Romantische Straße and the Mittelrhein
| Category | Type | Name/Conf/Description | Notes | Cost | Origin | Destination | Kms | To Date | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-05-28: Exploring Alternatives | |||||||||
| Tip | General Info | Bodensee-Konigssee Radweg here's something for us to consider before we leave Fussen: | Bodensee-Konigssee Radweg. It goes through Fussen (east to west) and basically follows along the northern edge of the Alps. We could do some more riding along the Alps before (or instead of) heading off to Cologne. | 0 | |||||
| Tip | General Info | Fussen Forecast Alternate itinerary suggestion | I've been monitoring weather forecasts for Germany: Frankfurt: http://www.accuweather.com/en/de/frankfurt/60311/june-weather/168720?m Wurzburg http://www.accuweather.com/en/de/wurzburg/97070/june-weather/167557?m Fussen http://www.accuweather.com/en/de/fussen/87629/june-weather/167596?m Cologne http://www.accuweather.com/en/de/cologne/50667/june-weather/180169?m Mainz http://www.accuweather.com/en/de/mainz/55116/june-weather/171044?m Have a look at the forecasts for Fussen and Cologne. It looks like they expect Fussen to be socked in with rain for almost the whole month, but particularly at the time that we're planning to be there (according to the current itinerary). Cologne looks much more promising. My suggestion is that, if this hasn't changed by June 2nd when we are leaving Frankfurt, we might want to head west to Mainz and north to Cologne first rather than saving that for the end of the trip. Once we reach Cologne we can re-assess and figure out what we want to do. We might train to Fussen (or someplace else along that Alps route I found) and cycle back to Frankfurt. Or we might train to Frankfurt and ride to Fusen. Or we might save the Alps for another trip and go someplace that isn't going to be completely soggy. We have lots and lots of options. Just in case we need an alternative, here's what I've come up with. There are a couple of good routes that are accessible from the Rhine, the Moselle Cycle Route and the Ruhr Valley. I got those from the \"Top 10 Cycle Routes in Germany\" list, so I think they're pretty promising. Three more from that \"Top 10\" list are in the north of Germany, which can be our \"backup to the backup\". They are the Ems, Elbe and Weser routes. If we decide that we want to do that (i.e., if the weather around Cologne turns for shit), we could do something like the Ems northbound and then the Weser southbound or something. | 0 | |||||
| Note: The forecast for Füssen (and the whole German Alps area in general) is looking pretty grim, so I spent some time today exploring alternatives. I found a couple of good routes that are accessible from the Rhine that we could do if we have to skip the Alps. | |||||||||
| 2017-05-29: Airport Transport / Bike Rental | |||||||||
| Service | Rental | Frankfurt Bike Tour (Bike Rental) Rent a bike instead of taking Dewie? | thank you for your inquiry. We would be happy to support your European bike trip with our bikes.As you have maybe already seen, all our bikes are based on this model: http://www.contoura.de/modelle/parma/ We would for sure provide you one fitting to your body height.What WON’t be possible, is to put a front pannier, since our bikes aren’t provided with a frontal rack. We can for sure provide you a handlebar bag and back panniers as well. Here a link to get an Idea of the model: http://www.mctrek.de/radtouren/radtaschen/vaude-se-world-tourer-single-radtasche_4048621 To directly answer your questions: 1) Do you have a bike available from June 2nd to June 29th? Yes, we do! 2) If so, how much would the rental cost? The Bike will cost you € 239,00 3) Is it ok if I put a front pannier rack on the bicycle? As already mentioned, unfortunately it’s not possible. 4) Anything else I would need to know before renting a bike with you? The panniers are included in the price, together with a reparation kit. For sure feel free to contact us for further questions, we will be happy to help you. Regards, Julia Ciarrocchi terranova & RadTouren Teufel Zimmermann Touristik KG Martin-May-Str. 7 60594 Frankfurt a.M. Tel.: +49 69.69.30.54 Fax.:+49 69.69.34.98 E-Mail: julia@terranova-touristik.de www.terranova-touristik.de Thank you Julia. I want to clarify re: the luggage.I would want to bring all my own luggage: - Rear panniers. I believe my panniers would fit just fine on the pannier rack that you provide. Here are photos of what they are like: --- Two bags, front view: https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/usedphotosna/43571728_614.jpg --- One bag, rear view: https://thelazyrando.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/mec-bag.jpg?w=510&h=524 - Front pannier rack - Front panniers (similar to the ones in the pic above) - Handlebar bag Here's a picture of my rig from my last cycle tour (front/blue bike):http://www.damdetails.com/uploads/ff01369fc6a929d5d2f4ad863938b392.jpg € 239,00 is fine and it looks like you are in a convenient location for me to collect the bike from the Frankfurt International Airport. Would I come to Martin-May-Str. 7, 60594 Frankfurt a.M to get the bike? What time do you open? I arrive at 8:35AM on June 2. How would I pay for the bike? Do you require pre-payment, or do I pay when I get the bike? Thanks for all your help. | 0 | |||||
| Service | Rental | Bike Rental from Frankfurt | Phoned them on 2017-05-31. Sadly, the bikes cannot accommodate a front pannier rack so I can't rent a bike for this trip. | 0 | |||||
| Tip | General Info | Alamo Canceled Canceled Alamo this morning. Plan A or Plan B should work. | 0 | ||||||
| Tip | To Do | Confirm Transport Plan A: Doug coming from Vancouver on May 29 and driving us to the airport.\n Plan B: Michel picking us up at 5AM on Thursday to drive us to the airport.\n Plan C: Alamo pickup rental. | 0 | ||||||
| Note: Like in 2015, Brent's brother, Doug, came out from Vancouver to visit and then take us to the airport. So, I canceled Plan B (Michel) and Plan C (Alamo rental truck). Yay for Doug! | |||||||||
| 2017-05-30: Packing Day | |||||||||
Note: Brent has been off work since Monday and spending his time earnestly getting ready to go, including putting the bikes in boxes. Yay for Brent!
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| 2017-05-31: Planning and Prep | |||||||||
| Activity | Cycle | Itinerary Draft | Frankfurt -> Wurzburg via Main Radweg: 130km Romantic Road -> Fussen 424km Total one-way: 555km Brent and I talked about \"zooming\" to Fussen, and then \"dawdling\" back. That way we can scout things out on our way to Fussen and decide which places we want to spend more time in on the way back. If we do the total round trip, it's 1110km. If we cycle 20 days, that's an average of 55km/day. I think that's do-able, but if it turns out not to be, we always have the option of using the train to make up time. | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1157 | ||
| Tip | Accommodation Resource | Campingplätze am Main Radweg | 0 | ||||||
| Tip | Accommodation Resource | Wurzburg Camping | 0 | ||||||
| Tip | Accommodation Resource | Romantic Road Camping | 0 | ||||||
| Tip | Accommodation Resource | Campingplatz Willinger Tal | 0 | ||||||
| Tip | Accommodation Resource | Campsites and Hostels - Mileage Chart | Main Radweg (Bikeline, P119-P81) 0 - H - Frankfurt ? - I - Offenbach 9 - C - Fechenheim 11 - C - Rumpenheim 21 - CI - Hanau 30 - C - Klein-Krotzenburg 32 - C - Kimmelsteich ? - I - Seligenstadt ? - I - Aschaffenburg 45 - C - Mainaschaff 55 - C - Mainflingen 65 - CI - Obernburg 75 - CI - Worth am Main 77 - CI - Klingenberg 83 - CI - GroSheubach 90 - CI - Miltenberg ? - I - Burgstadt 97 - C - Freudenberg 100 - C - Collenberg 120 - HI - Wertheim 125 - C - Urphar 130 - C - Bettingen ? - C - Kreuzwertheim 135 - CI - Lengfurt ? - I - Marktheidenfeld ? - C - Zimmern 160 - CHI - Lohr am Main ? - C - Hofstetten 175 - CI - Gemunden ? - C - Muhlbach ? Karlstadt am Main 205 - C - Zellingen 220 - CW - Würzburg Rest Day in Würzburg Romantische Strasse 0 - CH - Würzburg ? Tauberbischofsheim ? Lauda-Königshofen 60+4 - Campingplatz Willinger Tal south of Bad Mergentheim. See map ? W Bad Mergentheim 74 - HW - Weikersheim +5? - C - Laudenbach outside of Weikersheim ? Röttingen 93 - H - Creglingen +10? - C - Munster outside of Creglingen 105 - C - Detwang 110 - HW - Rothenburg 125 - C - Schillingsfurst 144 - H - Feuchtwangen 172 - CH - Dinkelsbuhl 202 - IB - Wallerstein 208 - I/BW - Nordlingen Rest Day in Nordlingen ? Harburg ? Donauwörth 244 - ZH - Riedlingen 268 - IB - Rain 278 - C - Eggelstetten west of Oberndorf 319 - C - East of Gersthafen 321 - HW - Augsburg ? Friedberg ? Kaufering ? W Landsberg am Lech 407 - C - 3km s of Landsburg 435 - C - Rottenbuch ? Steingaden ? Wieskirche ? Neuschwanstein Castle 456 - C - 5km before Füssen 458 - C - 3km before Füssen 461 - HW - Füssen 465 - C - 4km nw of Fussen on other side of lake at Fischerbichl 468 - C - 7km n of Fussen on other side of lake at Osterreinen 471 - C - 10km n of Fussen on other side of lake at Rosshaupten Legend: Number: Kilometers from origin (Frankfurt or Würzburg) Z: Zeltplatz C: Campingplatz H: Hostel I: Information B: BnB or Hotel W: Waschsalon Bold: Tentative stop | 0 | |||||
| Tip | General Info | Romantic Road | 0 | ||||||
| Tip | General Info | Romantic Road | 44 | ||||||
| Tip | General Info | Bikeline Romantische Str | 37 | ||||||
| Tip | General Info | Bikeline Main Radweg | 37 | ||||||
| Tip | General Info | Route Map 575 km | 0 | ||||||
| Tip | General Info | Route Map - Return Short Cut Detail | 0 | ||||||
| Tip | General Info | Route Map - Return 455 km | I posted a couple of route maps to DAMDetails and Facebook. We can easily cut off that big northern elbow on our return trip, going directly from Weikersheim to Frankfurt instead of back up to Wurzburg and north along the Main river. So, our trip out will be 575km but our return will only be 455km (knocking off a whopping 120km for a total of 1030km) which makes me a LOT more comfortable with riding the whole thing. | 0 | |||||
| Tip | General Info | Waschsalons List of waschsalons along the Romantische Str, and in Kelsterbach | Würzburg SB-Waschsalon - Wäscherei Annastraße 13A, Würzburg https://goo.gl/maps/DKFmKMQyLE72 Bad Mergentheim Michael Czeke und Jola Wendland GdbR Wilhelm-Frank-Straße 64, 97980 Bad Mergentheim, Germany https://goo.gl/maps/5QiMrLt6N1M2 Weikersheim Wäscherei Haußmann (laundry service) Hauptstraße 19, 97990 Weikersheim, Germany https://goo.gl/maps/aCEcb53SxFP2 Rothenburg ob der Tauber Klaus Then Johannitergasse 9, 91541 Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany https://goo.gl/maps/m9rUq98e4xx Nördlingen Textilpflege Paris Deininger Str. 5, 86720 Nördlingen, Germany https://goo.gl/maps/7z3w1RL6iLC2 Zoom https://goo.gl/maps/eAGxGBKCjpu Augsburg - several https://www.google.ca/maps/search/waschsalon+near+augsburg,+Germany/@48.363276,10.9155673,13z Landsberg - two https://www.google.ca/maps/search/waschsalon+near+Landsberg+am+Lech,+Germany/@48.0606141,10.8538792,15z Füssen Reinigung-Wäscherei Krüger GmbH Hiebelerstraße 19, 87629 Füssen, Germany https://goo.gl/maps/N5DtJu6VcyK2 Kelsterbach Textilpflege Nowak e.K. Ringstraße 1, 65451 Kelsterbach, Germany https://goo.gl/maps/j29wHntEN4r | 0 | |||||
| Tip | General Info | Ways to get back to Frankfurt | I've been looking into some options to return from Fussen to Frankfurt in case we haven't the time or inclination to ride the whole way. Here's the page for the Romantic Road Coach, which looks like a fantastic way to get back if we're just flat out of time:http://www.romantic-road.com/index.php?id=romantic_road_coach If you look at our planning page, here:http://www.damdetails.com/calendar/day/232have a look for \"Train Map\", which is a screen shot of a larger map. You'll see Frankfurt up in the top-left, and Fussen near the bottom, off-center to the right. It looks like Augsburg would be an opportunity for us to: 1) Retrace from Fussen to Augsburg 2) Catch a train back to Frankfurt if that's what we would like to do Alternately, I'm thinking if we have a bit more time, we could take a train from Fussen to Munchen (maybe stop and check it out!), and then to Regensburg (cut off the map on the right-hand side). We could then cycle from Regensburg to Ulm, reversing part of our trip from 2015. It might look something like this:
I would love to visit Regensburg again and go to that amazing map store, and it would be nice to see Ulm again - it was pretty amazing. | 0 | |||||
| Tip | General Info | EV15: Rhine Route | 0 | ||||||
| Tip | General Info | Rhine Route | 0 | ||||||
| Tip | General Info | Legendary Rhine Romantic Route | 0 | ||||||
| Tip | General Info | Bikeline Rhein-Radweg Teil 3 | 0 | ||||||
| Tip | General Info | Waschsalons - Rhine List of Waschsalons along the Rhine | Mainz: Waschsalon Eco-Express Boppstraße 36, 55118 Mainz, Germany Mainz: Eco-Express SB-Waschsalon Parcusstraße, 55116 Mainz, Germany Mainz: Waschsalon Eco-Express Rheinstraße 15, 55116 Mainz, Germany Wiesbaden: Eco-Express Str. der Republik 4, 65203 Wiesbaden, Germany Rudesheim: Waschsalon Rinku Kapoor Grabenstraße 12, 65385 Rüdesheim am Rhein Neuwied: Waschsalon Heddesdorfer Str. 49, 56564 Neuwied Bonn: SB Waschsalon Bonner Str. 27, 53173 Bonn Bonn: Wasch-Salon Konrad-Adenauer-Platz 27, 53225 Bonn Bonn: Eco-Express Argelanderstraße 141, 53115 Bonn Bonn: Eco-Express Franzstraße 1, 53111 Bonn Cologne: Der Wasch-Bar Am Krumfingers Hof 7, 51149 Köln | 0 | |||||
| Tip | General Info | Itinerary with Rhine | Frankfurt to Wurzburg: 220km Wurzburg to Fussen: 480km Cologne to Frankfurt: 240km 2 - Begin cycling 6 - Arrive Wurzburg 7 - Rest Day 8-18 Cycle to Fussen (11 days, 500km) 13th: Rest day If we don't reach Fussen by 20th (to take the train to Cologne on the 21st), we should adjust the plan. 20 - train from Fussen - comfortable option 21 - train from Fussen - good option 22 - train from Fussen - tight option 22-27 Cycle Cologne to Frankfurt (this is six days... we should only need five) | 0 | |||||
| Tip | General Info | Castles on the Rhine | 0 | ||||||
| Tip | Handy | Bike Bags Also, in case Brent wants to see the bike bags I was talking about (the video for the “tardis” model is hilarious, it starts with a guy in the bag). | 0 | ||||||
| Tip | Handy | Train Map | 0 | ||||||
| Tip | Handy | Train Map - Rhine | 0 | ||||||
| Tip | Other | Helmet Covers | 0 | ||||||
| Tip | To Do | Call AC to register bikes | We don't have to call back within 24 hours of the flight, but she said we DO have to re-register the bikes if we ever receive a notification of a flight change. Call Air Canada within 24-hours to register bikes: 1-888-247-2262 Notes for packing: No air in tires, take off pedals Hard side container Max wt 70lb 115\" dimensions Fees: $50 fee for bicycle handling $100 fee for second piece of luggage | 0 | |||||
| Tip | Travel Resource | Romantic Road Coach Coach from Fussen to Frankfurt | Make reservation 2+ days ahead of time per e-mail from Daniel | 0 | |||||
| Tip | Travel Resource | Interrail Train Map | 0 | ||||||
| Tip | Travel Resource | DB Bahn - Trains | 0 | ||||||
| Travel | Flight | Lufthansa | 2016-06-05 RJS: Rome2Rio says that Lufthansa flies between here (both Edmonton and Calgary) and Frankfurt and I've checked on Lufthansa's web site and they still require that bicycles NOT be packed so a bike bag (or box) may be a moot point. 2016-06-05 LW: For the Lufthansa thing - a word of warning. If you get on a flight that is an Air Canada flight officially but a Lufthansa co-chair, you are bound by Air Canada’s rules. It’s a bit tricky, or can be. I might still bring along the lightweight bike bag as insurance! | 0 | Alberta - Cgy or Edm | Frankfurt | |||
| Travel | Vehicle | Alamo Rental Truck | 97.53 | YEG | YEG | ||||
| Note: Lots of \"hurry up and wait\" today. We're pretty much ready to go.\n I've been doing \"Operation Germany Brain\". I normally wake up at 4AM anyway. On Monday I got up at 3AM. Tuesday was 2AM. Today was 1AM and tomorrow will be midnight. Backing my brain up to be more used to Germany time by the time we get there. Since I want to cycle 30km on Day 1 to camp at Rumpenheim, I want to give myself the best shot possible at not being jet-lagged. | |||||||||
| 2017-06-01: Fly to Germany | |||||||||
| Service | Other | Baggage Fees $50/ea for second piece of luggage and $100/ea for bicycle. | 300 | ||||||
| Tip | General Info | Polarsteps Trip Loaded in 2023 - tracking feature not used | 0 | ||||||
| Travel | Flight | Laura from YYC | AC 844 depart YYC 05:50 pm, arr FRA 10:55 am (June 2) | 0 | YYC | FRA | |||
| Travel | Flight | Brent & Rhonda from YEG | AC 332 depart YEG 7:40AM, arr YUL 1:36PM AC 874 depart YUL 7:20 PM, arr FRA 8:20 AM (June 2) | 2200 | YEG | FRA | |||
| Note: \"Operation Germany Brain\" complete. Brent, Doug and I all actually got up at 11:30PM (Wednesday night). I've been getting up earlier and earlier all week to switch myself to Germany time before the trip. I'm not sure why Brent and Doug are up at this time... maybe they have \"Sympathy Germany Brain\". Note: We had a very smooth start to this trip. We were loading Doug's truck by 5AM and pulling away by 5:10. Pulled up to the Edmonton airport at 5:40, exactly two hours before our flight. There weren't too many people at the airport and we went through check-in quickly. The guys questioned us a couple of times to make sure we weren't carrying camping fuel (I'd mentioned that we're camping), which we weren't. \n We then had to take our \"moving\" boxes and the bike boxes over to the super-sized (not really) x-ray machine. The U-Haul \"Large\" boxes are just under the maximum size for luggage on Air Canada, so they make for perfect boxes to take all of our gear. We had to pay a 2nd Bag Fee ($50/ea) and Bicycle Fee ($100/ea) each for the bikes, though. $150/ea one-way. Flying a bike is getting expensive! The U-Haul boxes went through the x-ray machine, but the bike boxes wouldn't have stood a chance. The x-ray machine they have now is just too small. I'm sure there was a bigger one when we went to Australia several years ago, and the bikes just went through. So, in 2015, that's what I was expecting was to put the bikes through the x-ray machines and I had stuffed old towels and all manner of other padding throughout the box. When the lady in 2015 had to open the box to inspect the bike, we had to take everything out and then re-assemble it all because of that stupid padding. So, this time we were prepared for that and didn't use all the ridiculous padding... just a few pieces of awesome cardboard and styrofoam that Brent had gotten. The lady this time opened the boxes, visually inspected the bikes, and used her \"drug detection\" wand to check for contraband. Then, she taped us back up with her fancy tape that says \"Inspected\" on it, and away we went. \n Once we had dropped the U-Haul boxes and the bikes, off we went through security where Brent got \"busted\" for carrying powdered Gatorade in a used \"Ensure\" bottle. The lady asked him what it was and opened it up to have a look. Brent explained that when we'd toured in Europe before, we couldn't find anything like Gatorade ANYWHERE so, being the smart travelers that we are, we brought our own. \n A very smooth departure, indeed. Yay! Note: Our original departure time from YEG was 11:30AM, which gave us a two-hour layover in Montreal before we continued on to Frankfurt. Over the intervening months, AC changed the itinerary several times until we were leaving YEG at 7:40AM... meaning a SIX-HOUR layover in Montreal. Ugh. What a waste of time... and one of the main reasons I'd chosen the original itinerary was so that we wouldn't have a frightfully early departure in the morning. My best-laid plans can always be thwarted by an airline. | |||||||||
| 2017-06-02: To Rumpenheim | |||||||||
| Accommodation | Camp | Burgel Campingplatz | 20 | Burgel | |||||
| Activity | Cycle | Airport to Main Radweg | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Cycle | Frankfurt Airport to Rumpenheim Today: 26km; Total: 26km | 0 | 26 | 26 | 1157 | |||
| Tip | Reminder | Air France - Bike boxes? While Brent and Laura assemble bicycles, Rhonda will check with Air France to see about bike boxes. | 0 | ||||||
| Note: Brent and I didn't sleep worth a hoot on the flight from Montreal to Frankfurt. No particular reason - it just happened that way. And Laura didn't sleep worth a hoot on her flight, either. So, the three of us were the epitome of \"dead head\" today, with slower reaction times, slower thinking, silly mistakes... etc etc. We rode from the Frankfurt Flughafen and zigzagged our way through some green trails, following the rail line, to get to the Main Radweg. We made the 26 km to the campingplatz we were aiming for, and although we had lots of day left, and all felt like we could have gone further, we opted to stop and give our poor selves a break.\n All that being said, I think the consensus is that assembling at the airport and doing a short ride on day 1 was worth it. It seems like the more attractive option compared to trying to haul the baggage to a staging place to assemble. Note: I bought both the Bikeline book/map and the Kompass map for the Main Radweg to bring on this trip. Before we even left home I'd grown to hate the Bikeline book. Normally they're pretty good, but for some reason, instead of assembling the pages west to east so that the right side of this page lined up with the left side of that page (so the pages would flow logically), they put the pages in east to west so it was a real brain puzzle to follow the map - it just didn't flow logically.\n Before Laura arrived at Frankfurt, we met a couple from North Carolina who will be touring the Main for ten weeks. I offered them the Bikeline book (warned them about it being assembled \"backwards\"). I gave away the bad book before we even left the airport. Hah!
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| 2017-06-03: To Aschaffenburg | |||||||||
| Accommodation | Hotel | Hotel Wilder Mann | Incl breakfast | 135 | |||||
| Activity | Cycle | Rumpenheim to Aschaffenburg Today: 46km; Total: 72km | 0 | 46 | 72 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Sight See | Seligenstadt | 0 | 0 | 72 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Sight See | Aschaffenburg | 0 | 0 | 72 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Sight See | Park Schöntal, Aschaffenburg | 0 | 0 | 72 | 1157 | |||
| Note: Brent passed out without even having dinner last night and slept all the way through. Laura and I at least made it through dinner before passing out. That's when the thunderstorm hit and it was some impressive thunder to be sure. By 9PM or so it had played itself out so I re-opened our tent flaps to get some breeze through. And that's when the people showed up. Some folks up on the veranda having a good time, and some young folks scattered around the campingplatz having a good time. And that's when Ray Charles showed up. Someone came by with a vehicle blasting a remixed version of \"Hit the Road Jack\" that made me think \"oh hell no, I'm trying to sleep here\", and also \"hmmmmm... I should get that version of that song for my collection\". Interestingly, the vehicle moved on so the serene little campingplatz returned after just the one song. Yay for Ray!\n I laid awake for a while, so I tried my usual trick to fall asleep... counting down from 100. Didn't work, so then I counted down from 100 in German. I had to think about every single number as I went, which, although it didn't help me get to sleep, it sure gave me some good experience with German numbers. \n Note: We all woke up this morning pretty refreshed and ready to go. The restaurant at the campingplatz offered two breakfast choices: \"Kleine Frühstück\" and \"Grosse Frühstück\". We all opted for the \"Grosse Frühstück\", and although it was a LOT of food, we had no trouble packing it all away (in our bellies).\n The forecast for the day was not promising at all. There was a severe weather warning for thunderstorms and hail. It was originally supposed to come in several one-hour \"packages\": noon, 3PM, midnight, then a four-hour \"package\" from 3AM to 7AM. We decided to aim for Selegenstadt and see what was going on. Maybe we'd check into a hotel there and escape the storms. We got there before the noon storm... which ultimately didn't materialize at all... and had coffee and a look at the town. We then heard that they were calling for the weather to start at 3PM. So, we decided to aim for Aschaffenburg and see what was going on. As we rode, the clouds started threatening more and more, so we thought the 3PM was going to happen, but then, we started passing by the storm clouds and it seemed like we might just bypass it completely. Then, a new set started to develop as we were on approach to Aschaffenburg. About 4KM out of town, we encountered a local and his daughter who warned us strongly about the weather and recommended that we stop at Aschaffenburg. We told him that was actually our plan. He and his daughter \"escorted\" us all the way to Aschaffenburg and then stopped at the entrance to town to tell us about the Wilder Mann hotel, which is set up well for bicycles. Since it is a long weekend, we hoped against hope that they would have rooms for us... annnnnnd... they did. Yay! We got settled in, and the updated forecast said that the storm would start at 4PM, so we went walkabout looking for dinner, groceries and sights. We had amazing Thai dinner, bought some groceries (and a new sleeping bag for me), then randomly stumbled into Park Schöntal which contains the delightful ruin of a moated castle. \n At the time of this writing (7PM), we're still waiting for the severe weather to show up. We've gotten about 20 raindrops on us so far, collectively. Hopefully we'll get the storm tonight... otherwise we could have ridden further and camped tonight (and saved a pocketful of Euros). Note: Last night I made a most unfortunate discovery. On our trip in 2015, I'd given away my lighter sleeping bag in Croatia. When I was just thinking about replacing it several months ago, our friend, Jo Marley, asked me if I knew anyone who needed a sleeping bag because she'd bought one, but it was too short for her. I gleefully took her up on the offer for myself.\n Last night was my first time using it, and the unfortunate discovery was that the side zipper doesn't go down past about armpit location. I get really claustrophobic in mummy bags, and sometimes way too hot, so most of the time, I keep the bag completely unzipped so I can stick one foot out at will. Well, there's no sticking one foot out when the zipper only goes down to my arm pit because... well... I'm just not that good at yoga. So, I spent all night having to sit up every 30-60 minutes to alternate between being in the bag and getting too warm, and being out of the bag and getting too cold. \n In Aschaffenburg this evening I bought a new ultra-light mummy bag with a zipper that definitely goes all the way to the bottom. It's so light that I can carry it AND the \"Jo bag\" and figure out on a night-by-night basis what is going to work best. Even though it is too hot here for the \"Jo bag\", I think once we get down closer to the Alps, I might be happy to have the extra warmth of the \"Jo bag\", and in the meantime, I can just use the \"Jo bag\" as extra sleeping pad.
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| 2017-06-04: To Bettingen - 90km Day | |||||||||
| Accommodation | Camp | Campingpark Wertheim-Bettingen | 24 | ||||||
| Activity | Cycle | Aschaffenberg to Bettingen Today: 90km; Total: 162km | 0 | 90 | 162 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Sight See | MIltenberg | 0 | 0 | 162 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Sight See | Wertheim | 0 | 0 | 162 | 1157 | |||
| Note: In a million years I would have never committed myself to riding 90km in a day, fully loaded. I am so proud right now, and slightly drunk from the two Radlers with dinner. Brent always says one thing about cycle touring is that it makes you a cheap drunk. Yay for cycle touring! And yay for riding 90km!! Note: We cycled from Aschaffenburg to Bettingen today and the two “towns of interest along the way were Miltenberg and Wertheim. They were both awesome, but Miltenberg was particularly awesome. We started off in the drizzle at Aschaffenburg, but it stopped raining almost as soon as we started riding, so even though we had clouds, it didn’t really rain on us. We just enjoyed the cooler temperatures until mid-afternoon when the sun came back with a vengeance. If we do another long day like this tomorrow we can make it all the way to Wurzburg in four days instead of my allotted 5, which, as impressive as it would be, is rather unlikely. Brent and Laura could likely pull it off, but I’m not so sure about myself.
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| 2017-06-05: To Karlstadt via The Great Detour **PUBLIC HOLIDAY | |||||||||
| Accommodation | Camp | Campingplatz Karlstadt | 18 | ||||||
| Activity | Cycle | Bettingen to Karlstadt Today: 68km; Total: 230km | 0 | 68 | 230 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Sight See | Lohr am Main | 0 | 0 | 230 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Sight See | The Real Snow White (Lohr) | 0 | 0 | 230 | 1157 | |||
| Note: Today was an “anything can happen” kind of day… and not always the good kind of “anything”. Of the three of us, I was the most beat up from the 90km yesterday. We were all feeling it, but where Brent and Laura were feeling good to go today, I was less sure. We decided Karlstadt would be our goal (60km), but Gemunden (45km) also had a campingplatz, so if I was too “done” at that point to keep going, that’s where we’d stop.\n We actually had a super early start, which we all love. We were on the road by 7:30 after having breakfast of our groceries and tearing down in the fog and humidity. We stopped for “second breakfast” at Marktheidenfeld and a nice local told us where to find the open bakery in town (it’s a holiday Monday, so not much open). I was starting to feel better, so we easily made the next bit of distance to our lunch stop destination, Lohr am Main. \n Lohr was a wonderful little town but there wasn’t a warm meal to be found, so we satisfied ourselves with some tea and coffee. Just as we were about to head out, a lady stopped to talk to us. We had a nice long conversation with her and she told us about how, in the 80s, some historians decided that the story “Snow White” was set in Lohr. They decided that based on the local castle which was full of mirrors, and the local mines which required short employees. She was fantastic.\n Leaving Lohr, we were all still feeling really good and we toodled along beside the Main at a leisurely pace, tucking in behind a couple of other cycle tourists for several kilometers. We were going to have our third break at Gemunden (which would also be my decision point for whether to stop for the night), but Laura was too hungry and asked to stop for something to eat. We saw a field of goats… lots of nannies and kids frolicking, so we decided to enjoy a bite to eat by the goats. \n When we got back underway, we were on approach to Gemunden when the cycle trail ended and we had to ride on the road for a while. Closer to town, we noticed that the bridge across to town was demolished. Brent and Laura were discussing it like the nerdy engineer and construction worker that they are when suddenly we noticed a green bicycle sign detouring us up off the road and onto a gravel road traveling steeply up. We assumed it was a detour to get us off the highway, and with a bit of whingeing, we started to climb the gravel road. And climb. And climb. And climb and climb and climb. Finally when we’d climbed beyond what anyone would consider reasonable, we stopped for a chat and discussed our options. Our options being… keep climbing the gravel road or turn around and go back down the gravel road and ride on the highway that, presumably, we weren’t supposed to be on. \n We consulted the map and decided that we were on the road up to the town of Massenbuch, which is on the top of a mountain. Coming down the other side, we would have a few options to connect back onto the Main Radweg, so we opted to keep climbing. Cruelest cycle detour ever. Leaving Massenbuch, the only road we could find out of town was taking us to Wiesenfeld, which was further out of our way than we really wanted to go, but at this point we didn’t have much choice and it had started to rain. We rode down to Wiesenfeld, which, thankfully, was a paved road down. Coming down took 3.5 seconds compared to the 45 minutes or so we spent climbing up (Laura says it was more like 5 million fucking hours). It was a 200m-ish climb on a gravel road that ranged from about 8% to 15% grade. Oof.\n When we got to Wiesenfeld, we found a road sign again pointing us even further out of town, so we were pondering the map and discussing options. A couple of fit cyclists with their spandex-butts stopped to help us out and told us in that direction, we’d get to Karlstadt via the Main Radweg, but it would be longer. In this direction, we’d get to Karlstadt shorter, but it would be on a busy road. We thanked them and they headed on their way. We opted at first to go the Main Radweg way, but after a climb out of town on a busy road we couldn’t find a route that made sense so we turned around and went back to take the busy road to Karlstadt.\n We took the busy highway up and out of Karlstadt. I was so done at that point I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to keep climbing the road. Finally we made it to the top (without being squished) and started the long downhill towards Karlstadt. Rather than take the busy highway all the way to Karlstadt, we turned toward Karlburg and took the quieter roads to reach Karlstadt. Now THAT was an awesome decision. Thank goodness for Brent because I was going to stay on the highway, but he suggested detouring through Karlburg. \n On the whole “Great Detour” (Brent’s name for it), we didn’t see any other cyclists. We’d been seeing bike and bike and bike steadily all day… but not a soul on the detour. We’ve decided that it probably wasn’t really a detour at all, but rather a completely separate route. The other cyclists must have seen a different detour which we missed. Anything can happen!\n We finally reached Karlstadt, and found the campingplatz immediately. It didn’t look very appealing from the bridge into town, but it was the best thing ever. The host was extremely friendly and helpful, finding us an amazing site with a little covered table. He brought us three chairs so we could sit, and even an extension cord so we could plug in to the power box. Our E6/ea for the night even includes admission to the swimming pool next door. \n There was a lot of suffering today, but this will be one of the days that we’ll never forget. I’m super grateful that Laura is the “soldier on” type, otherwise this could have turned really bad.\n A (hopefully) short and (hopefully) uneventful 30km to Wurzburg, and the start of the Romantische Str, tomorrow. Yay!\n Note: I’m so glad I figured out ahead of time when the national holidays are in Germany in June. Brent and I were caught unawares a few times in 2015 and were unable to find food or provisions in some very inconvenient times. This time we were completely ready for it and bought groceries ahead of time, which we successfully used to prevent any of us starving to death over the holiday Monday.
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| 2017-06-06: To Würzburg (a.k.a. our \"rest day\") | |||||||||
| Accommodation | Pension | Pension Siegel | 90 | ||||||
| Activity | Cycle | Karlstadt to Würzburg Today: 32km; Total: 262km | 0 | 32 | 262 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Other | Hugendubel (Book store) | 0 | 0 | 262 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Sight See | Marienberg Fortress | 0 | 0 | 262 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Sight See | Karlstadt | 0 | 0 | 262 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Sight See | Würzburg | 0 | 0 | 262 | 1157 | |||
| Note: We had a pleasant and uneventful ride to Würzburg today. We found the Altstadt very easily and enjoyed having a look around, especially in the Hugendubel (a large book store that carries a lot of fahrrad touring maps and books). I bought a book/map for Bodensee-Konigssee-Radweg just in case we decide we want to do some extra riding in the Alps once we get to Füssen. Note: We have had no luck at all finding WiFi for over a day now, but the Info Center in Würzburg was able to direct us to a Waschsalon, so we rode over there to do a load of laundry. The Waschsalon had a little internet station, so we paid a Euro for 20 minutes of internet to find out that the forecast is for a lot of rain on and off until tomorrow. With the remainder of our 20 minutes, we looked for a hotel, but they are crazy expensive. Brent had scooped an “Accommodation along the Romantische Str” brochure from the Info Center, so he used that to find us a good Pension right in Würzburg instead.
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| 2017-06-07: To Tauberbischofsheim, the Lesser Detour and Relentless Wind | |||||||||
| Accommodation | Pension | Hotel am Schloss | Incl breakfast | 88.5 | |||||
| Activity | Cycle | Würzburg to Tauberbischofsheim Today: 43km; Total: 305km | 0 | 43 | 305 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Sight See | Würzburg Residence | 0 | 0 | 305 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Sight See | Tauberbischofsheim | 0 | 0 | 305 | 1157 | |||
| Note: A couple days ago we had the \"Great Detour\". Today we had the \"Lesser Detour and Relentless Wind\". I wanted to get all the way to the campingplatz outside of Bad Mergentheim today, but it was not to be. Leaving Wurzburg, we made a mistake and missed a turn, climbing up and up into the town of Waldbüttelbrunn. In correcting our mistake, we over-corrected and climbed up into Hochberg before finally making our way onto the proper Radweg.\n So, how are we making all these mistakes, you ask? Well, I've been thinking about that. Along the route, sometimes they don't have a detailed route sign. They use generic white signs with a green bicycle on them as supplemental signs to point the way along the route. The problem is that they also use the same generic white signs with a green bicycle on them to mark other routes. So, when we make a mistake, we still end up finding green bicycles to follow and by the time we realize we've made the mistake, we're pretty committed into the mistake. \n When we started out this morning, we had some rather brisk wind. Add the \"lesser detour\", and it took us almost two hours to advance 5km down the official route. Yikes. As we rode today, the wind was howling most of the time, and we had a wicked 16% grade climb after Hochhausen. I called an early stop because I was just too done to go all the way to our daily destination. Instead, we stopped at Tauberbischofsheim and checked into a Pension because the town doesn't have a campingplatz.\n Tauberbischofsheim is a great little town and we thoroughly enjoyed exploring it at the end of the day. I was super grateful to not push another 20km through the howling headwind. 20km doesn't normally sound like much, but considering we actually only did 40km today with the hills and wind, another 20 would have been too much for me.
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| 2017-06-08: To Detwang | |||||||||
| Accommodation | Camp | Campingplatz Tauber-Idyll | 28 | ||||||
| Activity | Cycle | Tauberbischofsheim to Detwang Today: 70km; Total: 375km | 0 | 70 | 375 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Sight See | Bad Mergentheim | 0 | 0 | 375 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Sight See | Weikersheim | 0 | 0 | 375 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Sight See | Creglingen | 0 | 0 | 375 | 1157 | |||
| Note: Shortly after leaving Tauberbischofsheim, we were riding through a field. Brent looked over and pointed out a boar-shaped rock. As Laura and I looked over at the rock, it started to move, and then two other shapes near it moved as well. The mama boar and her two boar-lets moved off into the long bushes. I’ve never seen a wild boar before, and never expected to see one. It was awesome. Note: We stopped for a relatively long look at Bad Mergentheim, which was a fantastic place, although somewhat overcrowded and touristy. The gem of the day for us was Weikersheim, which was just really unique compared to the other German towns we’ve visited. The Platz and Schloss were particularly fantastic. Note: Today was a day of climbing. For most of the day we hardly noticed, as it was a steady slight grade. After Creglingen, we started some more serious climbing, including a LOT of up and down. We had chosen the Campingplatz at Detwang as our destination for the day, and we were glad we did because tomorrow is going to bring a shed-load of climbing up to Rothenburg and then to Schillingsfurst.
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| 2017-06-09: To Schillingsfurst | |||||||||
| Accommodation | Camp | Campingplatz Frankenhohe | 21 | ||||||
| Activity | Cycle | Detwang to Schillingsfurst Today: 20km; Total: 395km | 0 | 20 | 395 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Sight See | Rothenburg ob der Tauber | 0 | 0 | 395 | 1157 | |||
| Note: At the Detwang Campingplatz, Brent got a brochure for Rothenburg. It sounded like a great place to stop and spend some time. We’re all feeling a little fatigued, and the first 20km after Detwang is all uphill… some of it steep. So, we decided to climb the first five km up to Rothenburg and spend a good part of the day there, and then stay at the Campingplatz just beyond Schillingsfurst, riding only 20km for the day. Note: Rothenburg was a beautiful spot, but quite crowded with tourists. We used Brent’s brochure to give ourselves a walking tour of the town, and then made a visit to the “Crime Museum”, which should have been named the “Unspeakable Torture Museum”. There was some horrific stuff there. But some interesting stuff as well. Who knew that the punishment was so severe for a baker who made a loaf of bread slightly too small?? Laura and I also enjoyed the “Shame Flute”, which was a public shaming device used to punish bad musicians. Note: Leaving Rothenburg we followed the do-able 3% grade most of the way to Schillingsfurst. The 8% grade at the end was a bit of a grunt, though. The Campingplatz was right out of town and we’re in the great little segregated Zeltplatz surrounded by a fence of trees and (so far) with no neighbors at all. There’s a little shelter with a picnic table and clothes lines, and two power outlets. We’re making ourselves quite comfortable. Note: After settling in to the Zeltplatz, I went over to the WC. On my way, I cut through an empty camp site and said hello to the people camped beside it. They said hello back, but I thought they sounded quite disapproving, and I wondered if they didn’t appreciate me cutting through the empty lot beside them. On my way back, I was going to cut through the same way again and found that they were busily constructing a fence blocking off the route across the empty lot. Ummmmm… yep, I guess they didn’t like me cutting across. I had to confess to Laura and Brent that I’d committed some kind of heinous social faux-pas within moments of arriving at the place.
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| 2017-06-10: To Nordlingen | |||||||||
| Accommodation | Pension | Hotel Garni Kirchenwirt am Daniel | 90 | ||||||
| Activity | Cycle | Schillingsfurst to Nordlingen Today: 71km; Total: 466km | 0 | 71 | 466 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Sight See | Dinkelsbühl | 0 | 0 | 466 | 1157 | |||
| Note: We had sort of chosen Dinkelsbuhl as our destination for tonight. It was only 40km down the road, but also the only place before Donauworth with a Campingplatz. Thanks to Brent and the Bikeline book, though, we were able to shave off more than 10km by taking a shortcut route. When we pulled into Feuchtwangen for “first coffee”, we noticed two signs for Dinkelsbuhl – one was 26km and one was 14km. Laura and I looked at the Kompass map and decided that the shorter route was on a highway, which we weren’t interested in doing, even though the official route took us WAY out of our way for no points of interest. Thankfully Brent looked at the Bikeline book and found the actual shortcut which was NOT on the highway at all – it was on pathways and side roads. We followed the shortcut and made it to Dinkelsbuhl in only about 30km. \n After Dinkelsbuhl, we dreaded a section outside of Ruhlingstetten, which the authors of “The Romantic Road” said they “found it to be the roughest bit of track on the whole Romantic Road route”. Rather than ride that bit, Laura sketched us out a detour taking us through Unterbronnen. In Unterbronnen we stopped to re-consult our maps and had a wonderful chat with four young local ladies eager to try out their English on the “Canadians”. They were very helpful and pointed us in the direction we wanted to go. The remainder of the detour took us up a steep steep hill, at the top of which we made another friend who stopped to give us directions and then introduce us to her dad and nephew at the farm on the hill.\n Our next thought for where we might stop for the night was Wallerstein. It was just shy of Nordlingen and had a Penzion listed in Brent’s reference brochure. That didn’t pan out, so we started calling Penzions in Nordlingen. On the first call, Brent got a person who spoke English, but the Penzion was booked up for the night. On the second call, we got a person who didn’t speak English, so since apparently I have the most German of the three of us, I took over the call and managed to procure us a couple of rooms at Hotel Garni Kirchenwirt am Daniel in Nordlingen, which is right on the main Platz (across from the enormous church). It was quite the lucky find.\n After we settled in to our Penzion, we went in search of dinner and randomly chose a German restaurant… with Croatian items on the menu. The proprietor is a transplant from the former Yugoslavia, so Laura and I enjoyed some Croatian food (Brent stuck with schnitzel)… and I mean we ENJOYED some Croatian food. It was amazing AND enormous.\n Note: While we were riding the Main, I didn’t miss the Bikeline guide at all. I’d given it away before we’d even left the airport and we made out just fine with only the Kompass Map. \n On the Romantische Str, we have the Kompass Map, the Bikeline Map/Book, AND “The Romantic Road from Wurzburg to Fussen” guide. We are finding all three to be absolutely essential reference materials, and we’ve also added the “Places to Stay” brochure that Brent picked up as an essential material. We also have my projected route/schedule, which we’ve been referring to constantly, and the info about the towns of interest along the way. The Kompass Map is great for a contiguous view of the route and for the cumulative kilometer markers. The Bikeline map is better for the elevation profile, alternate routes (i.e., shortcuts) and hill indicators. The “Romantic Road from Wurzburg to Fussen” is excellent for commentary and detailed instructions. The Bikeline book probably has that as well, but it’s all in German. It’s nice to have it in English. \n
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| 2017-06-11: To Donauworth | |||||||||
| Accommodation | Camp | Kanu Club Donauworth | 21 | ||||||
| Activity | Cycle | Nordlingen to Donauworth Today: 44km; Total: 510km | 0 | 44 | 510 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Sight See | Harburg | 0 | 0 | 510 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Sight See | Donauwörth | 0 | 0 | 510 | 1157 | |||
| Note: We considered going further than Donauworth today if we had the ambition, but the heat of the day drained that right out of us. We did, however, decide to not bother taking a rest day. None of us feel a need, yet, for a rest day, which is pretty awesome. We have taken a couple of short days, but no actual rest days so far. \n I sketched out a plan to get to us to Fussen, advancing a relatively small distance each day (between 30 and 60km), hopping Campingplatz to Campingplatz. We should reach Fussen by Friday, which is several days ahead of my original projection. That should give us time to do some “bonus riding” perhaps out of Fussen… perhaps along the Rhine… who knows? We’ll see.\n Note: Breakfast at our Penzion wasn’t until 8AM, so we went out early to do a little walking tour of Nordlingen. It is a very lovely place. Note: Being in Donauworth is interesting because we were also here in 2015 when we rode the Donau. Last time, it was raining so we’d taken accommodation at a Penzion and eschewed the Campingplatz, even though Laura and Gabi had waited there for us for a time (after Laura’s bike spoke repair). It’s beautiful this time… in fact, a little too beautiful. It’s scorching hot. After setting up at the Campingplatz we went into town for ice cream, beer and dinner.
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| 2017-06-12: To Eggelstetten (near Oberndorf) | |||||||||
| Accommodation | Camp | Donau-Lech Camping | 28 | ||||||
| Activity | Cycle | Donauworth to Eggelstetten Today: 45km; Total: 555km | 0 | 45 | 555 | 1157 | |||
| Note: We sketched out a plan which takes us from Campingplatz to Campingplatz all the way to Fussen. The Campingplatzes are few and far between on the Romantische Str, so this was no easy feat. We’re ahead of schedule, so not in a rush, and decided to aim for the Campingplatz at Eggelstetten, only 30km from Donauworth, but a ways off the main Romantische Str route.\n We ended up taking a wrong turn at Rain and did a great little “diversion” involving seeing some of the gardens at Rain, and riding through a hay field… directly through some felled hay. When we discovered that we were on the wrong road, we were several kilometres already in the wrong direction and on the wrong side of the river, so we had to backtrack all the way back to Rain (and the bridge to the other side of the river). On the way back, Brent and I took the opportunity to take a “roll in the hay”. \n After correcting our mistake, we easily made it to Oberndorf (the town on the route closest to the Campingplatz) and had lunch in the wonderful Greek restaurant in town, then doubled back to the turnoff for Eggelstetten (and the Campingplatz) for a total of 45km (15 “bonus” kms). \n The Campingplatz at Eggelstetten is a real gem. It’s a shame that it’s so far off the official route – Fahrrad Wanderen would love it here. They have an AWESOME Zeltplatz, an excellent common room with WiFi and vending machines, showers, AND washers and dryers. All beside a lovely little pond with kids frolicking in it. I’m so pleased we came here.\n Note: Yesterday, Brent discovered that my rear tire is worn just about completely out. He thought he would put his spare tire on it, but it’s very wide and he’d brought the wrong size of tube for it, so even though we have a spare tire, and spare tubes, we don’t have a spare tire and a spare tube that will work with each other. I don’t really want his spare tire anyway as it’s very wide.\n Since it was Sunday, there was no point in trying to get to a bike store, but Donauworth has a couple of bike stores so we’d go before leaving town today. Oops. The bike store was open yesterday, so we could have taken care of business yesterday, but it is closed on Mondays so I have to ride to the next bike store. None on our route today, so it’ll hopefully be tomorrow that I find something (before I blow out my tire completely). The bike store did have one of those tub vending machines, though, so at least we were able to pick up a tube that would fit Brent’s spare tire in case worse comes to worst and we NEED to put his spare tire on my bike. \n
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| 2017-06-13: To Gerstofen (outside of Augsburg) | |||||||||
| Accommodation | Camp | Campingplatz Bella Augusta | Two nights | 63 | |||||
| Activity | Cycle | Eggelstetten to Gersthofen Today: 48km; Total: 603km | 0 | 48 | 603 | 1157 | |||
Note: We had an easy ride to Gersthofen today, and found me a new tire there. We chose a Campingplatz near Auguburg (outside of Gersthofen) which is actually right at an Autobahn exit, but it’s surprisingly nice. We’ll stay here two nights and take our first actual “rest day” in Augsburg tomorrow. At the Campingplatz, we did some bike maintenance – Brent put on my new tire and Laura’s new French lock, and I lubed up everyone’s chain with my fancy wax lube.
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| 2017-06-14: \"Rest Day\" in Augsburg | |||||||||
| Accommodation | Camp | Campingplatz Bella Augusta again | |||||||
| Activity | Cycle | To Augsburg and Back from Campingplatz Today: 18km; Total: 621km | 0 | 18 | 621 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Sight See | Augsburg | 0 | 0 | 621 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Sight See | The Fuggerei The Fuggerei is the world's oldest social housing complex still in use. | The rent was and is still one Rheinischer Gulden per year (equivalent to 0.88 euros), as well as three daily prayers for the current owners of the Fuggerei — the Lord's Prayer, Hail Mary, and the Nicene Creed. The conditions to live there remain the same as they were 480 years ago: one must have lived at least two years in Augsburg, be of the Catholic faith and have become indigent without debt. | 0 | 0 | 621 | 1157 | ||
| Activity | Sight See | St. Anne's Church | 0 | 0 | 621 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Sight See | Maximilian Museum | 0 | 0 | 621 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Sight See | Golden Hall in Augsburg Rathaus | 0 | 0 | 621 | 1157 | |||
| Note: We took our “rest day” in Augsburg today (18km round trip from the Campingplatz). The Fuggerei and the Golden Room were the absolute highlights. Spending a relaxing evening at the Campingplatz, and re-doing the unsuccessful laundry from the other night. Oh, the other night, our washing machine died on us so we had to rinse as best we could and then hang stuff to dry. It was not successful. Note: Having been caught off-guard a couple of times, we've learned to pay good attention to when the national holidays are. European countries take their national holidays very seriously, and when they say things are closed on holidays, they mean THINGS are CLOSED on national holidays. Tomorrow is Corpus Christi, which is a national holiday in Germany, so we've visited the Lidl to grocery up for tomorrow's breakfast, tomorrow's lunch, Friday's morning and Friday's lunch (as a contingency in case we can't find dinner tomorrow).
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| 2017-06-15: To Landsberg am Lech *PUBLIC HOLIDAY | |||||||||
| Accommodation | Camp | Campingplatz Landsberg am Lech | 26 | ||||||
| Activity | Cycle | Gerstofen to Landsberg am Lech Today: 60km; Total: 681km | 0 | 60 | 681 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Sight See | Kaufering | 0 | 0 | 681 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Sight See | Landsberg am Lech | 0 | 0 | 681 | 1157 | |||
| Note: Today started off with a boatload of uncertainty. Laura was not feeling well. She hurled a couple of times after she got up and I wasn’t sure she’d want to ride… I know I wouldn’t have. But, after the second hurl she said she was starting to stabilize, and we managed to get a bun into her (and she managed to keep it down), so off we went. As the day progressed, she did slowly start to feel better and was able to do our whole distance. That was the other aspect of uncertainty. From studying my various maps, I couldn’t figure out exactly how long our ride would be today. I kept coming up with wildly different answers, ranging from 45km to 110km. I thought that 70km was most likely, and when we arrived at our Campingplatz, we ended up being spot-on about 60km. Note: We rode through a town called Scheuring today. There wasn’t much to see there, but I was interested to see it anyway. Our “tour guide” (Jürgen) told me he thought “Scheuring” meant that a place where you keep feed for animals (perhaps a grainery?). That made sense to me because I’ve been told that Scheurer means “owner of a grainery”. So, the Scheuring is the grainery, and the Scheurer is the guy who owns it? Maybe? Note: Just past Scheuring, we were stopped at a junction consulting our maps when a man introduced himself to us to help us get oriented. He lives in Kaufering and was just on his way home, so he offered to show us the way to Landsberg. His name was Jürgen and we got to know him as he guided us all the way to Landsberg where he showed us some sights and we bought him a beer. \n We then continued to the Campingplatz (escorted by his friend who owns a bike store in Landsberg). At 6:30, Jürgen is going to come back and pick us up and take us into Landsberg where we’ll meet his wife and daughter for dinner. How exciting! His wife is French, from Nantes (a place along the Loire that Brent and I have visited previously).\n
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| 2017-06-16: To Rottenbuch | |||||||||
| Accommodation | Camp | Campingplatz am Richterbichl | 23.5 | ||||||
| Activity | Cycle | Landsberg am Lech to Rottenbuch Today: 51km; Total: 732km | 0 | 51 | 732 | 1157 | |||
| Note: We had a fantastic German dinner with Jürgen and his wife, Nathalie, and their daughter, Victoria. Nathalie is from Nantes (France) and has excellent English. Victoria has been learning English in school for two years but is very shy about using her English. After dinner, they invited us back to our place where they fed us some white wine, Greek olives, dark chocolate and candy-coated black licorice. They had two adorable bunnies in a hutch and a beautiful back yard. They were amazingly friendly and enjoyable. As we were finishing up, it started to rain. Jürgen and Nathalie offered to let us stay at their place, but we declined – we like to camp in the rain.\n As we arrived back at the Campingplatz, the rain and wind had picked up some, and we walked down the hill to our tents in some running streams (aka the road). In the night, the wind blew my side of the fly in (the ground had been impossible to peg in properly), but then eventually it cleared up and I just completely opened up my part of the fly and had my side of the tent pretty much open the rest of the night, which was awesome. There was less carnage in the morning to clean up than I expected… just the usual damp tent fly. \n Note: According to our elevation profile, the next two days should have us in the foothills of the Alps, and arriving in Fussen tomorrow. How exciting, but at the same time it means a LOT of climbing (those foothills) on our way. We had a very very long 13% downhill followed by a couple of short 12% uphills. The 13% downhill is described in “The Romantic Road” as “Turn right to reach Reichling where unfortunately you drop off the edge of the world”. Laura and I had ourselves pretty psyched out about that, but it turned out to be not that bad. What WAS bad, however, was an unexpected 18% downhill leaving Schongau on a street (the regular pathway was damaged), and an unexpected 20% uphill that those crazy British people (The authors of “The Romantic Road”) neglected to tell us about. Note: Being that we’re now in the foothills, the scenery is stunning. We’ve heard that Bavarians consider themselves Bavarians first and Germans second, and have a bit of a “superiority complex”. It’s easy to see why. Their countryside is stunning, and they’re astonishingly friendly, helpful, and disproportionately excited to see Canadian visitors.\n We met Jürgen and Nathalie yesterday. Today was also filled with fabulous Bavarians. \n First there was Hans who we met in Altenstadt. He passed us in his car, then pulled over to wait for us and talk. His son-in-law is a hockey player from the Edmonton area who moved to Germany several years ago. He wanted to talk and take pictures of us. Ironically, as we were entering Schongau, we ran into him again as we were consulting our maps for our route into town and he told us how to get up the hill to the Altstadt. Once up at Altstadt, we met him again (on purpose this time) by the fountain and had more of a visit and more pictures.\n After we finally said farewell to Hans, we tied up our bikes and were about to go check out the local church when we were accosted by Felix who was sitting having a coffee. He spoke excellent English and wanted us to join him for coffee while he waited for his fiancé to finish with a doctor’s appointment. Felix had the best “how we met” story ever. He told us about being on a boat and being seasick. He’d prepared some fish for himself (hobbyist cook). He went to the front of the boat where he encountered Barbara, who was sitting there, also feeling seasick. He asked if he could sit with her, and she accepted. He put his arm around her (something he wouldn’t normally do), and she put his head on her shoulder, and together they ate the fish he’d prepared. Awwwwww. So sweet.\n Later on, as we were cycling through Peiting, Brent waited outside while Laura and I went into a grocery store. When we came out, Brent was deep in conversation with Johannes, who has two uncles in Canada. Johannes kept us for a while to chat, and was apparently very impressed with us for hauling all of our gear for camping.\n Note: A super-special treat for us tonight. The local brass band is out at the Campingplatz playing some Bavarian music. I think the whole town is out, including the Burgermeister (mayor). A bunch of the older men are out in their Lederhosen and Tyrolean hats. Amazing.
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| 2017-06-17: To Füssen | |||||||||
| Accommodation | Camp | Camping Brunnen Schwangau | Four nights | 160 | |||||
| Activity | Cycle | Rottenbuch to Füssen Today: 45km; Total: 777km | 0 | 45 | 777 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Sight See | Wiesekirche Unesco World Heritage Site | 0 | 0 | 777 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Sight See | Füssen | 0 | 0 | 777 | 1157 | |||
| Note: We started the day by backtracking into Rottenbuch to see the church, which the authors of \"The Romantic Road\" called a \"Rococo Explosion\". The campingplatz opened at 7:30, and we had to wait for that to pay on departure. The church opened at 8:00, so it worked out perfectly.\n From Rottenbuch to Halblech it was extremely hilly... up and down and up and down and up and down. It was also extremely beautiful - the countryside itself, and the Alps showing more and more. From Halblech the rest of the way to Füssen was surprisingly (and mercifully) flat. \n We did it. We cycled the Romantische Strasse!! Note: Füssen is extremely beautiful... and extremely busy and chaotic with tourists. I have mixed feelings of enjoying the beauty and being vexed by the crowds. I feel like we've spent the last two weeks backcountry camping and now we've suddenly emerged in Times Square. Yikes!\n Even our Campingplatz is crazy busy. The Zeltplatz, which is normally just, you know... for ZELTS... has cars all over it, and tents all on top of one another. It's not going to be our favorite place to stay. I'm hoping the Rhine will be more normal again rather than this touristy anthill.
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| 2017-06-18: Schlösser! | |||||||||
| Accommodation | Camp | Camping Brunnen Schwangau again | |||||||
| Activity | Cycle | To and from things we did Today: 26km; Total: 803km | 0 | 26 | 803 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Sight See | Neuschwanstein Castle | 30 | 0 | 803 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Sight See | Hohenschwangau Castle | 30 | 0 | 803 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Sight See | Museum of the Bavarian Kings | 30 | 0 | 803 | 1157 | |||
| Note: Our schedule allowed for spending a day or two in the Füssen area. When we got into town yesterday, I had such a negative reaction to how touristy Füssen is, and how insanely crowded the Zeltplatz was with car campers (and their stupid cars), that I suggested we spend only one day and then move on. Surely there's a less crowded place we could spend our day.\n This morning, though, the Campingplatz started clearing out in a big way and we realized that the Zeltplatz would likely be much more livable after Sunday check-out. Brent suggested staying for the extra day to do everything we want to do, and Laura and I thought it was a good idea. We'd even be able to move our tents to a better spot on the Zeltplatz, which would make it easier, too. Good thing we'd decided to stay, because it turned out we didn't really have much choice. The DB (Deutche Bahn) office turned out to be closed today and we weren't able to buy our train tickets for tomorrow. We could have used the automated ticket dispenser, but it doesn't deal with bicycles, and with having two tight connections we wouldn't want to take a chance on not being able to get our bikes onto our second two trains. Note: The first thing we did this morning was head over to the ticket office for the castles. We managed to get tickets for the last tours of the day, which was advised by the interweb (the tour busses are mostly cleared out by then). We then went back to the Campingplatz and prepared to move our tents, had lunch, waited out the departing campers, and moved to a much better spot on the Zeltplatz.\n Then, we headed back to Schwangau, where the attractions are. We visited the museum first and learned about the Bavarian kings, then we walked up the one hill for our tour of Hohenschwangau castle and then down that hill and up the second hill to see Neuschwanstein castle, which is the one that the Disney castle is based on. We had just enough time before the Neuschwanstein tour to hoof it on up to the Marienbrucke suspension bridge, which is a primo location from which to see the Newschwanstein castle. I was concerned that I'd make us late for our tour (I was the one who wanted to go to the suspension bridge), so I hoofed it up that hill super fast. To Neuschwanstein was about a 120m climb (over 1.4km) and then to Marienbrucke was another 30-ish. We made it on time to take a couple of pictures and then hoof it back on over to the castle.\n You're not allowed to take pictures inside the castles, but Neuschwanstein was really great. It was really unique and beautiful with an amazing bedchamber, throne room, and a fake grotto right within the castle. I would totally live in this castle - it was fantastic.
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| 2017-06-19: Forggensee and Cable Car | |||||||||
| Accommodation | Camp | Camping Brunnen Schwangau again | |||||||
| Activity | Cycle | To stuff, and Forggensee Lake Today: 49km; Total: 852km | 0 | 49 | 852 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Other | Tegelberg Cable Car | 59 | 0 | 852 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Sight See | Forggensee | 0 | 0 | 852 | 1157 | |||
| Note: First thing this morning we went off to the Deutche Bahn office again to get our train tickets for tomorrow. Unfortunately, all of the Fahrrad spots on the trains were reserved already so we can’t travel tomorrow. So, the nice lady helped us book for the next day instead – thankfully that was available, otherwise our plans for riding the Rhine could be in jeopardy. \n That means we have an extra day before we leave for Koln. Laura suggested that we do a scenic train ride, perhaps to somewhere in Tirol, or to Innsbruck. Brent and I were all over that, and when we looked into tickets, it turns out that the train to Innsbruck actually connects in Tirol, so we’ll essentially get to do both.\n Note: After taking care of the conundrum of what to do with our extra day here, we rode our bikes around Forggensee (the lake that we’re camped by). It was super scenic. Then, we went and rode the Tegelbergbahn cable car up the mountain past Neuschwanstein Castle to the top of a mountain where all the paragliders we’ve been seeing launch. Laura and I hung out while Brent did a short 30-minute hike (we were wearing clip shoes, so couldn’t do the walk with him).
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| 2017-06-20: Day trip to Innsbruck | |||||||||
| Accommodation | Camp | Camping Brunnen Schwangau again | |||||||
| Activity | Cycle | Between Campingplatz and Fussen Today: 12km; Total: 864km | 0 | 12 | 864 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Sight See | Innsbruck | 0 | 0 | 864 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Sight See | Hofgarten | 0 | 0 | 864 | 1157 | |||
| Travel | Bus | Innsbruck back to Füssen | 21 | ||||||
| Travel | Train | Bus and Train to Innsbruck | 64 | ||||||
| Note: Today we took a day trip to Innsbruck. Laura's grandfather was from there, and Brent and I really liked it when we were there in 2015, so it seemed like a good thing to do with our spare day.\n We took a regional bus first to Reutte, then transferred onto a train to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, then another train to Innsbruck. It was a great opportunity to see some gorgeous Alp scenery.\n We had lunch and ice cream in Innsbruck, walked around the Altstadt, and saw the Hofgarten and Spitalkirche with the time we had in Innsbruck.\n We then took the Flixbus back to Füssen - another opportunity to see some beautiful Alp scenery (and use the bus WiFi because the Campingplatz WiFi SUCKS).
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| 2017-06-21: Train to Köln (Cologne) | |||||||||
| Accommodation | Camp | Campingplatz Stadt Köln | Two nights | 65 | |||||
| Activity | Cycle | To Fussen, then Koln Campingplatz Today: 13km; Total: 877km | 0 | 13 | 877 | 1157 | |||
| Travel | Train | To Köln | 180 | ||||||
| Note: Finally we’re enroute to Köln! We got away from the Campingplatz nice and early and enjoyed “first coffee” at the bakery next to the Banhof. I forgot that I’ve sworn off of caffeine and had a nice strong coffee, oops. I also had a “Nussplunder”, which is a glazed pastry filled with hazelnut filling. Mmmmmm… Nussplunder! Note: I hate traveling with the bikes by train. There are always challenges… like having to lift the bikes into a high train carriage, having to hang the bikes from hooks, being crammed in with a million other bikes… extremely short transfers between trains requiring you to haul the bikes up and down stair cases or in elevators that are too small… there’s just always something.\n For this journey, we start in Fussen, and then transfer in Augsburg and Stuttgart. We have special tickets for the bikes that we had to affix to them (they're sort of like hospital bracelets), and for legs 2 and 3, we have assigned carriages. \n Getting on in Fussen was delightfully easy. There was a 9” gap to step across into the train, but no step up. The bike carriage is nice and wide – no freakishly narrow corridors or turns to make. The only thing was that we’d originally gotten into the wrong carriage and were on a train that was stopping sooner than Augsburg, but the conductor helped us correct that issue easily enough. There are no hooks to hang the bikes – they can just sit on the floor, loaded. There are no cords to tie them up, though, so Brent and Laura have used Brent’s bungees, and Dewie is just in a deep “lean” in hopes of preventing her falling over. If every train journey was this easy, it would certain lend a whole new dimension of opportunities for cycle touring in Europe. I wouldn’t be so adverse to the train travel.\n Augsburg is an ok, but not ideal station. We had to take the bikes down a set of stairs, then up a set of stairs, to make our transfer. The train we got on had three stairs up, and already had a bunch of bikes on it, so we rolled on full and then tried to get out of the way of some other cyclists embarking, and then stripped our luggage off and piled it in the corner. We’re transferring at Stuttgart, which is not the terminus for this train, so we’re going to have to do a fast disembark also. Stressful but not anxiety-inducing (yet). We had 25 minutes in Augsburg to make the transfer, which was comfortable. At Stuttgart we’ll have 31 minutes. We’ve had shorter transfers and I’ve deliberately avoided this – good thing!\n Stuttgart is a great station for transfers because everything is on one level. You just have to push to the end of the track, cross to the platform you want, and badda-bing. Our last train for the day has two bike cars, and most of the other bikes got into the other car. We are in the very last car of the train, but there are very few other bikes in it, so alle ist gut. The train was again a three-step up, which I find very challenging when it’s just me and Brent, but with Laura helping (i.e., doing the hard work for me), it’s been a breeze!\n We arrive in Köln at 3:05 today, and our one and only train journey for this cycle tour is completed (successfully and without too much stress). Only the leg from Augsburg to Stuttgart was kind of a mess of cyclists, and that’s because Ulm was one of the stops. Ulm sits on the Donau (Danube), and the Danube Cycle Trail is one of the most popular routes in Germany. Ulm is a beautiful spot along the way and I suspect a lot of the cyclists on that train were heading to Ulm to cycle part of the Donau. They pretty much all piled off in Ulm, anyway. There were a few of us who stayed on, and we all piled off in Stuttgart. Here’s hoping that Köln has a “civilized” Hbf and then we can call the whole journey done.\n The Campingplatz that I anticipate piling into for tonight is about 5km down the line from the Hbf, so should make for an easy rest of the day. Tomorrow we’ll explore Köln before moving on the day after.\n Note: We have been extremely fortunate with weather on this trip. The seasonal weather forecast told us to expect rain pretty much every day in June. People told us that normally it rained all the time this time of year. But for the most part, we’ve had glorious weather. Occasional thunderstorms at night, and occasional, brief showers in the afternoon, but mostly just sunshine and glory. I was seriously researching options for what we could do instead if we had to bail off of the Romantische Str due to weather, but it turned out to be a complete non-issue. It is a great trip… not for beginners, mind you, and we’re grateful to have seen it in such splendiferous conditions. Note: Brent and Laura are giving me a hard time because this tour was uphill both ways. And it really is. We cycled “up” to Fussen. Now we’re taking the train to Köln and we’ll cycle from Köln “up” to Frankfurt. Technically it was Brent’s idea to do it this way, but yeah… I’m taking the hit. It’s ok… I don’t apologize for it at all. The scenery going to Fussen was amazing, and Brent was right… it would have sucked to cycle “away” from the Alps.
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| 2017-06-22: Day in Köln | |||||||||
| Accommodation | Camp | Campingplatz Stadt Köln again | |||||||
| Activity | Cycle | Between Koln and Campingplatz Today: 19km; Total: 896km | 0 | 19 | 896 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Sight See | Römisch-Germanisches Museum | 19.5 | 0 | 896 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Sight See | Schokoladen Museum | 34.5 | 0 | 0 | 896 | 1157 | ||
| Note: Yesterday, when we got into town, we started making our way to the Campingplatz. As we were crossing the river, Brent was \"accosted\" by a cyclist (Hans) who wanted to chat. He had just finished his own tour through Belgium, France and Spain. He's a walking tour guide in Köln. He escorted us most of the way to the Campingplatz and when we told him we were spending today in Köln, he asked if we wanted a tour. We said yep. \n Today we met up with him at 9AM for our tour. He showed us all kinds of awesome stuff around Köln and told us about the 4km underground parking lot, the “Crane Houses”, which were developed to resemble historical loading cranes. He showed us the statue of Tunnes and Schal, and told us a couple of jokes about them (including one that was funny in English). We were really happy to have the tour - we saw and learned things that we wouldn't have otherwise.\n After Hans left us, we went to the Roman museum, and the Chocolate museum. Note: I learned an expensive lesson today. I forgot my camera battery on the charger in the Campingplatz common area. Tonight when we got back, they're gone (along with my power adapter). Boo.
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| 2017-06-23: To Remagen | |||||||||
| Accommodation | Camp | Campingplatz Goldene Meile | 30 | ||||||
| Activity | Cycle | To Remagen Today: 62km; Total: 958km | 0 | 62 | 958 | 1157 | |||
| Note: Thankfully yesterday’s heat wave has eased up a little and we had a pretty easy 62km ride to Remagen, including the ferry at Erpel. The Campingplatz at Remagen was a little hard to get into because we kept coming at it from the wrong direction, but eventually we got in and it’s quite nice (for a German campground). Note: Brent is trying desperately to make his shorts last to the end of this trip. The left butt cheek has disintegrated out of them, so he’s put a duct tape patch on it. This morning, he’s got a matching patch on the right… preventative, he says. Note: This section of the Rhein isn’t the most stunning. A lot of the terrain today was completely flat and there were relatively few Schlosses (castles). In the next day or two we’re going to start getting into crazy Schloss and canyon terrain. We’re looking forward to that. We had to pay attention to where the ferry was to cross over to Remagen, so we were remembering that we had to pass through Unkel then Erpel, shortened to “Unkel Erpel”. We had many moments of entertainment with that. Unkel Erpel. Unkel was a really nice little town, and Erpel was too! Yay for Unkel Erpel! Note: Turns out I didn't really need a comprehensive list of Waschsalons. Almost every Campingplatz we've stayed in has had a washer and dryer. We used a Waschsalon in Wurzburg, and we probably will again in Kelsterbach, but other than that, we haven't needed them at all!
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| 2017-06-24: To Koblenz | |||||||||
| Accommodation | Camp | Campground Rhein-Mosel | 42 | ||||||
| Activity | Cycle | To Koblenz Today: 56km; Total: 1014km | 0 | 56 | 1014 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Sight See | Andernach | 0 | 0 | 1014 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Sight See | Koblenz | 0 | 0 | 1014 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Sight See | Ehrenbreitstein Forstress | 42 | 0 | 1014 | 1157 | |||
| Note: We had a leisurely ride to Koblenz today with lots of time to enjoy the sights. Andernach was a very nice stop, and Brent managed to get some new shorts there as well, even though they're inferior to the old shorts (before the old shorts started to disintigrate). \n Koblenz is a beautiful city. We got to town around 1PM, checked into the Campingplatz and set up, and then went into town to explore. We took the cable car across the Rhein and up to Ehrenbreitstein Forstress, which was fantastic.\n Tomorrow we start riding through the Middle Rhein, which goes from Koblenz to Bingen, and is a UNESCO World Heritage area.\n
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| 2017-06-25: To Bacharach | |||||||||
| Accommodation | Camp | Campingplatz Sonnenstrand | 25 | ||||||
| Activity | Cycle | To Bacharach Today: 54km; Total: 1068km | 0 | 54 | 1068 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Cycle | Tal to Tal | 0 | 0 | 1068 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Sight See | Boppard | 0 | 0 | 1068 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Sight See | Sankt Goar (St. Goar) | 0 | 0 | 1068 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Sight See | The Lorelei | 0 | 0 | 1068 | 1157 | |||
| Note: Today is Sunday, which is always something we need to plan around because so many things are closed. So, we bought double groceries last night to prepare in case no grocery stores are open tomorrow. We only had to ride as far as Boppard, though, to find an open café so we enjoyed “Second Breakfast” there (and “First Coffee”) and checked out the Romerkastel. Note: I’m feeling oddly fatigued and a little depressed today. Not sure why but I also feel like a bottomless pit, and as I eat numerous meals throughout the day I do start to feel better… so… maybe I was just down a litre? Note: Leaving Boppard we encountered a delightful surprise. The road that we’re following down the Rhein from Boppard all the way to Bacharach (and perhaps all the way to Bingen?) is closed to vehicular traffic. It is bicycle super highway! There are a few roller-bladers, and other folks with some kind of creative locomotion, but mostly bicycles. And bicycles and bicycles. I’m currently enjoying a Radler in Bacharach while Brent and Laura climb the hill to the Schloss. When we’re done here we’ll move on just a couple of km down the road to the Campingplatz. In Bacharach we discovered a flyer on the town bulletin board for an event called “Tal to Tal” for today’s date which had the road blocked to vehicles from Rhens to Bingen. Awesome! Note: We traveled through a good part of the Middle Rhein today, which is known for being particularly scenic, and absolutely littered with Schlosses. Everywhere we looked there was a Schloss. It’s spectacular. We highly recommend riding this portion of the Rhein.
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| 2017-06-26: To Wiesbaden | |||||||||
| Accommodation | Camp | Campingplatz Maarau | 30 | ||||||
| Activity | Cycle | To Wiesbaden Today: 54km; Total: 1122km | 0 | 54 | 1122 | 1157 | |||
| Activity | Sight See | Bingen am Rhein | 0 | 0 | 1122 | 1157 | |||
| Note: Today we rode the remainder of the Middle Rhein, which was more crazy castle town. We were sad that we didn't have the bicycle superhighway, but it was still just awesome to have had that yesterday. We spent a fair amount of time in Bingen, and Laura and Brent climbed up to the \"Castle\" there (which is still the active town admin offices). Then we took the ferry over to Rudesheim and back into the \"industrial\" part of the Rhein.\n We found our Campingplatz after a weird, unnecessary detour around Schloss Park. We're staying at the same place where Brent and I stayed two years ago, and where we met Simon, the motorcycle tourist from the UK. It's in Wiesbaden… I’ve been calling Mainz, but it’s really across the river from Mainz. Oops. Note: It’s our second-last day of riding, and tomorrow will be a very easy day. Only about 30km to Kelsterbach. That will give us time to find a Waschsalon. We’ve been trying for a few days, now, to do a load of laundry. Note: I’m super impressed with my Microsoft Surface. It’s the Surface 2 (not Pro) that I bought in early 2015. It took a beating for six months on our tour, and to be honest, I didn’t really expect it to make it through THAT tour, nevermind making it all the way to, and through, THIS tour. Way to go little computer-buddy!
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| 2017-06-27: Arrive Kelsterbach (Frankfurt) | |||||||||
| Accommodation | Bed and Breakfast | Sascha Room 1 | 3 Nights for Rhonda & Brent Host: Sascha Rüsselsheimer Str. 66 Gebäude, Kelsterbach, Hessen 65451, Germany +49 176 4369 3569 Map and Directions Zoom from AirBnB Photos 1 | Photos 2 | 216 | Kelsterbach | ||||
| Accommodation | Bed and Breakfast | Sascha Room 2 | 3 Nights for Laura Host: Sascha Rüsselsheimer Str. 66 Gebäude, Kelsterbach, Hessen 65451, Germany +49 176 4369 3569 Map and Directions Zoom from AirBnB Photos 1 | Photos 2 | 187 | Kelsterbach | ||||
| Activity | Cycle | To Kelsterbach Today: 35km; Total: 1157km | 0 | 35 | 1157 | 1157 | |||
| Tip | Reminder | Cancel Sixt? Cancel Sixt if it turns out we're not going to need it. E-mail with link to cancel should come back to inbox. I have NOT paid for the reservation - I chose the \"pay later\" option. | 0 | ||||||
| Note: Last night was my last night of sleeping on the “egg crate” sleeping pad thing. Worst gear mistake of this trip for me to bring one of those instead of my beloved down mat. I’ve had to fold it in three and keep pretty much the whole thing under my hips, leaving the rest of me on no sleeping pad at all just so my left hip doesn’t bother me too bad. Blah. Brent really likes his, and the advantage is that you don’t have to worry about it getting punctured. That’s why I brought it in the first place. But it doesn’t work for me at all. Note: On our 2015 tour, I decided that I needed a super-safe way to carry my ortho appliance. I’ve had it since I was a teenager, and it is the only thing that stands between me and endless, chronic headaches for the rest of my life. So, in 2015, I bought a bra with a zipper compartment in it where I carried the appliance. I called it the “boob safe”. It had its problems, specifically, lumpiness and acne-inducing properties. \n For this tour, of course, I still needed a super-safe way to carry the appliance. I was planning on bringing the “boob safe” again, but at the last minute I found some awesome cycle shorts with little zip pockets on the back, so I brought two pairs of those instead. I call them, of course, the “butt safe”. They have worked out WAY better than the “boob safe”. They’re awesome bike shorts – way better than my old ones – and the little lump of the appliance that sticks out on my back is virtually invisible, especially when I have the Beaver Bag (my day pack) on. Yay for the “butt safe”! Note: We had a super easy ride to Kelsterbach today. Kelsterbach is a small town in between Frankfurt and the Frankfurt International Airport, so it’s super-handy for our last couple of days. Sometimes we have trouble remembering the names of places because we go through so many places, and lots of them have similar names. So, to help us remember, sometimes we “modify” the names. For example, the other day when we were going to be going through the towns of Unkel and then Erpel, so we started saying Uncle Erpel”. As a mnemonic, Laura has dubbed Kelsterbach “Cluster-F*ck”, although it is not remotely living up to that moniker – it’s a great little town and so far everything is going smoothly. We’re staying in an AirBnB place, which is always an adventure. The person who manages the AirBnB listing is not the person who met/greeted us, and our actual hostess’ English is a little limited, so it took us a few minutes to figure out what was going on. Note: Brent and Laura are doing a bunch of scheming and planning for how to get their bikes to the airport. I’m trying to figure out who to give my bike to. It’s always been my plan to give Dewie away at the end of this trip. She has too many “issues” to be worth bringing home. She got me through this tour, and did a great job, but she’s done now. Anyway, Brent and Laura are planning to ship their bikes home using DHL, instead of taking them on the flight. DHL is the national postal service in Germany, and their prices are amazing compared to other places. UPS wanted over E500 to ship a bike to Canada, but with DHL, it’s only E100. That’s $150 Canadian, which is exactly the same as taking it on the flight as luggage… only easier… we hope. The plan is to get bike boxes and take them to DHL, which is only a few blocks from our AirBnB. We would then bring the bikes over to DHL and pack them there and ship them directly. No fussing around with trying to get packed bikes someplace. Let’s hope that all goes well and doesn’t turn into a “Cluster-F*ck”. | |||||||||
| 2017-06-28: Unproductive Nightmare Day in Frankfurt | |||||||||
| Accommodation | Bed and Breakfast | Sascha Room 1 again | |||||||
| Accommodation | Bed and Breakfast | Sascha Room 2 again | |||||||
| Service | Other | Frankfurt Transit Group Day Pass, including Flughafen. | Includes Laura | 27 | |||||
| Tip | Reminder | Hugendubel (Book Store) Buy cycle touring maps! | Only going to let myself buy maps for the 2019 France trip right now. Any other future trips are so far in the future that any maps I buy now will be out-dated and need replacing. But alas, Hugendubel didn't have any maps for EV6 in France, so I will have to order those online. | 0 | |||||
| Tip | Reminder | Phone AC to register bikes 1-888-247-2262\n Register bicycles for flight home | 0 | ||||||
| Note: Our AirBnB was supposed to have WiFi. They really don’t. They have some kind of repeater that amplifies someone else’s WiFi, but it barely works within the house. If we’re sitting within 5 feet of the box, we can load one web page every five minutes or so. It has been a tremendous hindrance to our ability to get our required research done for preparing and packing to come home. Which leads me, finally, to our trip \"Kelsterbach\" (see “Cluster F*ck”, June 27).\n I have never been more frustrated with German efficiency than I am right now. After doing a small amount of research last night (with our horrifyingly slow WiFi), we set out at 7:30AM. We would have liked to do more research before we left, but sometime in the night the WiFi connection point completely disappeared and never came back. We finished up at 7:30PM after achieving absolutely nothing.\n We stopped first at the Flughafen (airport) to ask Air France if they sell bike boxes. The internet has them selling them for €5 in Paris, but I couldn’t find any info about Frankfurt. The Flughafen is just one stop up from where we’re staying in Kelsterbach, so it’s easy to stop in there. The young lady had a heck of a time trying to sort out whether they sell boxes – it included asking other staff members and making some phone calls. Finally she said that she thought they did, but it would take them a while to find some and we’d have to wait. We suggested that we would come back later in the afternoon, which she thought was a glorious idea. \n Laura remembered seeing a DHL at the Flughafen in 2015 (wow) so we looked for that and talked to them. They close at 7PM, and they take large packages, just like the place in Kelsterbach. Taking care of the bikes right at the airport would be easier, so that’s our new plan – shipping the two bikes out from the Flughafen DHL.\n We proceeded into Frankfurt where we tried to find some cheap duffel bags. We’re probably going to walk 1km from our accommodation to the train to get to the airport, and I’m not sure I can carry a packing box that far, so I’d like to have a duffel bag. We did end up finding a few; the cheapest being about €40. None of us actually needs a duffel, so that seems expensive for a shipping container for a one-way flight. Brent convinced me that packing boxes were the way to go, and both Brent and Laura assured me that they’d come back and help me with my packing box if necessary.\n We snooped around Frankfurt just a little, stopping in at the Galleria and looking at outdoor stuff (i.e., skorts) and shoes, and also the Hugendubel to look at cycle maps and English books (for the flights home). Then, we high-tailed it back out to the airport to find out about the Air France bike bags. The fellow who talked with us on our return (our young lady was gone) advised that they don’t have bike bags.\n So, back into Frankfurt we go, with our little bit of information about where to find some bike stores, which is where we would normally get our bike boxes. It was a terrible game of “hot potato”. Each place we visited passed us off to another place until we essentially ran out of business hours. The most “unfriendly helpful” guy told us to look for bike boxes in the Müll (garbage). The problem with looking in the Müll (and here’s where my frustration with Germany comes in) is that there’s no flippin’ Müll around ANYWHERE. You cannot find bins of cardboard recycling for love nor money. As soon as a bike comes out of the box in the store, the box is somehow magically whisked away to Müll heaven never to be seen again.\n Disheartened and frustrated, we headed back to Kelsterbach. Laura and I were physically done, but Brent still felt good. We had dinner at the Italian restaurant and went back to the AirBnB.\n I had exchanged a couple of emails through the day with our AirBnB host. He first of all advised that we speak to his wife about the WiFi. Very unhelpful. When we stopped back in briefly in the afternoon, she told us that she had the WiFi unplugged when no one was using it. No wonder it disappeared and never came back. She told us we could plug it in if we wanted to use it, which we did, but it is still just as bad as ever. She said that they were getting better WiFi “next week”. I have my doubts. The host said he would call their provider, but I doubt that too. I don’t think they have a provider. I think they’re amplifying someone else’s WiFi and feeding me a line knowing that I’ll be gone soon and can’t do anything about it. I will definitely be complaining to AirBnB about it anyway… I made it super clear that WiFi was critical to our last two days in the country and asked him to confirm that he had good WiFi before I booked. \n | |||||||||
| 2017-06-29: Productive Day in Frankfurt | |||||||||
| Accommodation | Bed and Breakfast | Sascha Room 1 again | |||||||
| Accommodation | Bed and Breakfast | Sascha Room 2 again | |||||||
| Service | Other | Frankfurt Transit Group Day ticket, including Flughafen | Includes Laura | 27 | |||||
| Service | Rental | Rental Truck | Pick up in evening; Sixt doesn't open until 7AM on the 30th. Conf: 9848558647 Langer Kornweg 46, 65451 Kelsterbach, Germany Map | 90 | |||||
| Service | Storage | LagerBox Two wardrobe boxes, three packing boxes, two rolls of tape | Includes Laura | 45 | |||||
| Service | Storage | FRA Luggage Storage - Bikes Store two boxed bikes overnight (Brent & Laura) | 27 | ||||||
| Service | Storage | Bike Boxes from Wrapping Guy Bike Boxes from the luggage wrapping guy at FRA. Brent & Laura. | DHL dimensions are too small for the bike wheels, so shipping via DHL is out. | 75 | |||||
| Note: With the inferior WiFi, early this morning I spent about 1.5 hours getting about 5 minutes worth of research done. I found some moving supply places that looked promising for buying boxes. We had finished up so late last night that we ended up not buying breakfast groceries before we went back to the AirBnB. So, this morning when everyone was ready to move, we came into town and had breakfast at the Haupbanhof (main train station). We then took the tram out to LagerBox, which to me looked like the most promising moving supply place. Finally, luck was in our favor. We bought two wardrobe boxes (for the bikes… Brent and Laura will have to cut them to size and reinforce them), and three packing boxes for our other stuff. What a relief!\n Back onto the tram we got with all the boxes and rode the tram, then the train, to the Flughafen. I am currently waiting at the Flughafen with the wardrobe boxes (right across from the DHL). Brent and Laura have taken the packing boxes back to the AirBnB and are going to return with their bikes to pack up and ship off at the DHL here. Assuming that our \"Kelsterbach\" is over with, they should be back here soon, pack their bikes up, and pass them straight over to DHL, which should cost €99/ea, which is the same as taking them as luggage on the airplane ($100 for oversized luggage and $50 for second piece of luggage).\n Note: Laura and I have vowed, no more looking for cardboard (bike) boxes at the end of a bike tour. We will buy the small bike bags that Laura has found, or we'll rent bikes. Even ever-optimistic Brent has said that if it's going to be this hard to get the bikes home after, he'd be interested in renting. Now THAT'S something. Note: I messaged two \"small time\" bike repair guys to see if they wanted Dewie, or could suggest someone who might want her. They've both replied to say they want her, but with my bad WiFi, I only saw the messages today. I've responded back to them. Hopefully I can connect with one of them and get her shipped off to start her new life. Note: Annnnnd... the saga continues. The largest dimensions for DHL are too small (for bike wheels). So, Brent checked on luggage storage, which is do-able with pick-up early tomorrow morning. We also ran into a couple of cyclists who told us that the luggage wrapping guy in departures sells bike boxes for €25/ea. The wardrobe boxes are proving difficult, so Laura and Brent have opted to buy the bike boxes. \n Hopefully they'll have their bikes packed up and into luggage storage sometime this afternoon. If our \"Kelsterbach\" karma will allow it. I have a guy coming past the Kelsterbach \"S-Bahn\" station at 6PM to get Dewie. I'd contacted a couple of little local bicycle repair guys to see if they wanted her, and they both did, so the first guy I talked to gets her. Hopefully THAT works out. Note: It was always my plan to leave Dewie behind in Germany rather than bringing her back to Canada. She was ridden hard by her previous owner, and by myself, and she had some “pre-existing conditions” before we even went to Germany. I knew I wouldn’t want to pay the $200-ish to bring her back. So, I packed the original pedals and front skewer along on the tour so that when I left her behind, I could keep my long skewer and clip pedals, but still give someone a rideable bike.\n Before we reached Kelsterbach, I’d used Yelp to reach out to a couple of local small bike repair guys to ask if they’d like to have Dewie when I leave her behind in Germany. Because of the lack of WiFi at our accommodation, I’ve barely been able to check anything… especially e-mail. \n Today when I was waiting for Brent and Laura at the airport, I had access to the WiFi there, and checked on some things. The first thing I noticed was a message from a young fellow named Jonas who is learning to be a bike mechanic and wanted Dewie as a “test subject”. Perfect fate for her since she has some mechanical challenges. I replied right away to make arrangements to give Jonas the bike.\n Then I noticed that I’d actually already received a message from Sven, two days earlier, from the other shop. He overhauls and sells used bikes to cover shop costs and wanted Dewie for that. That would have also been a good solution for her. I felt bad because Sven had messaged me first, but I’d already promised the bike to Jonas. I told Sven that he could have her if Jonas didn’t work out.\n My arranged time to meet Jonas was 6PM in Kelsterbach. A rain shower had just blown through and I was standing in the drizzle with Dewie. By about 6:08, I was starting to wonder if Jonas was going to show, when suddenly, here was a young guy approaching. He was SO nice, and SO excited about getting the bike. He even gave me a little bag of presents as a thank you – some cookies and candy. SOOOO sweet! I am so happy about the way it worked out. Brent and Laura were waiting in the nearby restaurant, and Brent had gotten up to have a look when he saw a young guy ride by on a bike looking “really happy”. Yay! Yay for Jonas and Yay for Dewie! Have fun on your next life adventure, Dewie!\n
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| 2017-06-30: Fly Home | |||||||||
| Tip | Reminder | Return Truck Sixt opens at 7AM | Maps to airport from Sixt: Train Walk | 0 | |||||
| Travel | Flight | Brent & Rhonda to YEG | AC 873 depart FRA 9:20 AM, arr YYZ 11:35 AM AC 1157 depart YYZ 2:05PM, arr YEG 4:11 PM | 0 | FRA | YEG | |||
| Travel | Flight | Laura to YYC | Lufthansa 6676 depart FRA 9:20 AM, arr YYZ 11:35 AM (same as RnB) Lufthansa 6782 depart YYZ 12:50 PM, arr YYC 3:05 PM | 0 | FRA | YYC | |||
| Travel | Vehicle | Michel pick-up | Michel picking us up to take us home. He'll wait for me to call him. | 0 | |||||
| Note: A city bus running to the airport stops almost right outside the door of where we stayed in Kelsterbach, so we checked the schedule for it. We easily took the bus to the airport, easily picked up Brent and Laura's bikes, and easily checked in and departed.\n The universe couldn't let us get away with a completely easy get-away, though... just to add a final little \"Kelsterbach\" to everything, Laura noticed on the flight to Toronto, that her boarding pass for her connection to Calgary was for 8PM instead of 1PM. That would not be great in any case, but considering she's flying to Winnipeg at 7AM tomorrow, it's particularly crummy.\n When we got off in Toronto, she raced to the Air Canada customer service desk and the nice lady there helped her get onto the 1PM plane. She raced to the flight and just barely made it, but apparently her bike didn't. Hopefully she'll be able to get it delivered by AC, although I'm not sure who they'll deliver it to, what with Laura being in Winnipeg.\n Brent and I landed in Edmonton just after 4PM. Brent's bike box was upside-down and open, but the bike seems unscathed. Michel picked us up, per the plan, and whisked us home. It was all good. Note: Thoughts on Cycle Touring Hardships
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