Plan A
This was the original plan drawn up before the start of the ride.
Map
View Overnight in a larger map
Timetable
| Date | Town | Country | Dist (km) |
|---|
| 10-09-11 | Putney | England | 0 |
| 11-09-11 | Littlebourne | England | 130 |
| 12-09-11 | Ypres | Belgium | 70 |
| 13-09-11 | Ypres | Belgium | 0 |
| 14-09-11 | Tournai | Belgium | 50 |
| 15-09-11 | Hergies | France | 50 |
| 16-09-11 | Houyet | Belgium | 100 |
| 17-09-11 | Vianden | Luxembourg | 120 |
| 18-09-11 | Bostalsee | Germany | 100 |
| 19-09-11 | Dahn | Germany | 90 |
| 20-09-11 | Bad Herranalb | Germany | 85 |
| 21-09-11 | Tubingen | Germany | 70 |
| 22-09-11 | Rettenback | Germany | 120 |
| 23-09-11 | Unterschliesshiem, Munich | Germany | 110 |
| 24-09-11 | Unterschliesshiem, Munich | Germany | 0 |
| 25-09-11 | Prien am Chiemsee | Germany | 90 |
| 26-09-11 | Zell am See | Austria | 90 |
| 27-09-11 | Oberdrauberg | Austria | 100 |
| 28-09-11 | Gemona del Fruili | Italy | 100 |
| 29-09-11 | Bovec | Slovenia | 60 |
| 30-09-11 | Bled | Slovenia | 60 |
| 01-10-11 | Kozina | Slovenia | 130 |
| 02-10-11 | Piran | Slovenia | 50 |
| 03-10-11 | Rovinj | Croatia | 80 |
| 04-10-11 | Selce | Croatia | 140 |
| 05-10-11 | Korana | Croatia | 110 |
| 06-10-11 | Bosansko Grahovo | Bosnia | 150 |
| 07-10-11 | Livno | Bosnia | 90 |
| 08-10-11 | Mostar | Bosnia | 120 |
| 09-10-11 | Mostar | Bosnia | 0 |
| 10-10-11 | Trebinje | Bosnia | 125 |
| 11-10-11 | Herceg-Novi | Montenegro | 50 |
| 12-10-11 | Kotor | Montenegro | 60 |
| 13-10-11 | Niksic | Montenegro | 90 |
| 14-10-11 | Zabljak | Montenegro | 80 |
| 15-10-11 | Prijepolje | Serbia | 100 |
| 16-10-11 | Novi Pazar | Serbia | 110 |
| 17-10-11 | Peje | Kosovo | 110 |
| 18-10-11 | Prizren | Kosovo | 80 |
| 19-10-11 | Tetovo | Macedonia | 110 |
| 20-10-11 | Struga | Macedonia | 150 |
| 21-10-11 | Struga | Macedonia | 0 |
| 22-10-11 | Elbasan | Albania | 80 |
| 23-10-11 | Berat | Albania | 90 |
| 24-10-11 | Orikum | Albania | 100 |
| 25-10-11 | Sarande | Albania | 110 |
| 26-10-11 | Igoumenitsa | Greece | 80 |
| 27-10-11 | Aitoliko | Greece | 180 |
| 28-10-11 | Itea | Greece | 140 |
| 29-10-11 | Delphi | Greece | 20 |
| 30-10-11 | Athens | Greece | 160 |
| 31-10-11 | Athens | Greece | 0 |
| 01-11-11 | Athens | Greece | 0 |
| 02-11-11 | Putney | England | 0 |
About the route
The route can be broken down into a few parts: London to Munich; crossing the Alps; the Northern Balkans; crossing Bosnia; the Southern Balkans; Greece.
London to Munich
This should be the easy bit. It runs through countries where I have some grasp of the language (you should hear my Luxembourgish), there are plenty of camping options, it is relatively flat and I've not set myself particularly ambitious distances to cover. I know a couple of people in Munich from when I worked there many years ago, including Daryl who has generously offered to accommodate me, so I'll have that to look forward to.
The Alps
The aim is to cross the Alps through Austria along the Grossglockner Road, famed for its spectacular views. Flat roads don't have spectacular views. On a fully loaded bike this is going to be hard work.
Northern Balkans
After a rather gratuitous stop in Italy it will be time to enter the former Yugoslavia for the first time in Slovenia. The idea is to take in the Julian Alps in the north, before heading into Croatian Istria, the region south of Trieste. This isn't the most direct route, so this coastal attraction could be dropped if I'm behind schedule.
Crossing Bosnia
This is where things could get tricky. Rather than take the more obvious tourist route along the Croatian coast I'm planning to venture off the beaten track into Bosnia, largely because I've already been to Split and Dubrovnik on a previous trip. Up this point I've been able to pick specific campsites to aim for, but those now run out so I'll have to improvise. GoogleMaps also gives up so navigation will be harder. From here on minor roads might be unmetalled and may be hard to follow so progress might slow dramatically.
Southern Balkans
Assuming I'm still going at this point, this is where I'm most likely to diverge significantly from the plan. The mapped route swings inland through Montenegro to the Durmitor National Park before heading to Novi Pazar in Serbia. It then returns to Montenegro before entering Kosovo, you can't cross the Serbia/Kosovo border. It continues south to Macedonia and Lake Ohrid. A time-saving alternative will be to ditch Serbia and Kosovo altogether and head further along the Montenegrian coast before continuing more directly through Albania towards Ohrid. After this the plan is to return to the coast in Albania, the coastline south of Vlore is spoken of very highly. Unfortunately the road to Vlore from the north, which seems hard to avoid, sounds particularly unpleasant and dangerous.
Greece
The plan has a rather hurried approach to getting through Greece, paying attention only to Delphi on the way to Athens. It would certainly be nice to have a bit more time to play with at this point, but as I write this getting to Greece at all sounds a very long way off.
What could possibly go wrong?
Before setting off I listed my concerns, which are reproduced below. Interesting that the first one on the list proved my downfall, but it was in cycle-friendly Germany where it all went wrong. In fact all of these did play a part in the week and a half of proceedings except for mechanical failure.
Traffic. I'm planning to go through some countries that are pretty standard cycling destinations like Belgium and Germany, and Slovenia has a reputation for being very accommodating to cyclists. Then I'm also planning to go through Albania. Various blogs on the web give accounts of some narrow, busy and poorly maintained roads for which there aren't easy alternatives in Albania and other Balkan nations.
Terrain. It's going to get hilly, but I don't really know how hilly. I don't mind the hills, it would be a pretty boring ride if it was all flat, but my estimated distance for a day could be hopelessly ambitious if I've underestimated the gradients involved.
Mechanical failure. Although I can do basic bits and pieces I'm not a bike mechanic. Things will go wrong, it's just a question of how seriously and how far I am from a bike shop when it happens.
Weather. I acknowledge that the ideal timing for this trip would have been to set off a couple of weeks earlier. The days are getting cooler, which is no bad thing, but they are also getting wetter and shorter. In particular the Southern Balkans in late October might be a bit damp. Not much I can do about it though.
Loneliness of the long-distance cyclist. I'm used to solo travel, but usually in circumstances where you naturally come into contact with others, not something that's really true of this trip. However I don't think I'll have much time to kill; there will be plenty to do when not cycling such as looking after the bike, the general faff of camping and most of all buying and eating sufficient food. However I might still go crackers.
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