We visited a lot of places in the last 21 months, and many people have asked what was our favorite place. It’s a hard question to answer, since all of them were quite different and we enjoyed all of them or at least parts of all of them. Below are my thoughts on each place!
Tenerife (Canary Islands of Spain): An amazingly diverse volcanic island closer to Africa than Spain that goes from sea level to 12,000 feet in 16 miles, with rain forest in the north and perpetually sunny beaches in the south. We stayed with one of Chris’s old friends at her place in the south, and enjoyed the most amazing hiking that Chris and I have ever done. Fabulous endemic plants, rugged mountains and deep canyons set off by a deep azure sea make spectacular scenery. Highlights: hiking in Parc Rural de Anaga, Masca and Tiede National Park.
United Kingdom: We visited friends and family in Liverpool, and then cat-sat Frida the cat for one of my old friends in the tiny village of a Little Coxwell, just south of the Cotswolds. From there, we hiked parts of the Thames path and the Ridgeway Track, both long distance walks ending in London and had a day in the Cotswolds. From Little Coxwell, we visited Cranleigh, Winchester, Canterbury, Bath, Portsmouth and London. We loved small village life. Highlights: Little Coxwell, Effington Chalk Horse, Sleeping in Henry VIII’s bed, the Ridgeway, Bluebells and fields of rapeseed.
France east from Brittany to Switzerland: Great cyclist infrastructure, offering the longest bike-only paths, amazing villages, cathedrals and festivals, wonderful food and wine, friendly people, easiest camping, and most thoughtful drivers. Highlights: All of Brittany, St Malo, Mont Saint Michel, Rennes, Cannes, Loire Valley, Besançon, French cheese and wines.
Switzerland: Only went to Basel (so-so) and then skirted Switzerland, so limited exposure. Highlight: Constance
Germany and Austria: Gruff people, nice campsites, super well signed, everything is clean, good but expensive food/restaurants, more roads than paths compared to France, nicest rivers, many ferries. Paths along the Danube were some of the best of the trip. Some lovely towns to visit. Highlights: Ulm, Regensberg, Vienna
Slovakia: We stayed a month here to take care of a dog for a friend, so our experience was limited to the area around Ivanka, just east of Bratislava. It was suburban life in Slovakia, so slower paced, generally inexpensive, safe, and with good access to foothills for hiking and day rides. Highlights: Doris the Dog, the local restaurant and Grüner Veltliner wine.
United States: We put ourselves and our bikes on an Amtrak train in Denver, meeting old friends in Chicago and then all of us taking the train to Pittsburg. Amtrak never again! From Pittsburgh we intended to ride to Washington DC on the GAP and C&O Canal trails. The GAP is a rails to trails path, and it’s kind of monotonous. The C&O is more diverse and the riding is more interesting. Chris and I got food poisoning from a pizza in Pittsburg, which torpedoed the first couple days of our trip. Uber reunited us with our friends a couple days later. Unseasonable cold weather brought snow as we crossed the Eastern continental divide. Weather improved and we persevered to Washington DC with lovely fall weather and colorful foliage. Highlights: Fall colors and riding next to the Potomac for long periods.
Singapore: An organized and modern city state with amazing buildings and interesting food halls to get authentic grub. We visited another of Chris’ old friends from Denver there. Highlight: Marina Bay Sands Hotel and the airport.
New Zealand: The most adventurous, least populated and remote terrain, offering gorgeous rain forests, truly amazing cycle bridges and paths, friendly people, the worst bugs, scariest drivers, uneven quality food and camping, and strong weather/wind. We rode the Tour Aotearoa route from north to south. Highlights: The Timber Trail, the Rennie Family, Tane Mahuta – the Lord of the Forest, meeting adventurous people, Queenstown, Green Shelled mussels, Milford Sound, Christchurch.
Vietnam: Super friendly people, flexible to do anything needed, really inexpensive, super dramatic limestone karst scenery and temples, very good food, memorable unique coffees, extensive small road network, beautiful beaches, and terrible trash. Drivers use different rules than we are used to, but everyone pays attention but it takes time to acclimatize. Hanoi is very congested and traffic is really crazy. Highlights: Mai Chau, Tam Cốc, Ha Long Bay, the road south from Hue, Life’s a Beach, friendly children.
Cambodia: The temples at Ankor Wat are jaw dropping amazing. There were beautiful hotels and nice restaurants that were super inexpensive and really good. People were extremely friendly and it’s very safe. Most people speak English. The countryside is poor and roads were mainly dirt. Paved roads can be pretty busy. Siem Reap is a jewel, inexpensive with great hotels, food and drink and generally well-kept. Highlights: Siem Reap, Ankor Wat, Kampong Cham, Phnom Phen and kids yelling “Hello, Hello!” to us with glee.
France south of Brittany: During an extreme heat wave affecting most of Europe, we encountered cool wet weather and strong winds for a good deal of our trip around Brittany before heading south along the west coast of France to the Pyrenees. The food and wine in restaurants was amazing. While the cycle paths kept us away from cars as we paralleled the coast, we were often felt isolated except when on an actual beach path, which was often extremely busy with tourists escaping the heat. Getting campsites was very difficult as everything was packed to capacity. We knew that traveling during August in France was bound to be busy but we had no idea how much! Highlights: Galettes Completès in Brittany, La Rochelle, Bordeaux and Bayonne.
Spain: After France, more adventurous and sometimes difficult terrain with many dirt and gravel roads, and steep hills. An extreme heat wave hit us for five days as we crossed the Pyrenees and headed to Burgos, but otherwise good weather. Beautiful hilltop towns with cobbled streets, lovely cafes and impressive churches. Following the 2,000 year old Camino de Santiago for 5 days ingrained a sense of wonder and history. Lots of jamón and sausage, for all meals as contrast to the sweets of France. Madrid was good but Cordoba and Seville really impressed and Andalusia was fantastic. Relatively inexpensive for Europe with sparse but good camping. Highlights: Pamplona, Camino de Santiago, Burgos, Sepúlveda, Cordoba, Seville and all of Andalusia, especially the White Villages.
Portugal: The south coast of Portugal has quite a few resorts, with beautiful beaches and sometimes busy traffic, where we visited with Chris’s old friends from Liverpool. Everyone speaks the Queen’s English! We left there for Lisbon, heading up the west coast of Portugal which is wild and beautiful, one of the last undeveloped coastlines of Europe. Villages are beautiful but offer limited restaurants and sparse lodging that needs to be reserved in advance. People we talked to were very friendly and from all over the globe. Roads and paths were sometimes remote, hills were steep and we sometimes struggled with sand. Walkers of the Fishermans trail and surfers make up the majority of travelers. Highlights: Zambujeira, Porto Covo, Lisbon, Fisherman’s Trail.
Countrywide comments:
Best camping: France
Best food: Brittany, Vietnam and Cambodia
Friendliest People: Vietnam and Cambodia
Best value: Vietnam and Cambodia, followed by Slovakia
Best hotels: Cambodia
Best seafood: Vietnam
Best Hiking: Tenerife
Most amazing scenery: Vietnam, Tenerife and New Zealand
Most adventurous: New Zealand
Best cultural sights: Cambodia and France
Worst Drivers: New Zealand
Worst Trash: Vietnam
Worst Value: Amtrak
Worst Pizza: Pittsburg
And so, where would we go back to? I think we would go back to most of the places , but especially Vietnam, Tenerife, New Zealand, Andalusia and all the rest of Europe but avoiding the west coast of France in August and the south coast of Portugal. We wouldn’t ride the GAP/C&O nor probably go to Singapore again. Switzerland needs a longer and more extensive visit!
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