When I cycled the Eurovelo 5 to Italy, all my maps were Michelin 1:200,000 scale maps and there were ten of them in total – see the overview map of Europe here (I didn’t take the Belgian ones by the way as I cut off Belgium from my route). Cycling along the Eurovelo 8 this summer things are not so simple. The beauty of the 1:200,000 series was that they combined detail with portability. If I were to stick to the same scale for the Eurovelo 8 I would have probably needed around twenty maps from various different map makers so I have compromised a little. You can see above that the majority of the ten maps I have bought are indeed Michelin maps but they are of differing scales (despite all being described as ‘regional’ maps and all coming from the same 500 series);
- Italy North East (562) 1:400,000
- Italy North West (561) 1:400,000
- Provence-Alpes Cote d’Azur (527) 1:200,000
- Languedoc-Roussillon (526) 1:200,000
- Spain North East (574) 1:400,000
- Spain East (577) 1:400,000
- Spain South (578) 1:400,000
- Portugal South (593) 1:300,000
Michelin don’t seem to extend their reach further to the east than Italy (certainly not in this series of maps) so I have two Marco Polo maps that cover most of the first part of my journey;
- Greece & The Islands 1:300,000
- Croatia Central & Coast, Slovenia 1:300,000
The detail of the 1:200,000 maps back in 2010 was very useful indeed but I have got to remember that in 2013 I will have at my disposal greater access to online mapping than I did three years ago so should I need to, I will still be able to source more detailed maps. There is one little hole in my sequence of Mediterranean maps. Have you spotted it? It is, of course, the country of mystery that is… Albania. Brandt will come to my rescue with this map available from Stanfordsย (1:200,000).
Categories: Cycling
Hi Andrew
We should chat a bit more. I should finish more or less the same route as you – but with Portugal too a week before you start.
Some additional thoughts
1) are you putting Reggie into a bike bag? Cost to ship bag to your final destination is 70 euro… The woman in Athens airport post office doesn’t speak English. My brother got away with plastic and bubble wrap to put his sports bike onto BA..
2) Athens is a nightmare as you’d expect and will be hellishly hot by the time you arrive. But people very willing to refill your water bottles ๐
3) Aim for main roads as anything that would be considered a b road in the UK is a goat track.
4) dogs chase you – but you knew that!
I’ll send you my routes again if you like.
Best
M