I have ridden long distance cycle routes in the UK for the past 3 years - Pennine Cycle Way, Lon Las Cymru and the Rebellion Way. I have also progressively extended the annual Constellation Group ride, adding an addition 900 miles to the 240 mile group event last year. At the end of last year I was thinking of trips for this year and the Rhine Cycle Route (Eurovelo 15) grabbed my attention, this is a 1400km route between the Rhine's source in the Swiss Alps and the exit into the North Sea.
That was step 1, after deciding to ride downhill the next step was how to get to the alpine Rhine source. I looked at a train journey, this was proving to be complicated with a number of changes and stretching into a second day of travel. Another option was to take the train to somewhere like Geneva, but this was still complicated. Another option was to cycle to Geneva and to then follow the Rhone upstream (Eurovelo 17 follows the Rhone). Sources of both the Rhone and Rhine are not that far apart. If you've seen my "Rivers and Mountains" post, you know which way this is going.
The route to Geneva sees me riding from Dieppe, following Avenue Verte to Paris, then following the Seine to the Dijon area. To get to Geneva then involves me crossing the Jura Mountains.
The final step in this high level planning is the UK segments. From home, I will ride to the Dorking area to my sister's house, and then onward to Newhaven on the following day. The homeward UK segments sees me riding from Hull ferry terminal to Grantham where I will spend the night with friends before the final day of riding back home.
