Bicycle Touring. Its the greatest way to see a place. You travel slowly, you can stop often. You are often forced to stop (by reason of tiredness, weather, time etc) in places you would never stop at in a car or on a Bus. Therefore you see much more of a country. You may not be able to rush between as many 'tourist' stops, but you will probably see many more interesting things. People treat you with respect, and they are much more likely to stop and talk to you than if you get out of a hire car, or get off a bus.

Most importantly you DON'T have to be fit, or some kind of superman or superwoman. I hardly ever train for my tours (or if I do, its a bit of pathetic effort), and you just take it slowly. After a few days it all becomes easy, and after a couple of weeks you are fit enough to ride up cliffs!.

So if you like the idea, but are unsure, try joining a supported tour, there are lots going, and then you can strike out on your own. Other Bicycle touring links

I usually go for two to three weeks at a go (I would like to go for longer, but can never get away..). Some tours I have undertaken over the last few years have been:

Mawson Trail - 2023                                                                                  

 I rode the Mawson trail from Blinman South Australia to Gawler. The blog is here
Cairns to Cape York - 2021 After a long period of no bike touring, I got back to it - blog is here
Southern China - again! May-June 2005 Planned trip from Kunming China - I made it to Kunming, and cycled a couple of days out, but either I was sick, or the altitude got to me or both, I turned back to Kunming and flew back through Thailand.

Vietnam June 2001 - Cycled with a tandem with Judy from Hanoi to Mai Chau, the South along "Highway" 15
Pushing the Tandem along "highway" 15 Relaxing on the boat in Halong Bay A remote village accessabile only by river
Southern China May 2000 - Cycled from Wuzhou, up to Guilin and Longsheng. Itinary and pictures.
Tasmania December 1998 - Rode with a friend (on a tandem) from Launceston to Hobart via the west coast. Map Tasmania
New Zealand North Island December 1997 - Rode with a friend (on a tandem) from Auckland up northland via the east coast, and back down the west coast. Map
cattle in street.gif (80835 bytes) relax in nz.gif (79011 bytes) hot day.gif (83351 bytes)
cattle roundup in the main st
relaxing
a hot nz day
South West Western Australia 1996 - Rode with a friend from Perth to Albany via the south-west coast - Map
Great Ocean Road In Victoria, did the trip once alone, and once with a friend. Ocean road map
East Coast Australia Rode with a friend from Newcastle to the Gold Coast 
New Zealand Bicycle Victoria supported bike tour through the South Island of New Zealand
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great NZ scenery  This is Serious!! By Helicopter to Fox Glacier

Daintree With a friend we rode from Cairns north to the Daintree River - Hired a boat and motored along the river, returned to Cairns via Port Douglas
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Janet checking

the gear on the way

 Boating on the Daintree
Queensland Coast Rode alone from Noosa to Proserpine over three weeks.
Kangaroo Island Rode from Willunga -  crossed on the ferry to Penneshaw - rode to Kingscote then along the northern coast of Kangaroo Island to the western most point, then back to Kingscote.
janet kangaroo island.jpg (10073 bytes) Janet at the top of the steep hill out of Penneshaw
Places I would like to tour in....

(if I get the time..)

 -Around the island of Bali

-Through Europe (Germany-Holland)

-over the Swiss alps or the North American Rockies..?

-Alaska

-around Iceland!