It has always been a dream to bike through Europe. We did a two-day teaser trip in 2023 along the Canal de Garonne, but we were craving something longer. We finally took the leap in May 2025. The “plan” was pretty loose — fly in and out of Toulouse so we could visit with family, and then use a combination of bikes + trains to go through the Alps and explore a variety of cycle routes.

In the end, we spent three weeks biking 1245 km through France, Switzerland and Germany. Our bodies held up better than expected, but our brains had to work harder than anticipated. We sometimes had sore muscles, but the hardest part was dealing with daily logistics of finding a spot to sleep, staying dry with a leaky tent and navigating trains on holiday weekends. But we spent endless hours on our bikes, had some personal bests for distance and experienced several different cultures along the way. And a major highlight was eating pastries, cheese, saucisson and ice cream every day without any guilt!

This post is long, so skip ahead to whatever interests you:

Planning

We started planning the trip about 2-3 months before we left Canada. We used komoot.com to explore community routes and recommendations. We made a “collection” of all possibilities and then did some research on various segments to determine our favourites. With the pro version of Komoot you can use “Trail View” which is like Google Street View for trails. It was very helpful in planning. Other resources we used a lot were France Velo Tourisme, Euro Velo and Swiss Mobility which give broader overviews of the routes. It was really hard to choose between all the possible routes! By the time we left Toulouse, we knew we wanted to start with the ViaRhôna and eventually get to the Lakes Route in Switzerland, but that’s about all we had planned.

Our other preparation prior to the trip was to ensure that we had all the necessary apps on our phones — national train companies (SNCF, SBB, DB), Warmshowers, AirBnb, Weather apps, Komoot, etc.

During the trip itself we spent a lot of our “rest time” (i.e. time not on the bikes) planning the logistics for that day or a couple days into the future. Initially we started just doing one day at a time, but we found that a bit stressful, so by the end we were booking our accommodation and trains about 2-3 days out. It allowed us to create tentative plans based on how we were feeling and the weather forecast.

The Route and Itinerary

Our route consisted of segments of regional routes, national routes and EuroVelo (EV) routes. In southern France we rode parts of EV17 (a.k.a. ViaRhôna) and EV8 (a.k.a. Mediterranean Cycle Route). In Alsace, France, we rode a segment of EV5 and in Switzerland we rode the Swiss Veloroute 9 (a.k.a. Lakes Route). In southern Germany, we rode a section of EV15 (a.k.a. Rhine Cycle Route).

Here, we summarize the day to day details and some funny lessons, partly for our memories and partly if anyone is interested. If not, we won’t be offended if you skip ahead to the next section about accommodation.

Day 1: Blagnac to Avignon (10.5km) [+ Train]

We had a bit of a late start due to some thunderstorms and floods in the area, but we finally departed mid-afternoon. We navigated from the suburbs of Toulouse (i.e. Blagnac) into the city centre to catch the train to Avignon. We had one connection in Narbonne and arrived in Avignon around 7 pm.

Lessons of the day: (1) Train elevators are very small and 20 minute connections are stressful. (2) When Adrien says he knows the way, don’t trust him!

Day 2: Avignon to Bourg-Saint-Andéole (70.9km)

After a quick exploration of Avignon, we set off on our first full biking day of the trip. The whole route was along the ViaRhôna on beautiful cycle paths. We followed the Rhone River for most of the day and passed through many fields.

Lessons of the day: (1) Be careful when packing beer in a saddle bag! (2) There is no shame in eating a whole box of ice cream sandwiches in a grocery store parking lot.

Day 3: Bourg-Saint-Andéole to Cruas (60.9km)

After some unexpected heavy rain overnight we woke up to a wet tent and sleeping pad. We took advantage of a windy day to dry everything out when we found a sunny spot to stop. We also then made our way to Decathlon in an industrial area of Montélimar to buy a new tent. The rest of the day was spent sheltering during intermittent rain, battling headwinds, crossing suspension bridges and cycling past nuclear power stations.

Lessons of the day: (1) Replace a leaky tent before the trip. (2) Like in Canada, industrial areas are not fun to navigate by bike.

Day 4: Cruas to Geneva (56.5km) [+ Train]

Another day on the ViaRhôna and another brutal headwind, especially up on the river banks! We had an early start and crushed the 48 km to Valence just before noon. Thinking we had 1h45 before our train, we were about to sit down for lunch when we saw that our direct train to Geneva had been cancelled! We quickly checked alternatives and we scrambled to grab one leaving in just 20 minutes that had a connection in Lyon. During the connection, Justine had a stressful trip to the grocery store that involved the security system going off and having to navigate the crowds of people. The stress continued on the train where we were warned about a lot of pickpocketing happening. But we made it to Geneva and officially entered Switzerland! The day ended with a warning about having spent 40 euros on roaming within 30 minutes!

Lessons of the day: (1) Be prepared for train cancellations! (2) Be sure that your “European” cell phone plan includes Switzerland!

Day 5: Vesenaz to Lugrin (62.2km)

We biked along the south side of Lake Geneva all day. We spent a lot of our time in Yvoire — not because it is a beautiful medieval town, but rather because it was located in France where we could use our cell phones and sort out why we were getting roaming issues when in Switzerland. Adrien spent time calling the cell phone company and ultimately wrote a hand written note (on our beer stained paper) explaining the error and to request a refund. The afternoon was quite hot, we hydrated with juice boxes in a parking lot, and then climbed our first big hill of the trip up to our campsite. The host was lovely, but she did warn us about the “busy state road” we would have to deal with the next day. We looked into alternatives, but there was literally none!

Lesson of the day: If you see an open grocery store, just STOP! Don’t wait for the “next one” because it might be hard to find.

Day 6: Lugrin to Saanan (51km) [+ Train]

We got up at 6 am so we could get the state road section completed with as little traffic as possible. Turns out we were only passed by about 10 cars who gave us lots of space. Instead we encountered hundreds of cyclists! It was the Tour of Lac Léman — a big cycling event. We passed back into Switzerland, got new eSIMs activated while having croissants and then made our way to Montreux. From there, we caught a panoramic train that took us up into the start of the Swiss Alps. We disembarked at “La Tine” and then spent 24 km riding through the most beautiful scenery. The icing on the cake was passing a self-serve Fromagerie and drinking water from historic fountains. Honestly our favourite day of the trip!

Lessons of the day: (1) Switzerland is as beautiful as the postcards suggest. (2) Campgrounds often have reception hours and you can only check in at that time.

Day 7: Saanan to Oberried am Brienzersee (73.6km) [+ Train]

We woke up to a wet tent — despite it being brand new! It was mentally a very hard challenge to deal with this early in the trip. We packed up in the rain and climbed to Saanenmoser where the skies really opened. After a coffee, our spirits lifted enough to allow us to appreciate the stunning beauty that was around us. It was a day filled with hills, cow bells and beautiful alpine lakes. We biked to Interlaken and then caught a train to Oberried am Brienzersee where we were greeted by a Warmshowers host! It was nice to have a roof over our heads and meet some inspiring bikepackers.

Lesson of the day: (1) Warmshowers is a great option, but for relative newbies like us we were intimidated by our much more experienced hosts!

Day 8: Oberried am Brienzersee to Sarnen (42.9km)

We left our Warm Showers hosts and took their recommendation for the climb over the Brünig pass. It was the more direct route compared to the Lakes Route, and it was definitely a mistake! For the first time of the trip we found ourselves on a road with a lot of car traffic and it was steep — not a great combination! We were grateful for the numerous pulloffs where we could rest and regroup. We rewarded ourselves at the top of the climb with some pastries and coffee and then headed down the other side on quieter roads and paths. For the third day in a row, the views in Switzerland did not disappoint!

Lesson of the day: The recommendations of locals may not be well-suited for you if you have different comfort levels! Sometimes it is better to stick to the route you planned.

Day 9: Sarnen (Rest Day, 18km walk)

By this point we were both physically and mentally tired. The forecast was calling for more rain, so having two nights in a bivouac (canvas tent) was a perfect break. We took the opportunity to leave our bikes behind for the day and went for a walk to a village called Flüeli-Ranft. We had no real plan and ended up doing a hard 18 km walk with some tough hills. But it was nice to work some different muscles and the historic visit was well worth the views.

Lesson of the day: “Shortcuts” on google maps don’t always exist.

Day 10: Sarnen to Obfelden (76.0km)

Our first sunny day in a while and our last day surrounded by the Swiss Alps. It almost felt sad to be leaving them already. We got to enjoy some nice cycling infrastructure in and around Lucerne. It was Ascension Day so it was busy everywhere! We found a seaside shop for ice cream in Cham and then turned off the Lakes Route and headed to Obfelden (a suburb of Zurich) where we were welcomed by Adrien’s cousin and his family.

Lesson of the day: Sometimes you have to pass on a restaurant/cafe because there is nowhere to leave your bike and gear where you can see it. We were so ready for ice cream when we learned this...

Day 11: Obfelden to Herden (76.8km)

We left Obfelden at 10 am and it was already HOT! We made our way to Brugg for lunch and really struggled to find a shady spot to eat. We eventually found a bench in a small park where we ate our 1/4 watermelon (did I mention it was hot)! After this point, we joined EuroVelo 15 and crossed into Germany. The ride was pretty disappointing as we felt like we were stuck in suburbia. We also struggled to find a campsite — the first place we showed up to was full. Then we tried to take a path we saw on Google to the next campground, but the trail just got rougher and rougher. Eventually we did find our way back to the road and found a nice simple campsite to stay in.

Lesson of the day: Finding campsites in Germany is harder than in France and Switzerland. Partly a language barrier and partly a lack of nice booking systems.

Day 12: Herden to Wangen (51.7km)

Our tent was wet again — but this time from condensation! But it was sunny so we were able to dry everything out quickly. We made our way past the Rhine Falls, and eventually to Stein am Rhein, which is a historic Swiss town. We spent the rest of our Swiss Francs and then headed just 6 km to our campsite in Wangen. It was another hot day and campsites seemed full again, so we stopped as soon as we found a “spot” (and by spot we mean small patch of grass). Adrien went for a swim in the lake, but it was way too brown and silty for Justine to attempt it. We spent the afternoon planning out options for the rest of the trip and then headed to bed at 8 pm when there were still children running circles around the tent.

Lessons of the day: (1) You won’t enjoy every day on a bike trip. (2) When you are desperate, you become less picky about the campsites.

Day 13: Wangen to Strasbourg (56.6km) [+ Train]

Arguably the toughest day of the trip — mentally. After struggling for the last few days, we had planned to head back to France where things were “easier” (better camping options, better pastries, no language barrier). We had everything booked — a train from Radolfzell to Offenburg and then a bivouac at a campground in Strasbourg. So we got up early and biked the 18 km to Radolfzell. The first train we saw seemed to be earlier than we expected, but it was heading where we were planning to go, so we got on. Then, after about an hour, it reversed directions! Uh oh! So we quickly hopped off at the first station and then biked 3 km back to the station in Engen. When the “right” train showed up it was completely full! The conductor even leaned her head out the window and said “Complet”. So we just watched it go by. Then we started to notice that every train that went by was pretty full. It was the end of a holiday weekend, so we were guessing that this would continue to happen all day. We were panicking a bit because we were literally in the middle of nowhere! We looked for other camping options, but there really wasn’t much around. So, an hour later, when the next train heading in the right direction came by we really made a push to get on. Justine noticed a bike coming off, so she leapt on and blocked the door until Adrien could get through before it closed. We then had to carry our loaded bikes up two stairs because it wasn’t a bike carriage and we literally just stood with our bikes for about 2 hours in the same spot. We really felt crammed in like sardines. We eventually learned that not only was it a long weekend, but there had also been a music festival in Konstance! Anyways, we did eventually make it to Offenburg, ate our lunch by a garbage can while waiting out a thunderstorm, and then biked to our campsite in Strasbourg. And somehow we found some energy to go into the city centre for the evening where we enjoyed a flammekueche for dinner (while huddled under an awning during a thunderstorm).

Lessons of the day: (1) Be sure to get on the correct train. (2) Having a ticket for a German train does not guarantee a spot.

Day 14: Strasbourg to Colmar (92.1km)

Woke up to our first flat of the trip! Thankfully it was a quick fix and we headed on our way. We spent the day biking through vineyards and historic Alsace villages. We climbed some tough hills and sheltered between thunderstorms. We found a great market in Molsheim and did a wine tasting somewhere along the route (while avoiding a thunderstorm). Then, Adrien got another flat as we were just on the outskirts of Colmar. We fixed it on the side of the road and then navigated to our campground where we had booked another bivouac — a nice treat after a long day.

Lesson of the day: It is really nice to not have to set up a tent after a long, wet day.

Day 15: Colmar to Belfort (107km)

Our longest day of the trip and Justine’s first ever century ride. We knew it would be a long day, so we left early to do a brief exploration of Colmar. Parts of the day were definitely long and boring, but we had crushed out 60 km to Mulhouse before we stopped for lunch. We then joined EuroVelo 6 and followed the canal for about 20 km. We were expecting this to be the easy part of the day, but pouring rain and a brutal headwind made it very challenging. We also couldn’t find a bathroom when we really needed one! When we turned off the EuroVelo to make our way to Belfort, the rain finally stopped, but Adrien started to have a wobbly wheel. We stopped a few times to fix his spokes and made it to the campsite just before the reception closed. We treated ourselves to ice cream and then proceeded to try to dry everything out at our bivouac.

Lesson of the day: Sometimes finding a public bathroom is challenging. Komoot is usually pretty good at marking them but isn’t always accurate! [In general, finding public bathrooms in France was significantly harder than in Canada.]

Day 16: Belfort to Courthézon (14.6km) [+ Train]

After a rough night of noisy neighbours, loud rain and bike worries we got up at 5:30am and headed to the train station. Our first train took us to Lyon, where we passed our connection by eating lunch on the floor of the station. It was raining so hard outside, that there were even puddles inside! We then caught another train to Orange. After waiting out yet another thunderstorm we then made our way to an AirBnB in Courthézon, with a pitstop at Decathlon. We wanted to return the leaky tent we had purchased just the week before, but they wouldn’t give us a refund and only gave us a new version of the same tent!

Lessons of the day: (1) Your standards for “nice places to eat” changes drastically when on a bike trip. (2) Decathlon’s return policy sucks!

Day 17: Courthézon to Apt (76.7km)

Today’s goal was to have an “easy day”, i.e. enjoy some sunshine and an old rail trail. We did have one busy 2 km section of road just after leaving Courthézon, but the rest of the day was spent on Via Venaissia and The Luberon, which are converted rail trails. We had great views of lavender fields and enjoyed homemade ice cream at a converted rail station. The last 2 km was up a steep hill to the campsite, but, overall, it was amazing how easy the 76.7 km ride felt.

Lesson of the day: June is a great time for finding fresh fruit in Southern France. And it won’t last long in the hot sun, so it is fully justified to eat a whole quart in just a few hours.

Day 18: Tour of Apt (42.1km)

Spent a hot day being “tourists”. We were staying at the same campsite for a second night, so we didn’t need to pack anything up. We decided to do a recommended bike route called the “Tour des Ocres”. The highlight was a guided tour of Les Mines de Bruoux. We mostly stopped to get a break from the heat, but the mines themselves were truly impressive. The second half of the ride between Roussillon and Villars was very bumpy and relatively uninteresting, so we were happy to return to our campsite and enjoy the afternoon at the pool.

Lesson of the day: Your bike feels very light when you get to ride it for the first time in more than two weeks without gear.

Day 19: Apt to Saint-Rémy-de-Provence (59.4km)

Our easiest day of the trip yet. We started off by visiting the weekly market in Apt, which was an impressive spread of sprawling streets filled with cheese, fruit, meat and goods. We then headed back westwards along the converted rail trails and enjoyed a mostly downhill slope — a nice treat on a very hot day! We happened to stop at a cafe that claimed to have the “Meilleur pain au chocolat”. It was indeed good — but so are most of them in France. We arrived at our campsite in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence around 1 pm, had a swim at the pool and then wandered into town for the afternoon.

Lesson of the day: Bike infrastructure in France isn’t perfect, but it is so much better than in Halifax. We spent a lot of time thinking about this today, because of the news we were hearing from back home.

Day 20: Saint-Rémy-de-Provence to Grau-du-Roi (104.4km)

A hard day! We had to stop three times within the first 20 km because Adrien’s pedal was making an awful grinding sound. Then, the market in Beaucaire was disappointing and the whole vibe of the town felt oddly conservative. We then enjoyed a tailwind for about 10 km, but it didn’t last. Around the 50 km mark, the EuroVelo 17 that we were following turned onto a busy/narrow road. Turns out it was a 17 km stretch that was on a Departmental Road — our most stressful section of the whole trip. And to make matters worse, the last 5 km section had a brutal head wind. We were drafting off each other, but could only manage 500 m at a time, because the wind was so strong! Thankfully, we found a picnic table in the shade as soon as we turned off the road and we were able to enjoy some lunch before finishing the rest of the day on a bike trail along the canal. After setting up our tent, we decided to bike the 5 km back into town so that Adrien could get his pedal fixed — his bearings were totally worn out!

Lessons of the day: (1) Bring a bike that will survive the 1000+ km journey. (2) Even when you are in shape, headwinds can make you feel like you are not. (3) Just because it is a EuroVelo route does not mean it is safe and comfortable.

Day 21: Grau-du-Roi to Montpellier (45.6km)

We started the day off with a nice ride to the Espiguette beach and had this busy tourist area mostly to ourselves. We dipped our toes in the Mediterranean before heading back and packing up our tent for the last time. We then rode to Montpellier. It was mostly along cycleways, but was pretty urban and it was hard to get into a rhythm. We stopped for ice cream before leaving the beach area and then spent the afternoon at the Place de la Comedie in the center of Montpellier playing crib on a bench. We then went to friends of Adrien’s where we had dinner and spent the night.

Lesson of the day: When it comes to bike touring, urban areas are far less enjoyable than rural areas.

Day 22: Montpellier to Blagnac (11.5km) [+ Train]

A short ride to the train station, two trains, and then a final ride back to Blagnac. The trains were busy with bikes and we had to cram ourselves in yet again. The toughest part of the day was that the elevator was broken (or non-existant) in Narbonne! So, we had to carry our fully loaded bikes up the stairs. Adrien managed his, but Justine got help from a friendly stranger!

Lessons of the day: (1) Not all train stations have elevators. (2) No matter how hard it is or was, you feel sad when a trip like this is coming to an end.

Accommodation

Over the course of three weeks we stayed in a variety of different accommodation options. A summary:

• 11 nights in our leaky tents (yes, we used two….)
• 6 nights in bivouacs / custom accommodation
• 2 nights with family and friends
• 1 night at an AirBnB
• 1 night with Warm Showers hosts

We were planning to camp more, but having leaky tents and rainy weather caused us to stay in bivouacs (i.e. temporary shelters) more than we had expected. These were all found within campgrounds and were honestly a nice treat after biking all day. It meant we didn’t have to set up or take down a tent! The simplest (and cheapest) one was a treehouse style with a bed up top and an outdoor kitchen area below. The more common style was a canvas tent with a couple beds inside. The third style — called a roulotte — was essentially a minihome.

The campgrounds we stayed at were all pretty “urban” compared to the provincial and national parks that we typically stay at in Canada. They were often located just outside of towns and many were like small villages of campers. Sites were often small and lacked privacy, but at the end of the long days we didn’t mind too much. There was usually a hot shower and a spot to lay our head. We encountered two full campgrounds in Germany — the first turned us away, but the second found us a small patch of grass. Anecdotally many campgrounds will accommodate cyclists, even if they are full. One thing we did learn early on in our trip is to always pay the extra fee for electricity! Charging electronics while bike travelling is sometimes an art!

We spent one night with a family that we connected with through Warm Showers. It is a global community of touring cyclists who offer up spaces in their homes to travellers. We reached out through the app the day before we were planning to be in the area and they graciously hosted us for one night. They provided us with a delicious dinner and breakfast, a mattress in their living room, laundry and routing advice. They were very well seasoned bikepackers who had literally been all over the world — it gave us a bit of imposter syndrome, but we thoroughly enjoyed our stay, the company and having a roof over our head on a rainy night.

Taking Trains

Taking trains with our bikes was much more difficult than we expected. Yes, we could theoretically take our bikes on most regional trains, but the logistics of figuring out the best routes, finding a space for our bikes, getting in and out of small elevators and, occasionally, climbing the stairs with our fully loaded bikes was no easy feat.

The hardest and most stressful parts were that some trains were very crowded. The bike cars were full and we had to push our way on. Then, we had to stand with our bikes and gear for several hours because there was nowhere to sit.

We would definitely do it again in a heartbeat, but we would probably make more of an effort not to take trains on weekends or bank holidays. And we would always look for connections of 30 minutes or more to allow for platform changes.

Food

As you can tell from the photos, there were so many highlights on this trip. From the stunning scenery to pushing our bodies to and past our limits. But one of the best parts was the food. The European culture around good fresh food is amazing and it is so accessible. We had coffee and pastries at cafes everyday, picked up fresh fruit at roadside stands, bought bread at a bakery every few days, ate homemade ice cream on hot afternoons and tried countless different cheese and saucisson types from local markets. It was incredible, and we still lost weight!

Challenges

It was our first time going on a trip like this — a long bike tour in a different part of the world — so of course it wasn’t without challenges.

• Flying with a bike: We flew with one bike because Adrien used one that he had in France. It was a mild hassle to pack the bike, and we had to rearrange the box several times to get everything to fit without causing damage. We also had to open the box in Halifax and take items out to go through the scanner (this was not necessary in Montreal or Toulouse). Having the bike also made getting to and from the airport more difficult because bikes take up a lot of room, so having three people (us+driver) in addition to the bike was a tight squeeze. In France, Adrien’s parents used two vehicles to get us to/from the airport.
• Montreal delay: We arrived in Toulouse two days later than we had planned because we missed our connection in Montreal. It was a combination of mechanical issues, thunderstorms and busy airports. We ran from one gate to the other, but to no avail. The toughest part was dealing with the bike… the box had gotten wet in the thunderstorm and the shuttle didn’t have enough room for the bike and all the passengers.
• Rain + Leaky Tent: We don’t know if it was the time of the year (May/June) or just bad luck but we had a lot of rain and thunderstorms to deal with. The worst parts usually came over night, which added stress when you have a leaking tent. Some of our saddle bags also weren’t waterproof, so we spent a lot of time trying to dry things out day after day.
• Logistics: It was so much more time consuming than we expected to figure out a route and find accommodation each day. We spent most breaks we had on our phones looking at our options and making decisions. And everything was a bit harder in Germany where we didn’t speak the language and their camping booking systems weren’t very good. We liked being spontaneous and not having everything planned out, but it required more day to day effort than we expected. By the end of the trip we got better at looking things up a few days in advance, which helped to reduce some of the stress. The improvements in the weather also helped.
• Navigation: We had used Komoot to plan most of the routes, but did have to make some edits on the fly. This was hard to do on a phone because of the small screen and because Komoot’s mobile features are limited. The other challenge is that we were expecting to use a Garmin bike computer for navigation, but we learned on the train on the first day that Garmins purchased in North America don’t come with European maps. In the end, we were able to install Komoot on the Garmin and use that for navigation, but there were some glitches with the system and the display features drained the battery faster than the traditional Garmin displays. Named routes (e.g. ViaRhona EuroVelo) were often marked with signage, but having the Garmin made it significantly easier to find our way, especially when we deviated from the main routes. Next time, we might bring a tablet so that we aren’t limited to our phones.
• Bike Quality: Adrien’s bike had been sitting in his mom’s garage with very little usage for the past few years. It was “fine” but wasn’t in the best shape to take on such a long trip. It held out better than expected, but there were several times that we had to stop to deal with a wobbly wheel, a creaking bearing or fixing a flat. Some bike maintenance is to be expected, but starting with a better quality bike likely would have made for an easier trip.
• Cell phone: We learned that “European” SIM cards don’t always include Switzerland. Be sure to read the fine print!
• Security: We weren’t comfortable leaving our bikes and all our gear unattended, so it meant that one of us had to always stay with the bikes or we had to make sure they were within eyesight. It sometimes made it hard to find a suitable table at a cafe and meant that we both couldn’t go to the bathroom at the same time.

Costs

The total cost of our trip was $6447 CAD. Not bad for two people for three weeks, especially when that includes airfare from Canada to Europe. Here is the breakdown:

Other than the plane tickets, accommodation was our highest cost. Our 11 nights in our tent cost us $487 CAD — with the prices ranging from $32 to $65 CAD per night. The highest price for a campsite was just outside Geneva, and in general, prices were higher in Switzerland than France and Germany. Our non-camping accommodation for 6 nights totalled to $728 CAD. The treehouse style bivouac was $52 CAD/night, whereas the canvas style ranged between $84 – $150 CAD. Again, the cost was higher in Switzerland than in France. Our AirBnB in Couthezon was $95 CAD.

We kept our food costs relatively low by rarely eating a full meal at a restaurant — we did get a lot of coffee, pastries and ice creams though! Over $600 CAD worth to be more precise…

Train tickets did add up more than we expected to a total of $832 CAD. We took all regional trains, but were always booking at the last minute, so never really got deals. In total, we took 7 train trips (more actual trains). Some trips were short and some were long, so the prices varied a lot.

Our bikes and gear

Justine travelled with her bike from Canada whereas Adrien used a bike that he used to ride in France. Both of our bikes were more than 10 years old! Justine’s was a steel framed touring bike — it is heavy, but designed to carry gear. Adrien’s was a hybrid style aluminium bike. He had used it for touring before.

We travelled as light as we could, but our bikes still felt heavy. Justine carried four saddle bags — two on the front and two on the back. Adrien had two back saddle bags, plus some dry bags strapped to his front and rear racks. We eventually figured out our system and packing style and everything had its place. The one big thing we would change though is to have all waterproof saddle bags! We had everything that really needed to stay dry within the two waterproof panniers we had, or within dry bags strapped to the bike, but dealing with wet saddle bags every day was such a hassle.

Our most used/cherished items of the trip:

• lightweight tarp: we used this to sit on when there was no bench or picnic table, we wrapped our gear in it at night, and we used it once for shade.
• hand pump with a pressure gauge: a last minute upgrade at Decathlon came in handy more than once. Nice to have such a useful compact item.
• vegetable oil: nice to have a small bottle so we didn’t have to buy any or carry a large bottle.
• blow-up pillows: another last minute upgrade that was much appreciated at the end of long days.

Items to improve upon:

• all waterproof drybags: having only two made it a hassle to pack on rainy days
• waterproof tent: obviously
• bigger power bank: electricity was harder to consistently come by than we expected. having enough to keep us going for a few days at a time would have been nice
• tupperware: should have brought one empty one for leftovers

Slideshow

A selection of the many pictures we took on this trip. More or less in chronological order.