E-Bike and Bicycle Hire in Wertheim, Germany

Wertheim lies on three major German cycle routes: River Main, River Tauber and the Romantic Road, and the extensive Spessart Forest lies to the north. It is no surprise to find that two organisations in the town offer bicycles to hire.

Tourismus Wertheim GmbH
Gerbergasse 16, 97877 Wertheim
T: +49 (0) 93509, www.tourismus-wertheim.de, eMail: info@tourismus-wertheim.de
Opening times April to October:
Mo - Fr: 9:00 - 18:00, Sa: 10:00 -16:00, Sun: 13:00 - 16:00
The tourist information office offers e-bikes from Falter (Range 60km) and from Staiger Range 120km) to hire. Both companies build good quality bicycles. You should remember though that the range is shortened when one uses more power assistance to climb hills. The river routes are relatively flat so one can reach the maximum range, before one needs to pedal without assistance. The good news is that there are now a number of free charging stations in the hillier Spessart Forest: at the moment there only appears to be a Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=walderfahren, but a website is in preparation: www.walderfahren.de.
The Falter e-bikes cost:
Half Day: 10€
First Day: 18€
After 3 days: 17€ per day
After a week 15€ per day

The Staiger e-bikes cost:
Half Day: 14€
First Day: 23€
After 3 days: 20€ per day
After a week 17€ per day



Zweirad-Fachgeschäft Baumann
Neben-Neugasse 3-5
97877 Wertheim
Tel: 09342/1214
info@fahrrad-baumann.de
www.fahrrad-baumann.de

Opening times:
Mo - Fr: 9.00 - 12.00 and 14.00 - 18.00
Sa: 9.00 - 13.00 
At present we have no information about bikes, prices, etc.

Although this would be a good place to hire a bike to ride the Romantic Road, remember that you will need to return the bike to Wertheim at the end of the holiday. One possibility would be to take the Romantic Road Coach (bus) from Füssen to Wertheim Village, but this would mean stopping another night in Wertheim at the end of the holiday. If you decide to do this then take a side trip by bus or train to visit Würzburg which should not be missed.

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.

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.

E-bike hire in Feuchtwangen

Rental- and Service / Prices

E-bikes can be rented from Sporthaus Bräunlein, Marktplatz 11/13. Opening hours: Monday to Friday 9 am to 1 pm and 2 pm to 6:30 pm, Saturdays from 9 am to 2 pm.Information is also available from Tourist Information Feuchtwangen, Marktplatz 1, 91555 Feuchtwangen, T: 09852 90455, www.feuchtwangen.de

Services

• Fahrradhaus Bräunlein
  Marktplatz 11/13
  91555 Feuchtwangen
  Tel.: 09852 616464
• Fahrrad Schmeißer
  Dorfgütingen 21
  91555 Feuchtwangen
  Tel.: 09852 2348

Rates:

One day 20€

Three days 35€

One week 60€

Tour suggestions can be found under:
http://www.romantisches-franken.de/Homepage/Activities/Biking/Bike_trails
 

Bicycle and e-bike hire in Dinkelsbühl

Bicycles and e.bikes can be hired from: Touristik Service, Altrathausplatz 2, 91550 Dinkelsbühl, 

T:09851 902-440

20 ladies, 10 men's und 5 children's three speed bicycles are available to rent, but no helmets.

E-bikes can be hired from the same office:

Rates:

One day 20€

Three days 35€

One week 60€

There is a free charging point in Dinkelsbühl at the Haus der Geschichte, Altrathausplatz 14.

Open Hours: Dinkelsbühl tourist office is open Monday to Friday 10 am to 5 pm, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, May to October

The tourist office has tour suggestions. Check out http://alpregio.outdooractive.com/ar-romant-str-gesel/en/alpregio.jsp#lat=49.06801800732449&lng=10.268096923828125&z=12&mt=0&tab=WelcomeTab

Wertheim, A new town joins the Romantic Road Part I

Wertheim am Main, lying between Würzburg and Frankfurt am Main, has been attempting to join the select club of members of the Romantic Road for over ten years. It has finally achieved its aims and is now a member. The route of the Romantic Road is now changed. It runs west from Würzburg to Wertheim which lies at the confluence of the Rivers Tauber and Main and then follows the Tauber Valley south towards Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Wertheim itself is an interesting mediaeval town and well worth visiting. What this change means for cyclists is that the cycle route will be extended. I am not too sure how, but there seem to be two options:

• Follow the Main cycleway for about 6 hours downstream towards Frankfurt am Main to Wertheim through Karlstadt, Gemünden and Marktheidenfeld, and then take the ADFC Five Star Tauber Valley Route.
• Climb over the hills between Würzburg and Wertheim which appears to take about three hours. 

Myself I would go for the longer flatter option as the Main Valley is spectacular in this section and it's less work. 

There is, of course, nothing to stop you taking the old route out of Würzburg. It is an interesting series of ups and downs with a former Jewish community house and a pilgrimage chapel on the way. At the moment the weather is inclement and we will wait until the spring to check out the new signposting. We will then write an addendum to the Romantic Road guide.

Wörnitz Cycleway

We spend some time in winter visiting travel fairs ranging from the giant CMT event in Stuttgart in early January to minor, very minor events in shopping centres. We pick up brochures, too many brochures and sometime later when we start spring cleaning we look at what we've got and maybe find a topic for a blog or it's the bin.
Recently we found a map published by Ferienland Donau Ries, the regional tourist office for the Wörnitz Valley in western Bavaria, between Rothenburg ob der Tauber and Donauwörth across the ancient meteor crater. This shows a new route following a similar route to the Romantic Road Cycle Route. Much of the line of Romantic Road is shown on the printed map and on the website: http://www.ferienland-donau-ries.com/wege/romantische_strasse-931/ but for some reason unknown the printed map does not show the stretch of the Romantic Road which runs through Feuchtwangen. We assume it is a mistake. This is a pity because Feuchtwangen itself is a little jewel and near by  is one of our favourite pubs/hotels: Gaststätte-Pension "Zum Grünen Wald" in Thürnhofen. The Wörnitz Valley would be a good area to have two or three nights and explore this new route in addition to the Romantic Road.

Thoughts on hiring bikes on the Romantic Road between Würzburg and Füssen

We are rewriting our Romantic Road guide book at present to make it more compact and readable. Judith is rewriting the pages at the moment. When she is finished I'll play the editor and copy-edit. My job at the moment is the boring one: checking our appendices - accommodation, bicycle shops, bicycle hire etc.
I have noticed that more bike shops are renting bicycle and e-bicycles these days. However, and this is a big disadvantage, we have only found one shop offering a one way hire either from Würzburg to Füssen or vice versa. Considering that cyclists on the Berlin-Copenhagen Route can hire a bike at one end and drop it it off at the other, i.e. in two different countries with different currencies, it strikes me that it should be possible to cross one province: Bavaria with a set of bikes, picking them up at one end and dropping them off at the other. If you hire at one end and wish to take the bikes back, it's not that expensive to travel back to your start point by local train, but it takes at least six hours involving one or two changes.
There is one company that will allow you pick up a bike in Füssen (with pre-programmed GPS) and drop it off a week or so later in Würzburg. The Romantic Road cycle route is about 420km long and so a week would be a pleasant trip. The company is Radstation Allgäu, Abt Heß Straße 11, in the Multicycle store, D-87629 Füssen, Germany, T: 0049/0171/2056371,  info@radstationallgaeu.de, http://www.radstationallgaeu.de  (in German and Portuguese). A week's bike hire with bike pick up will cost you 179€ or a five day trip with four nights accommodation in middle class hotels for 599€. The company has a minibus and will pick you up after a week or so's cycling in Würzburg or somewhere before. How much this return trip costs is not clear. You could also just hire a bike or an e-bike for a week for between 55 and 120€, cycle to Augsburg or even Donauwörth and take the Via Claudia Augusta cycle route back to Füssen.

Christmas Markets in Germany

We are not going to write about cycling this week, but about something that is a major part of German life, a major export item: Christmas markets. After a recent study trip lasting two days the three of us,  Judith, I and a friend came to the conclusion that there are three types of Christmas market in Germany:
Big and Commercial
These are to be found in the big cities. Of course, they feature professional caterers' stands selling Glühwein (mulled wine) and variations on Bratwurst (grilled sausage). However the majority of stands sell Christmas trifles like Father Christmas hats, tree decorations and shiny glass globes. Most of the stalls are run by market tradespeople. This is normally the type of Christmas market found abroad, outside of Germany. I have not been to a German Christmas market in Britain for ten or so years, so I cannot comment on them, but in Germany in between the stands selling bling and Bratwursts there are a few craftsman selling items they made themselves. Cologne, Düsseldorf and Rothenburg ob der Tauber are typical of these. The latter town has the advantage shops are open on Sundays in Advent. Some of these shops sell interesting hand crafted items of clothing. 
Medium sized and full of craftsmen and -women.
If you are interested in picking up interesting items made by artists and craftsmen then look at smaller places like Dinkelsbühl on the Romantic Road where craftspeople predominate though there is no shortage of stands selling hot wine and sausages. The food stands are more often that not run by local clubs.
Village Christmas markets
These are the most fun and the most ethnic. We went to Feuchtwangen on the Romantic Road on Saturday night. It had gone dark when we arrived. We walked through the dark cobbled medieval streets of the small town, down narrow alleys, across the market square and then turned in to the space between the town's two churches. It was an oasis of light in the darkness from the brightly trees strewn with lights on both sides. We stood at a table chatting to locals in a mixture of German and English drinking Glühwein (the rest) or hot cordial (me). The food was locally sourced and home made. The items on sale are simple handicrafts or foods. The profits went to charities, churches and local clubs from the Boy Scouts to the Model Railway Club. We had a very successful evening and in addition managed to visit a choral concert in the protestant church on the square. (On this evening I was the Designated Driver (DD).  I was not drinking, so Glühwein did not cause me to see the world through blurred rose coloured lenses.)
If you wanted to experience the spectrum of Christmas markets in Germany contact the Tourist Office in Feuchtwangen (www.feuchtwangen.de, touristinformation@feuchtwangen.de) or the Romantic Road Tourist Authority: www.romantischestrasse.de for more information. Both organisations will be pleased to help you up with hotel bookings and trips to  Dinkelsbühl, Nördlingen and Rothenburg ob der Tauber. You would probably need a taxi or a hire car, though the latter brings with it the DD problem. The German police don't have warm Christmas feelings about driving over the limit. Glühwein gets you there quite quickly, before you notice.  Unfortunately public transport in this part of Bavaria is very sparse.
Disclaimer: We were not supported by any tourist organisation. We paid all our own expenses.

Somebody is offering one of our books free of charge without permission.

We picked up a website supposedly offering our Romantic Road book for free. We would like to stress that we have no connection with this website and if any of our books are on offer free of charge it is so without our permission.
The website concerned looks serious, but… The supposed ISBN changes every time that one opens the link. The publisher is supposedly a reputable scientific book publisher. We self-publish. Interestingly enough another guide book about the Romantic Road is also supposedly available from this website and this publisher. We have no connection with the supposed publisher neither does the other guide book publisher.
I have not attempted to download the book because it could be a phishing ploy. I am very suspicious. I would suggest that if you wish to read our book you log on to Amazon or Smashwords and pay the few dollars it costs. It is safer. You could lose a lot of money otherwise.

Comparing ADFC Route Quality Ratings

The ADFC, the German cycling club has started a rating system for cycle routes. These are mainly in Germany but a few are in Austria. We wrote about these last year. Since then more routes have been added. We will write about these shortly.
We were glad to see that the Tauber Valley Classic Route along the floor of the valley received a five star rating, but surprised to see that the Romantic Road Cycle Route only received three stars. The Romantic Road joins the Tauber Valley Classic Route for 70 of its 420km. We looked at the results in detail:

We have cycled both routes often. What struck us was that the Romantic Road got much lower values in four areas:

• Ease of riding. It is true that the Tauber Valley Route has just about no barriers with only one flight of steps and thus deserves the 5 stars. There are some barriers on the Romantic Road. It is the longer route by far.  We don't think it deserves such a low marking.
• Surface: The Romantic Road has some stretches that are not tarred, whereas the Tauber Valley route has far fewer, but the former is much longer.
• Sign posting. We don't think the Romantic Road sign posting is poor. We have never had problems following the route. Sign posting can be improved easily, but it is the responsibility of local authorities, rather than the Romantische Strasse Touristik Arbeitsgemeinschaft GbR, the tourism body responsible for marketing and coordinating activities along the whole route.
• The route design. This has a low weighting and it is not easy to assess.

We suspect that there will be improvements in the above areas which will improve the ratings of the Romantic Road Cycle Route.

Romantic Road

There is a short two minute film on YouTube which gives a good idea of what to expect in the villages, towns and cities along the Romantic Road in Bavaria (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNA9hD-joEg&feature=youtube_gdata). Our eBook from Amazon or Smashwords.com will also help with the roads and cycle tracks in between the settlements if you decide to explore this historic patch of countryside.

The best longer cycling routes in Germany and Austria? ADFC Quality Routes

The ADFC is, as regular readers of this blog know,  the German cycling club interested in touring and cycle paths rather than the sporting aspects. The Germans are, of course, great classifiers and the ADFC is no exception. It grades cycle routes into 3 classes using the following criteria. This service is not free, the trail organisations pay most of the costs of the assessments. The weighting for the overall rating is shown after each criterium in brackets.

• Rideabilty: width, current barriers, bollards, steps, hazards (15%)
• Surface: material, number and distance of sections where it is necessary to push the bicycle, transverse grooves, pot holes (15%)

  

   Surface is important....

  
  
  
  

  

  because this can be the result.

• Signposting: type, signposts showing the wrong direction, missing lettering, illegible writing, signposting contrary to the Road Traffic Acts (15%)

  

  Information overload, but who cares?

• Route: noise, smells, dust, detours, altitude, monotony (5%)
• Density of motor vehicle traffic: car-free - heavy, dangerous crossings (20%)
• Tourist infrastructure: accommodation structure, campsites, catering, Bed + Bike accommodation, tourist information office, information boards, bike parking, bicycle box, playgrounds, bad weather shelters, picnic areas, (15%) 
• Access route to public transport: Frequency of bike carrying long-distance trains with bicycles, Frequency of bike carrying regional public transport with bicycles, bike buses (5%)

  

  Ferries can also be useful!

  
• Marketing: Existing maps and information, website (10%)

In addition the route should have a clear name and/or be well known. This probably means that the “Black Pudding Route” would not be accepted whereas the “Gelsenkirchen Black Pudding Route” would be. On the other hand the Romantic Road would be allowed because the route name has been used since WWII. These rules does not always seem to be taken too seriously.
The nonappearance of routes like the Rhine, a particular favourite of ours does not mean that it cannot meet the standards required. There is probably another more mundane reason for this. The ADFC charges over €800 to check 50km of route, which is cheap in view of what the club delivers. The advice given in their reports can be used as way of improving the routes. The costs to have a longer route checked are quite prohibitive especially in these days of belt tightening by public authorities. The Rhine Cycle Route, for example is 1230km long.
The Five Star Routes

• River Main (Germany) 600km from Bischofsgrün (Source of the White Main) E of Bayreuth or Creußen (Source of the Red Main) S of Bayreuth – Mainz, confluence with the Rhine).
• Lake Neusiedler See (Austria, Hungary) SE of Vienna 121.5km, circular

The Four Star Routes
Germany

• Albtäler 187km SE of Stuttgart on the Swabian Alp, circular
• BahnRadweg Hessen (Railway Cycle Route Hesse) 245km on former railway lines in Middle Hesse ENE of Frankfurt am Main
• Bischofstour (Bishop's Tour) Havelberg to Wittstock 108km NE of Berlin
• DahmeRadweg Berlin S to the source of the River Dahme near Kolpen 123km
• Deutsche Fußballroute NRW (German Football Route North Rhine Westphalia) 800km Aaachen to Münster
• EmsRadweg (River Ems Cycle Route) 375km from Hövelhof to Emden
• Fulda-Radweg (River Fulda Cycle Route) Gersfeld to Bad Karlshafen 260km
• Ilmtal-Radweg (Ilm Valley Cycle Route) 125km, Allzunah am Rennsteig  to Großheringen/Kaatschen-Weichau
• Kyll-Radweg (Kyll Cycle Route) 130km from Kronenburger See, Dahlem (Bhf.), Losheimer Graben to Trier
• Lahntal Radweg (Lahn Valley Cycle Route) 244km Netphen (Source of River Lahn) – Lahnstein (Rhine confluence)
• Märkische Schlössertour (Chateau in the Oder Valley Route) 180km Circular Route SE of Berlin
• Oderbruchbahn Radweg (Oder Railway Route) 133km from Fürstenwalde through Müncheberg, Seelow to Wriezen, E of Berlin
• Oder-Neiße-Radweg (Oder Neisse Cycle Route) 628km from Nová Ves near Jablonec (Czech Republic) to Ahlbeck
• Oder Spree Tour 250km SE of Berlin
• RegnitzRadweg (River Regnitz Cycleway) 85 Kilometer (Valley), 75 Kilometer (Canal) Nürnberg – Bamberg/Bischber
• Rhönradweg (Rhön Cycle Route) From Bad Salzungen to Hammelburg, 180km
• Radrouten Historische Stadtkerne - Route 2... (Cycleway through historic towns and cities) NE of Berlin
• Ruhrtalradweg (Ruhr Valley Cycle Route) 230km, Winterberg – Duisburg (Confluence with the Rhine)
• Saar-Radweg (Saar Valley Cycleway) 98 Kilometer, Sarreguemines (Frankreich) through Saarbrücken to Konz (Confluence with the Moselle)
• Spreeradweg (River Spree Cyclepath) 410 Kilometer, Eibau – Berlin
• Südschwarzwald-Radweg (Southern Black Forest Cycle Route) 240 Kilometer (+ 69 Kilometer variations) circular route. See this blog 2 March 2013.
• Tour Brandenburg A cycle tour around the province of Brandenberg. 1111km, Circular Start, for example, in Potsdam, Berlin or Cottbus.
• Tour de Fries (Friesland Tour) Circular tour from Wilhelmshafen 287km
• Von Main zu Rhön (From the River Main to the Rhön) 263km Circular

Austria

• Danube Cycle Route 629km Passau to Vienna
• Drauradweg (Cycle route along River Drau) (Austria) 366km from Toblach/Dobaccio (Italy) to Marburg.
• Murradweg (Cycle Route in the Mürr Valley) S of Salzburg to Croatia 457km
• Tauernradweg (Tauern Cycle Route) The route follows the Salzach und Saalach Rivers from Krimml to Passau. 308km
• Traisental-Radweg (Traisen Valley Cycle Route) Traismauer (Donau) to Mariazell. 111km

Three Star Routes
Germany

• Alte Salzstraße (Old Salt Road) Lübeck to Luneburg 116km
• D-Route 3 / Europaradweg R1 (D Route 3/European Cycle Route 1) 960km, Vreden – Küstrin-Kietz across Germany from W to E or E to W
• Fürst-Pückler-Weg (Fürst-Pückler-Cycle Route) 500km, circular route SE of Berlin through the Lausitz
• Grünroute (Green Route) 358km, Düren – Hasselt (Belgium)
• Gurkenradweg (Gherkin Cycle Route) 260km through the Spreewald
• Kohle-Wind & Wasser-Tour (Coal, Wind and Water Tour) 250km circular route SE of Berlin through the Lausitz
• Die Niederlausitzer Bergbautour (Lower Lausitz Mining Tour) >500km circular around Cottbus
• Radweg Berlin-Kopenhagen (The Berlin Copenhagen Cycle Route) 648km total, 260km in Denmark
• Radrouten Historische Stadtkerne - Route 1... (Cycleway through historic towns and cities No. 1) N of Berlin
• Romantic Road from Würzburg to Füssen
• Saarland-Radweg (Saarland Cycleway) 362km, Circular route around Saarland
• Seenland Route 184km in the Lausitz SE of Dresden
• Der Uckermärkische Radrundweg (Uckermark Route) circular 260km ENE Berlin almost on the Polish border

Würzburg bike parking

Würzburg lies on the River Main in Germany and is also the start of the Romantic Road to Füssen. It has has much to offer, the Residenz - the bishop's palace said by Napoleon to be the finest vicarage in Europe, the Marienberg Fortress, the cathedral, the churches in the old town amongst other items and the beer is not bad either. If you want to play the tourist for a couple of hours but are worried about leaving your bike, but don't want to push it around the city, then the city's tourist office offers a solution that we have not found anywhere else. The tourist office has set a up a guarded bike park in conjunction with the city's parks department, the city council and the employment office. It costs one Euro a day and  if you buy a meal, a snack or something by the Bike & Park Payback Partners for more than 5 Euros, even this will be returned to you. It is still advisable to take your core valuables, passport, camera and the 20 000 Euros in cash your auntie gave you to pay into a numbered account with you, but your panniers with their dirty washing can be left behind.

New Books about Cycling in Europe and on the Romantic Road

We have produced two new e-books.

"Cycling the Romantic Road from Würzburg to Füssen" available from Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/291295. We have a printed book which is similar but covers the route in both directions. You can order it from us via http://bicycletouringeurope.eu/.

"Cycling in Europe" available from Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/245564
 and from Amazon. Check your local Amazon shop for "Cycling in Europe" on the Kindle site. "Cycling in Europe" is a collection of advice and hints about cycle touring on the continent.

We are in process of writing "Rhine II" Basel to Rotterdam. Here are a few photographs taken on our last research expedition.
Judith hard at work in Zons, an historic village between Cologne and Düsseldorf.

 Neil photographing the harbour quarter in Düsseldorf.

To find out what is in the green baths, visit Düsseldorf or drop us a line via the comments facility.

Charge your e-bike batteries for free while you absorb some culture in Baden-Württemberg!

The growing importance of the e-bike in leisure cycle touring is reflected in the decision of the Staatlichen Schlösser und Gärten Baden-Württemberg (Provincial Castles and Gardens Organisation, Baden-Wuerttemberg) to provide free charging stations for e-bikes from spring 2013. Visitors can utilise sockets directly or can hand over their bike batteries during their visit to the historic building or garden. There are charging stations in Heidelberg Castle, in the Ducal Palaces in Mannheim and Ludwigsburg, in Bebenhausen monastery / castle, in Urach Palace, and in Wiblingen Convent. In addition there is a group of sites around Lake Constance, a popular cycling area: in Schloss Meersburg, im Fürstenhäusle Meersburg, in Convent und Schloss Salem und in the fortress ruin at Hohentwiel. Visiting cyclists do need however to buy a ticket before plugging in their bikes or handing over the battery for charging.

Weikersheim Castle Copyright Landesmedienzentrum Ba.-Wü

At the Travel Show Part 2

Many German cities like Frankfurt, Leipzig or Cologne have huge, purpose built exhibition halls for trade fairs or shows that are held regularly like the Book Fair in Frankfurt. In Cologne the RDA Workshop ‘only’ occupied two floors of one of the halls, but we entered via another, up imposing steps then over shiny granite floors through empty enormous spaces out into courtyards. Finally we reached the RDA building, completed the formalities and suitably identified with badges, descended onto the floor. The giant space before us was filled with a multitude of stands, information leaflets by the million and, this being Germany lots of people in Tracht (traditional dress - Lederhosen and Dirndls were favourite). He who hesitates in a trade fair ends up with aching feet and armfuls of irrelevant bumf, so we pushed on, heads up to find the Romantic Road stand first. Our cycling guide to this route from Würzburg to Füssen is being updated and revised (see www.bergstrassebikebooks.com for details) so we were anxious to check in with Jürgen Wünschenmeyer, the CEO of the Touristik-Arbeitsgemeinschaft-Romantische Strasse to hear how signposting of a few minor route changes was progressing. A mixed message, some good some bad news, which is not unusual with individual towns being responsible for local stretches. Some eMails and letters have since been fired off to encourage action.
However, working nearby were staff from both Rothenburg ob der Tauber and Augsburg, both stopping points along the approximately 450 km Romantic Road cycle route. One of our latest ventures is to whet potential cyclists’ appetites by publicising the many networks of local and regional cycleways around the towns between Würzburg and Füssen. Some of these are easy to find on the web and are partly or wholly in English. Others are obscure. Knowing that cyclists could spend a few days exploring well-signposted routes from a base in Augsburg or the Pfaffenwinkel villages we think may appeal to those who don’t want to pack up and move on each day. The Rothenburg odT connection had to admit that they were working on the idea, possibly for next year, whilst the Augsburg folks have promised us some more definite information. Within 30 minutes our meetings had achieved results that would have taken far longer with phone, fax or internet.
Now we had time and interest in making a few more connections and discoveries about cycling possibilities in other parts of Europe. Our feet were still fresh and fragrant, our rucksacks ready to gobble maps and cycling information.
Useful websites: www.romantischestrasse.de and www.romantic-road-coach.de