Breakdown services for cyclists

Motorists often join motor clubs to ensure breakdown assistance or they take out breakdown insurance. Only recently did I find out that similar insurance policies are available for cyclists. It’s a good idea. A moments daydreaming and a pothole can lead to a bent or broken frame or wheel. When commuting this is probably not a serious problem as you can lug your bike to the next bike shop and have it repaired but if you are half way up an Alp and you need to be at the airport at six o’clock the next morning it is a completely different kettle of fish. If you are considering a European tour when the present excitement dies down it’s definitely worth buying one of these policies.

In general the insurance companies offer the following services, but as ever it pays to read the small print of the policy:

• A hotline emergency number open 24/7.
• In the event of a bicycle failure: onward and return journey service, rental bicycle service, breakdown and accident assistance, salvage, removal, bicycle transport service, bicycle storage, bicycle customs clearance and scrapping (abroad) and help with bicycle repair.
• In the event of illness or accident: overnight service, visit to the sick, return of children, bicycle return transport, patient return transport
• In the event of an unforeseen interruption of travel abroad: return travel service, help in the event of bankruptcy of the tour operator
• In case of emergencies: Immediate help in the event of loss of means of payment, document service, workshop service, key service

The following clubs and a company offer breakdown insurance. This list is probably not comprehensive.

Country - organisation	Breakdown Service	Cost	Comment
UK - Environmental Transport Association https://www.eta.co.uk/	Cycle Rescue Cover	£24 annually	Europe wide
Germany - Allgeminer Deutscher Fahrrad Club (ADFC) https://www.adfc.de (in German)	ADFC-Pannenhilfe	Free to members	Limited to Germany.
Germany - Allgeminer Deutscher Fahrrad Club (ADFC) https://www.adfc.de (in German)	ADFC Pannenhilfe PLUS	11.90€ for a single person annually 19.90€  for each member of family annually. Only members can join the scheme.	Europe wide
Germany - Verkehrsclub Deutschland (VCD) https://www.vcd.org/startseite/ (in German)	Plus Fahrrad-Schutzbrief	9€ annually for members.	Europe wide
Germany - ROLAND Schutzbrief-Versicherung-AG 50664 Köln https://www.roland-schutzbrief.de/privatkunden_1/fahrrad_schutzbrief/fahrradschutzbrief.html (in German)	Fahrrad-Schutzbrief	19.90€ for a single person annually 29.90€  for each member of family annually. Open to all.	Europe wide. It is the same policy as the one offeredby the VCD
Luxembourg - Automobile Club Luxembourg https://www.acl.lu/en-us/assistance-avantages/assistances-membres/nos-assistances-assurances/nos-assistances/acl-bike-assistance	Bike Assistance	25€ annually	Assistance within the Duchy of Luxembourg up to a distance of 50km outside the border

The digital SPEZI Germersheim 2020 on your PC

We were very disappointed that the real actual SPEZI has been cancelled. We have been going since before 2005. I was looking forward to talking to HP Velotechnik and having serious discussions about the Gekko trikes we have bought recently. I am not alone in missing SPEZI. We took the trikes for a run over the border in Baden-Württemberg on Sunday afternoon and a passing Hase Pino captain shouted, "We'd rather be at SPEZI." He left with a traditional Mannheim cyclists' farewell, "Next year in Germersheim!"

A popular event even ten years ago

 

Social distancing was never going to be easy

Serious discussions

There's a digital SPEZI exhibition with a link from https://www.specialbikesshow.com/welcome-to-the-spezi.html under a big green button until the end of May. When you click on this you are transferred to the German website: https://virtual.spezialradmesse.de/virtual-spezi-2020.html#top.  If your German is not up to much it's a bit awkward, but… The first thing you will notice is a overhead photograph of the bus station in Germersheim which is used as a trike/bike demonstration arena during SPEZI. The German instructions tell you to "NACH UNTEN SCROLLEN", i.e. Scroll down. Do that! You can watch a short film of the Hase-Bike team singing "Happy Birthday" to SPEZI. This was to be the 25th SPEZI. I don't suppose the video will make the charts, but it sums up the friendliness and informality of the event. At the bottom of the page there is a blue banner with a number of boxes. Clicking on these leads to the "AUSSTELLERN" - the exhibitors, the "VORTRAGEN" - the lectures, the FANSHOP and a galler of photgraphs from the first ten years of the exhibition. Click on AUSSTELLERN to find a page showing the exhibition hall with box entitled "NACH UNTEN SCROLLEN". Do that and scroll down the page to see a list of all of the exhibitors who were taking part, at least up to the date when SPEZI was cancelled. Some of the exhibitors have contributions in English. They are well worth looking at. Each exhibitor has a box with name upon it and if you click on these they turn blue. The box then displays a lower box entitled "MEHR". Click on this and you are transferred to the exhibitor's contribution. (Much of this information is actually published in the lower part of the english language page.)

AUSSTELLERN (Exhibitors) with english language videos

AZUB has an image film showing a AZUB Ti FLY X full suspension trike with all 26" wheels racing round a forest. This has no commentary. For me it looks like an interesting trike to scare oneself half to death. I must admit AZUB would be on my list of folk to contact if I came up on the lottery. Course, I would need to buy a lottery ticket first and I suspect I'm too mean.

Bernds  the German folding bike company shows a film about cycling around the Bodensee (Lake Constance) which perfectly understandable without German and very jolly to boot.

HP Velotechnik has a film by the Laidback Bike Report discussing the new range of Gekko trikes.

ICE (ICLETTA) distributors of ICE trikes, TerraCycle recumbent accessories has a gallery of ICE trikes underway. The company sells lots of weird trike gear and clothing for trikes that is probably the answer to many of those problems that seem unsolvable.

Podbike has a short film about this unusual velocar, narrated by the owner of the company. 

RadicalDesign is showing a film about a Brompton folding bike carrier bag that you can use as a rucksack to schlepp the bike. The rucksack can be folded and used as a daypack when it's not carrying the bike. The film also shows covers for velomobiles, special covers for use on cargo bikes and a tadpole trike garage.

Santana's film shows how to disassemble a Santana tandem to pack into the company's flight case.

Utopia a manufacturer of ergonomically designed bicycles, pedelecs and recumbent bikes, cross frames, trailer, and accessories has a film in English about the company showing how the bikes are manufactured. It looks at the beginning like it might be in Spanish. It is in English with Spanish subtitles.

Velo:RE has a film about making belts from cast off bike tyres.

Ventisit makes padded seats for recumbent seats and also lots of other non-cycle seats. Once I have uploaded this blog I am going to write to the company and buy a new seat for my Gekko.

VORTRÄGE (Lectures)

There are two lectures in English. „Cycling without age“ is about an organisation that takes older folks out on Rickshaws. The other is a lecture about the Sun Trip 2018 –  12.000 km through 10  countries in 100 days using muscle power and Solarenergy. Initially it's a film of a lecture but they then show a film about their trip. Great stuff. These characters are to be admired. They built a back to back tandem trike where the captain steers and pedals and the stoker uses a rowing rig. We, my wife and I, had a reputation for mild eccentricity in the company I worked for, because once we cycled over the Alps to Lago Maggiore. In comparison to these two we were just making an adventure out of going the baker's round the corner. 

The FANSHOP
The shop shows a number of souvenir articles. You can browse through these and if you want a description in English, then cut out the descriptions and paste them in Google Translator. If you want to buy something and I must admit, the Swiss cowbell strikes me as a good solution to the problem of cycling on mixed cycling/walkers' paths. The walkers will notice you are there. However the pries shown include postage and packing within Germany, but not abroad, Drop the organizers a line in simple English and tell them what you want. They will then inform you of the increased costs for postage abroad.

 

Touring Lake Constance

Somewhere in the last few months we were at a tourism or cycling exhibition and I stuffed a postcard from the Vier Länder Region Bodensee (Four nation region Lake Constance) into a one of those useful free cloth shopping bags you find at continental trade fairs. I am just in progress of emptying the bag out and filing a lot of the information material in the round file. The postcard has a link to www.touren.bodensee.eu where you can find tours, a route planner with GPS download and accommodation suggestions for cycling, walking and canoeing trips in the Austrian, German, Liechtenstein and Swiss parts of the region. The website is an excellent place to start planning a trip to this cyclist-friendly scenic region. It has the great advantage that the tours are international and do not end at the border which is a typical snag for information issued by national tourist offices.

Ciclovia Alpe-Adria-Radweg

Eagle-eyed readers of this blog will have noticed that it has not been published recently. I was in hospital receiving treatment for a blood disease. In my experience every time I meet the medical profession they discover something new and nasty in addition. In this case it was noticed my heart was only working at about 30% efficiency. I had noticed a tendency to breathlessness when climbing hills on the bike or on foot but put it down to colds, allergies and old age. If you feel the same way it is worth popping into your local cardiologist and having a check up. Once my heart had been repaired the oncologists could start giving me a cocktail of chemotherapy drugs. One of the side effects of my blood condition has meant that I  have a fracture of the spine because my lymph nodes are swollen and one these is too close to my spine. In this situation I need a little something to keep me cheerful. Unfortunately I am now too old to flirt with the nurses, so I have been looking at a cycling holiday next year. Whether I need a new electro-bike to help the heart or a new electro-trike to not only help the heart and offer support for my back is not clear, but I have found a suitable route: The Alpe-Adria Cycleway: www.alpe-adria-radweg.com. This runs from Salzburg down to Grado on the Med between Triest and Venice, and one can take a train through the Alps. The first question to be answered is will the Drs recommend that I cycle, at all? I have looked in various forums without becoming much the wiser.

The first problem to be solved is how do we get to Salzburg? We can take a direct train from Mannheim. The e-bike would be no problem. DB German Rail accepts e-bikes.  Most long distance trains do not take trikes or tandems, however. Three manufacturers: AZUB, HPVelotechnik and ICE offer folding trikes which mean not only are they cheaper to transport, but you can get them onto a train, possibly with difficulty. Folded bikes go free of charge when folded. I am going to assume that the same applies to folded trikes.

The second possible problem is getting back from the coast after the trip, but it turns out that this just costs money. We can use a minibus with trailer option from Grado back to Udine, Villach or even Salzburg (www.alpeadria.bike). 

It is a gentle occupation looking at various websites about the areas along the route, hotel accommodation and the railway connections. It is probably the modern day equivalent of reading Cooks International Timetable and a good Atlas, which always struck me as some of the most interesting literature in the world.

Booking a touring holiday in Franconia, for example or in the far east of Germany

Where do you start planning a cycling  holiday in Germany? You can, of course, fly to say Friedrichshafen and then follow the Rhine to the Dutch border finding your finding your overnight accommodation as you drift downstream. This is not a problem if you are in a small group and you start to look for your acommodation at around 4pm.
If you would like to get off the beaten track or you are worried about your lack of German, then check out the offers such as:
Those shown on www.mainradweg.de on the River Main between Bamberg and Aschaffenburg. This self-guided pre-booked trip costs 519€ pp for 8 nights with breakfast. Contrary to what "The Guardian" writes restaurant meals in Germany are less than in the UK.
The Fürst-Pückler Weg - 500km through Eastern Germany. This self-guided pre-booked trip costs 659€ pp for 10 nights with breakfast. http://www.radreisepartner-spreewald-lausitz.de/ 
The Spreewaldradweg - 420km through Eastern Germany. This self-guided pre-booked trip costs 399€ for 6 nights with breakfast.You end up on the edge of Berlin and could then spend a day or two there and follow the route round the wall, the former border with the DDR. The website is www.spreewald.de and it is in English.

Radweg Deutsche Einheit - German Reunification Cycle Trail

The Radweg Deutsche Einheit - German Reunification Cycle Trail was initiated in 2015 by the German Minister of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, Alexander Dobrindt. It runs from the previous capital, Bonn, the "Bundeshauptdorf" - "Federal Village" as it was known, to the present capital Berlin. It is designed to show how reunification was achieved and what has happened in the 25 years since. Unlike most German cycle routes which are planned by a province, sometime acting together with another province, this was the work of the federal government. It is about 1100km long and offering some climbing as it does not follow a river like many of the major German cycle routes. Perhaps because of this plans are in place to install e-bike charging points at the stopping points near the 100 or so highlights en route. These stopping points "Radstätte" offer information, free WLAN, charging points not only for for  e-bikes and mobiles, digital information vis touch pads, bike racks and, in some cases, baggage lockers. Much more information can be found under https://www.radweg-deutsche-einheit.de/, in German only unfortunately.

Cycling in Alsace

The French are gradually installing touristic cycle routes across France. For many years if you saw a tourist cyclist in France he or she would be a foreigner. The French either used a rusty ladies bicycle from the 1920s to cycle beret-wearing to the boulangerie pick up a baguette or two, or they wore a helmet, sausage skin shorts and Lycra® tops on a road bike in an attempt to get fit enough to recreate the glory days of Le Tour, when the French won, i.e. sometime ago.  French cycle route planning was to issue maps put out by central government showing where it was intended to have cycle routes with no timetable for completion. Alsace was always somewhat of an exception to this as the Germans came over the border to cycle and enjoy a French way of life - very strong coffee, eclairs and vin rouge in an area where many people understand German, Alsace has also benefited from this discovery that cycle tourists are a good source of tourist euros and new routes have had signposting, etc. installed. For many years the only route that was signposted was the Rhine Route on the left bank of the Rhine between the French border in Lauterburg/Lauterbourg and the Swiss border in Basel/Basle/Bâle. Nowadays the Marne Rhine Canal towpath from Strasbourg towards Sarrebourg, the Saar Coal Mines Canal from Gondrexange north towards Saarbrücken, the Alsatian Wine Road Cycle Trail and the Rhone Rhine Canal from Mulhouse to Belfort are well signposted. There is more information on www.cyclinginalsace.com in English. The Alsatian Tourist authorities produce an excellent printed map of Alsace which includes lists of firms offering bicycling holidays and bike hire. Drop a postcard to Comité Régional du Tourisme d'Alsace, 20 A rue Berthe Molly, 68005 Colmar, France or an email to crt(at)tourisme-alsace.com.

Knooppunt Navigation Nodes in Sauerland and Siegerland-Wittgenstein

Yet another tourist authority in Germany has set up a knooppunt sytem whereby cyclists cycle to and from numbered nodes rather than following lines of signposts across the country. South Westphalia has taken this courageous step. This is the area east of Dortmund stretching south. There is a downloadable app available for Android and iOS. More information can be found on radeln-nach-zahlen.de, in German.

We have just been to the National German Cycling Conference in Mannheim and I chatted to executives from the Sauerland Tourist Authority. I asked how well the system has been received. It would appear that the Germans arrive and think what does this bring me? After one or two visits they are very enthusiastic about the system. The other main group of cyclists in the Sauerland are the Dutch. They come from the Netherlands and understand immediately how the system works. It is what they have at home. They too are very pleased.

Bach by Bike

We both feel quite strongly that cycling is not just about getting fitter, cycling faster or even impressing the folks in the tea room or the pub with the quality or cost of our gear, but is the ideal, environmentally friendly way to visit historical cities and sites, look at landscapes, take in some culture and enjoy some fairly painless exercise. We were thus pleased to run across the BACH by Bike tours at a recent ADFC (German Cycling Club) Cycle Touring Fair in Frankfurt/Main. This company offers three tours a year to places connected with J. S. Bach in the eastern part of Germany, in Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony Anhalt, such as Eisenach where he was born or Dornheim where he married. Looking at the Bachfest tour (9-19 June 2017) the cost is reasonable. Sharing a double room with breakfast every day and a packed lunch most days, one evening meal and luggage transfer costs 1180€. Single room supplement is 230€. Bike or e-bike hire costs 100 or 205€. Three concerts during the Bachfest cost 215€. The distances covered are not strenuous at a maximum of 60km (40 or so miles). The small parties are led by two experienced musicians who enjoy cycling and who speak English. In spite of rumours to the contrary in the UK restaurant meals in Germany are reasonably priced once one is away from the major cities.
There are similar tours later in the year between 22 July and 1 August 2017, and 26 August and 3 September 2017.
Just to make one thing clear we have no financial interest in the organisers of these holiday nor have we been offered free accommodation on any of the company's trips. It is just that this holiday is an excellent way of learning more about Bach, listening to some private organ recitals and visiting a part of the world that few Britons have or will ever visit. As such it is worthy of being mentioned in our blog.

http://bachbybike.com/en/welcome/

Packing for touring

We have just spent a few days touring along the Kocher-Jagst Cycle Route on the edge of the Swabian Alb and saw a modest number of other touring cyclists. What struck us was the amount of baggage carried by some groups with in some cases trailers. If you are camping then you do need a lage amount of gear, but over the years we have gradually reduced the amount of stuff we take with us to one set of evening gear, a spare set of cycling gear, not forgetting waterproofs, maps, guides, water bottles/s, something to read in the evening, a first aid kit and enough tools to repair a puncture as well as a spare inner tube all packed in waterproof bags - think Ortlieb. That's about it. That's all you need.
Don't forget though that if your bags are so tightly are so tightly packed that there is no room for anything like a lunchtime snack this could lead to problems. If you leave home in wet weather it is possible to forget that you will need somewhere to pack your wet weather gear when the sun shines. It is easy to do. I have done it and ended up buying a new rack pack on the next day to take my jacket and overtrousers.

Finding a room when touring in Germany

A few thoughts on the matter:
Firstly when planning your route either aim to book rooms or if you are travelling without booking then make sure that you are going to stop overnight in communities that have more than one organisation offering accommodation. This might mean that you have the odd shorter day, but this is better than spending the night in a bus shelter or having to cycle on or back for another 10 or 15km after a 100km day.
Secondly if you are using the compromise system whereby you book a hotel by phone at lunchtime, it is worthwhile checking how the accommodation looks on its website. If you don't, you could well have a surprise when you arrive.
Thirdly do not forget that you need to eat in the evening. If the accommodation lies a few kilometres from the next community and does not offer evening meals, you might well have a long walk or ride to get your evening meal.
Fourthly we have started to use booking websites, because one can book online, but be observant, these sites run on the assumption that one is travelling by car so a distance of 20km can be assumed to be nearby. The sites often only list a part of the accommodation available, so it is worth looking at other booking sites or even the hotel website itself as more and more are offering online bookings.

Cycling in Latvia

An area that has not been explored by cyclists much, as yet, is the Baltic Coast and we came across a website offering information and a map of cycle routes in Latvia. One can buy printed maps but also download a pdf file. Latvia is crossed by the Iron Curtain Trail.

http:www.vidzeme.com/en/cycling/cycling-maps-and-brochures

Adopt a Signpost!

We were cycling back from Ladenburg yesterday when I noticed that a signpost south of Heddesheim directing cyclists left towards Viernheim had disappeared. This is a problem because strangers to the area would cycle straight on into Heddesheim. There it is necessary to talk to the locals to find the way out of the town. Cycling left brings one on to a well signposted trail through the streets of Heddesheim. 

A missing or disfigured signpost can thus make life very difficult for cyclists. Signposts make good souvenirs for the study wall. I was very pleased to read that the Duchy of Lauenburg in Schleswig Holstein has a campaign to check the 850 signpost sites, clean signposts where necessary, repair or replace them. The signposts have been fitted with a serial number so that if a tourist rings up a tourist office staff will know where the questioner is and can give accurate directions. Staff will also know where defective signposts are to be found. Local cyclists and others can adopt a signpost keeping it clean, etc. It strikes us as an excellent idea. It has of course already been done by the Dutch. Local cycle clubs and shops adopt a number of the excellent knooppunt signs and check them a couple of times a year. 

It wouldn't do any harm for many of us to unofficially adopt a signpost or two and keep it clean and make sure it points in the right direction. It'll be more use than moaning anyway.

First impressions of an e-bike

We are on reasonable terms with the owner of our local bike bike shop. He has invested heavily in quality e-bikes - Flyer, Kalkhoff and Reise und Müller, to name just a few. He has three or four slightly older Flyers that would-be customers can borrow. The police road safety department in Mannheim our nearest big, well biggish, city offers short e-bike training courses for seniors. We signed up for one and have borrowed two of the Flyers from the bike shop for the course, which is on the Tuesday after Easter. The shop was closed from Good Friday until Easter Monday. We picked the bikes up on Thursday along with a pair of spare batteries. The batteries were old and somewhat ropey with a range of about 40 or so km using a mixture of standard and eco settings. We had a few days to acquaint ourselves with the bikes.

The bikes are eminently sensible hardtail city bikes with adequate baggage racks, hub gears, step over frames and an upright cycling position. They are a wolf in a sheep's clothing. They look like and are as practical as a grannie bike, however once underway one reaches 25kph very quickly even using the eco setting. The bikes are great. Continuous speeds of 20 or even 25 kph are possible against a head wind that would have us travelling at half this speed on a solely human-powered bike. They are eminently suitable for longer local trips.

Will we buy two? Not at the moment.  We have developed a mobility concept that fits our lifestyle well. We walk or cycle within Viernheim, mainly on our Brompton folding bikes or use the local bus. We both have pensioners' travel cards that give us free travel over a wide area once we have purchased them. They cost about €400 annually. For day walks we use our pensioners' travel cards to give us cheap travel into the Odenwald or the Palatinate Forest. Once in the hills the provision of local bus and trains there is good enough to allow us enough flexibility to enjoy linear walks. For multi-day bicycle tours we can use our touring bikes or even our Bromptons.  We do use the car occasionally to travel to places that cannot be reached easily by train or bus, e.g. Dinkelsbühl to talk to the Romantic Road Tourist Authority and for our annual trip to Britain.

We see at least two major problems:

• The bikes are heavy to push or carry on to trains.
• Where would we store them? At the moment our normal bikes are stored in the cellar and I can  just about manage to stagger up and downstairs with them, but Judith finds it just about impossible. We would like to install a bike garage at the front of the house, but we need planning permission for this.   

At the same time I think we will hire e-bikes when they make sense. If we were to write another cycle touring guide an e-bike would be a godsend.

• If Cicerone, the best known British outdoor guide publishers ever asked us to update our Swiss Guide we would only take on the work if we could hire e-bikes.  It is eight or nine years since we wrote the last guides and neither Judith's or my pins have got stronger in this time.
• As we wrote recently the Romantic Road has been extended to include Wertheim and we should investigate the route between Würzburg and Wertheim once the signposting has been redone. In which case I would be tempted to take local train to Würzburg from Mannheim and hire e-bikes there for day.

A hotel porter for cyclists or where can I hang my panniers?

We as sensible cyclists use Ortlieb panniers. They are very waterproof and fit on most bikes easily, but when they are half empty they are floppy and look untidy. You often need to scrabble about on the floor to pack them. This is true for most panniers using lorry/truck covering sheets. The owner of the Hotel Neuhaus in Neuhaus near Cuxhafen on the Elbe Cycle Way* noticed this and fitted hooks to take panniers on the walls or radiators of his rooms.
On a bike underway panniers are utilitarian and you can forget about them. However if you need to carry your panniers up to your room using the loops on top of the bags you shortly notice that the blood circulation in your fingers is seriously restricted. It is not pleasant. The owner of said Hotel Neuhaus has developed a trolley on which you hang your panniers to transport your bags from the bike storage area to your room. He is investigating patenting the device. The hotel sounds like a good place to visit. The owner also offers baggage transfer for groups. The hotel's website is www.hotel-neuhaus-oste.de. The big snag it's in German, so use Google Translator.
*BTW it is better to cycle up the Elbe rather than downstream as the prevailing wind is from the west.

Baggage Transport in Rhineland Palatinate west of the Rhine along the Weinstraße (Wine Road)

Rhineland Palatinate is making serious efforts in tourism.  Various companies in the south of the province along the 200km or so Weinstraße (Wine Road) from Bockenheim north West of Worms to the French border at Wissembourg (Alsace) are offering services to cyclists and walkers that we feel are worth knowing about.
For example: Gepäckservice Pfalz (Palatinate Luggage Service) based in Deidesheim, offers both walkers and cyclists the chance to have their bags carried. We ourselves are not madly bothered as cyclists about having somebody carry our gear, but as the company states in its advertising:

• You can take more than two panniers of gear. (However on a bike we find we only need one Ortlieb pannier for a week or so, but are quite prepared to wash clothes and wear the same stuff every night when touring.)
• You can lock your bike up to go for a swim or an ice cream without having to lug your bikes with you or worrying that some rustler is going to steal the bags. You also don't have to find someone to look after your gear. 
• You can buy something along the route and have sent with you without having to carry it. Personally I am not too sure if this is a disadvantage, because not being able to carry the stuff means it is possible to avoid buying a case of wine at a vineyard.

It strikes me as well if you are going cycling for a week or so as part of a grand European tour, you may well have more gear. This service could be useful.
Gepäckservice Pfalz, Kirschgartenstraße 49, 67146 Deidesheim, Germany, http://www.gsp1.de/ (In German), info@gepaeckservice-pfalz.de, T: +49 (0) 6326 982284
Baggage Transport:
1-2 people/day  €20
3 people/day €27
4 people/day €36
Each extra person €2.50
The company also rents out touring bikes.

Cycle round Rhineland-Pfalz and effectively climb up to Tibet

I have noticed recently there is a fashion amongst road mean and women to climb the height of Mont Ventoux in a day. Basically one chooses a local hill and climbs it enough times until one has climbed the same height as the famous mountain in SE France. Why stop at Mont Ventoux? Why not head for the Himalayas? The south western German province of Rhineland-Palatinate has combined a number of cycle routes running around its borders and set up a 1040km long cycle route that climbs 8000m in total. It is a circular route.
We thought we'd give it a try. We will start in Hordt near Germersheim where we can pick up hire e-bikes. (We think we could do with some assistance at our time of life.) We will then follow the Rhine down to the French border to cycle up across the Palatinate Forest, along the border with the Saarland and then the border with Luxembourg. The route then crosses over the Eifel hills along former railway lines before dropping to the Rhine to cross it and climb into the Westerwald. The route then swings south across the Lahn to reach the Rhine at St Goar and St Goarshausen. Then its a case following the river back down to Germersheim.
There is all the information you need under http://www.radwanderland.de. The route is called Rheinland-Pfalz-Radroute in German.

Wertheim, A new town joins the Romantic Road Part II

We wrote a couple of weeks ago that a new town, Wertheim, has joined the Romantic Road. The last time I enquired there is no Romantic Road signposting for cyclists between Würzburg and Wertheim. The starting  point of the route is at present  and remains Würzburg. However if one wishes to cycle to Wertheim, then leave Würzburg on the Aalbach Radroute (Cycle Route) to Bettingen and then follow the signposted River Main Cycle Path on the left bank to Wertheim. After visiting Wertheim just follow the Tauber Valley Cycle Route to Tauberbischofsheim.

Knooppunts (navigation nodes) on the Rhine Bicycle Route

In August 2014  we wrote that the RadregionRheinland, i.e. the association planning cycle routes and signposting in the area between Bonn and just before Krefeld mainly on the left bank of the Rhine, was bringing in navigation nodes (knooppunt). It has announced in its Christmas 2015 newsletter that the work is completed. The nodes are shown in http://www.radregionrheinland.de/knotenpunktnetz/uebersichtskarte/index.html. The association has issued a map: „Radwandern in der RadRegionRheinland – Mit Knotenpunknetz und ausgewählten Themenrouten“. The map should be available from February 2016 onward from decent book and map shops (ISBN 978-3-87073-756-6). We plan to travel up there sometime this spring to check out the node numbers to incorporate the information in our The Rhine End to End Part II Basel to Rotterdam (eBook) guide available from Amazon and Smashwords.
BTW I hope the success of this system persuades other regions including the area we live in, the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region, to adopt this touring-cyclist-friendly signposting.

'nuff said! Tourist Offices recognise the importance of cycle touring.

A sentence or two I found in Huffington Post recently:

"Cities and states have long urged their residents to ride bicycles, as a healthy form of recreation and as a green alternative to driving. Now they’re recognizing pedal power’s economic potential.
Tourism officials and cycling advocates sometimes refer to tourists on bicycles as “wallets on wheels.”

"That’s because they stay longer in a state and spend more per day than other tourists."

I hope this is displayed in every tourist authority and planning office in the developed world.