Sunday, June 29, 2014

Eurovelo: Sweet pedaling dreams are made of this.


It's been 11 years since my Frankfurt - Vienna bike ride, and a decade past the immortal circular journey around Belgian monastic breweries known to posterity as the Tour de Trappiste. In 2006 came the Prague - Vienna Greenway epic.

If I weren't an atheist, I'd say: God, I miss it.

For the past couple of years, I've become a walker first, and a cyclist second. There isn't an overriding reason for the shift in priorities; I'm older, walking is simpler, and I desperately need a new bike. At the same time, life can be serendipity encased in a pendulum. Perhaps another chance will come along.

Few of the routes described below are "finished" to any great degree, but that's okay. Lots of the infrastructure exists already, although surely diminishing as one pedals south and east. This Eurovelo map functions in my brain in the same way as the Thomas Cook rail guide in the 1980s, as a way of fusing reality with pipe dreams. Thanks to Jeff for pointing me to it.

Discover Europe by bike!

Welcome to the EuroVelo.com – the website for people interested in cycling in Europe.

EuroVelo is a network of 14 long distance cycle routes connecting and uniting the whole European continent. The routes can be used by cycle tourists as well as by local people making daily journeys. EuroVelo currently comprises of 14 routes and it is envisaged that the network will be substantially complete by 2020.

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