Planning our route: First to Paris

I estimate the total distance to my sister's place near Toulouse will be around 1700 - 1800 kilometers. For the Munich to Paris section, which should be a little less than half the total distance, I have found some interesting links in the Internet.

For all those interested in touring in Germany, this is an interesting site. Actually, I think it's brilliant. Germany has plenty of lovely bicycle paths, but since they don't always go where you want to go, they aren't necessarily good for long-distance cycling. http://www.radweit.de/, created by Ulrich Lamm, is a meticulously planned site outlining direct bicycle routes interconnecting all major German cities.

This is an example of the many bicycle-route suggestions on the radweit site. When you click the hot spots on the right, you get the detailed map.

I'm not too sure how easy it is to navigate the site without a basic knowledge of German, but there is an incredible amount of information there so it's worth a try. The ingenious part of it is that the sections of the maps you need are cut so that as much as possible fits on a single sheet of paper. You can download all the maps as PDF files sized for a DIN 4-format print out. This means you can go a considerable distance using a 1:100,000 scale map, and if you have printed both sides, you might only need one piece of paper. Another advantage is that you can throw it away when you've covered that stretch. Compare that to carrying a stack of maps of the same scale which you pack with you until you're back home. Of course this means you will take the suggested route and have no maps for making spontaneous changes. Even if you like to take regular maps with you, radweit is great for planning and information.

It looks like a labyrinth but it's the 70 km from Munich to Augsburg, on a scale of 1:100,000, with street names, bicycles paths, traffic density, stairs, unsealed surfaces (and if they are good or bad), some food stores and bakeries, distances - all on one piece of paper! The guy who designed it thought of everything.

From Munich we will proceed northwest to the Rhine and after following the Rhine a short distance southwest we will cross over into France where we can pick up the Paneuropa Radweg, a recently opened bicycle route from Prague to Paris.

What I really like about this route is that it provides a detailed description of how to get into Paris on a dedicated bike path. Without help, entering a sprawling city like Paris can be quite harrowing. So now we know how we get into Paris with no hassle: From Claye Souilly you follow the bike path along the Canal de l'Ourcq for 30 kilometers directly to Paris' centrally located Gare de l'est.

The French part of this bike route will be useful for us on our way to Paris.

I discovered an excellent site on bicycling in Paris by Q.May, http://www.mayq.com/index.htm, with information on cycling in the city, parking your bike in Paris (danger of theft), various routes for leaving the city and much more. I'm looking forward to seeing Paris by bike and am now confident that it is feasible. I am also happy that we will have a recommendation for leaving the city to the south.

I like to have good maps and information before we set out, as we hardly ever entirely follow official bike routes. Bike paths have many merits but every bike route is planned according to certain criteria - some avoid mountains, others make great detours to avoid all car traffic and take you across every mountain, some pass by interesting towns, others lead you to every tourist sight, many take you primarily on dirt paths through the forest (arghh)... So, we find it best to use bike paths when they meet our needs and get off them when they don't.

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