winter tour

Cycle-touring, Expeditions, Adventures, Major cycle routes NOT LeJoG (see other special board)
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subandean
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Location: Northern Powerhouse

winter tour

Post by subandean »

Looking for suggestions for winter tour in January or February, somewhere warm. Considering Far East options, maybe Philippines or Indonesia or Cambodia/Thailand. Looking for good scenery and quiet roads. Have read a few CGOB journals but yet to decide.
Suggestions welcomed.
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shane
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Re: winter tour

Post by shane »

South Africa, Nambia. Though Nambia is bloody warm in Feb....
hamster
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Re: winter tour

Post by hamster »

Well, it will be summer in Australia and NZ!
eileithyia
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Re: winter tour

Post by eileithyia »

South America?
South Africa?
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LeBrignall
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Re: winter tour

Post by LeBrignall »

Morocco - much nearer and cheaper and wonderful cycling. I did ten days last feb and I would love to return this year. Number 8 here http://travellingtwo.com/resources/10-best-bike-tours

and some other ideas too. Chile anyone?
LeBrignall
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Re: winter tour

Post by LeBrignall »

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subandean
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Location: Northern Powerhouse

Re: winter tour

Post by subandean »

Thanks for the suggestions.
Aus/NZ too many hours on the plane (and English speaking).
The Morocco route looks good, my only reservation is the security situation given the general situation in North Africa. I noticed the riders in the link did the ride in 2007.
simonhill
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Re: winter tour

Post by simonhill »

I regularly tour in SE Asia and can definitely recommend it. Great weather at your time, good food and plenty of cheap accommodation so no need to carry heavy camping gear. Cheap flights to Bangkok I paid about £450 last year. Used Emirates who give 30 kgsand take boxed bikes.

If you like hills then head for NW Vietnam and Lao. Central and S Thailand, Cambodia and S Vietnam generally flat.

If you want something very different, but never too far away from comforts, then GO!

Happy to advise more.
LeBrignall
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Re: winter tour

Post by LeBrignall »

I would not be put off by the problems in N Africa. I was slightly nervous last year but never felt threatened once. I'd be more worried in northern Morocco - the south is dominated by Berber arabs that don't appear to have much interest in such matters. Morocco is virtually a police state, and thousands of french tourists head south each winter.

As we have seen recently you could be in Paris or Bangkok and get caught up in something, so I personally wouldn't let put you of southern Morocco. being hit by a truck or car is a far bigger worry when cycle touring IMO
B
delilah
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Re: winter tour

Post by delilah »

I'm off to Cuba for 3 weeks Nov/Dec (before the Americans trash it!) You can now fly direct from Manchester £500. Good weather, safe quiet roads, and excellent accommodation in casa particulares (local B&B's)
iviehoff
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Re: winter tour

Post by iviehoff »

subandean wrote:The Morocco route looks good, my only reservation is the security situation given the general situation in North Africa.

Unlike just about everywhere else in the region, Morocco has had practically no impact from the Arab Spring so I think it is as reasonable to go there as ever. Given the obvious salience of Middle East and North Africa as the nearest winter cycling destinations, and the upheaval of so much of that region, it does stand out. I expect the long-standing problems that can exist if you cycle through the mary-jane growing areas of the Rif mountains may persist, and Tangier is a place to be careful, though perhaps seek some recent advice on that if that is where you want to go. It is a very beautiful country.

But what you do need to think about is whether you can put up with the in-your-face attitude of the local population, who, particularly in more touristed areas, are very uninhibited about asking you insistently for the food in your lunchbox, the money in your wallet, the shirt off your back, and all the pens and sweets you brought to hand out (I hope not) to the children. It really is very difficult eating your packed lunch with a large audience standing at a distance of 2 feet demanding a share. We missed lunch one day because what we thought would be a desert crossing with plenty of open space turned out to be a continuously inhabited valley, and we had a constant troupe of children following us on bicycles, and locals rushing out to beg if ever we slowed down. I thought they would be nice when we mended one child's puncture, but it only lasted 5 minutes. It wasn't just children, one place we sat down in the middle of nowhere to eat our lunch and 6 grown women appeared, as if from behind rocks, to demand our lunch from us: it was difficult repacking an open tin of sardines to cycle off down the road to find somewhere quiet enough to be allowed to eat it. I don't cater for 8 in my packed lunches when out cycling.

Probably the next nearest safe-enough winter cycling destination would be Ethiopia - though that is a place where people throw stones at you - and other parts of East Africa - though quite a lot of Kenya is pretty dodgy from a security perspective. Then at 8-10 hours flight you getting to India - core India, not the Himalaya and Sri Lanka. Then at 12 hours flight you've got Mexico & central America, SE Asia. It's really the wrong time of year for S Africa/Namibia - it's their summer.
webber
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Re: winter tour

Post by webber »

I'm cycling the great glens at the end of jan :) what with the need for warm weather :wink:
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b1ke
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Re: winter tour

Post by b1ke »

I cycled Morocco 2 years ago and should be back there in a few weeks. Felt safe enough to me.

Worth keeping an eye on the overlander's forum on the HUBB for latest news. The high Atlas, Anti-Atlas and the desert are worth seeing.
http://www.farewellburt.wordpress.com - Europe on a Tandem....
http://www.thespokeandwords.wordpress.com - West Africa on a Tandem....
whoof
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Re: winter tour

Post by whoof »

b1ke wrote:I cycled Morocco 2 years ago and should be back there in a few weeks. Felt safe enough to me.


.


Current advice from FO

'There is a high threat from terrorism in Morocco'
'Morocco has a poor road safety record'.
https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/morocco
MartinBrice
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Joined: 13 Nov 2007, 9:57am

Re: winter tour

Post by MartinBrice »

patagonia, carretera austral. crazy guy on a bike, adventure of a lifetime.
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