Bicycle holidays

England, either the Midlands (use the BW canal towpaths) or Cornwall. It might get nippy, but you should be okay if you're exercising. Wales, if you want the option of traveling on the bikes as well as staying local. Same weather as above. Corsica, if you can handle hills. East, central Portugal (around Elvas) for the hill towns and prehistoric areas. Spain, north coast between Gijon and Ferrol (hug the coast). Spain, Pilgrims Trail from Irun to Santiago if you really wanted to brag that you accomplished something. Five hundred miles in a couple of weeks isn't too bad. Lot Valley, France, for probably the best of all.

Italy. All the regions are fantastic for riding. Trains are easy to use, check for 'bike' cars, you will pay a bit extra for the bike, but it's easy to use, and fantastic for moving from location to location. As for weather, we've been in early May and it was great. just got back from a September bike trip in England, rained, and cold almost every day. Sun never really came out. not sure we'll go back there. Taken 5 bike trips in Italy, and had a fantastic time each time. good thing is, the roads are easy to use. The signs are really helpful. Most towns are @15-30 miles apart, so easy day trips with time to explore the town you ride to. Do expect hills!! Be in good shape. In England, there were all these tiny little back roads with no street signs, we were lost quite a bit! In Italy we've ridden in Tuscany, Umbria, Maremma, Piedmont and Western Sicily. Loved them all. England we explored Wessex (Stonehenge and Avebury, Bath, etc)

Are you planning on bringing your own bikes or renting there? Tour or Solo? One of these years I'd like to do a Trek or BackRoads Bike Tour perhaps south of France.

I assume you want to avoid bringing panniers and hauling your gear from point to point, thus the idea of day trips and/or train trips. A third possibility might be to pay someone to haul your gear from point to point for you, so that you spend several days doing day trips out of town A, then bike to town B where your stuff is ready for you. When I was pricing bike rentals in Burgundy I found that the bike shops offered this and other services (such as reserving rooms and itinerary planning); add enough of these and you've got what is known as a self-guided tour. Traveling by train with your bike and a lot of bags can be logistically taxing, by the way, so pack light. Great time of year for a trip like this.

Self-guided and guided bicycle trips by month and location can be found at BikeToursDirect.com. We've booked several trips through the firm - recommended. Using the worthwhile search function, you will easily identify numerous itineraries that fit your preferences leading you to decide to rent bicycles from local shops for your own designed trip or book a trip with the firm. Riding bicycles in Europe is a great way to travel. Enjoy!

The Netherlands, particularly North Holland and, to a lesser degree South Holland, is fantastic in April and early May. The whole country is honeycombed with cycle only roads parallel to the roads, and paths through the blooming hyacinth, daffodil and tulip fields. The VVVs have a cycling map which shows many bulb fields and all the best routes.

We've done a number of trips basing ourselves for a week - the Loire Valley, with all the chateaus, was great, but you would want to do May rather than April. I use www.gites-de-france.com if I'm in France, bettundbike.de (they are connected with the cycle maps) in Germany, homeaway.com for other places as a starting place. I would also add Swizerland (Lake Constance is quite nice with a way to boat back) and Germany (great train return options) to your list of possibilities. Southern Germany is really nice - and good rail connections - Mosel/Altmuhl were areas we biked 2 years ago - mid May into June. Or along the Danube in Austria. Last year we did SW Ireland and had great weather, but the chances of six weeks with little rain is not something you can count on - we were very lucky for a self-supported ride (and little public transport available). biketoursdirect.com is a good resource, even if you don't book a tour - you can see the places they go and get an idea of the terrain. My favorite tour was a bike/boat in Croatia (Southern Dalmation Islands) - absolutely beautiful place - it would be good for May. The boat is your home base.

Pedaling a bicycle every day in two weeks, I would do it at a country that has flat land : the Netherlands, or Denmark, or at some parts of France where the hills are not very steep.

With that remark I can tell that Ron is not a cyclist. Which is OK. Just had coffee with Karen (monthly meeting) and she has a great trip planned for this summer.