Tag: Greece

The Cycling Europe Podcast: Episode 069 – Susan and Ron Crump – Cycling Amsterdam to Athens

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In the autumn of 2022, Susan and Ron Crump, a retired couple from Kentucky in the USA set off on their first cycle tour. Instead of dipping their toes in the shallow end of the cycle touring pool, they plunged into the deep end by embarking upon a 3,500km cycle from Amsterdam to Athens. Along with two more experienced cycle touring friends – Pam and Ralph – this is the story of their trip; the preparation, the execution and the aftermath. They may have been jumping for joy upon arrival in Athens but were they jumping for joy throughout the cycle? And has the trip been a springboard for future rides or will their next visit to Europe be on a cruise ship?ย 

The Cycling Europe Podcast: Episode 068 – Tony Lenihan – Cycling Bilbao To Athens

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Tony Lenihan, a retired policeman, works for his local council in the English Midlands as their โ€˜Sustainable Travel and Wellbeing Coordinatorโ€™. Heโ€™s also a keen cyclist and, in the early autumn of 2022, after more than 40 years of work, he decided to take a career break and head off on a solo cycling adventure from Bilbao to Athens. It would be a 7-week ferry-hopping Greek odyssey that took him through northern Spain, to the islands of Sardinia and Scilly, across the heel of Italy to Brindisi before sailing the Adriatic to his final destination of Greece. He talked to The Cycling Europe Podcast about his continental experiencesโ€ฆ but also about โ€˜active travelโ€™ in the UK and how the country measures up (or not) to its European neighbours.ย 

YOUTUBE EXCLUSIVE: Episode 068 Of The Cycling Europe Podcast

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Tony Lenihan, a retired policeman, works for his local council in the English Midlands as their โ€˜Sustainable Travel and Wellbeing Coordinatorโ€™. Heโ€™s also a keen cyclist and, in the early autumn of 2022, after more than 40 years of work, he decided to take a career break and head off on a solo cycling adventure from Bilbao to Athens. It would be a 7-week ferry-hopping Greek odyssey that took him through northern Spain, to the islands of Sardinia and Scilly, across the heel of Italy to Brindisi before sailing the Adriatic to his final destination of Greece.ย  He talked to The Cycling Europe Podcast about his continental experiencesโ€ฆ but also about โ€˜active travelโ€™ in the UK and how the country measures up (or not) to its European neighbours.ย 

EuroVelo 8 – Mediterranean Route: (My) Once-In-A-lifetime Experience

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It will soon be 10 years that I set off to cycle along the Mediterranean coast from Cape Sounio in southern Greece to Cape St. Vincent in southern Portugal. My route was inspired by the EuroVelo 8, although it was much less developed back then than it is today. I saw some EuroVelo 8 signs in Catalonia but aside from that, I’m not quite sure I saw any elsewhere. And after Valencia, when I was beginning to run short of time – I needed to be back at work at the beginning of September – I headed inland, away from the coast in order to complete the journey without resorting to jumping on the train.

Manos Charalampakis: Cycling In Athens – The Good, The Bad And The Beautiful!

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Attentive readers will hopefully remember that, way back in 2013, I flew to Athens with Reggie (the bike) with the intention of cycling from Cape Sounio in Greece to Cape St. Vincent in Portugal, following the coast of the Mediterranean and as later recounted in Along The Med on a Bike Called Reggie. Before setting off, I had arranged to meet local cyclist and journalist Manos Charalampakis. Manos works for a newspaper in Athens and, among other things, he often writes about cycling. Indeed he writes a blog for the newspaper’s website and earlier this week he got in touch with a few thoughts about being a cyclist in Athens.