Germany – Less Car, More Life

70 days on our bikes in Europe. Closing the loop.

Saarburg. Our first stop in our swing through Germany.

Saarburg Germany. The Venice of the Saar region. That’s what they say anyway. I’m not sure one river through town makes it Venice, but it was one of those towns that’s not super promising as you roll in, and actually had a fascinating and beautiful old part of town. The 15km long Leukbach River runs through the charming old town and meets up with the Saar River.

The Wasserfall Saarburg. Makes a lovely backdrop and sound for the restaurants and cafes. More impressive is the fact that this was a 13th century project to redirect the Leukbach River through town.

The buildings rise right up from the river.

The sound of the waterfalls and the cool air rising from the river are lovely.

On our way out of town after a one night stay. That look says, can we just ride and not stop for photos every five minutes?

Heading out along the Saar River. It was a calm morning, no wind.

My dashboard. Many podcasts have been played on that Bluetooth speaker over the weeks of bike touring.

Germany can be relied on for good paths linking you from city to city, town to town. We’re up from the river on this stretch by an industrial site.

We headed up and over a hill to avoid a big bend in the river. Shortcut? Eh..it was steep so no real time savings, but what a view.

Could this tree be any more classic and beautiful? Big sweeping limbs, check. Picturesque hollows offering tantalizing home for small furry creatures, check.

Ah, the pastries as big as your head of Germany.

Since we spend so much time on bikes we entertain ourselves talking about bikes and bike infrastructure quite a bit. A lot. Ok, constantly! We had to detour off the river path to obtain that giant pastry and once again we were reminded that although Germany knocks it out of the ball park with bike paths connecting towns, in town is a different story. It was quite inhospitable in Merzig, the short ride from the river path to Bäckerei & Café Tinnes had zero bike infrastructure. The contrast with France, where so many towns have been given what we call the French City 2.0 treatment in town, with new bike and ped lanes and markings and calmed traffic, was dramatic. It was not an environment that would encourage bicycle use for errands and transportation.

Over the bridge to our destination for the night, Saarbrücken.

What’s the easiest bike parking? In our hotel room. Doesn’t happen often but boy it’s nice. Roll in roll out. In this case it was roll out into a steady rain.

Never stop smiling. We’re headed 25k to a train station to take a hop to shorten the day.

Off the train at Diemeringen and we’re back in France!

Feeling sassy. Drinking Sassy French cider at a Breton crepe restaurant lunch break to avoid the storm.

We don’t often stop for a sit down lunch, but we had hoped to hunker down and avoid the worst of the storm. Delicious crepes. Very friendly locals.

The rest of the day cycling was a series of hops to shelter from heavy rain. Overhangs at town halls, under a barn roof, and this community park with a covered picnic area. The storm moved slowly across the region so we didn’t avoid much of it, but we managed to duck out during some particularly heavy bits.

We rolled into Eschbourg and marveled at Maisons des rochers de Graufthal.

These houses were built into a rock cliff and the last inhabitant died in 1958. It’s now a museum.

We were booked into Au Vieux Moulin hotel, in a former mill and with a highly rated restaurant. After hanging our wet cycling clothes over every available surface in our room we headed downstairs to dinner. We opted for a four course tasting menu with the wine pairing – get ready for loads of photos of food. With only a few weeks left in France it made sense to maximize our dining experience. This meal certainly fulfilled that desire. The most French of modern French meals we’ve had. We don’t dine at fancy restaurants often, but French fancy is more attractive to us since the service is very straightforward and not overwhelming. The French assume that everyone enjoys food, it’s not a big deal, just life.

First, an amuse-bouche before we even decided on the tasting menu.

Presentation was amazing. For aperitif Rich had a local beer and I had glass of white wine.

Carte Blanche à Guillaume. Here we go. A wine pairing? Yes please!

Another amuse-bouche to welcome us to the tasting menu.

The first course was trout from Sparsbach served three ways. Small steaks, an airy foamy mousse of fennel, white asparagus from Ferme Waechter, and ground ivy. Close to Rich a small plate of tiny fried fingerlings. Troutelle, they were called. Or troutlings.

Trying to pay attention to and write down the details of this meal gave me so much respect for actual food writers. Ground ivy, the waiter said, I dutifully wrote that down and only now looked it up: Glechoma hederacea is an aromatic, perennial, evergreen creeper of the mint family Lamiaceae. It is commonly known as ground-ivy, gill-over-the-ground, creeping charlie, alehoof, tunhoof, catsfoot, field balm, and run-away-robin. Thankfully I had snapped a picture of the full menu, since these courses, or sequences, are mostly represented on the menu.

The largest green leaves are sorrel. The wine pairing was a delicious Riesling.

Get used to eating tiny flowers. The mousse was flavored with ground ivy.

Barbecued white asparagus, paired with
Cote du Rhone Amour de Fruits.

BBQ white asparagus with pistachios and pith of citrus. Amazing.

The squab course, served with
Le Migmatite Gamay Sur Granit. Which translates as delicious red wine.

Düwehof pigeon breast, thigh with giblets, porcini mushroom praline, green asparagus, stuffed morel and wild garlic, Mokxa coffee-infused jus. The wild garlic is the small dark lump, it’s cooked in a rice cooker.

Pigeon thigh with giblets. Yes, very rich this course.

The palate cleanser, rhubarb sorbet in a delicate apple and herb sauce.

With the dessert course an elderflower cider, Cidrerie de Reillon
Grégoire Jacquot
Fleurs de mal
2023 • Pétillant de miel.

Strawberry horseradish ice cream, and a white chocolate top. Sprinkled with little white flowers.

And finally, more little dessert treats. Raspberry tartlet, and a small Financier Cookie.

Chocolate truffles on a bed of cacao nibs. It was a good thing we’d been bike touring for almost 70 days and our metabolisms were running high.

We definitely needed a walk after that amazing meal, so we headed out into the misty moonlit night for a turn around town.

The hotel and restaurant glowing in the gloom.

The rain was over and we were ready to ride again.

Watched by a highland cow. Maybe. Are they asleep behind all that hair?

We’re riding towards Strasbourg in the French Alsace region.

I love the half timbered houses and steep gables. So picturesque. The hanging sign looks like an anvil, was this once a blacksmith shop?

What the what? How cute are these musicians? Humba Humba Dederle Dederle.

A striking stork against a stormy sky in Ernolsheim-lès-Saverne.

Lunch along the Canal de la
Marne au Rhin.

It’s a popular canal for hiring boats and touring along.

Which means we get to wave at lots of boaters and shout Bonjour!

This cultural region of Alsace certainly has a sense of humor.

The canal is taking us right to the Strasbourg train station.

Somewhere along the wet roads of the previous day, hiding from the rain, we decided that we were both ready to wrap this tour up and head back to our home base in France. Rich plotted out the fastest and most direct route: ride to Strasbourg, train to Basel and overnight, train to Geneva, ride to Annemasse and then up the valley to our good friends’ house. We were both looking forward to being in one place for a while before traveling back to the US, so off we went.

Train one of two to get us back to Geneva.

Hooks to hang our bikes. You do need bike reservations and I think there were only four spots per train.

Riding to our hotel for a one night stay in Basel. The Rhine River.

A border crossing, we stayed in French Basel.

Saint-Louis actually. And yes the difference in bike infrastructure was dramatic once we crossed back into France. Oh, and hotels are about half the price of the Swiss side.

Back to the Basel train station the next morning- not too early so we miss the crowded trains.

A moment to celebrate the beavers, nature’s engineers.

The scenery on the train to Geneva was stunning.

The France/Belgium/Luxembourg/Germany/France/Switzerland/France portion of our final weeks of the trip.

We knew we’d be busy once we returned to the US, so a nice long 13 day break at our friends’ house was very appealing. The bike ride from Geneva to Annemasse is very easy, bike path the entire way, one night in Annemasse so we can ride up the valley after rush hour. It’s a great feeling of accomplishment to close our 70 day loop. We rode down the valley to start this tour, and now we ride up the valley to end the tour. In better shape, with even more appreciation of the countries we’ve visited, and looking forward to some days of rest.

Now that’s a bike path. Loads of regular bike riders commuting to and from Geneva.

A fun beer place on a street being pedestrianized in Annemasse.

Headed out. Final climb. Will the rain hold off?

Finally eating a very well traveled protein bar. I insisted on eating it since it was about to also complete the 70 day loop.

The rain did not hold off, but a playground pergola gave us some shelter.

The neighbors’ cows provide a welcoming committee. Or at least a gazing with interest committee.

Off the bikes and treated to a sunny day.

The Bo-Ko. That’s Bodensee to Königssee-Radweg to you and me.

Talk about spoilt for choice. Which route?

Not the angel hugging a pretzel route. Or the horse cantering over mountains route. Not the Mooserunde. Or the Spitzenblick. We were mostly on this one. The Bodensee-Königssee Radweg.

Storm Boris was still lingering over Bavaria, so wet roads.

But the snow on the alps made for dramatic scenery.

The ride into Oberstaufen where we spent the night.

Bavarian towns certainly know how to plant flower beds.

And we know how to class up a nice hotel: hang wet bike shorts in the window to dry. Oberstaufen was a bit pricy, so a good time to use some Hyatt points at the Linder Hotel.

Heading out of Oberstaufen. Still cloudy.

Owly! Amusing roadside art? Advertising?

Pastry break at 20k. Yes that is sunshine.

Another farm field cat. So many farm cats.

The Großer Alpsee and a happy cyclist. The alps are peeking through the clouds.

After five days of peddling starting to feel strong.

The quiet town square on a Sunday in Immenstadt.

With a sweet cat happy to accept petting.

Now for some jaw dropping views of the alps with a coating of fresh snow and clear air post storm.

But first a nice long break on a trail side BarcaLounger. The Bo-Ko has good amenities along the way. We were early for check in at our hostel so we took a nap.

It was a good thing we weren’t pressed for time, each view was more stunning than the next.

See what I mean? Will you go stand in that field please?

The forecast for the next day, Monday September 16, was pretty miserable. Wet and cold. Loads of discussions about train versus no train. We decided to start out and see how the day went. We were riding close to the train route so if it got really miserable we could bail and take a train hop. Unfortunately I had a cold coming on. I’m pretty sure no one ever prescribed a long cold wet day riding a bike as a cold remedy. It’s not easy to skip some beautiful riding though, so we started out in light rain.

We set out. Bravely. And then the rain came.

Sheltering in a rural bus stop where a kitty came out to cheer me up.

And finally sheltering at a small train station. We took a train hop to save ourselves a few hours riding in the rain on the way to Füssen.

Füssen is where both Neuschwanstein Castle and Hohenschwangau Castle are located. The heavy cloud cover and rain hid both from view for our one night in town. Bike touring is like that. We see so much that only other bike tourists see, but when we get to town, we tend to see less, especially when cold and tired from a long wet day. The weather was forecast to clear up, and we planned a rest day in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, our next stop. We veered off the Bo-Ko route into Austria for a stop here, and we’ll join it again after Garmisch-Partenkirchen before leaving it to go to Salzburg.

Füssen has a lovely main pedestrian street.

Riding out the next morning along the Lech River into Austria.

A curious cow greeted us at the top of a climb. Those cattle guards we went over were there for a reason.

Heiterwanger See is ridiculously beautiful.

Plansee, the connected lake, is also stunning. A long gravel decent is waiting for us at the end of the lake.

Rest day in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. And such beautiful clear skies post rain.

What to do on a rest day? Let a gondola carry you up the mountain.

To be specific, the Wankbahn carried us up to Wank. 1,780 meters/5,839 feet is the peak of the Wank.

Yes, we made all the jokes all the way up and down.

And yes, we got to be the silly tourists wearing sandals in the snow.

One of these things is not like the others.

The view across to Zugspitze peak in the snowy alps was spectacular.

The Zugspitze is over Rich’s shoulder to the left of the photo. 2,962m/9,717f.

Another dinner, another healthy German pour of white wine. A Rivaner, or Müller-Thurgau.

Heading off down the Loisach River valley. This beautiful day certainly makes up for riding in the rain.

When the sun is shining everything is more fun!

Like this chicken made from big hay bales advertising the egg hut where you can buy fresh eggs.

And the stork signs announcing a new baby for this family! (I blanked out the last name.) We saw a lot of these, what a fun way to celebrate and let your neighbors know the baby has arrived. By stork, right?

And the houses painted with religious imagery.

We have Salzburg in our sights, just three more nights before we cross into Austria and have three nights to enjoy the city. We won’t go all the way to Königsee, the end of this route, since it’s a bit of a dead end for us. At this point my cold is waning (or was it getting worse still? Who can remember.) and my rear end was getting used to the hours on the bike. Feeling good. Got my blue tooth speaker on my bike, pod casts, music, pastry. I can pedal all day. Rich can always pedal all day. He’s a monster.

Does every German town have a lovely pedestrian street?

And off again. Our route took us through a golf course.

Through farmland where farms advertised their products.

Tegernsee was a perfect pastry break spot, complete with shaded BarcaLounger.

Tiny churches dot the countryside in this Catholic region.

Hey Rich. I think there’s a cow behind you.

Farm cat who owns the road. They came out for a cuddle.

Always appreciated after a long day which included a flat tire on Rich’s bike – ice cream vending machine!

And a lovely cafe set up to sit and enjoy the ice cream.

Garden goals. Love the giant teacup pot.

One of our many room hacks. This helps block the light through the too sheer shades. I’m particularly pleased with clothes hanger ladder. Just be careful to not overload.

We rode into Salzburg on a Sunday. So many other cyclists out.

Traditional house and garden under modern solar panels.

From leaving our dear friends’ place in France, we’ve pedaled 600 k/372 miles so far. One flat tire on Rich’s bike, which did already have a slow leak, but was only our second flat on these new bikes (shhh…don’t jinx it!).

The far left heart is where we started, biked into Geneva and took the train to Zurich. The blue dot is us in Salzburg.

Although the map makes it look as if we were not in the Alps, we did have some substantial climbs and decents. Although the mileage isn’t massive, there was 5,000 meters/16,400 feet of climbing, on loaded touring bikes. Sometimes on dirt or gravel roads and paths. Phew. No wonder I needed this rest in Salzburg.

Four countries in four days. By bicycle.

To Californians who are accustomed to having to drive hours to leave the state there’s a funny thrill to crossing country borders. Even the non-controlled sometimes unapparent borders of the EU.

Heading out of the Vallée Verte, France. And into a cool and wet weather pattern.

First stop: Boulangerie. On to Switzerland.

Even more fun when you ride a fantastic bikeway from France into Switzerland.

A map of our travels by bikes in Europe would look like the wanderings of a neighborhood cat, on a large scale. Between vacations when we worked and our post retirement bike tours we’ve crossed, criss crossed, meandered, train hopped, ferry hopped, head down and pedaled, woken up with no plan, gone with the tail wind, and any other description you can think of about our pedaling in Europe.

Our last bike tour, spring of 2024, started the same way, pedaling to Geneva, but we pedaled right through and out the Via Rhona. This time we hopped a train to Zurich, Switzerland, to get us to a new starting point.

Dueling train lunch decisions. Gazpacho for me, not Rich’s favorite.

We stopped outside the train station in Zürich to put on all of our rain gear and started the 10k ride to our hotel.

After a good nights sleep, which was very welcome as the jet lag got us bad this time, we headed out towards Wil, Switzerland. Riding out of Zurich was like riding out of any city, getting through big box store areas, crossing highways and motorways, through large roundabouts, and finally seeing the wide open countryside. Well, almost any city. In the Netherlands of course, you can easily ride anywhere – including into and out of big cities. We still reminisce about our ride through Utrecht a few years back and how absolutely easy it was.

Welcome to my world. And don’t feed me, said the sign on his fence.

One of our pastimes while traveling is building the perfect country, taking our favorite things from each place we visit and adding them to our fictional nation. We didn’t get very far on this ride before I was reminded of my favorite thing from Switzerland, Austria, and Germany. So many farm cats wandering the fields.

Usually the farm cats are too far away or too skittish for photos, but this one came over for a visit.

And then started following Rich up the road.

This covered bridge had windows and ladders so you could admire the view.

Some cow barns have automatic scratchers which start turning when the cow leans into the brush.

I’m sure the locals and farmers laugh to see us snapping photos of their farmyard animals, but who can resist chickens wearing feathered footies?

Smooth smooth asphalt on the bike paths.

Apple season! There are so many apple trees. Well tended orchards and random trail side trees. We only pick apples from those which are not obviously part of someone’s orchard.

Our lovely historic room in Wil. This is before we dumped the contents of our panniers everywhere.

The view over Wil from our hotel. The clouds are so dramatic.

We’d been lucking out with the weather, grey skies and threatening clouds and we got to Wil before the rain and hail front moved through. The hail did catch us out without an umbrella and forced a dinner decision on us – the close burger place versus the Thai place which would have meant arriving drenched. And did we walk out of our hotel right past a big bucket of umbrellas to borrow? Yes. Lesson learned.

Heading out after our second and last night in Switzerland. It was a cold morning.

What’s the first stop? A bakery. Always.

No, this giant cookie did not come with us.

Apple trees so loaded that their limbs are propped up.

More apple trees. And threatening skies.

The villages, all centered around a farm, are so charming.

And welcoming. With benches and a fountain.

A perfect place for a pastry break. And then the rain came down.

And a very nice woman across the street invited us to shelter under her barn overhang.

Climbing up, we’re almost out of Switzerland now, about to cross into Austria. My handle bar covers are still working well. Keeping my hands warm and dry.

Beautiful Swiss cows wondering why we are leaving Switzerland.

The signage makes you feel so welcome as a cyclist or hiker.

Schloss Hagenwil. We went inside and had a look around. Mostly restaurant space but quite stunning.

Hagenwil is the only intact water castle remaining in Eastern Switzerland. Imagine what it took to build and maintain this castle.

Lake Constance to the Swiss and Austrians or Bodensee to the Germans.

A train crossing. That’s an Austrian train. We’re so close!

Wait! How did we get on this side of the border already? We’re in Austria after crossing a little bike pedestrian bridge.

To refresh your Austrian geography, here is a map. The little left side tail which touches the lake is where we entered. That’s Lake Constance.

Our one night in Austria would be in Hard, and we were both quite impressed with the space for bikes and pedestrians on this bridge into town. The engineer said “Now that’s how you build a bike lane on a bridge.” Yes, we’re looking at you West Span SF Oakland Bay Bridge.

Another pristine hotel room. Before bag explosion. As a bonus, it started to hail just after we checked in. This early and cold storm, named Boris, will dump snow on the Alps and cause flooding in Czechia and Austria. We are fine though.

Another cold and wet day. I’m clutching my tea thermos which is extra swaddled to keep it warm. And a bag of pastries.

My favorite: quark tasha. Like a cheese danish. And a photo bombing Rich.

Riding through the countryside gives us a bucolic look at a place. It’s unique and refreshing to us, coming from the western USA, to be able to ride from town to town on safe connected pathways. We are used to some cities, including our own San Francisco, being quite bicycle friendly, but if you were to ride town to town, or city to town in the US, you would find almost no bicycle infrastructure. You would simply be sharing the road with large fast moving motor vehicles. That’s why crossing county borders by bike like we are still thrills us. It’s why we travel, to see what it’s like away from home. To get to do something we don’t do in the Western US.

And speaking of borders, hello Germany! Country four, day four.

Bavaria. The southernmost state of Germany’s five states, and the largest by land mass.

The happy travelers- some cold wet days have tested us, but we’re still standing.

Why do Americans smile so much?

The warm weather in Germany has the roses out in full force.

I was going to ask, why don’t Germans smile more, but that’s assuming that the American level of smiling is normal, or correct, and that everyone else is smile deficient. Americans smile a lot. Really, we do. And Californians smile even more.

Smiling for the camera when leaving Regensburg.

Friends from other countries have told us that yes, everyone is aware of the American smile habit. You can see us coming, teeth showing, faces crinkling in delight.

I know why I’m smiling here. A nice hotel, a good beer garden and a delicious glass of wine.

And who could resist smiling during a picnic on the banks of Neuburg an der Donau.

We smile while enjoying our German pastries.

And when Rich’s new bike had a loose bottom bracket issue we smiled when greeting the very nice bike shop owner who thankfully had opening hours on Saturday morning.

I had always assumed that the American smile habit was simply that we’re mostly a friendly country. And those Americans who travel are really friendly and happy to be out and about.

There were fewer smiles on a train hop day, when we ate lunch on the station platform hiding from the sun.

Both the departure station and arrival station only had stairs, which meant unloading all panniers and carrying everything down and up: very few smiles.

The train system in Germany is very good, but a lot of small local stations have only stairs.

But a conversation with a friend who has lived in France, the UK, the USA, and is now back in Germany, really hit home what we were feeling in Germany with fewer smiles per human – just because they don’t smile doesn’t mean they hate you. Ah ha!

Pretty typical bike touring picnic. Falafel, cheese, cucumber, red pepper, and brötchen (bread rolls) from the bakery. Oh, and a tube of mustard and a tube of harissa for Rich.

Very typical beer garden order, beer for him, wine for me. And smiles for the staff.

We love bike touring in Germany. There are so many things to enjoy and so many miles of fantastic bike paths and routes. Sure there are challenges, just like in any country. We’d happily import the Japanese convenience store culture to Germany. Germany is grocery store challenged, to our minds. All grocery stores are closed on Sunday. And there is no convenience store culture outside of Berlin. That means we have a mad rush on Saturday to stock up for Sunday cycling. Restaurants are open Sunday but we prefer to picnic for lunch.

How can you not love a country that leaves lovely treats on your pillow in hotel rooms? I stash them in my handlebar bag for emergency sugar energy.

A museum dedicated to Bread and Art? These are my people. This museum in Ulm was fascinating.

And don’t forget, this country has 260 cycling routes crisscrossing the landscape. And the other cyclists are perhaps not the smiling type, not all of them, but when push comes to shove they are there for you. Railway crossing gate stuck and cyclists starting to slip under the gates? They will help you with your loaded touring bikes and keep a close watch for trains. Tight connection at a train station and having a tough time getting both bikes and 8 panniers down the train steps? The cyclist who greeted your smile with a stare and turned away is there to help you lift your bike down the stairs. Good people. Just not smiley.

The Donau River outside our hotel in Ingolstadt.

Fun fact, Ingolstadt is where Mary Shelly’s character Victor Frankenstein attended Medical School.

A brewery in town, making a great pale ale, not a typical German beer.

“Straight outta Altstadt”. This really made us smile.

Easy to remember the beer when the brewery name is right there on the glass.

A delicious plate of gnocchi and a smile.

So what is it with this American habit? Are we all just simple and happy? Well, according to a fun article I read, it has to do with how many immigrant groups or source cultures a country has. And America is just that – immigrants. 60 source cultures. When you arrived in the USA and your neighboring farmers were Polish on one side and Swedish on the other- you smiled since it was the first and most welcoming communication you had. A non verbal way to say hello, let’s get along. Before you all learned a common language smiles were your signal of cooperation and neighborliness. And that habit stuck and permeated the culture. Canada is similar, but I don’t know if they have the same reputation for loads of smiles.

Loaded up and ready to roll out of Ingolstadt.

The smell of roses in the warm air will be an evocative memory of this trip in Germany.

Enjoying a long warm evening in Regensburg, one of our favorite stops and the second time we’ve been here on bikes.

We both absolutely love a city that has so much gathering space for locals. Grab a beer and dangle your legs over the river.

If you think that Americans are not welcomed, or viewed with annoyance or contempt in Germany, you are very wrong. We’ve learned to say we’re American as soon as feasible in conversation. It not only explains our smiles and enthusiasm, but very often elicits an enthusiastic response, with an offering of which relative lives where in America- a son in Chicago, a daughter in Arizona, or, as the case with our young waiter from Moldova, a wistful statement that America is his favorite country, but no, he’s never been.

Eurovelo 13, The Iron Curtain Trail, taking us to Czechia.

As always, we are reminded that for all our faults, the US lives on as the land of opportunity for many. So we ride along, smiling at everyone. Probably viewed as a bit silly or simple by some, but for others a reminder what a country built by immigrants looks like, and acts like. And when after a little hesitation one of our broad smiles is returned by a German, we consider it a win. And if we can get a Hallo, a Guten Morgen, or a Groß Gott, that’s even better. Farewell for now Germany, we’ll see you on the return trip, and now let’s see how our American smiles are greeted in Czechia. Our first time back in 16 years and the first time with bikes.

The Happy Cyclists enjoying a Regensburg sunset.

New Wheels in Old Europe

We’re back. Back in Europe, back in France and Germany, and back on our bikes!

New blue and green camouflage on the Danube.

We spent two weeks after our return from Korea catching up with friends and family in Colorado, California, and then another week to relax and prep for cycle touring in lovely France. But flying through 17 time zones in 2 weeks was not easy. Our 12 hour flight in a packed cabin from Seoul to Dallas was a particular low point, and our circadian rhythms really took a hit. I’ve vowed from now on we’ll only fly West around the globe as it always seems easier that direction -;)

Rolling out of Ulm, Germany on Day 5. New bikes complete with matching panniers, a first for us in 20 years of cycle touring!

A spring boules game with our endlessly kind hosts in the Vallèe Verte

Luckily we had some relaxed days to get over our jet lag visiting family in Grand Junction, CO. It really is easier to return when not heading into the office the next day! We were also lucky to score two saver business class seats with miles on Swiss Air (booked months ago) for our trip back to Europe.

Our typical 20 minute walk to get bread in the Vallée Verte, France. Still a bit dazed from the jet lag.

Wisteria in full spring bloom in the lower alps.

A cow posing in the Haute Savoie with Mount Blanc in the distance.

We also recharged our social souls catching up with as many friends as possible in the Bay Area. And as always, many thanks to all our families and dear friends who hosted us during our stay, including so many delicious meals. We also managed to keep a constant supply of burritos in our blood stream, hopefully holding us for months overseas.

Waiting for our train at Genève Coravin Station with our very awkward bike luggage.

It took three trains to get to Freiburg from Geneva, but was seamless on Swiss and German Rail (and BTW, cheaper to book on DB than SBB App).

First test ride on our new Koga World Traveller-S Bikes at the friendly and efficient Zweirad Hanser in central Freiburg.

We set off in this leg of our nomadic wanderings with a very specific goal; picking up two new touring bikes that we decided to give each other for our 25th wedding anniversary last year. We picked Koga World Traveller-S bikes, since we tried them in a shop in Groningen last year. Luckily; we found a nice shop and Koga dealer in Freiburg, Germany who were willing to take our orders over 3 months ago from Sri Lanka.

Complementary estate wine bottled by our bike shop…one bottle for each new bike -:)

Freiburg is truly one of the greenest cities on earth, and our new apartment building had a massive bike garage and green roof, complete with bee hives.

First of two days at a bigger bike shop in Freiburg accessory shopping, eventually getting a new seat, front and tail packs, four panniers, phone holder, and cyclocomputer.

We spent 3 days in Freiburg getting the bikes configured and tweaked to our liking and then headed out to start another planned 4+ months with our bikes. We were both a bit nervous starting out on our new set ups and were relieved to finally get pedaling again.

Hanging out at Caffé Bicicletta in sunny Freiburg, but excited to get touring!

On the S-Bahn to Hinterzarten up in the Black Forest; are we touring yet??!!

The Koga signature bikes are nicely configured and allowed us a good amount of customization via their website. After some nervous days in France wondering if they’d be ready on time, we heard that they would likely be delivered to the shop in Freiburg on the day we planned to arrive! Perfect timing from the cycling gods (and Dutch Koga craftspeople). Koga strives to deliver in 12 weeks and they were pretty close as we had ordered about 13 1/2 weeks prior in Sri Lanka.

Off the train and ready to ride, but wait, first some critical provisions!

Taking a break on a long first day climb, again, why didn’t we get E-bikes?!

Some rough patches over the Schwarzwald on Day 1. We gave the bikes a full workout.

A break in the Black Forest at one of the ubiquitous small shrines (or as Cheryl likes to say, “Cheeses with Jesus” -:).

Our first day included a short link by train to bridge a busy main road (or super steep mountain option) up to the higher parts of Black Forest. This allowed us to ride nicer roads and trails onwards to Donaueschingen. It was still a hilly and varied 52k first day with 2,500 feet of climbing and lots of dirt sections.

At the source of the Danube in Donaueschingen. The Donauquelle is a bubbling clear spring, but fed by the upstream Breg and Furtwangen rivers.

EuroVelo 6 and the Danube cycle routes are a mix of buttery pavement, dirt, and gravel, but all in pretty good condition.

We have been greeted by unusually warm spring weather, so always happy to find some shade.

First gear quirk to resolve as my panniers both popped off the bike. Luckily, this kitty was ready to help.

Off the bikes enjoying early evening light near Beuron.

But it was beautiful and the new bikes are a joy. We love our old steel bikes, but these bikes are built to be loaded, handle wonderfully, and have geometries that make long days on dirt and old town cobbles so much nicer. We opted for a classic 3×10 Deore XT drivetrain, including fantastic hydraulic disc brakes. Koga includes nice built in racks, strong kickstand, fenders, and dynamo hub lights.

Smiles on Day 2…our seat bones still didn’t hurt too much…yet.

We exchanged many “Bonjours” with this nice French couple as our paces were nearly matched for a few days.

There are many covered bridges on the upper Danube since it’s still small enough to span with wood.

We brought our ultralight camp chair on this tour, which means any pleasant patch of shade is a potential break spot.

Wishing this tunnel was open to bikes as our cycle trail went up and down and all around the first few days.

An emergency Chair Zero break at the side of trail. Sometime brush and the ubiquitous stinging nettles can make finding a break spot tough in spring time.

I haven’t lost Cheryl yet in her bright colors.

More artistic German bridge engineering.

After 4 beautiful days cycling in the Black Forest and upper Danube, we took a rest day (Ruhetag!). Ulm is a nice small city on the Danube with a cathedral famous for having the highest spire in Europe, easy to spot cycling into town. Our rest day coincided with a local holiday in Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria, Corpus Christi.

Mandatory 11 O’Clock pastry break. This was a divinely dense cheesecake like cherry treat.

We then spent the next two days along the more agricultural parts of the Danube Valley and are now enjoying another day off the bikes in Ingolstadt. We’ve mixed our routes up a bit to try to stay in woodland as it’s been warm and sunny, but primarily have followed Eurovelo 6, “Atlantic to the Black Sea”, which runs an incredible 4700km from eastern France via the Loire and Rhine, and then along the Danube to the Black Sea.

Always love the signage and choices cycling in Europe. It’s liberating on bicycles to know you can get anywhere relatively safely.

We head out tomorrow to do another 80km to Regensburg, but after that, the upcoming sections on the Danube, especially Donau to Vienna and Budapest are some of the most popular bike touring segments in the world. (And for good reason).

Paying homage to the Schwein farmers in the area, a German diet staple.

But thousands of bikes on each side of the river, with an awkward mix of the inexperienced and e-bikes thrown in, will make us a bit crazy and claustrophobic. So we plan to the explore that heart of the route more off-season, some early spring or late fall. We are always glad to trade some rain, cold weather and earlier darkness for a more peaceful experience.

A massive platter of tasty Greek food hit the spot in Riedlingen as our metabolisms started to fire up on Day 3.

But the upper segments of the Danube are much less toured, and have been generally blissful. As Cheryl knows, I’m a lot happier off the beaten track, at least a bit, and tend to break out in hives when in tourist clusters these days. Sometimes we lean in to being tourists, but other times it’s just life for us now, so we need to make our own adventure. After Regensburg, we may use our €49 monthly DeutschBahn tickets again to head east towards Czechia.

Cheryl loving her new bike in the limestone gorges of the Buchhalde-Oberes Donautal

But this is the magic of our third year of nomadic travels. We relish flexibility and the ability to change course on short notice. It’s also our third year in a row touring in Europe, and I definitely am seeing the landscape through slightly different eyes. We’ve seen hundreds of quaint squares, rivers, bridges, and old towns. Places are starting to look more normal, and a bit less exotic. But I also have a warm feeling of joy that we are able to control our destiny in life for now. Explore where we want, linger where we want. But we also have enough life experience and years of hard work to appreciate it all. And we know life can throw us all surprises at anytime, so for now, we roll on into the summer, thankful for everything.

Happy to be the two friendly American cycle tourists in a little German Town no one has heard of (Riedlingen)

Remember, the smaller places can be even more rewarding than fighting the crowds in the most popular cities. Happy summer travels all and hope to see a few of you along the way!

Le Tour de Denmark (and beyond!)

So it’s hard to beat Sweden in summer for cycle touring, but despite our somewhat haphazard rambles, we had one date on the calendar for more than a year; the July 1st opening stage of the Tour de France in Copenhagen. Le Grand Départ!

Cheryl on the time trial course in Copenhagen…a little bit ahead of the first rider.

But wait, isn’t the Tour de France in France? Yes, the majority is in France; however, more recently, they start in a nearby country for the first 3 stages (of 21) to help share in the experience and spread the Tour love across borders.

In recent years, the tour has started in Belgium, Spain, Italy, Netherlands and the UK. But this was the first time it had visited cycle-crazy Denmark.

And since we had been moving a lot in the previous month of cycle touring (a few 2 night stops but mostly single touring nights), we decided to head to Copenhagen early and get an apartment for a week in advance of our long-standing 2-night hotel reservation just a 100 meters from the course.

Most of downtown Copenhagen was completely car free for two days. Sweet!

So we crossed from Helsingborg, Sweden to Helsingør, Denmark by ferry across the Kattegat Strait. This short 20 minute crossing was the primary crossing point until the completion of the Oresund bridge/tunnel in 2000, so has robust infrastructure on both sides of the crossings and multiple automated dock structures to load and unload trucks, cars, passengers and the occasional bikes. Very cool.

Waiting to load up in Helsingborg. Wait, another cycle tourist!

It’s still busy, and the Swedish side has a shiny new intermodal station, with great connections for rail, bus, and ferry passengers. As with most European vehicle ferries, bikes load with the cars and trucks, so we made our way around the maze of approach lanes and signs to find our way to a toll booth station where you ride up to window and buy your tickets for the next ferry out.

Crossing to Denmark with a friendly Swede heading out for a 3 month bike packing trip to the tip of Portugal!

As always, it’s a bit of a rush to ride on and off in between big rigs and loading cars, and in this case, no stopping for any immigration as this is an internal EU crossing.

We highly recommend taking ferries where you can if bike touring, even if there is another option, as you get the continuous experience of the landscape, get to see some of the seascape, meet other cycle tourists, and can tune into the subtleties of the cultural infrastructure differences in every country. And yes, France, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands all are unique cycling experiences. More on that later.

The meeting hall in the Danish Workers Museum, an excellent history of the labor movement in Denmark and insight into the modern Danish Social Democracy

Our friend Jason met us about half way along the way on the 50km ride into Copenhagen, and it was great to have an escort and some engaging conversation with a familiar face. Jason is a professor from San Francisco, and was spending the month in Copenhagen, continuing his field studies and collaboration on the politics and implementation of transport policies in Copenhagen and San Francisco.

Good to see Jason! He led us on one of the many nice cycling options into Copenhagen from Helsingor

Jason has literally written a book on the topic, and has great insight on how Copenhagen has become one of the worlds leading bicycle cities; however, noting the challenges facing a lax continued investment in car free space and the troubling growth of auto mobility throughout Denmark.

A beach is never far away cycling along the Danish coast

His insights would align with some of our experiences in Copenhagen and beyond as we toured across Denmark. The country has fantastic cycling infrastructure, but we did find traffic a bit heavy and passing often surprisingly a bit close compared to Sweden and Germany. And some interior towns and cities had very few bikes and large drive through bakeries?!

Denmark and Cheryl were ready for Le Tour!

Our apartment was in Norrebrø, a trendy and leafy neighborhood just outside the more touristed core of Copenhagen. The neighborhood is great, so we took a chance on an Airbnb with only a few sparse reviews. It was fine, but had a few issues.

So many bikes in Nørrebro that parking was often a challenge in front of our favorite bakery

First, although it looked out over the beautiful trees of the adjacent cemetery/park, it was fronted by a fairly busy two-lane road. And since we were there during a rare heat wave, we were faced with the choice of open windows for ventilation or traffic noise. Secondly, we discovered that under the bed was full of clutter with years of thick dust. Cheryl, being the amazing travel companion she is, spent the better part of an hour cleaning under the bed to spare me from the misery of my dust allergies for a week.

Cycling through Assistens Cemetery, a hybrid park and cemetery in the heart of Nørrebro

We don’t use Airbnb very often, but this apartment highlighted some of the challenges of the platform. It had a few sparse 5 star reviews that we feel in retrospect were probably left by friends, and the lack of a specific location when choosing a rental is unprecedented in the lodging industry….and very annoying to me. You should know what you are buying when spending $1000++ for a weekly apartment.

One of the pleasant shared streets of Nørrebro

Our week in Copenhagen was great, but let’s just say, there is now one very detailed review of this apartment, letting prospective guests know exactly the trade offs of what they are getting. I wrote the review that I wish I had read before renting. And to be clear, the apartment was a fine base , but we are particularly sensitive to traffic noise after spending months on the peaceful saddles of our bikes, so would not have chosen the place if fully informed.

The roll through Copenhagen of the teams for the team introduction ceremonies two days before the race starts.

Copenhagen was in full embrace of the Grand Depart, and the run up to the opening stage was a blast. Tour signs, decorations, stages, and buzz everywhere. Watching the time trial was fantastic as riders came by every minute, so there was hours of fun with the spirited Danish everywhere along the course. Seriously, every meter of the time trial course had at least a few people at the rails, and 10 or more thick at the popular spots. And yes, it helps to be 6’-5” to have a clear view almost anywhere.

The other interesting aspect of visiting at the end of June was the Midsommer celebrations and the somewhat bizarre 2-week tradition of “studenterkørsel”. This consists of students who are graduating from “gymnasiet” schools (upper secondary school) hiring old military/farm trucks to drive around and pick up other grads, visit each family, and generally rolling around Copenhagen (or anywhere in Denmark) blasting music, drinking, and dancing into the wee hours.

One of the studenterkørsel making a stop right outside our apartment. The party was just getting started!

You can hear them coming blocks away and it’s all very charming at first, but after the third day or fourth day, the charm starts to wear a bit thin. Oh, and did I mention they all wear little sailor hats, unique to each school. This is just one of the quirky and unique traditions in the Scandinavian countries, as they express incredible individuality despite their low populations. (Denmark is smaller than the SF Bay Area!)

My view of the time trial on an exciting corner about 5km from the finish

Heading towards Frederik’s Church with 50,000 Copenhageners on the Saturday all city ride.

After riding the time trial course with 50,000 other crazed cyclists the morning after the first stage, we headed off to Copenhagen central for our intercity train to Nyborg, with the goal of catching the finish of Stage 2.

One of the Danish National Cycle routes…just follow the signs…but we did miss the bicycle directional/distance signs at every bike route Junction typical elsewhere in Europe.

Despite a slightly frightening overcrowded situation with our loaded bikes on the woefully inadequate train platforms of the main station, we managed to beat the peleoton across the Great Belt Bridge to Nyborg. It was one of the busiest travel days of the year combining a summer Saturday, the TdF, and the massive Rosskilde music festival! Whoaa, we were missing our more usual shoulder season travel times.

The Danish train system is ok, but is not as extensive or user friendly for tourists or bicycles as other Northern European countries. You have to reserve bike space on intercity (IC or ICL) trains and they are all high boarding trains, so it’s necessary to hoist your bikes up after scrambling to load your bags. Some of the less common regional trains are first-come first served for bike space, as well as the S-trains around Copenhagen. Secondly, the DSB App and website will not accept US credit cards, and has only one bespoke mobile payment system, which you can only sign up for with a Danish phone number!

So we had to go CPH central and wait in the queue to buy our paper tickets and paid 3x as much as the discounted tickets still available on the App the day before….There are a lot of somewhat protectionist schemes in the Scandinavian countries, such as most shops in the Netherlands not taking visa and Mastercard, only “Maestro”. But I get that you want to keep the money and jobs local, and not pay Visa or Mastercard 2% of every transaction in your country with no benefit of employment or trickle down from the company profits.

This shiny new stretch of path on Funen filled in some busier gaps on backroads

I should note that once you are on the trains, the staff and seating is all very comfortable.

Sizing up a beautiful Danish Smørrebrød sampler in Julesmimde

It was cool to take the train across the 18km Great Belt Bridge in advance of the peloton as you got an appreciation what they were going though. The bridge was closed for the Tour crossing, but you unfortunately can’t cycle across the bridge. (or maybe fortunately given the ever present winds.).

Once at Nyborg station, we scoped out a good spot about 1.5 km from the finish line and enjoyed the local crowd, some of whom had been there all day (and perhaps drinking!?) Since we were on fully loaded on our bikes, there was no chance of fighting the thousands who had jockeyed into the finishing sprint stretch. And although they went by fast, there were a lot of stragglers due to a crash that split up the peloton about 2km from our viewing spot.

Chilling in the shade waiting for Stage 2 finish…and loving the 0% beers….cold and free.

Denmark is a leader in wind energy, and for good reason…the winds can be constant off the ever present surrounding bodies of water.

After the stage ended, we rode to the accommodation we had booked about 25km north of Nyborg as the town itself was booked solid. It all worked out great, as we were able to escape the race area quickly, hit a supermarket, and have a lovely early evening ride to our modest row holiday apartment.

The next few days we had some great cycling across Funen, a vast island in the center of Denmark that is linked to Sjæland by the Great Belt and then onto Jutland by the Little Belt Bridge. It’s a nice rolling area of forest and farmland and really fun riding, especially when you get a bit lucky with the winds, which magically turned from the east to the west as we turned in the same direction! Nice.

A very late sunset at our little apartment outside Nyborg.

Lunchtime stopover in Vejie, the starting city for Stage 3

We had a great visit connecting with some of my step family on the lovely coast for a few days, which gave us more opportunity to ask questions about the idiosyncrasies of life in Denmark. But as much as we would have loved to linger a bit longer enjoying the Danish summer scene, we had another deadline of getting to the Hoek of Holland to catch a night ferry to the UK on the 15th. So we spent the next few days riding south towards the German border and then made our way across to northern Holland by a few strategic train hops.

We trailed the 3rd stage of the Tour by only a day or two, which was already a signed national cycling route; very cool!

It was a bit hectic as the trains and station transfers in were a bit crazy, and one of our well planned regional trains from Flensburg to Hamburg stopped midway and let everyone off in the middle of nowhere due to a sudden line closure. So instead of waiting for buses that might take hours to get there and pick up the hundreds of stranded passengers, we loaded up our bikes and headed to the next station, hoping to bypass the issue.

Well, that still didn’t work as the next 3 stations were closed, so we came up with a Plan B, head 40km East to Kiel, a former Hanseatic League city and enjoy a night there, as we had heard the line to Hamburg would reopen the next day.

The somewhat choreographed chaos of the DB intercity bike car… everyone helps each other and spaces are reserved

Bremen, an overlooked gem and former Hanseatic city in northern Germany

Cheryl proud that we finally made it to Bremen, summer travel was a bit crazy.

Although sometimes traveling with bikes on trains is (very) stressful, it also gives you a unique freedom to pivot when an issue arises! This flexibility helped us again as the line from Hamburg to Groningen, Netherlands has been closed for years near the border, due to a failed rail bridge. But we were able to bridge gap easily by riding from the last Deutsche Bahn station in Germany to the first town on the Dutch rail system 20 km away!

Closing the rail gap with our bikes from Leer to Weener, Germany

Success! Ready to board our final train-bike-train leg to Groningen in Weener, Germany

So we breathed a big sigh of relief as our local and mellow Dutch train rolled towards the famous cycling city of Groningen. We decided to spend two nights there to enjoy it sufficiently, but then realized as we headed out two days later that we left ourselves a bit of cycling challenge to make our ferry to the UK on time, especially with the “hills of the Netherlands” (aka wind!)….more on our next leg soon.

Happy August to all -:)

Germany. Sweden. Denmark. Sweden.

If it sounds like we can’t make up our minds where to go, that’s partially correct. We took a train from Dresden to Rostock, planning on staying somewhere out of Rostock and closer to where we planned on catching a ferry to Sweden.

Our first glimpse of the Baltic Coast from Graal-Müritz.

We rolled into Graal-Müritz pretty late in the day, but with plenty of sunlight. It is a popular vacation destination for the eastern part of Germany, and we again felt like the only Americans in town. It’s fun to see the surprised reactions from people when we say we’re from California – what are you doing here? As confirmed by German friends, most Americans visit Berlin, Munich, maybe Frankfurt or Hamburg, but rarely make it to the smaller destinations. That is one of our favorite things about bike touring, staying in the small places, being the only foreign tourists.

Enjoying the late sunset on the beach at Graal-Müritz.

Admiring the view as we ride towards Stralsund.

Heading out through the coastal forest, if you keep moving the mosquitoes can’t catch you.

Our ride to Stralsund was 94 kilometers, one of our longer days. With so much daylight, it’s not as daunting to agree to a long day. You know there is time to take loads of breaks. The tailwind helped a lot too.

The wind turbines help you see which way the wind is blowing.

This is what you want. The turbine facing the same direction you’re heading. Tailwind!

Cookie cabana break time. Oh, this is too nice, too easy. Cue ominous music.

We were only about 20k from Stralsund when my right shifter, for the rear chainrings, broke. Suddenly I’m riding a single speed bike loaded with gear. Rich managed to get me into a more realistic gear in the back and we limped to town. Now begins the strategizing and planning on how and where to get my bike fixed. Oh, did I mention it was Saturday afternoon when my bike broke? And we know that nothing is open on Sunday. No bike shops, barely any grocery stores. Now what? Stay in Stralsund for two nights and hope the not very encouraging looking bike shop can fix my bike?

German trains for the win again! With our 9 euro monthly tickets it’s an easy decision to catch the train to Sassnitz, which is where we plan to catch the ferry to Sweden.

We took the train to Sassnitz on Sunday where a bike shop fixed my broken shifter on Monday morning, which allowed us to catch the Tuesday morning ferry to Sweden. And, gave us a bonus day in Sassnitz to hike the UNESCO listed beech forest and amazing chalk cliffs.

Fun with chalk at our beach lunch break.

The forest is so peaceful and beautiful.

Our hike day was a good reminder to mix up activities. After two weeks of cycling we both felt like hiking was so so hard. Really harder than it should have been.

Picnic dinner in our hotel garden, relief at having a working bike again!

So what do you do on a two hour ferry ride? I read. We have tea and pastries. And Rich travel plans, since we got on the ferry knowing only where it landed in Sweden. Ystad. Rich was still deciding where to go next. We had gotten a recommendation from a friend to go to Bornholm Island. Beautiful and great cycling, he said.

Securing the bikes on the car deck of the ferry.

It was an early morning to ride 9k to get to the 8:00 am ferry. Caffeine and food was welcome. This was about 20 minutes before Rich said, hey, let’s catch the ferry from Ystad, Sweden to Bornholm Island, Denmark.

The second ferry left about ten minutes after the first arrived, so if we hustled off and rode fast around the corner we could spend only ten minutes in Sweden before leaving again. Assuming we could find the second ferry and get on in time. We did. The ramp was pulled up just after we and two other cyclists rolled onto the ferry. Phew. It feels good when it works out.

Waiting to disembark on Bornholm Island.

Shifting Gears in Saxony

Happy June everyone and hope that you are are enjoying the summer so far. Getting out on the bikes has been nice, but we’ve hit a few bumps in the road along the way, and rambling without a detailed plan in the beginning of peak European travel season is a bit more challenging.

On the Elbe river valley north of Dresden

So we’ve been mixing up some regional train hops and full cycling days to make our way out of the state of Hessen, across Thuringia, and well into Saxony. The scenery has been beautiful in late Spring with full greenery and loads of wildflowers.

Relaxing in he Schlossgarten in Fulda. June in Europe is so green to these California eyes.

We’ve managed to learn a lot more about the local history via some great museums and historic sites. It’s an area steeped in history from the early Middle Ages to the tumultuous 20th century of 2 wars, partition, and reunification. The Forum museum in Leipzig is highly recommended as it’s an extremely well curated and interactive history of the GDR.

The former interior border at Gerstungen. Amazingly, six days later, a connector strip had been paved. A shocking change for the residents and the world.

As much as we thought that we knew the basic history of the former Eastern Block, this museum will add to your understanding, and you can’t help put it in the current context agression in Ukraine, as well as a lot of the variances in prosperity that still divide the former East and West.

Inside Wartburg Castle, where Martin Luther famously translated the Bible as part of the Protestant reformation in 1520.

The great hall in Wartburg Castle, a fascinating mix of 15th century construction, with more ornate 18th and 19th century “renovations”

The biggest challenge of the past week has been that Cheryl has been less than 100% due to a nasty stomach bug, which hit her hard for a few days, with a slow recovery. Cycle touring and stomach bugs are not the best combination, so we’ve had to scale back our cycling distances and incorporate a bit more rest and recovery into our agenda. It was kind of rough for a few days. But she stayed in the tour and carried on.

A needed break on the old Hessen rail trail east of Frankfurt

Luckily, the train system has helped to shorten some days and get us on to places of more interest, such as Leipzig, and now Dresden, both vibrant and interesting cities. But Cheryl is a trooper, and despite running on fumes, continued to cycle most days, with my challenge being to make sure the day was not too tough or long! She’s on the mend now and we anticipate heading out of Dresden tomorrow with more oomph in our pedaling!

Cheryl reflecting sunset over the Elbe in Dresden. Both Leipzig and Dresden have extensive tram systems approaching 100 miles in length. Low boarding, fast, and free with our €9 monthly train ticket!

On the mechanical front, I started to notice as we left Bad Hersfeld that my back tire seemed to be rubbing the fender more and more. It turns out that my long lasting Schwalbe Tire had a bulge developing in one spot….definitely time for a new tire! Luckily we made it to Fulda, which had a half dozen bike shops listed, so I engaged on the hunt for a new tire.

Did we mention how friendly the ducks are?

The first place in town had a single lovely Schwalble Marathon 700×38 tire. These hand finished German tires are the clear global favorites in the bike touring and commuting community. Unfortunately, with my tight fender and frame, this tire was one size too big and they had no other similar tires. The next shop on the edge of town had no Schwable touring tires, but was able to sell me a right sized 700×35 Matrix touring tire. I’d never heard of the brand, but his shop was full of their parts. As it turns out, these Thailand made parts are some of the most available. I figured I better take it.

The glamorous life of cycle touring in Eisenach

Since he spoke English, I was able to get an informative update on the global supply chain issues still facing the bicycling industry. I asked him about bike parts for a full group replacement on my touring bike, as all my well loved Ultegra parts are close to failing. (Hang in there right shifter!). He said that parts are still on short supply and that it may be cheaper or more plausible just to buy a new touring bike! Zoinkees.

The cherries are delicious, and especially when you’re a bit taller than most pickers!

Foraging is a nice option as summer fruits ripen

He said that e-bikes, mountain bikes, and kids bikes are now more available, but that touring/hybrid/road bikes are still hard to get. He also noted that aluminum supplies have been disrupted from Ukraine war, so frame and part manufactures may have more issues! The last few years have really opened up the worlds eyes to the fragility of global supply chains, and the relative bounty we all had in the past 30 years of massive global expansion.

You must be this tall to fight in medieval war

So I put on the new €20 touring tire and hope it holds up for even half the life of my trusty Schwable. So far so good.

Disobey this divine don’t walk signal in Fulda at your peril!

But where to next? We are still discussing some options as are now eager to get further north to the Baltic Coast and cross to Sweden. We love Germany, but it does have many quirks, and we can tell that we may have had our fill for now of small town Germany (And even brats, schnitzel, and potatoes… hence our pull to the vibrant cities for Vietnamese food and burritos!).

Cheryl captured in the burning lens ca. 1728, at the fantastic Zwinger scientific and astronomical collection in Dresden

The city and town connections via cycle routes are wonderful here, and it’s safe, pleasant, clean. The bigger cities, such as Leipzig and Dresden are diverse, fantastic to explore, and have very low automobile traffic. (So quiet in most central neighborhoods!). But there is indeed (a somewhat stereotypical) rigidity and other quirks to life here that can make make cycle touring more challenging. Like what, you ask?

Mostly so pleasant to cycle tour in Germany and a million miles of paths to explore.

No public drinking fountains…anywhere! Not along cycle routes, not in parks, not even outside bathrooms….and by the way, public bathrooms are also EXTREMELY rare. Museums or restaurants are your best bets. So if you can’t pee al fresco, frequently without hesitation, then cycle touring here is not for you. The only solution to the lack of water fountains is to buy water (which we only do as last resort) or bring a lot of water for the day (which we do).

And what is rarer than a public bathroom in Germany? A convenience store. They are not part of the culture, even in cities. They are everywhere in Denmark and Sweden, with fresh foods, and takeaway options….perfect for cycle touring.

A near riot prior to 6pm Aldi closing. It was the only open supermarket in central Dresden over Whit Monday holiday weekend.

There may not be convenience stores anywhere, but there are so many bakeries!

But we have found that below the sometimes abrupt exterior of some Germans, there is a deep care the environment and the plight of others. We saw the heartwarming handling of the 2015 Syrian refuge crisis in Munich, and again have witnessed the real welcome signs for Ukrainians on 2022. And they don’t brag about it, they just do it.

Welcome signs everywhere; and housing, food, and other refugee support.

So we head north this Friday morning by train, feeling our privilege to be healthy and free.

The intrepid travelers carry on…outside Wartburg Castle, Eisenach.

And we’re back on wheels!

After seven months of backpack travel we’re reunited with our touring bikes. Izmir, Turkey to Geneva, Switzerland was another one of those dislocating travel days. We’re super lucky to have a place to land in France, very good and generous friends who allow us to leave our bikes and extra bags at their place, so the switch from Turkey to a mountain side French village was a known and comforting destination.

Picnic spots of the world. Did we sit a bit too close to an anthill? Yes.

The lush green views were a big change from the blue waters and Mediterranean climate of Turkey as well. We hit peak spring in France. So green. Flowers blooming, bees buzzing, ants crawling. We dusted off our bikes and went for a ride up the valley to make sure everything still worked, both on the bikes and our bodies.

Then the tougher part. Where to next? Our original plan had been to ride the Baltic Coast but the war in Ukraine made us decide that getting around Kaliningrad was a bit too difficult for the time frame we have. So we’ll save that for another year.

After a fantastic week in France we headed to the Geneva train station to catch a train. It’s nice to start off with a lovely long downhill ride.

Heading out. Thank you EA for the photo and the escort down The Valley.

Our local guide for the down the valley ride.

But where? You’re still asking. Where are you going?

The first train took us to Basel, Switzerland. We had a nice evening and morning walking around and enjoying the city and then a second train took us to Mainz, Germany.

A nice cafe and pizzeria by the train tracks in Basel.

Anticipating the train boarding scramble. Most trains have a few steps up, which means taking off bags before lifting the bikes up. With only a few minutes to accomplish we have a system.

The worst train boarding is when you don’t know where the bike storage space is. This is when you find yourself trotting down the platform wheeling your bike in a bit of a panic. Thankfully German and Swiss train apps let you know where the bike storage is. So, the only scramble is getting the bikes and bags on the train. Rich does the bike lifting and I do the bag lifting. One final count of bags every time we get on or off a train, and we settle in.

Bikes in the background, lunch, and a book on my Kindle. Set for this train ride.

From Mainz we’re riding East/Northeast towards Dresden and towards the German Polish border. That’s the scenario for now. As we all know, plans are never set in stone. I always need a few days cycling to convince myself I can still do this. Get on the loaded bike day after day and turn the pedals over, cranking out the miles. The first day’s euphoria turns into the second day’s tiredness, and the third day’s exhaustion.

The happy bikers on the Main river path. Day three.

But with my best travel companion in front of me (I draft behind him shamelessly), I push through the tired cranky afternoons and know that the pedaling legs will come back. More fun cycle touring to come.

What to eat along the way.

Week four of nearly daily cycling means quite a bit of eating and being sure we have plenty of water during the day. Breakfasts are mostly included at the hotels we stay at, so that’s one meal sorted each day.

A typical picnic lunch, but with an actual picnic table. Quite the timely find. Our hedgehog patterned tea towel/tablecloth/napkin, and the striped bag which has bamboo cutlery, a sharp knife, and a corkscrew are picnic necessities.

Our lunches are usually picnic style, with sandwiches purchased at a bakery in the morning. We feel qualified to critic sandwiches by county so far: Switzerland – too much mayo or salad cream or sauce! We resorted to scraping and squeezing excess goop off the sandwiches which were mostly purchased at supermarkets.

Sandwiches on board, ready for de-mayonnaising.

Switzerland doesn’t seem to have the quantity of bakeries we are enjoying in Germany. And, German ready made sandwiches are mostly mayo free. Butter on the bread holds up much better, and cucumber, lettuce, tomato and even a slice of hard boiled egg makes for a very nice lunch. Oh yes, and lovely seeded rolls! German sandwiches get the nod so far.

Apples have been a constant presence in my front bag.

These little red ones with very white flesh are my favorite. The green ones with a touch of red are so tart!

Why so many apple trees along the roads? I’m not certain. We only pick from those that are obviously not part of an orchard which is someones living, and I’ve read a few different reasons for why so many apple trees dotting the landscape. Perhaps from 17th century laws requiring grooms to plant oak and apple trees before marrying, maybe the more common sense and practical notion that tree lined roads are lovely and apple trees do well. We also had a week of plums gleaned from trees in villages which were so overloaded they were dropping on the street.

Finding benches in the shade is a never ending quest. Should have removed my wet laundry from the back of my bike before taking this photo.

We have also learned the difficult and squabbling way that we have enough energy after a long day cycling to check in to a hotel, unpack (ie dump panniers upside on the floor), shower, and get drinks and dinner at ONE place. Not drinks at one place and move on to dinner at another – that doesn’t end well for hangry cyclists. Pick a place that meets both needs. Thankfully, Biergartens abound!

This pumpkin soup at a Biergarten in Beilngreis was fantastic.

Why yes, I am about to demolish this huge plate of food.

Stay well fed and carry plenty of water, refill water when the opportunity presents itself, and happy pedaling!