10 Tips for successful Tandem touring

We’ve written a piece for the Travelling Two website about touring on a tandem. Here’s the link>>

82 – Central/Northern France and Brighton

It was inevitable really that this last bit of the journey would be a bit of chore. Leaving the Canal du Midi took us up through Bordeaux, along the edge of the Dordogne towards the Loire and then north to Dieppe. The landscape varies between the rolling hills of Bordeaux and the Dordogne and the flat agricultural terrain of central France. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with this part of France, plus the sun shone and the roads were quiet, but I  was getting homesick. More>>

83 – Southern France

I fitted new brake cables on the tandem in preparation for the French Alps and we set off towards big climbs and nervy descents. The town of Sospel seems to be the meeting place for bikers, hikers and campers, a bit like Kendal in the Lakes but without the rain. Fully loaded tandems, however, were conspicuous by their absence. More>>

84 – Italy

Italy shouldn’t have been up to much. We came in from Slovenia in the north east where the landscape is flat and boring, the land is farmed to the point of virtual exclusion of wildlife and the Italian drivers have a terrible reputation. But, somehow we managed to love it. More>>

Croatia

There”s nothing like the sea air to blow away the cobwebs, not that we had any cobwebs with us, but if we had, we could have been sure they’d be blown away. So, with this thought very much at the forefront of our minds we headed out from Postojna in Slovenia down towards Opatija on the Croatian coast. The Dutch, Germans, Italians, French and Slovenians thought they’d come along too. So, off we all went in convoy to the seaside. More>>

87 – Slovenia

The T-shirts say sLOVEnia and it would be hard not to feel some strong emotion in such a beautiful, magical landscape. From wide flat valleys you are surrounded by  layers of Tolkeinesque, tree covered peaks, with snow capped Alps towering in the background. more>>

87 – Slovenia

So, we rolled down into Slovenia on a sunny Sunday heading towards Landava on a flat and easy route. Our aim was to reach Ptui by the evening and a campsite. Slovenia is very clean and ordered and could be the little brother of Austria which sits directly to the north. They both share good tarmac, mountains, fast cars and, as we discovered when we got to the campsite, high prices. More>>

Hungary – Pilot’s Pages

We rolled into Hungary on a cloudy morning, picked up a free map of the whole country ;from Tourist Information and set off down Eurovelo route 6 towards Budapest. It all started off in textbook fashion – safe route away from traffic, smooth and pleasant. Bit by bit, however, it descended into the gutter on busy roads shared with trucks, cars and buses. More>>

Slovakia

A a new day, a new country; it starts to feel a bit like that. Our last night in Austria on what can only be described as a joke campsite in Petronel left me feeling happy to heading east. I’m not a snob and I’m happy to get what I pay for, but 15 euros for filthy sinks, toilet basin that’s bust and no security to speak of is taking the piss. Problem is, this is the only campsite between Vienna and Bratislava on the Danube, so you’re a bit of a captive audience. More>>

Poland

I’m writing this in the tent in the rain on a campsite on the German side of the Czech border. Another wasted morning, prey to the seemingly incessent rain and grey skies over Germany. And when it rains in the morning, it seems to rain at lunchtime and then all afternoon. A depressing story of a spring that ended in April and a summer that hasn’t arrived. More>>