This is where Crazyguyonabike.com comes into things. Crazy guy on a bike has been going for around 7 years and contains nearly 2000 journals that people have kept on cycling road trips in a range of places around the world.
I've never been to Europe (or been much of a traveller since I hit 18 for that matter) but I've always felt that to get a good idea of a place you need to do more than just hit the designated tourist hotspots. Ideally it would involve living in a place for a while but obviously that's not always an option so the thought of getting the full panoramic slow-motion perspective of the countryside and small towns seems like a pretty good alternative.
One of the stories I've been really enjoying has been that of an American guy called Stuart Rosner, who took a 5000+ km scenic route from Charles De Gaulle Airport to Paris over 60 days.
Clearly, we're not looking at quite such a degree of madness but are looking at spending a good 3 - 4 weeks roaming around and given that this guy has made it to a fair part of the country, his adventures are informative. Lots of pics as well, which is nice.
I'd really like to figure out a way to video the ride (from the rider's perspective) - I've done a little bike videoing before which has generally involved a fair degree of gaffer tape and a camcorder but think there is probably a better way - possibly a helmet mounted lipstick camera of some description.
Of course, I also have another plan to do a fair part of the ride (or at least take a series of photos) wearing one of those stripey navy blue and white tshirts with a beret and a string of onions around my neck. (and a big baguette in a front basket).
The PC isn't so excited about this plan.
(I should mention that the pictures came from Stuart's journal on the site - the dark road is on the way to Vezelay)
