Cycling holiday: pros and cons



iglagol

New Member
Dec 7, 2007
24
0
0
44
Dear friends! In this topic I'd like you to speculate on the percentage of your population, supporting the idea of active rest.

Do many people in your countries prefere cycling holidays more than any other kind of leisure?

Thank you for your interest to answer.
 
No, people in Italy do not support active vacations [in general]. We like to lounge on the beach, 1000 per square centimeter, and slowly fry in the sun.

But there is a minority that are different. I take my family (including a 2 and 7 y.o. daughters) cycling on the Danube path from Passau to Vienna. Sure, we stopped at every playground along the way, but it was/is the greatest vacation we have ever had as a family! On shorter vacations (long weekends) we regularly travel to Northern Italy (more civilised) and cycle on the wonderful cycle path network that protects us from cars...

Salutations from Chisinau, BTW (I am here for work until the 22nd, just around the corner from you!).
 
Powerful Pete, sounds cool! Hopefuly, you have swum as well, if you passed rivers or seaside.
 
Cycling holidays in my part of the world (Ireland) used to be extremely popular.
However traffic volumes on most of our major roads has ensured that the volume of cyclists has diminished considerably during the past 10 years.

Having said that, there are certain locations - such as the west of Ireland - where one can cycle without major traffic volumes but even these locations are starting to become congested year on year.
At least once per year I try to get out to "the west" with my bike for a couple of days touring.

Having said that a group of us went to Sicily two years ago - and spent a week cycling there and it was superb.
Weather/food/local hospitality was first class.
 
What was your Sicilian itinerary Lim? If I may ask, was it self-organised or did you go with an organised tour?

Just curious...
 
Hm... Ain't it sad to hear? In Ukraine the situation is not the one which seems to be better. Is it not a paradox that the more expensive petrol is the thicker is the traffic?! Cars, new and old ones, keep polluting the environment, the drivers keep using all the legal and illegal ways possible to get cars and license for themselves. Some people pay the expences honestly, and some keep sucking pennises and licking arses, which helps them to earn easy cars.

The above-mentioned brings only counted number of bikers on travel-road. Notwithstanding all this, a few cyclists manage to make different trips. My last great cycling holiday was a 522 km distance from Odesa to Kyiv (both in Ukraine). Part of this distance has been repeated on my way back home. Whatever happens it is great, it has always been great, and my presentday dream is to join or create an international cycling group travelling around the world.
 
Powerful Pete said:
What was your Sicilian itinerary Lim? If I may ask, was it self-organised or did you go with an organised tour?

Just curious...


PP – Trip was self organised : 7 members of our former racing team decided to rollback the years and go to Sicily to celebrate one of our teams mates 40th birthday – 2 yrs ago.
And we all decided to bring the bikes too - with two guys driving a hired car.

We organised the flights to Palermo – I arranged accommodation over the internet in Palermo, Capo Dorlando, Messina and Catania.
No difficulty at all whatsoever. We flew AlItalia – our bikes arrived in one piece with no problems.

The landing in Palermo was a bit scary.

Day one we pedalled from Palermo to D’Orlando along the beautiful northern Sicilian coast road.
Second day we went from Orlando to Messina.
Day three – was a rest day.
Day four - Messina to Catania :
Superb weather. Superb food. Extremely friendly people. Great roads for pedalling and we met quite a few Sicilian cyclists out pedalling on the route.

The Orwell Wheeler jerseys certainly caught some attention.
The onlookers probably never realised that jerseys could expand to that width!

Days five and six - were not cycling days ....but given the great weather I did
get some miles in going around Paterno etc.

Great trip - really enjoyed it.

Maybe next time, I'll get to cycle on the mainland.......but I'm not brave enough to test the Italian traffic!
 
Ah, Italy. Great food, great people, very skilled drivers. The only country that I have been to where a red light is only a suggestion, but there are very few accidents (only happens when someone actually stops at the red light). I had a difficult enough time riding in a taxi in Naples. There is no way that I am going to put myself out there on a bicycle:eek: !!!!!!!
 
limerickman said:
I arranged accommodation over the internet in Palermo, Capo Dorlando, Messina and Catania
Ahhh...Catania. I played a World Cup Rugby Sevens qualifying tournament there in 1992. Mt. Etna. Cobbled streets. Wrought iron balconies. Pretty girls. Scary fathers. Quiet in the siesta hours. Groups of kids hanging around and eyeing our bags at the tournament like vultures, trying to learn the basic art of organized crime. Small cars. Wonderful food.

Great memories. Now a bike tour there sounds like fun...:)
 
A month of December is a quite busy month for Koreans. There are a lot of small gatherings, for instance, I met some of my old friends from elementary school the other day.

For this year's holidays, I doubt that I'll be on the road. Maybe I will be able to get on my trainer. It's a big maybe. Holidays over here are rather busy than relaxing.

Happy holidays~!
 
limerickman said:
PP – Trip was self organised : 7 members of our former racing team decided to rollback the years and go to Sicily to celebrate one of our teams mates 40th birthday – 2 yrs ago.
And we all decided to bring the bikes too - with two guys driving a hired car.

We organised the flights to Palermo – I arranged accommodation over the internet in Palermo, Capo Dorlando, Messina and Catania.
No difficulty at all whatsoever. We flew AlItalia – our bikes arrived in one piece with no problems.

The landing in Palermo was a bit scary.

Day one we pedalled from Palermo to D’Orlando along the beautiful northern Sicilian coast road.
Second day we went from Orlando to Messina.
Day three – was a rest day.
Day four - Messina to Catania :
Superb weather. Superb food. Extremely friendly people. Great roads for pedalling and we met quite a few Sicilian cyclists out pedalling on the route.

The Orwell Wheeler jerseys certainly caught some attention.
The onlookers probably never realised that jerseys could expand to that width!

Days five and six - were not cycling days ....but given the great weather I did
get some miles in going around Paterno etc.

Great trip - really enjoyed it.

Maybe next time, I'll get to cycle on the mainland.......but I'm not brave enough to test the Italian traffic!
Thanks Lim, I was thinking of planning a short 'get away from the family' cyclte tour in Siciliy and this is the kind of input I needed.

And believe me, cycling the mainland is just fine. You get used to the different driving/riding styles quickly. I actually felt much less safe riding in the US (Washington DC/Maryland/Virginia) areas with the wide roads and the overall much safer driving style... drivers really did not know how to 'deal' with riders on the road.

Disclaimer: this experience ended in 1991, so I don't know how DC drivers handle riders today.

My best riding experiences were in Belgium however (one semester in Louvain-la-Neuve - UCL). Ah, to ride in a place where EVERYONE has a family member who is a somewhat serious rider...
 
Powerful Pete said:
Thanks Lim, I was thinking of planning a short 'get away from the family' cyclte tour in Siciliy and this is the kind of input I needed.

And believe me, cycling the mainland is just fine. You get used to the different driving/riding styles quickly. I actually felt much less safe riding in the US (Washington DC/Maryland/Virginia) areas with the wide roads and the overall much safer driving style... drivers really did not know how to 'deal' with riders on the road.

Disclaimer: this experience ended in 1991, so I don't know how DC drivers handle riders today.

My best riding experiences were in Belgium however (one semester in Louvain-la-Neuve - UCL). Ah, to ride in a place where EVERYONE has a family member who is a somewhat serious rider...

We went to Sicily in Mid-April : weather was great (by Irish standards) : 22 celsius and sunny.
Still a bit disconcerting seeing the local riders wearing leggings - while we were sweating like pigs!

On a serious note though - cycling in Sicily was a joy : we cycled along the coast and the roads were wide and open and the surfaces were smooth and even.
Italian driving??
Certainly not as chaotic as Roma or other Italian cities - but Palermo had it's moments I have to say.
I don't know what it is about Italian car drivers - road markings mean nothing.

I would thoroughly recommend Sicily for a cycling trip.
I'm hoping to get back there at some point with my wife.
We're both love visiting Italy. People/food/way of life...bellissimo.
If you get the chance to get to Palermo - try to take in a visit to Monreale about 20kms outside Palermo : great historical site.
 
OK, guys! It is really great to find you do like riding leisure. So, you might know that Ukraine admits Americans and Europeans without visa expenses. So you are more than welcome to ride to our country and enjoy our nature and landscape and your time!!!