Alicante to Amsterdam

bhdecjones said:

Change of plan...has anyone cycled anywhere on this route? The plan is to go via Barcelona along the Mediterranean coast and then up north through Rhone valley via Avignon and Lyon onto Belgium and Holland.

I am a first time cyclist so any general advice would be helpful on choice of equipment etc...We are hoping to cover an average of 50 miles/day. Is this realistic for two fairly fit and sporty novice cyclists?

Any help would be greatly appreciated...thanks,

Ben (again!)

Hi, my wife and I cycled from Maastricht (southern most point of Holland) to Barcelona last spring. What you propose is nice BUT, I would highly recomend you cycle through the Massif Central in France it's very nice.
Lyon on the other hand is flater and somewhat busy being a major city.
We followed Paul Benjaminse route which is very good, it shows all the grades of the hills and all the roads. It is in Dutch but would be easy enough to follow. I have a farly good description of the ride on my site, and if you have any further questions like if there is a section youre not sure off or on the equipment, just drop me a line, I would be happy to help.
About covering 50 miles a day its easy enough, rule of thumb is do the miles on the flat so you can do less on the hills that way it evens out.
cheers