An interesting gathering of the most spectacular cycling routes in the world done by Lonely Planet, the travelbook publisher. Haven't been even close to any one of them, but other PE riders migh have (Ventoux, Italy, Isle of Wight ...) Again, it is more a matter of personal taste I guess. For myself, I would include route 20 from Hakone to Atami Toge in the list. But of course everybody else would just have a similar unique opinion.
Had to smile about this one, describing national highway 1 in Vietnam:
"The route has some reasonable hills, climaxing in the mighty Hai Van Pass (496m)"
Well, sounds like the mighty Hai Van Pass is even 100 meters higher than the mighty Otarumi pass just west of Takao, and only 1850 meters or so below the mighty Odarumi pass on the Yamanashi-Nagano border. Nevertheless, if Vietnam is safe for travellers, it would be great to see it by bicycle.
ReplyDeleteThe only one of these routes I've cycled is the Luberon and Ventoux, and I enthusiastically agree that it belongs here. The San Juan islands -- okay for cycling, but better by sailboat!
I would think Vietnam is not a bad place for a cycling tour. The locals are very friendly towards foreigners and one never feels threatened or lost. The state of the roads is variable, and driving pretty crazy, but then it is also slow and there are lots of bicycles (Mamachari type) everywhere. I even saw a group of foreign road-race cyclists on a country road outside Hanoi.
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