Non-cycle Europe and Scandic-Europe Cycle Tour August - September 2006

Introduction
After my first bicycle tour in Europe with Graham Watson, my little Pommie mate from Hope Valley UK, in 2005 I was keen to do more. So, when he said he was going on a tour to Denmark and Sweden, countries I had never been to and only dreamed about cycling around, I jumped at the chance. Graham had planned a ferry ride from the UK to southern Denmark then a west coast ride all the way to the northern point of Denmark, flowered by a short east coast ride to the port city of Frederikshavn, where we would catch another ferry to Gothenburg, Sweden. Then we’d make our way back to Copenhagen, probably by train.  

Before that however, Wendy and I did a four-week non-cycling tour of France, Belgium, Germany and the UK. So, the UK was the start point for my cycle tour.  

We flew from Canberra to Paris, which took a total of 30 hours from the time we left home till the time we arrived in Paris. We went via Singapore this time, instead of Bangkok.  Although very tiring we were able to get some good quality sleep in so we didn’t feel too bad on arrival. Qantas looked after us as usual; we are a little bit patriotic when it comes to flying, like the Flying Kangaroo. 


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Wrap-up

Another great cycle tour which I enjoyed immensely. The only thing I may have changed was to restrict the tour to one country, Denmark. The fact that the Swedes were not geared up to take bikes on trains, despite the fact that they are a very keen cycling nation, was a real disappointment. At the least I would have flown into Gothenburg and ridden Denmark from north to south in order to avoid that relentless northerly wind. However, that maybe being wise in hindsight. All in all, Graham did a great job on the planning and his efforts were much appreciated by Hutch and I. I look forward to doing more tours with these guys. 
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France - Belgium - Germany - UK - Denmark - Sweden - Germany: 31 July - 18 September 2006

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We spent five days in Paris , which we feel was some of the nicest on the trip. Paris is a wonderful, beautiful city, with so much to see you could spend a month there and not see it all. It was lovely to show Wendy some of the places I had visited on my previous trips. After a couple of days in Paris on our own, Rob & Tinkie (Wendy Mum & Dad) and Jen & Nigel (friends of the family from way back) joined us at the same motel in Paris and we had a great time exploring the restaurants and sights. Paris is great for food, but it is fairly expensive, but what the heck you only live once.   From Paris we caught the train (about 90 mins south-east) to the Burgundy Valley, (renowned for French wine) where we picked up a houseboat. It was a lovely boat, air-conditioned (if you wished but we didn’t need it) three cabins (all with ensuites), a great galley, dual controls and plenty of deck. You could just tie up anywhere; however, we tended to stay out of the towns away from the ...
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