squares, buildings, markets and churches is therefore to let one of the many bicytaxis pedal you round at a leisurely pace, letting you off to wander (not too far) before getting back on for the next place of interest. Theres lots to see, good museums and fine courtyard eating places to recharge accompanied by an unassuming local musician or three. Theres plenty of evidence of hurricane damage in the area and it will be a daunting task to repair so many fine old buildings many of which gently crumble. My favourite was the small square, Plazuela de la Bedoya, with simple houses and the fine Iglesia del Carmen, and some striking community art bronze sculptures of local people going about their daily lives. Pushing a cart, sitting reading the paper, or chatting on benches, if youre in luck the proud locals who modelled for the works will appear and talk about their very own sculptures with a huge smile. Not so much on the tourist map but a fine city worth a diversion.
www.camaguey.cu/
In Central Cuba, between Bayamo and Santiago. Bicytaxis congregate in Plaza de los Trabajadores
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