My GF and I are planning on heading up to The Outer Hebrides for our summer holiday in a couple of weeks.

However the weather recently has been utter garbage – very wet & very windy. As a back up we’re thinking about putting together a rough plan for heading south if the weather forecast looks terrible closer to departure time.

We’d be looking for good road riding (I don’t think I’d get much enthusiasm for suggesting Alpe du Huez or Mt Ventoux if I’m honest) and other outdoorsy stuff to do – hire canoe etc. However if we were in the region of some HC climbs I have been offered a day pass to ride them on my own…

Not too fussed where in Mainland Europe but would be driving from Edinburgh so Hungary / southern Spain etc may be a bit far to drive.

So what suggestions do you all have? Ta

We do the alps quite a bit. Short boring bit to start then wall to wall stunning. Plenty of options for outdoors stuff all over. Had a change last year and drove down the west coast of France to the Pyrenees. That was great too. Plenty of interesting stop offs on the way. Easy roads for when you want to clock up the miles too.

We start from the south so its a bit easier for us. If comming from the north I’d consider a ferry from further up to northern Europe too.

Northern Spain? It’s rather lovely and you could drive down to Portsmouth in a day, take the 24hr ferry to Bilbao or Santander, disembarking early in the morning less than an hour’s drive from the mountains.

It’s an amazing place

Rachel

How long are you away for?

If you have at least a couple of weeks, I’d suggest heading down across France to the Alps, then move on to the Italian Riviera, then back a different way across the Alps and stop somewhere different on the return leg.

Had a MTB holiday on the Riviera last year and it was fab, but did plenty of driving it looked really promising for road riding too.

Plus it’s amazingly beautiful and the food is delicious, cheap and plentiful.

Garda Lake, Italy I s always a good bet. Weather generally much better than in French Alps and you have Venice a 90 min car drive away and Verona just off the end of the lake. Côte d’Azur Also has some lovely road climbs or coastal routes.

We have two full weeks so 16.5 days until due back at a desk provided I can get away sharp at noon on the Friday.

On the basis of car packed on the Thursday night, we could hopefully make Dover (8 hours driving time +/-2ish hours for breaks / pee stops) that evening / night then stop off at the Calais F1 for a few hours kip.

Italian Rivera sounds a good shout, thanks.

Northern Spain also sounds good – I spent a few weeks there in 2004 and it was indeed a beautiful part of the world. Not sure about the 24 ferry – I’d be fine by Miss Scruff gets pretty heavy seasickness…

Massif Central

The Massif Central

http://www.auvergne-tourism.com/-1-2.html

Great paddling; lovely quiet backroads and cycling over lovely hills; some uplifts at Super Besse; nice walking; more than a bit of climbing; more Mediterranean than alpine. We had a great time there…

Your Massif Central photo’s look fantastic Matt, thanks for sharing.

It amazes me that the Massif down to med area is not better know for cycle holidays – better weather, not as gnar as Alps yet still hilly and challenging. It felt like the place the French go on holiday to, and therefore keep quiet about. We saw only a couple of other UK cars the fortnight we were there.

We’ve done similar trips in recent years. Last years was pretty much based in Saalbach (Austria) for a week, then a few days either side stopping at various places to and from. This week had a mountain bike focus.

The year before we had a week near St Michel de Maurienne where we spent 3 days watching the TdF. We then drove across the top of Italy and overnighted at Lake Garda (spent Saturday evening and all day Sunday there). We then had a week in Wagrain in Austria. On the way back we had a few stop offs (a day in Luxembourg and a day in Ostende). This trip had a road bike focus.

I’d like to spend longer at Lake Garda and were thinking of doing that this summer. But we want to buy somewhere to live/stay in Austria so are probably going to spend 2 weeks there instead.

Rachel has it.
We’ve done that a couple of times.
Ferry down, driven back.
Picos De Europa was very quiet, when we were there.
Would like to go to Massif Central, though.

Might do a loop down to Massif Central, across to the Riviera and back through the Alps on a future Euro road trip myself.