Cycling/Touring companion

[Pilar]

Hello, I live in SW Missouri, but am very interested in foreign touring.  I have a classic Bruce Gordan with panniers.  Contact me if you are searching for a travel companion. Starting locally would be great.....

[Westinghouse]

I have done quite a lot of bicycle touring in foreign countries. Where do you want to go?

[Pilar]

Along the Duro in Portugal or maybe the Camino de Santiago?  Any experience with that part of the world? 

[Westinghouse]

I'm not actually looking for a cycling companion now. I was just wondering where you were going. There's something about cycling in Portugal in the book, "Miles From Nowhere" by Barbara Savage.  I have cycle toured extensively in England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and the former Soviet Union. Why would you want to cycle that particular corner of the globe?

[Pilar]

I've read that book - their travels seemed almost painful at time and I got the impression (or maybe it was just the book) it wasn't a feel-good trip for either of them.  Portugal - why not?  You have to start somewhere.

[Pilar]

Actually I found Anne Londonderry's book more exciting - esp how she was the catalyst behind modernizing women's cycling clothes. 

[Westinghouse]

That's the way I see it. If you're going on a cycling tour, you have to start somewhere. I got the same impression of that tour. It was epic and round the world, and it was also sort of a of hardship tour in some extents. I mean, cycling the Nile roads through Egypt in summer? The Indo-Gangetic plane in summer? Yeah, right. I doubt I'd do the ST again in summer, but I do intend to do it again some time in winter. I've heard good things about Portugal and cycling. I've also heard some of their roads are cobbled.

If you want to read real hardship touring, read the book, "Pedaling the Ends of the Earth."

[indyfabz]

Right next door to Portugal, Andalucia has a lot of nice cycling. A good road network and little traffic in many places. Can't comment on the current suitability due to the economic climate there. The Rough Guide travel book series has an entire book devoted to the region, and Michelin makes a great map showing even the tiniest roads. Just don't go during the height of summer unless you like extreme heat. April was terrific weather-wise. The second half of March was hit or miss, with some of the more mountainous areas like the Alpujarras being cold and wet.

[Westinghouse]

In India they said only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun. The same might be said of Spain in high summer.
 

[RussSeaton]

Hello, I live in SW Missouri, but am very interested in foreign touring.  Starting locally would be great.

Hmmmmm?  Most folks when they go overseas to tour, they fly from home to the touring location.  You're suggesting riding from the middle of the country to one of the coasts and then flying overseas.

You mentioned Portugal and some other place.  I toured a little bit of Portugal a dozen years ago.  Early November.  Started in Lisbon along the coast about in the middle of the country.  Went down the coast to that old old fort on the very tip of the country.  Then along the south edge into Spain.  Up north aways then across the middle of Portugal back to Lisbon.  Great weather.  Mild temps.  Sunny.  Did get pouring rain and cold the last night in Lisbon.  Assume I bought a map somewhere.  Just picked out some smaller roads on the map and rode.  Saw a lot of cork trees and other agriculture.  Mostly farmland I rode through.  Lisbon is big and crowded but I managed to ride to and from the airport in and out of town.  Took a ferry out of the center of town when I left.  I stayed in cheap motels, pensiones.  Food and wine was cheap.  Portugal was a great place to ride.  Very little traffic in the rural areas.

[Westinghouse]

OK, so if you start in Portugal, where do you plan to go from there? I would not go through the expense of flying to Europe just to cycle Portugal. However, it's a good starting point for an around-the-world trip, say to east China via whatever countries are safest. It's a good beginning for an extensive European tour of a couple of months or so.

 Right now I am working, and for exactly how much longer here I don't know. I am planning to take an extended tour. Right now I cannot even say which year it will be, 2013?, 2014? 2015? However, if I am still able, and barring any problems that would stand in the way of it, I most certainly will set out on another long tour. It might be the ST in winter. It might be the Transam. It could be in Western Europe. It might be around the world. It could be anywhere any time, but be it will. If I ever decide on a global tour, I will get new equipment. I have been looking at the Surly LHT, a sweet machine if ever I saw one.