Bicycle Routes Are Not the Same as Bicycle Trails
It can be frustrating to search for destination bike trails when planning an active travel tour. Attempting an internet search using the keywords best bike trails in Europe will likely produce nothing but web pages about bike routes rather than bike trails. This is somewhat true in the United States, but even more so in Europe. Looking for trail tours results in a similar outcome. There are many of us who love to plan our active vacations around bike trails, but it’s difficult finding tours & trails. This is mainly because travel companies & the tourism industry in general don’t get the difference between bicycle routes & bicycle trails.
Bike Trail
Bicycle Trails
A bike trail can go by many different names: bike path, greenway, cycleway, bicycle boulevards. But what they (should) have in common is that they are completely separate from any form of motorized traffic. Completely separate is the key phrase. So bike lanes, even if they are protected lanes, do not constitute bike trails or bike paths. Touring on a bike trail is a completely different experience than road touring or touring on a cycle route. Touring on a bike trail offers safety, scenery and community. The safety is obvious since bikes won’t be mixing with fast-moving cars & trucks. The scenery is something that people don’t fully realize until they’ve experienced trail touring. By taking away the constant threat of cars, bike riders are able to relax & enjoy their surroundings. They can look around, stop whenever they want and generally focus on the scenery rather than their safety. The community comes from the same source. Because riders are free to travel at their own pace and stop at random, without worrying about traffic, they tend to meet other riders more easily. They also tend to interact with those riders throughout their journey. It’s almost as if the trail becomes the common bond of a disparate band of travelers.
Bike Route
Bicycle Route
Bicycle routes are often mistakenly called bicycle trails. A Bicycle route may contain sections of bike trails, but they are usually heavily dependent upon roads, streets and/or highways to connect the trails. If over 20% of a particular passage is on roadways of some kind, then it is a bicycle route as opposed to a bicycle trail. Bicycle routes are often signposted and linked with helpful amenities such as accommodations, eateries & interesting (scenic or historical) attractions. So Bicycle routes are desirable, but not quite up to the standards of a bicycle trail in terms of safety and relaxation.
Examples of Bike Trails and Bike Routes
The Great Allegheny Passage is an example of a bicycle trail. It is safe, easy to follow, scenic, historic and, most important, free of traffic. It is possible that a bike trail such as the Great Allegheny Passage may contain road crossings or occasional short sections of riding alongside a road; but in general, it is free of the usual foul smells and dangers of road riding. On the other hand, La Loire a Velo in France, often called La Loire a Velo trail, is actually a bicycle route … for now. They are doing a wonderful job of gradually expanding the trail portions of the route. But at the present, it is still a bicycle route with long sections of road riding.
