Britain’s Lancaster has 30 kilometers of off-road bike routes created from disused railway lines. Travelers can rent bikes for £1 per hour or £6 per day from Cyclepoint (at Lancaster Station, LA1 5NW; phone 01524 389410). Bikes can be delivered to other stations, such as to the Lake District.
Six days/five nights in FRANCE. Average distance cycled daily, 28 miles. Highlights: Taste sparkling wine at Château Chambord/picnic at Château de Cheverny/Leonardo da Vinci’s sketches, models at Clos Lucé/water garden, maze at Château de Villandry. Land, $4,495. Single supp., $750.
DuVine Adventures (Somerville, MA; 888/396-5383).
In Riga, Latvia, more than 130 bicycles are available at a dozen self-service rental stations in and around the city center.
Through Sixt, you can register by calling +371 67 67 67 80 or by downloading the Google app or via the website www.sixtbicycle.lv (the app is in Latvian). After registering, choose a bike and call the number shown on the bicycle or use the app. You’ll be sent a code to unlock the bike’s combination lock. When done, let Sixt know which station the bike is at.
Tokyo Great Cycling Tour (1-3-2 Shinkawa, Chuo-ku; phone +81 3 4590 2995) offers four different cycling day tours to explore Japan’s capital, one very easy, two easy and one at intermediate level.
The easy-level “Edo-Tokyo Culture Ride,” on mostly flat terrain, takes six hours and departs from the company’s office. It begins at 9 a.m. and stops at eight sites, including a sumo stadium, the University of Tokyo and the Imperial Palace.
Spinlister is a bike-sharing network in more than 40 countries, including the US and Canada.
Either using the website or a free app (download from iTunes), the user inputs the location where he wants to rent a bike. Spinlister directs him to a page with a photo and price plus details (such as suggested height of rider) for each bike listed. A click on the bike owner’s name brings up his contact information. Payment, either by credit card or PayPal, is managed through Spinlister.
by Steve Lopes; Lawrence, KS
Every two years, hundreds of walkers gather for the International Volksmarching Convention. In 2013 the 4-day event took place June 25-29 in Val Gardena, Italy, located in the Dolomite Mountains several hours north of Venice.
The Isle of Wight, about five miles off England’s southern coast, in May ’12 was voted by Lonely Planet as one of the top 10 cycling destinations worldwide.
Wight Wanders (22 Broadfields Ave., Cowes, Isle of Wight, P031 7UD, U.K.; phone 01983 281662) has 3-, 4- and 5-night self-guided cycling tours, costing from £269 (near $410) to £444 ($677) per person (single supplement, £20 per night). The price includes accommodation, bike hire, luggage transfer, maps and route notes.
My husband, Fred, and I cycled from Gersfeld to Hannoversch Münden, Germany, April 28-May 3, 2013, on the 4-day, 5-night “Fulda River Bicycle Path” tour offered by BikeToursDirect (Chattanooga, TN; 877/462-2423).
