Greetings, lovely biketouring subreddit!
I am now embarking on a trip, starting tomorrow in Thessaloniki going all the way to Stavanger, Norway
I started in Hanoi, Vietnam and cycled through Laos, then Thailand, from Chiang Khong, did the Mae Hong Son Loop, cycled all the way south and then back to Bangkok
Upon completing this I decided I wanted to continue – and I thought why not cycle all the way home to Norway! So I flew to Istanbul and I’m now in Athens, taking the bus to Thessaloniki today.
I’ve used the Eurovelo planner and it has generated this route which I intend to follow: https://en.eurovelo.com/route-planner?route=2048,70&type=recommended
I’ll be using OrganicMaps/OsmAND to follow the GPX.
I’m wondering whether or not anyone has cycled parts of this route before. My plan is to wild camp most of the way.
Any suggestions for the route?
– I’m planning to do it in 2 months. As I want to be back in Norway 20th of june. The route generated is 4030km, although that is just an approximation and might increase on the road.
– On the Eurovelo planner, almost the entire route is either yellow or red, indicating high development.
-The only exception is the suggested route through North-Macedonia which has the red dots – explained as follows:
«Planning
Undeveloped route with no detailed information publicly available on the Internet. The itinerary communicated is a proposal for the best possible option currently available. It may also contain dangerous sections. Cyclists are advised to use public transportation to skip these non-developed stretches.»
– Therefore I’m wondering if anyone has cycled North-Macedonia and can help me assess the generated routes? If all goes well I’ll be in North-Macedonia traversing it within 2 days ^^.
My setup.
I have a Chinese Batch A1 gravel bike that I bought in Hanoi. I’ve since upgraded it somewhat, built two new super strong wheels, rear wheel with 36 sapim race pro spokes, chosen hub and ryde andra 40 rim – so i think the wheels are strong enough to take me all the way back to Norway. I also raised the handlebar. Only issue now is really the saddle as I get sime slight pain when riding so I’m considering getting a Brooks B17 or Cambium on the road somewhere.
I also don’t have a cooking setup – and will be eating mostly cold food on the road. My plan is perhaps to order a MSR setup to a warmshowers host on the road.
Any lack of equipment is because I bought the bike and all my stuff whilst already in the midst of backpacking so I didn’t hve any time to assemble good equipment and plan it all out, it was all done on the go.
Thanks for any inputs!
by AlphaOmega0763
5 Comments
Also I don’t have a GPS computer to use for Strava / navigation, currently using my phone but contemplating buying one, looked at the COROS Dura
I just bought an edge 850 a month ago and removed all the training features I could. I love the bright screen and that I can update maps without a computer. And it has buttons for controlling it in addition to the touch screen. I highly recommend it.
As for cooking gear, I have an MSR Windburner Duo with the 1.8l pot and a frying pan. But I also carry a coffee grinder and a (ti) coffee press. I can’t function without coffee and the pause it provides.
I did the Skopje – Kumanovo section and I can’t really recommend it. Skopje and the roads around it are very busy and there is no cycle infrastructure. It’s not all bad, just not that enjoyable. Perhaps you could go around Skopje.
Creating a very large route with just Start and End points is not optimal. I have done this myself too, but I’m trying to move away from that. Perhaps you could try to identify what interests you and route around that. As it stands this route is a lot on secondary roads next to highways, not the most relaxed or interesting riding.
North Macedonia is quite a bit less developed than Bulgaria. Curious why you wouldn’t take the route through Sofia.
God tur videre!