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We are currently on sabbatical for a year. We've just got back from New Zealand and are planning on heading to Europe. There are cites we want to visit, but we also want to do some riding. We are mainly cross county riders, but we also just like riding our bikes, so any sustrans type tracks in scenic countryside would interest us too.
Thanks.
Anywhere but here 😉
For ease of riding, but not necessarily interest, the Netherlands is great, as is Belgium in my experience. Sustrans style stuff can be had across most of France. For actual XC mountain biking I'd have the Jura high on my list (have been, but not ridden there, but heard good things). I have ridden off-road and dirt roads in Tuscany a bit which I think has quite a lot of potential.
Alternatively I know a few people who've cycled the Camino de Santiago in Spain and loved it - long distance, dirt tracks and cycle routes, etc.
Northern Spain. Have a look at zona zero.My favourite.
http://www.bttpirineo.com/es
There's also...
http://www.btteuskadi.net/index.aspx?language=2
Some good, some bad tracks there, but the scenery is always great.
Have you looked at the French FFC Grandes Traversées?
http://sitesvtt.ffc.fr/itinerance-a-vtt/
Longer distance mtb routes that go through some of the most scenic parts of France. All of them can be done in sections, but the difficulty is quite variable.
As above really
Jura
Vosges
Pyrenees
Basque country
Dordogne.... Surprisingly hilly
Cervennes..
tuscany
Apennines
On the to do list
Massif central
Croatia/Bosnia...spent some time without the bike is spectuclar
Montenegro away from Kotor
Alternatively I know a few people who've cycled the Camino de Santiago in Spain and loved it - long distance, dirt tracks and cycle routes, etc.
Less-known fact: there are loads of "Caminos de Santiago", apart from the northern routes you could also start out from Madrid or Seville for example. One route I'd love to do would be Seville -> Santiago -> Logroño -> up into France ... Start in the south in late May, head north as summer approaches.
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Thanks guys, we'll look into those.