Bicycle touring is a type of travel or leisure activity which involves touring, exploration or sightseeing a region by bicycle. Though the Tour de France and other competitive events are sometimes called "tours", true bicycle touring is non-competitive; it is done for enjoyment and travel rather than sport and, as such, is a little bit like backpacking with the use of a bicycle.

A long haul flight, gazing at landscape below and I thought, that'd be an adventure, mountains, paddies, deserts and people. And it was bloody brilliant, every inch! With London to Singapore done, the plan is continue with Australia and America, some time in the future.

Photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/janslatter. I'm Jan Slatter from England, Emails or comments are welcome, janslatter@gmail.com.

 

Hall of Fame

Seven of us met in 1999 on a CTC tour of the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. Some of us have now done seven cycle trips together. These are inveterate cycle tourists and the trips listed on this blog are only the ones that I have been on, the others have done loads more.

 

Peter - "Can you make that an extra thin pancake"  Lindsay - "after a long time on the road, I'm back in New Zealand. 16 months, 25 countries and 29,511km. I've decided to stay in NZ for at least the next 12 months" http://www.northlandboy.com/ Maree - marathon runner and competitive drinker Romain & Natasha - on honeymoon! http://en.bicyclette.free.fr/4amisurlaroute/ Boris - "I only went for small ride around the Balkans and ended up here on the other side of other world"   Swiss Dave - "Bonjour" http://davidclement.top-depart.com

Ray - "Fast ex-professional rider, but fades after the first 1000km" http://www.cyclegrancanaria.com/ Keith - "yes, the mission is completed and I'm going home. 50,518 km including - four continents North America, Europe, Asia, Australia" http://cycling-the-world.blogspot.com Gavin - good doctor leads the way Hiram - "very soon a year almost past. In this year I had very good cycling memory from Australia –Taiwan – Singapore – Malaysia – Thailand – Cambodia – Vietnam – Laos"    Ray - "post ride, fishing for supper at the Philippines    Bernadette - "lovely dutch lady" http://bernadette.reisprofiel.nl/

 

Round the World

A long haul flight, gazing at landscape below and I thought, that'd be an adventure, mountains, valleys, deserts and people. And it was bloody brilliant, every inch! With London to Singapore done, am planning Australia and America for the next leg.

Short Cycle Tours

Several short trips flying out with the friends

• Vietnam - Cycling with friends on the Vietnam leg of their Singapore to Hong Kong tour.
• Burma - Fantastic, 5 of us, Peter, Maree, Gavin and Keith.
• Laos - Like Thailand 50 years ago, land of smiles, go soon before it changes. Peter, Gavin and Keith.
• Thailand - The comfort zone, good infrastructure and places to stay between the tourist hot spots.
• Philippines - Palm trees and tropical beaches, a CTC group tour with a mutiny resulting in 7 of us doing our 'own thing'.
• Bhutan - Forbidden kingdom, not easy to get into, another CTC group tour and extremely mountainous.

Types of Touring

There are many different types of bicycle touring:

• In supported touring a support vehicle is used to carry most of the rider's gear from one destination to the next. This can be organised by the cyclists themselves or with commercial companies who offer guided bicycle tours: these include pre-booked and pre-paid lodging, luggage transfers, route planning and often some meals and rental bikes. Good idea for the Himalayas, keeps the weight down on those 30km up-hills!
  
  
• Many cycle tourists who prefer to sleep in a bed and have a roof above their heads stay overnight in youth hostels, hotels, pensions or B&Bs with local cafes, restaurants or local markets providing food for these travellers. This is a brilliant way of touring South East Asia, the people are welcoming, and accommodation is both everywhere & reasonably priced. And an occasional bargain 5 star hotel in some obscure town.
  
  
  
• In fully loaded touring (also known as self-supported touring) bicycle travellers take all their needs with them which include food, cooking equipment, and a tent for camping during nights. A humble camping site close to the earth and visited by God's creatures can be sweeter than the finest hotel. Good for long distance European trips, but you are allowed to book the occasional hotel to wash your laundry in the sink.
  
  
• Expedition touring is travelling extensively, often through developing nations or remote areas, with the bicycle fully loaded with food, spares, repair tools, and camping equipment so that the travellers are largely self-supporting.