I mentioned a couple of weeks ago about how the European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF) had revamped its websites – www.ecf.com, the Eurovelo ‘planning’ website www.eurovelo.org & www.eurovelo.com, aimed at punters like you and me. Now this latter website has yet to get off the ground (I remain hopeful), but @sporos – Georgio Farfaras – has pointed me in the direction of the .org site where a new interactive map has appeared. It looks very promising. It breaks down the Eurovelo network into its constituent, manageable parts, for example Pisa to Siena (along the Eurovelo 5) or Avignon to Nice (along the Eurovelo 8). As time goes by, I suppose the plan is to make available documentation regarding the detailed route between the different points. It looks good. No, it looks great! You can have a look for yourself by following this link.

On the subject of the ECF… I have received a ‘Press invitation’ to attend a series of meetings in (get this) Brussels ‘on the occasion of the Polish & upcoming Danish EU Presidency’ entitled ‘Eurovelo: Developing a Pan-European Bicycle Tourism Network‘. Now before you get excited, these meetings at the Polish & Danish embassies in Brussels take place on the 7th & 8th December (which, to save you having to look for your diaries, are a Wednesday & Thursday), so unless someone out there is not only willing to pay my fare to Brussels, put me up in a hotel & feed me (although I could probably stretch to the last bit myself), but also persuade my boss that I should take two days off work to attend this meeting, I shall not be going. But it’s nice to have been invited. 🙂 The key speakers are Ms Katarzyna Sobierajska, Undersecretary of State, Ministry of Sport and Tourism of the Republic of Poland, Mr Michael Cramer, Member of European Parliament (Group of the Greens, European Free Alliance) & Mr Klaus Bondam, Former Mayor of Copenhagen (widely known as the ‘Cycling Mayor’) and now Director of the Danish Cultural Institute in Brussels. Sorry folks, you’ll probably have to speak to audiences which doesn’t include me.

Mind you, after what I said about Belgium in Good Vibrations: Crossing Europe on a Bike Called Reggie, it may be no bad thing that I am forced to stay clear…