I think the title expresses quite well which is the main thing of this trip, but I´m so happy with the idea of doing it that I will say it again: I will cycle from Nordkapp (the North Cape), in Norway, the northernmost place you can get by road in Europe, to Tarifa, in Spain, the southernmost!!
Another characteristic of this trip is that I will do it only cycling, without crossing any seas. That will take me through Russia and many eastern countries of the EU, with a total of 2000km more (more or less), than taking the straight way, taking ferries.
This adventure will start in mid-April, when I´ll be done with my scholarship. The exact date is not decided, I have to see how I´m getting to the north of Norway, due to my lack of funds, it will probably be on the cheapest day possible.
The route is also not completely decided yet, there are many thing that I have to check before doing so, and probably it will change a bit along the way. The countries I´m planning to cross are: Norway, Sweden (if inner Finland is too cold in April), Finland, Russia (I´m having difficulties with the visa, if anybody can help, it will be much appreciated), Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, Slovenia, Italy, France, Monaco (?), and Spain.
I will sleep in my tent, most of the trip, but I hope that the friends I made over the years, thanks to different international scholarships, host me when I go though their towns (if you are one of those, don´t worry, I will contact before getting there).
Well, that´s basically the trip I´m planning. At the beginning I thought I could do it in between 1 and a half and 2 months, but now I decided I won´t hurry at all. So I can write more about the places I go through :)
There are some European cycling routes, Euro Velo, which cross Europe, through many places. For now I´m planning on following them. The map costs only five euros with transport, so it will be one of the first things I will get.
If you have any suggestions about the trip (which are really welcome), or you want to ask something (even do I don´t know much yet), you can write comments.
Hi
ReplyDeleteI cycled from Nordkapp to Tarifa last summer. It was an amazing trip! I went through Sweden and took the ferry from Göteborg to Frederikshavn. This is probably the shortest route (~6200km), though if I were to do it again, I would go through Finland and cross from Helsinki to Tallinn. Of course, going via Russia has a certain appeal, but my experience with big cities is that you'll want to avoid them as much as possible, and it might be tricky avoiding Saint Petersburg. I would also suggest going through Poland/Germany/France and entering Spain in Navarra; as Austria and Italy are very mountainous (this is very hard work when you're carrying a lot of luggage), and the east coast of Spain is very busy in summer! Also, I hope you're aware that you can't actually get to the southernmost point of Tarifa! (it's a military zone)
The bike I took has dropped handlebars. Although I met people with handlebars like yours, you should bear in mind that you will almost always be cycling towards the wind, and hence will want to be in as streamlined a postition as possible! My tyres were about the same as yours, but, if you're going to be cycling along roads, I would suggest getting narrower ones. Oh, and about euro velo routes... in Scandinavia it's quite safe to cycle on the roads, as there aren't many cars; and in Spain there are wide hard shoulders, so again it's quite safe. I just used a 100 page road map of Europe to navigate! I wild camped for most of the trip, and being careful you can probably get away with it. Food was never really a problem, although it's hard to get enough water in Spain!
Don't know if I can think of anything else off hand (apart from the obvious keeping weight to an absolute minimum).. but please let me know on rmaldonadonorman@hotmail.com if you have any questions (giving a suitable title for the message)
Rafa