General biking reports?

Germany has some fantastic routes with great maps posted on the country's official site. Check it out!

Wow--is Murren is actually bikeable? Or do you mean to take the cablecar down to the valley and bike there?

Your other possible destinations are, by contrast, so very flat that I wonder what your goals are. Just a little light cycling? The A'dam TI has, or had, a bike route over the Amstel by ferry and then into the countryside that I remember with pleasure. Riding along the canal in Brugges is nice too.

Or are you after 90-mile-per-day itineraries? You could bike from Bruges to Amsterdam.

I can report that decent bicycles can be harder to come by than you might think, and that if you are interested in doing some serious cycling you should either bring your own or local rentals in advance.

I heartily cheer the idea of exploring parts of Europe on two wheels.

Several years ago my husband and I rented bikes in Colmar, France and biked the route du vin. We spent all day wandering the little towns. We would see a castle way off on the hill so we got on our bikes and headed for it. We saw another town and rode to it. It was wonderful but our bottoms didn't think so at the end of the day. I think I walked the last mile back into Colmar. We rented bikes from a store in town. I'd like to "walk" across part of Ireland. It is beatiful. Happy planning.

My husband and I cycled 1000 kms through Europe on a tandem last summer... and yes, we're still talking to each other :) It was a fabulous way to see the countryside and to meet interesting people. We cycled in the Amsterdam area, Bruges, the Mosel Valley and from Maastricht north to Haarlem. We also took our bike on the train a few times to cover more ground and to give our bodies the occasional day off from cycling.

When we planned our trip we found valuable cycling-specific travel information on the web: http://holland.cyclingaroundtheworld.nl/ was the most helpful. We joined the vrienden op den fiets for economical accommodations and maps. Germany has a similar organisation called Bett and Bike: http://www.bettundbike.de/

By all means, send me a personal message if you want really specific information.

Just a quick word of advice. I am a race walker, rather than a cyclist, but I think one thing will be similar. Preparing for a two day 180 mile event is much different than preparing for several consecutive days of cycling. Just wanted to throw that idea out there in case you hadn't thought about it.

Most bike tours I have seen, including REI and other high fitness tours, seem to plan on 20 to 40 miles per day, varying the distances to keep the longer days separated. Since I assume you will be sightseeing, too, you might look at some of those tour options to get an idea of how they plan the trips.

Have a great trip!

Do you like road-biking or mountain? Of your suggestions- for Bruges, do you mean riding a bike through the city (an excellent way to get around) or riding in the surrounding countryside? Either way, Belgium and the Netherlands are very bike friendly, with probably more paved biked paths per mile of automobile road than I have seen elsewhere. Just don't expect too many hill challenges.

I have biked a trail in the Rhineland that parallels the A6. I didn't ride the whole route, but supposedly it runs from Saarbruken to Heidelberg. There are more hills here, and the short distance I rode was moderately challenging. This is a very scenic ride, but probably not the route taken by most tourists.

If you are in extremely good shape, you can mountain bike from the valley floor in Lauterbrunnen up to Murren (passing through Gimmelwald along the way). The trail is not paved for the entire duration of this route. I'm sure going in the opposite direction is much easier.

And just to clear up a misperception, there are other ways to reach Murren and Gimmelwald besides gondola (and besides scaling the sheer cliffs that the gondolas pass). Well to the south of the gondola station, you will find a dirt road that ascends up a more gentle slope of the Schitlhorn. This eventually becomes the road through Gimmelwald and up to Murren. Although it is closed to automobiles, it remains otherwise open to the public for multi-use.

Our plans are to sprinkle a few 20-30 mile days into our trip. We will do most of our travelling by train. This will mean we will be relying on rental equipment in the individual cities and going from there.

Margie:

Many years ago I did a bicycle tour of Switzerland with my best friend. He is Swiss and had the tour all mapped out using the Kummerly + Frey Bicycle Tourist map of Switzerland. They have nationally identified routes that tour different parts of the country, and all of them are detailed on this map. The map includes details of dangerous sections, ways around these, such as a train or bus that may take you and the bicycle a few kilometers to avoid danger, and information about the grade of the road. Additionally, many roads in Switzerland have cycling routes that run parallel to them so that you do not have to share the road with cars. When we made this tour, we used the trains to send some gear to specific stations so we did not have to carry it. Also, we would use a train to catch up if we got behind, such as the day I spent more time fixing flats than peddling. You can get the map on this website:

http://www.manymaps.com/shop/index.html?lang=en-uk&target=d452.html

Cont'd:

I pulled out my copy of the map, it is now 20 years old, and it clearly shows sign posted cycling routes in the Murren, Lauterbrunnen, Grindlewald, areas. Gimmelwald is not quite as clear. Not all of the routes are shown as being paved, so the type of bicycle you are using may be a factor in the route you choose. There is a circular route shown going from Grindlewald to Meiringen through the mountains, then back along the Brienzerzee, and up the hill to Lauterbrunnen.

One word of caution, the scariest part of my tour was in a tunnel, actually a snowshed, going down hill. First we entered this from bright sun, so our eyes had to adjust. Then the road curved in the tunnel with a radius that got tighter as we went through. Compounding this was the pavement that was chewed up by tire chains in the winter. Very tough to control.

Also, remember, the Swiss are big on cycling. Little known in the US is the Swiss Army Bicycle, the original Suburban Assault Vehicle.

Wonderful information. Thanks for the link.