Thanks guys! I love reading your recommendations, which resonate with affection of past memories.
I did want to hear what people's all time favs were, I would also like to try some places I haven't been yet although I'm sure cycle touring you get a lot different view than from a car! Some day I would like to revisit old haunts - for now there is still so much of the world I haven't seen at all.
So I'm especially interested in places which I haven't been - I have been to usa, peru, bolivia, ecuador, chile, argentina, uruguay, england, scotland, ireland, belgium, holland, germany, italy, czech republic, austria, switzerland, france, spain, thailand, vietnam, laos, cambodia, china, south africa, namibia, botswana.
Japan and the himilayas sound like fascinating areas! Although perhaps the himilayas might not be the best destination for a first time cyclist though! I am considering Norway and Iceland too.
Has anyone had much experience cycling in West Africa? The culture and wildlife sounds so fascinating, but I am a bit daunted about going by myself. Also I wonder how much of a struggle daily life on the road on a cycle would be. I remember for example that in northern namibia it was sometimes very hard to find a good variety of food. Like the local shop would only have a few tins and flour and a few rusty tomatoes - but we were in a car so we could just drive to the next town and we could stock up and carry a lot. Also what about finding water?
Thanks for your input!
I did a short ride in Gambia, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau and Guinea last winter. The food was terrible but the wonderful people and scenery made up for that. It's a tough destination with almost nothing in the way of tourist infrastructure and some of the roads are terrible. I loved it and will be back, but you'd need to look into how it'd be for a solo female.
I've done 3 tours in the last 4 years; Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City (2200km), Guatemala City to Southern Pacific side of Costa Rica (1800kms) and Cuba (tip to tip) (1600kms).
Vietnam, great food, nice beaches but busy roads (busses) and crazy drivers.
Central America, good food, good roads, some sketchy people and some crime.
Cuba - hard to get food but hardly any traffic outside Santiago and Havana, very respectful drivers, incredibly friendly people, great variety of terrain, nice beaches.
Safest for woman cycling alone: Cuba, but take lots of powerbars and be prepared to eat simply.
I've only cycled UK and Ireland so definitely not a hardened veteran cyclist, but like you I'd love too get into more cycle touring so the posts above are really interesting.
If you want to find out more about what it's like to cycle West Africa as a solo female then check out Helen Lloyd's blog as she's out there doing just that now and her blog is really good: [http://takeonafrica.com/]
I would definitely recommend Korea! Seoul to Busan trip I think that you may like our video showing the fantastic Seoul to Busan Cycling trip, this trip is hugely popular in South Korea with the best, safest, smoothest cycle paths ever made all the way through this great country.
I hope that you enjoy;
I will happily help answer questions etc that people may have if they are also interested in doing this trip.
Chris
trusted partner
