Spain’s Camino de Santiago & Annie Londonderry’s 1894/95 Bicycle Ride Through France:  Two Epic Journeys with ExperiencePlus!

If you are celebrating a special birthday, anniversary, graduation or retirement you owe yourself an unforgettable journey.  These two bicycle tours offer just that and will provide you with memories for a lifetime.  They also may be the catalyst that will launch you on a fitness quest into the next phase of your life’s adventure!

Spain’s Camino de Santiago 

Explore a thousand years of history as you bicycle from the Spanish/French border across northern Spain to the pilgrimage destination of Santiago de Compostela.  Our route retraces the "Codex Calixtinus," the original guide to El Camino de Santiago written by the monk Aymeric Picaud in the 12th century.  

This is one of the most important historic journeys in Europe — a pilgrimage route turned cultural icon.  Over fifteen days we bicycle through three language and culinary regions, the Rioja wine region, the cities of Leon, Pamplona, and Burgos, and into Galicia, the extreme northwest region of Spain.  Since this route has been used since the 11th century you’ll see some of the finest medieval architecture in Europe. 

Read more about our bicycle tours along the historic Camino de Santiago here:

• Cycling the Camino de Santiago – Roncesvalles to Santiago
• Cycling the Camino de Santiago – León to Santiago

Cycling Through History: Paris to Marseille on the Londonderry Trail 

Taking Jules Verne’s fictional "Round the World in 80 Days" as her example, Annie Cohen Kopchovsky, set out in June of 1894 to become the first woman to bicycle around the world.  Using the pseudonym, "Annie Londonderry," named for the Lithia Springs in New Hampshire, Annie’s first foreign leg was from Paris, France to Marseille in the winter of 1894/95.  Join us to relive history as we replicate that journey.

Our bicycle tour begins just south of Paris, follows the Loire River upstream to Nevers, then cuts to Lyon and down the Rhone to Aix-en-Provence.  We stick to Annie’s route as best we can, using secondary and tertiary roads that parallel the route that Annie would have used (now a major highway).

While American, British and French cyclists had begun bicycle touring in France in the 1880s, Annie’s ride certainly marks an historic event in the history of bicycle touring. 

Accompanied by local bicycle clubs along the way, Annie’s ride was covered widely by the French newspapers.  2008 marks our second offering of Annie’s ride.  Read more about Annie in Peter Zheutlin’s book, Around the World on Two Wheels: Annie Londonderry’s Extraordinary Ride.  Peter is Annie’s great-grand nephew and helped us to replicate this ride in 2007.

Get all the details about our Annie Londonderry bike tour here:

• Cycling Through History: Paris to Marseille on the Londonderry Trail