German traffic laws applying to cyclists

Summing up German laws and regulations for cyclists. 
Obeying these regulations is important for at least two reasons:
1) You can receive an on-the-spot-fine of up to €50 (about £40 or $65) for some of these offences:

You can be fined 5 Euros for cycling on the pavement (sidewalk).
You can be fined 15 Euros for cycling in the wrong direction on a cycleway.
You can be fined 25 Euros for using a mobile phone when underway on a bike.
You can be fined 45 Euros if you jump a red traffic light.
You can be fined 10 Euros for cycling in a pedestrian zone.

2) If you don't follow the law, you can be involved in an accident and this can have severe personal and financial effects.

The main regulations:

a) Cyclists must use a cycleway when present, as long as it is in a fit state to be used. There is another problem, caused by motorists' belief, that those cycleways which are designated by a painted stripe on the side of the road are designed to be emergency parking areas for motor cars. It is no use getting annoyed because many motorists or as they see themselves, the Lords of Creation, often see fit to park on pavements (sidewalks) and annoy pedestrians as well.
b) Cyclists should ride single file, unless there is so little traffic that by riding adjacent to one another they do not impede traffic.
c) E-Bikes or Pedelecs whose maximum speed is under 25 kph are treated as normal bicycles, i.e. the bicycle regulations apply to them.
d) Mopeds and more powerful e-bikes can only use cycleways outside of town limits. (These are marked by rectangular yellow signs giving the name of the community.)
e) Moped and more powerful e-bike riders must wear a helmet and have third party insurance cover.
f) If there is no cycleway, cyclists should cycle on the right.
g) Children aged eight or less must cycle on the pavement (sidewalk) as long as there is one present. Between eight and ten children may cycle on the pavement (sidewalk).
h) Cyclists should push their bikes in pedestrian zones.
i) There is no requirement to wear a helmet, although it is strongly encouraged.
j) Using a mobile phone when underway on a bike is verboten, i.e. a no no, but like motorists some cyclists need to be in touch with the rest of the world constantly.

From Node to Node

If you've read our eBook: "Following the Rhine gently upstream Rotterdam to Basel, a Cycle Tourist’s Guide" available from Smashwords and Amazon you will have noticed that we are great fans of the Belgian and Dutch knooppunt system. This system uses a series of numbered points to link cycleways across a region. It's a great idea and means that navigation can be reduced to a list of numbers on a sheet of paper. The problem for the British and the US Americans as well would be that you need a basic network of cycle paths to start with. Obviously the system would work well in Germany and I was pleased to read recently that Rhine-Neuss County in North Rhine Westphalia in in process of setting up a node system for cyclists. It should be in operation this summer. Great news. It is to be hoped that other local authorities in Germany follow Rhine-Neuss County's example.

Hiring bikes in Köln (Cologne)

Rent - a - Bike Cologne

Kölner Fahrradverleihservice

Markmannsgasse / Altstadt

Tel.: 0171 - 629 87 96

Fax: 0221 - 13 97 191

E-Mail: bike@koelnerfahrradverleih.de

http://www.koelnerfahrradverleih.de/

A week's hire of a standard bike costs about 40 Euros, three day hire costs 20 Euros and a day will cost you 10 Euros.

Radstation

Breslauer Platz

50667 Köln

Tel. 0221.13 97 190

Fax 0221.13 97 191

http://www.radstationkoeln.de/
Offers touring bikes, children's bikes and at least one tandem. The Radstation is on the north side of Köln Hauptbahnhof (Cologne central station). The Radstation also offers a place to park your bike. It's open from 05:30 to 22:30 Mondays to Fridays, Saturdays 06:30 to 20:00 and Sundays and Public Holidays from 08:00 to 20:00.  A week's hire of a standard bike costs about 40 Euros, three day hire costs 20 Euros and a day will cost you 10 Euros. Better quality bikes and the tandem cost a little more.

SMIDSY and SPEZI

The expression "SMIDSY" is often heard in England as an abbreviation of "Sorry mate, I didn't see you", normally heard when a motorist cuts a cyclist up or turns without warning, causing the poor innocent cyclist to make one of those rolling dives across the bonnet of the car, beloved of American detective film chase scenes. I have long thought that motorists subconsciously just don't take cyclists into account. I tend to cycle accordingly and had the impression that other urban cyclists would do the same, at least the ones that are still alive.
Yesterday I realised that this is not the case. We wanted to meet friends at the SPEZI Special Bicycle Exhibition in Gemersheim and to be sure that we caught the 0904 train from Mannheim, decided to cycle to the station there. At about 0800 we left home and cycled along the cycleway adjacent to Viernheim's western bypass. The cycleway crosses another cycle route leading from the town to a sports area, a popular spot for Nordic Walking. As we approached this crossing, Judith was about a hundred metres in the lead. As she passed the crossing, a large lady on a sit up and beg conventional lady's bike approached from the left, i.e. my right of way and blithely ignored my presence  causing me to break hard and swerve round the rear of her bike. At which she said "'schuldige, ich hab Sie nich gesehe" - SMIDSY in Viernheim dialect.
We made it to the 09:04 train and enjoyed a jolly day at SPEZI. Electrobikes are definitely the trendsetters though other trends we noticed were the gradual reduction in the price of trikes as production moves away from one-off  and the realisation by trike manufacturers that some degree of folding eases transport of these cycles by train or car. The Weber trailer company showed a towable caravan that unfortunately was too small even for the likes of us.

This year as well we watched the Trike Racing for the first time and were impressed by how tough these races are on cyclists, trikes and the straw bales used to mark the course.

Lake Constance to Lake Königsee

One of the problems for many Brits and English speakers in general about cycle touring in Germany is the language. For many Brits French was the first foreign language until it was replaced in schools by the concept that if the foreigner does not understand what you say then shout, slowly in English. It's not always that easy to find a German let alone an English speaker in deepest, darkest Bayern (Bavaria).
There is a way round the problem of organising hotels, baggage transfer and bicycle hire and that is to book a self-guided tour. One tour we would be tempted to do is along the Bodensee-Königssee Radweg way down south in Bavaria. This is a mind boggling cycle route from Lindau on Lake Constance, through the foothills of the Alps to Füssen and Schwangau for Ludwig II's fairytale castle, to the Chiemsee where Ludwig spent a few bob building Herrenchiemsee yet another Schloß - chateau and ending at the crystal clear deep green waters of the  Königssee not far from Berchtesgaden. If the vision of climbing 13 000 feet and descending 12 000 feet in 260 miles over seven to eleven days puts you off, you can hire an electrobike. The cost for eight nights bed and breakfast: - a reasonable  €490 in 2 to 3 star hotels. The website is in German, but that is why you have Google Translator on your computer.

More information:

SpOrtive Reisen by Feuer und Eis Touristik GmbH
Tel.: +49 (0)8022 -54 20
www.sportive-reisen.de
Mail: info@sportive-reisen.de

e-Bikes in Saarland

The tiny German province of Saarland stuck on the far west of the country is a great place to cycle, but it has one disadvantage in that goes up and down a lot. It is a hilly province. It borders on the French region of Lorraine,  Luxembourg and the German province of Rhineland Palatinate. There is a lot to see not only in the Saarland itself,  but also in its neighbours.  It is great place to tour, but the hills make hard work. The tourist authority in the Saarland has encouraged the founding of an eBike  network with rental stations, battery changing facilities and transport services all over the province.

Rental costs for e-Bikes:

Half day EUR 12
One day EUR 20
Weekend all-inclusive price EUR 35 (from Friday 1 pm to Monday 1 pm)
For seven days: EUR 110
To order a free of charge folding map with cycling tour suggestions, rental stations and other useful information, please call the tourist authority on 0049 (0) 681 927200 or email info@tz-s.de or check http://www.visitsaarland.co.uk/en/evelo-saarland-1. Saarbrücken the starting point for many of the suggested tours is easy to reach via its own airport and Luxembourg and Hahn airports. 

Bike Hire on Lake Constance

Switzerland: 

The bigger Swiss railway stations and some youth hostels hire out city, touring and mountain bikes with free helmets and children's seats for about CHF 25 day. If you hire for than a couple of days you can return bike to another Swiss raiway station. Details from: Rent a Bike AG, Merkurstrasse 2, CH-6210 Sursee, Tel: +41 61 41 925 11 70, Fax: +41 61 726 92 11, E-mail: Info@rentabike.ch, Homepage: www.rent-a-bike.ch/

CH 9322, Egnach, Gemeinde Egnach, +41 (0) 71, T: 477 2070

Egner-2Rad-Center GmbH, Bahnhofsplatz 6, T: 4700506, F:4700507 offers tandems. We have hired from here and wobbled alarmingly initially, but ended up being capable but very careful tandemeers. However the stoker (Mrs. F) found the lack of vision very frightening so I doubt that we will be doing it again, until one or the other of us suffers from knee problems. The large almost traffic-free space outside is excellent for the initial wobbly phase. Once you gain confidence you can burn up and down the Bodenseeradweg. 

Austria: 

A 6900, Bregenz, +43 (0)650 

Fahrradverleih Bregenz, Benjamin Wieser, Seepromenade, T: (0) 664 3417907, office@fahrradverleih-bregenz.at, Adult bikes and tandems. Bicycles cost between €5 and €10 day depending on the length of the hire period

Germany: 

D 78476, Allensbach, +49(0) 7533

Radhaus Allensbach, Von-Steinbeis-Str. 2, T: 12 18, F: 42 51, radhaus-allensbach@freenet.de, http://www.radhausallensbach.de, Bike: 1 day €8, 1 week €50.

D 88097 Eriskirch +49 (0) 7541

Moritz Fahrradverleih Aspenweg 25, T: 8737 ‎

D 88045 Friedrichshafen, +49(0)7541

Zweirad Schmid, Ernst-Lehmann-Str 12, T: 21870, F: 24880, Trekking or city bikes €10.50 on first day, €7.50 /day for more than one day.Tandem: €20-25 / day. Open Mo-Fr 08:00 to 12:30, 14:00 to 18:00, Sa 09:00 to 12:30.

D-88709 Hagnau +49 (0)7532

Hubert Ehrlinspiel, Langbrühl 4, T: 62 88, F: 56 93, mail@hubertsradvermietung.de, http://www.fahrradvermietung-bodensee.de

D 78462 Konstanz, +49(0)7531

Rad und Roller Rocco, Fürstenbergstr. 84, 78467 Konstanz, T: 78004,  radundrollerrocco@arcor.de , http://www.radundrollerrocco.de/, 1 day: €10.00, 1 week: €60.

Kultur-Rädle (Fahrradstation am Hauptbahnhof-bicycle centre in the main railway station), Bahnhofsplatz 29, T: 27310, F: 916326, http://www.kultur-raedle.de/imp.html (in English), Bike: 1 day €12, 1 week €68. 

Velovital Der Radmarkt, Rudolf-Diesel-Str. 1, T: 955240 www.velovital.de, info@velovital.de, West of the centre on the way out to Reichenau.

Zweirad-Wagenknecht, Reichenaustr. 14b, 78467 Konstanz, T: 61979, F: 61956, www.zweirad-wagenknecht.de, Bike: €10 per day.

D 88085, Langenargen, +49 (0) 7543

ZWEIRAD FILO,  Kirchstraße 3, T: 912910, F: 913033, kontakt@zweirad-filo.de, http://www.zweirad-filo.de/, Trekking bikes: €8/day, tandems €20/day 

D 88131 Lindau, +49(0)8382

Unger’s Fahrradverleih, Inselgraben 14, T: 943688, http://www.fahrrad-unger.de, Mountain bikes and 21 gear trekking bikes €8 Euro a day, Tandems cost €15 a day. Children’s bikes, seats and trailers available. Reductions in daily hire rate for periods of more than a week. Open Mo-Fr 09:00-13:00, 15:00-18:00, Sa, Su and public holidays: 09:00-13:00

Radgeber GmbH, Wackerstraße 11, T: 98 93 400, F: 98 93 402, info@radgeber-lindau.de , http://www.radgeber-lindau.de/, Bike 1day: €10, 1Week €50. 

D 78315 Radolfszell, +49(0)7732

Rad & Tat, Scheffelstr 10A, T: 55522, F: 979402, info@radundtatsport.de  http://www.radundtatsport.de

Andreas Joos, Schützenstr 14, T: 82368-0, info@zweirad-joos.de, www.zweirad-joos.de, Bike: €6-8 per day. 

Friedemann Mees, Höllturm-Passage 1, T: 2828, F: 57042

D 88069 Tettnang, +49(0)7542

Bike-Studio, Montfortstr 2, T: 951078, F: 951079, info@bike-studio.de, www.bike-studio.de

Sahnewind Bikes & Boards, Olgastr. 7, T: 939373, Fax: 939772 

D 88142 Wasserburg, +49(0)8382

Unger’s Fahrradverleih, Halbinselstr 49, T: 888496, Mountain bikes and trekking bikes 8 Euro a day, Tandems cost 11 Euro a day. Childrens’ bikes, seats and trailers available. Reductions in daily hire rate for periods of more than a week. Open Mo-Fr 09:00-13:00, 15:00-18:00, Sa, Su and public holidays: 09:00-13:00

Cyclists as an economic force

We have decided to produce our next version of "High Gear",  our Lake Constance cycling guide as an e-book and are revising the book at the moment. Checking a long list of bike shops is somewhat of a drudge, but from time to time we are cheered up by the improvements we notice. Just as an example, the gardens on the island of Mainau used to offer minimal security for cycle tourists who wished to visit these impressive gardens. There was a row of bike stands at the main gate. What one could do with one's bags was not clear. In the 2004 version of our guide we wrote that we felt that one could do more for the touring cyclist in view of their numbers and the costs of visiting the gardens. I doubt very much whether our words had any effect on the management of the gardens, but the number of cyclists visiting the gardens obviously did. I was pleased to read recently on the Mainau website:

"Getting to Mainau Island by bicycle is very easy and environment-friendly as the Lake Constance cycle path runs right by the wonderful Flower Island. We’ve a modal modern cycle parking area for you to leave your bicycles or bicycles with trailers as well as lockers for your personal possessions at the mainland car park. We’ve also tools which you can use to make small repairs to your bicycle." 

Wonderful. We will definitely visit the gardens the next time we are in the area. We can heartily recommend the visit.

Biking through an abandoned mine in Austria

Occasionally we come across odd items that probably don't reach the British and American cycling press, so we like to pass them on to you. A MTB tour company in the South of Austria just east of Klagenfurt offers a number of tours through an abandoned mine on the Austrian-Slovenian border. The basic seven km tour is not for sufferers from claustrophobia, but two guides, pit helmets and lamps ensure safety.

After the trip underground there is a downhill trip to a mining museum and the option of cycling back to the start or taking a minibus. Cost is between €49 and €69. Hire bikes are available.

The area is a hot bed of mountain biking.

The websites shown below are all in German, but you can always use Google translator.

Sportcenter Klopeinersee, Christian Pongratz, Ostuferstrasse 9, A - 9122 St. Kanzian

Web:www.sportcenter.at, EMail: info@sportcenter.at

Tel: +43 4239 3245, Fax: +43 4232 89579, Mobil: +43 676 344 499 9

http://www.stollenbiken.at/?inc_id=7

The Viernheim Table and the soft drink bottle deposit

Viernheimer Tafel (Viernheim Table) is a social project organised by the Catholic Church and the town of Viernheim. The organisation collects groceries that are just about to go out of date and otherwise unsaleable but edible food from local supermarkets and distributes this to people living on Hartz IV, the basic long term unemployment and social security payment in Germany. One of us helps occasionally as a collector of, for example, yesterday's vegetables,  bread and bakery products, Easter eggs from next Tuesday (This blog is being written on Gründonnerstag/Maundy Thursday, the day before Good Friday.) and in one case broken packets of soft drink bottles. A few days ago we wrote about people collecting bottles left by others to supplement their Hartz IV income. See "Deposits on soft drink and beer bottles in Germany". The supermarkets (Aldi, Lidl, Penny, REWE, Alnatura) and wholesalers concerned give the goods to Tafel free, gratis and for nowt, but the organisation has to pay the wholesaler, at least for the cost of the deposits on the bottles. Whether the recipients of the soft drinks pay for their bottles, I have yet to find out.

Lake Constance on a bike, a tandem or a trike

We are rewriting our Lake Constance book - "Only in High Gear" as an e-book on Smashwords and on Kindle. It really is a superb place for a family cycling holiday:
Almost no hills.
If a day goes on too long there are ships aplenty to climb on.
Every lakeside community offers swimming beaches.
Three countries to choose from.
What we have noticed though is that the cosy world of cycle touring is not immune to financial trends. The high cost of the Swiss Franc means that the Swiss hotel trade has been hard hit as tourists stay away. We have noticed that some hotels have closed. We try to suggest ways round the cost of holiday making in Switzerland in the guide - where to eat and where to stay.
We hope the book will be in the electronic bookshops in about a month.

Exploring the Moselle and the Saar Valleys

We recently came across a couple who organise bicycling holidays using a Dutch hotel barge as base with unisex bicycles on the Moselle as  far as Nancy and the Saar to Saarbrücken. You don't need to take your own bike. The owners' website is unfortunately only in German and Dutch, but the owners assured me that they can speak English and they would be glad to have English speaking passengers on board. Contact info@actievevaarvakanties.nl for more information.

Deposits on soft drink and beer bottles in Germany

If you spend any time on a German railway station you will probably see somebody going through the Verpackung rubbish bins, pulling out plastic or glass soft drink, mineral water and beer bottles or cans to pop in a large plastic bag. Yes, the Germans even sort their garbage on the railways. The collectors are people on small incomes - the long term unemployed who get about €400 plus rent a month or pensioners who may receive a little more, but not much.
German soft drink, water and beer bottles and some cans have Pfand (deposits) on them. These can be up to 25 or 30 Cents, but glass beer bottles are only worth 8 Cents. Shops must take these bottles back and return the deposit to you. You don't have to return the bottle to same shop. You can pop into the next supermarket and pop your bottle end first into the hole of the machine standing near the door, push the green button when you've finished loading the machine and you will be issued with a chit that you can use to pay off your bill at the till. Fruit juice containers don't have a deposit, neither do similar bottles from Austria, France, the Netherlands and Switzerland. It does mean there are fewer bottles littering the forests and cycle tracks. It is a pity there is not a similar system on paper handkerchiefs. The system, although complicated does seem to work and there are fewer plastic bottles littering the countryside than in France or the UK.

Middle-Northern Black Forest Cycle Route

Or to give the route its German title Naturpark Radweg Schwarzwald Mitte Nord is a 260 km (160 mile) cycle route with a total climb of 1800 metre (5850 feet) designed to be cycled by normal relatively unfit cyclists in four to six days. In addition those not equipped with muscles like Eddy Merckxx can hire pedelec e-bikes that give a boost on the hills. These can be hired along this circular cycle route and there are battery charging stations in cafés, restaurants and pubs giving you the chance to charge your own batteries while your bike's batteries are being topped up. There is more information on www.naturparkradweg.de  (in German, but don't forget Google Translator) and you can contact the Black Forest tourist authority:

Schwarzwald Tourismus GmbH
Ludwigstraße 23
D- 79104 Freiburg
phone: +49 761 89646 0
fax: +49 761 89646 70
mail@schwarzwald-tourismus.info

The website offers a GPS track for the route. 

Useful Links for cyclists touring in Germany

I read a blog today about route finding for cyclists in Germany. Somehow the authors managed to miss out our favourite links and some useful websites. Just to make up for the missing pearls:

Two from us: We are not being immodest. They do offer a lot of information about cycling in Alsace, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

http://www.bicycletouringeurope.eu/

If you need to take a train with your bike then our contribution to the AtoB website (http://www.atob.org.uk/bike-rail/bikeeurope-germany/) could be of interest.

www.bicyclegermany.com Maxa and Tim Burley's website with the distilled wisdom of over a decade's cycling in the Fatherland.

www.cycletourer.co.uk/cycletouring/germany.shtml An excellent review of cycling facilities in Germany.

http://www.germany.travel/en/leisure-and-recreation/cycling/cycling.html The German National Tourist
Office's website has extensive descriptions of the major signposted cycling routes in Germany.

http://www.radroutenplaner.nrw.de/RRP_home_02_en.html lets you plan cycle routes in North Rhine Westphalia.

http://www.radwanderland.de/cgi-bin/cms?_SID=df9edb615996e8707829748c76bdfc1dee426a4a00140470070523&_bereich=ansicht&_aktion=detail&schluessel=radwanderland&_sprache=en  lets you plan cycle routes in Rhineland Palatinate, not only in its wine country.

We mentioned the joys of cycling in Saarland recently on this blog: http://europeancycling.blogspot.de/2012/03/saarland.html#comments.

http://www.radroutenplaner.hessen.de/rphEN/rph_index_01.asp?Inhalt=rph_home_01.html lets you plan cycle routes in Hesse.

http://www.niedersachsen-tourism.de/en/aktiv-vital/rad-fahren/tipps-highlights/index.php offers information about cycling in Lower Saxony.

http://www.sh-tourismus.de/en/cycling-in-schleswig-holstein offers info about cycling in the North of Germany and into Denmark.

http://www.m-vp.de/english/8026.htm gives details of tours in NE Germany.

http://en.wikiloc.com/trails/cycling/germany/sachsen offers info about cycling in Saxony.

Unfortunately the tourist authorities of the province of Saxony Anhalt are of the opinion that only Germany speakers are interested in cycling there: http://www.sachsen-anhalt-tourismus.de/xxl/de/829429/index.html .

We just returned from a week in Thuringia and can heartily recommend it. There is some information under to be found  http://www.thuringia-tourism.com/travel-hotel-holiday-tour/radweg-thueringer-staedtekette-105795.html.

http://www.saxonytourism.com/go-active offers information about cycling in the province of Saxony.

The Brandenburg Tourist Office's website (http://www.brandenburg-tourism.com/pages/cycling.html) offers a compact description of the major cycle tourist routes in the province.

Berlin offers a lot to the cyclist: http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/interactive/2011/aug/19/cyclingholidays-berlin-routes-maps-socialist-architecture-war-potsdam?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487  and http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/green-living-blog/2010/apr/22/bike-blog-cycling-berlin.

Bavaria is not only a very big province, it offers a wide range of cycle routes: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=1&doc_id=2876&v=NV.

Thüringer Bratwurst, the coda

The day after our trip to Gotha, we climbed to the summit of Inselberg. On the way we met a German couple who told us that the best bratwurst in the area were to be found at the kiosk by the Klein Inselberg Hotel just down from the summit. We wandered down there and each tried one with a beer. They were good bratwurst, but not traditional Thüringer. We will have to go back to Thüringen to walk the Rennsteig again and hunt for that elusive creature, the Thüringer Bratwurst. It's not such a bad idea either. Perhaps we could fire up the mountain bikes to do some serious climbing?

Thüringer

Food is often named after the place it was originally made. You only need think of foods like Cheddar, Stilton, Bordeaux, Wiener (from Wien - Vienna), Hamburger or Frankfurter. I don't really know whether a Hamburger comes from the city.
In Germany a Thüringer Bratwurst is often just called a Thüringer. I remember eating one about 30 years ago in Ostheim, formerly a Thuringian enclave in Bavaria, that was transferred to Bavaria in 1945, i.e. the only place in West Germany that sold genuine Thüringer. Heaven! In my view,  it should be a finger thick sausage filled with coarsely ground meat mixed with spices and taste great.
A few weeks ago we went to our local shopping centre on a Friday to visit the weekly Farmers' Market and wandered in the centre afterwards. To our surprise we found a travel exhibition showcasing various regions of Germany,  Holland and Luxembourg. Every one of the dozen or so stands  apart from one offered information about cycling holidays. Cycling is now a major holiday activity in Germany and for the Germans.  Thüringia was represented by the Hotel Frauenberg in Tabarz, SW of Gotha (www.hotel-frauenberger.de (in German)). The hotel in partnership with two other hotels farther east offers self-guided walking holidays along the Rennsteig, a 168 Km (100 mile ±) trail along a ridge through the Thüringer Wald (Thuringian Forest). We knew a bit about the Rennsteig. It had been divided into three by the Iron Curtain and for many years one could only walk the section in Franconia. Much of the rest of the route was in a 5km restricted zone near to the inner German border in the Communist German Democratic Republic. The route was reopened after the fall of the wall. We've thought for some years that it would be a good walk.  We booked a week in the Frauenburger.  We had four days of walking along the Rennsteig. We were taken to the Rennsteig each morning and picked up in the evening. Every night we ate a magnificent three course meal in the hotel's restaurant, but did not see a trace of the German contender for that king of the bratwurst race, the Thüringer.

After a few days walking we had finished our 40 km chunk of the Rennsteig and decided to take a day off to visit Gotha. We were looking forward to seeing the town and I was looking forward to eating a Thüringer at a stand in the town. We took the ancient tram in the morning from Tabarz to Gotha.

Gotha was spared destruction in WWII and by the GDR planners. The town centre is the kind of  architectural entity that causes modern town planners sleepless nights trying to recreate the effect. (Eat your heart out Poundbury!)  Speaking of the British Royal Family, Gotha town centre lies at the foot of a hill crowned by Friedenstein Castle, owned by the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha family, who married their way into all the royal families of Europe including the British. Both Victoria and Albert were members of the clan.
After a wander round the town it was a bit early for a bratwurst, so we walked up to see the castle to look at the rooms, the furniture, the paintings, the theatre and the extensive collections of  artistic handicrafts (of no use, but wonderfully well made). After two or three hours of Dürer, Cranach and carved ivory we were not to put it finely cultured out and left to hit the Market Square and the long awaited Thüringer. I could smell it, almost taste it. We rounded the corner and I saw, to my horror, the  stand was in process of being closed up. What could we do? We were then lucky to find something savoury for lunch. Unusually for modern Germany the shops in Gotha close early on a Saturday starting at 12:00. This is something to watch out for when cycle touring.
The only consolation for the lack of Thüringer was that we were due to walk up the Inselberg (913m) the next day and I had noticed a sign offering genuine original Thüringer as we climbed over the hill on our way along the Rennsteig. There was still a good chance I could sink my teeth into a Thüringer, before we left the province.
There is a cycle tour along the route of the Rennsteig, running along it in part and then crisscrossing it later on, before dropping to the end. It is a serious route, 199km long with steep climbs and descents on unsealed roads, more for a mountain bike than a road bike. There are easier routes in Thuringia:
The long distance cycle route Thüringer Stadtkette (Thuringian Pearls). It's a fairly flat 225 km from Eisenach to Altenburg.
The Werra Valley Cycle route (300 km ±)
There is one for geologically minded souls around the Harz Mountains which offers 400 km of easy cycling.
There is more information on http://www.thueringen-tourismus.de/urlaub-hotel-reisen/radfahren-120003.html and route planning on http://www.radroutenplaner.thueringen.de/

Forest clean up

We picked up litter again today. Viernheim organised its annual clean up of the approach roads and woods. About 150 people from amongst others the German St John's, the volunteer fire brigade, the THW- the emergencies and civil defense organisation, but none of the walking clubs (odd!) turned up to help clean up.We are both amazed by the idleness of folk who drop litter by a litter bin. Presumably they're thinking when the team come to pick up litter from the bins they have only have to bend down to pick up a bit more. At this point they can go home with a clear conscience. No way, José. The oddest thing we found was a one metre piece of railway line. There were a lot of schnapps bottles to be found as well. Jägermeister is very popular with visitors to the woods.
We picked up a lot of snotty but dry paper handkerchiefs today, so the next time you blow your nose underway and throw the wet soggy piece of paper in to the bushes thinking "It's organic, it'll rot down", it will. However it takes a year or two to complete the cycle and in between times your action does not beautify the woods or bushes. It looks dreadful. Pop them in a poly bag and take them home.

Saarland Radweg (Cycle Route)

The Saarland Radweg is a circular route that runs for 356 km near to the borders of the province with France, Luxembourg and Rhineland Palatinate, another German province. It is billed as being a medium to sporty run. I've looked at the profile and can well believe this. There are at least 1300 m of climbs to be expected.
The Saarland lies within easy reach of Hahn and Luxembourg airports. In addition the TGVs that connect Paris and Luxemburg take bicycles, but you will need to reserve bicycle slots. There are only 8 per train. There are no bicycle slots on the TGVs that run to Frankfurt.
It is a suggestion if you need something to do over the long weekend when the Queen celebrates her 60th Jubilee.

Picking up litter!

We have written before about the annual forest clean up in Viernheim. Once annually the town asks the clubs, societies and private individuals to take part in this event and it surprising what is found. The litter ranges from engine blocks, truck batteries to innumerable bottles. There must be many a drinker driving round Viernheim who tosses his empty miniature bottle of digestive into the bushes on the bypass as they drive home.
We have helped for years to battle the litter louts and were asked this year help supervise a group of school kids from the Froebel Junior School here in Viernheim. There were 320 little litter pickers and we helped two teachers lead 75 kids through the bushes in search of hidden treasures. The most difficult problem was explaining why people dumped old clothes on the edge of town rather than using the used clothing bins belonging to the Red Cross or similar organisation, or why so many empty bottles?

Saarland

The Saarland is the super small German province in the west of Germany bordering France. It was under French administration until 1957 after a referendum in 1955 when it returned to Germany.  One third of the land area of the Saarland is covered by forest, one of the highest percentages in Germany. The state is hilly; the highest mountain is the Dollberg  (695.4 m), but the River Saar forms a major flat valley from the south to the northwest almost along the western edge of the province. Most inhabitants live in the area around the capital, Saarbrücken. This means it very interesting for cyclists and the province is making great efforts to attract cyclists with good routes and excellent pre-booked cycling holidays. See http://www.visitsaarland.co.uk/en/cycling-1. One of my favourite routes is to follow the Saar Coal Mine Canal into France, over the Vosges and then visit Strasbourg. The Saarland Tourist Office offers a tour from Trier along the Moselle, the Saar, the aforementioned Saar Coal Mine Canal and the Rhine-Rhone Canal to Strasbourg. Our Riesling Route book also follows the  Rhine-Rhone Canal to Strasbourg. Well worth doing!

Cycling Route through the Black Forest

We went to two walking and cycle touring exhibitions recently. The first in Stuttgart at the CMT a massive camping,  caravanning and tourism show. This is held annually in January and on the first weekend one giant hall is dedicated to walkers and cyclists. We picked up a fair amount of information on outdoor holidays in Germany and will pass this on to our readers over the next few weeks.
The  other exhibition was much smaller. It was held in our local shopping centre (mall), but interestingly enough almost all of the exhibitors featured cycling.
One of the stands that caught our eye was a description of the Black Forest Panoramic Cycling Route between Pforzheim and Waldshut-Tiengen on the Rhine and the Swiss border. It is 280km (142 miles) long and is hilly in parts. More information is to be found under www.schwarzwald-panoramaweg.info (in German - but there is always Google-Translator). There are tours with prebooking and baggage transport to be had.

Electrobike website

If you read German or can put up with Google translator's attempts then it is worth having a look at www.e-bike.de for advice on buying an e-bike, technical aspects and information about the latest models.

Cycling in Denmark

Since its capital city, Copenhagen, is rated as one the best, if not the best city in the world to cycle, Denmark is obviously a good place for cycle touring. We were very pleased to discover a new route planning website for the country: cyclistic.dk on a recent visit to Copenhagen.

Changing trains in Hamburg

If you need to travel a long way with Deutsche Bahn German Railways you will more than probably need to change trains. Trains in Germany often work on the hub principle beloved of US airlines. If it is just a case of walking from one side of a platform to the other this is no problem, but if you need to get from one side of a major station to the other then it can be difficult.  One of the ideas that would help the progress of the human race would be a chart of actual change times at various railway stations. 

We changed trains in Hamburg Hauptbahnhof last night. Theoretically our train to Mannheim left 8 minutes after our train from Copenhagen arrived. Our train was four minutes late arriving, so we had four minutes to ascend to the connecting bridge, run over approximately eight platform widths, descend to the departure platform and get on our train, and all this with two folded Bromptons and two quite heavy hand held bags. In addition there were a number of folk with immense hard shell cases who were not sure that this was their train, so needed to stop on the stairs, at the bottom of the stairs and by the train door to enquire and reflect. We fell onto the train soaked in sweat and in urgent need of a beer. 

There is a way round this problem. When you use the German Railway timetable website: www.bahn.co.uk, you can adjust the Duration of Transfer when you set up your journey. Quarter of an hour or twenty minutes for changes is not a bad idea.

Powering along. With electrobikes on holiday

Electrobikes are losing their image as OAP-Ferraris as their price and weight fall, and range and reliability improve. In continental Europe two trends are particularly obvious and encouraging: Fixed centre hire and touring.

Fixed Centre Hire

More and more bike hire firms and day tour operators are offering electrobikes to rent for day trips or for the holiday duration. Alpine resorts, in particular, wish to market not only the peace, quietness and possibilities of contact with nature for their area, but also its air quality. Heavy road traffic has negative effects on all of these. A group of resorts in the Alps has gone so far as to offer “Soft Mobility', low carbon footprint sustainable tourism. These are known as the Alpine Pearl resorts (www.alpine-pearls.com/home.php). Here guests are encouraged to take car-free holidays, to travel to the resorts by public transport, i.e. rail and leave the car at home or at least parked whilst in the resort. Holiday makers are offered subsidised public transport and facilities for human powered activities. The electrobike fits in well with this concept and currently eight of the 20 Alpine Pearl communities offer electrobike hire: Bad Reichenhall in Germany, Berchtesgaden, Werfenweng in Austria, Arosa and Interlaken in Switzerland, and Tiers, Welschnofen and Deutschnofen in the semi-autonomous province of South Tyrol in Italy. 

Many other resorts too have learned to appreciate the value of electrobike hire. These resorts offer cycle and even MTB trails that can be used by the electrically assisted cyclist. Typically the organisers set up a number of battery exchange or charging centres across the area in beer gardens, monastery breweries or cafes where the thirsty can recharge both their bike's batteries for 1-2 cents an hour and their own batteries for the cost of a beer and roast pigs' legs or coffee and cake.

Interestingly Switzerland and Japan are world leaders in electrobike ownership and about 70% of the electrobikes in Switzerland are Swiss Flyers. 

Touring 

Tour companies are offering electrobikes as an extra to encourage people who have not ridden a bicycle since Adam was a lad to take part in their holidays. In this way weaker members of the group can keep up with members of the Charles Atlas calf brigade. The tour companies hope to widen their customer base and make their customers' holidays a little less strenuous.

NB The prices shown in the tables are not written on tablets of stone and can vary, but should be taken as a guide. At the time of writing the pound was worth about 1.15 Euro and 1.4 CHF, but if we knew what was going to happen in the money markets we would not be writing this, but be down the bank changing our savings. There is too a distressing tendency for foreigners to insist on writing their websites in foreign languages, The cure is to use Google Translator, Babel Fish or similar translation program, or send the company or tourist office an eMail in English. They will reply in English. Absence of a resort or tour company just means that we haven't seen their names on various Internet lists, but not that electrobikes are not on offer. In our experience most of the members of a guided cycle group will be able to speak English and they will be overjoyed to practise it.

Fixed centre hire

France

Burgundy Electrobikes to rent from the tourist office in Auxere: http://www.ot-auxerre.fr/Tourist-office.html

Switzerland

Between Rapperswill on Lake Zurich, Walenstadt on Walensee and GlarusTourismus Amden-Weesen

Dorfstrasse 22, CH-8873 Amden, www.amden.ch, 

eMail: tourismus@amden.ch Flyer ?

Emmental (Emme Valley) between Bern and Lucerne Gemeindeverwaltung Trubschachen, CH-3555 Trubschachen, 

www.trubschachen.ch/tourismus.html (in German), eMail:gemeinde@trubschachen.ch Flyer 25 Flyers (CHF40,-/day) Three tandems (CHF70,-/day)

NW of Lucerne, Willisau-Hasle-Rüegsau Reisezentrum Willisau, CH 6130 Willisau www.willisau.ch, eMail: emailinfo@willisau-tourismus.ch Flyer 2 Battery exchange stations

East Switzerland Appenzell Appenzellerland Tourismusmarketing AG Schäfligasse 12

CH-9050 Appenzell Telephone +41 (0)71 788 08 18 

www.appenzell.ch/en/pages/what_appenzell_has_to_offer/cycling_biking/elektrobiken/?

eMail: info.ag@appenzell.ch  Flyer At least 40 bikes and 20 recharging stations

Engadine SE Switzerland Albula Valley (Bergün), Lenzerheide, Davos 15 Hire stations with about 40 electrobikes and 20 battery charging stations Flyer Between CHF 30 and 40 per day, depending on length of hire

Engadine SE Switzerland near St Moritz Flying Cycles GmbH 

Tolais (opp. station) l, CH-7504 Pontresina

eMail: flyingcycles@bluewin.ch Flyer 

250 eBikes all over Switzerland at the railway stations in 

Airolo, Andermatt, Basle, Bern, Biel, Disentis, Fiesch, Illanz, Interlaken West, Locarno, Lucerne, Meiringen, Murten. Neuchâtel, Noiraigue, Oberwald, , Romanshorn, Saignelégier, Samedan, Willisau Rent a Bike AG, Merkurstrasse 2, CH-6210 Sursee www.rentabike.ch (In German and French, English language promised) Flyer Daily hire costs between CHF 42 and 50. Bikes can be returned to other railway stations.

Southern Switzerland, Locarno, Ascona, Lago Maggiore Electrobikes are widely available from 32 centres, e.g. from hotels, the information desks of the Ente Turistico Lago Maggiore (Tourist Offices) in Locarno, Ascona and Brissago amongst others. www.maggiore.ch/idee/bike/common_details.jsp?lang=en&id=87017&index=1 Flyer 

Switzerland: Erstfeld on the Gotthard Pass railway line. Velo Infanger, Gotthardstrasse 107, CH 6472 Erstfeld (300m from station) Flyer  

Germany

North Germany, Cuxhafen Mietrad, T. Larschow, Schillerstr. 45, D-27472 Cuxhaven

www.mietrad.de Flyer Between 30 and 15€/day

Bavarian Alps/Austria Salzgammergut Movelo GmbH (www.movelo.com) offers over 50 electrobikes in SE Bavaria around Berchtesgaden and near Lake Chiemsee at about a dozen hire stations (info@movelo.com) Flyer 

Bavarian Alps Three companies in and around Bad Tölz SE of Munich offer electrobike hire with 11 charging points:  Flyer 

Germany Schwäbisch Alb Kurverwaltung (Tourist Office) Bad Urach, www.badurach.de Flyer 30-40€ daily

Italy: South Tyrol Tiers/Tires, Welschnofen/Nova Levante and Deutschnofen/Nova Ponante (www.alpine-pearls.com/home.php) Flyer 

Tours

Austria Danube Valley, Styria, Switzerland Lausanne St Gallen ROTALIS - Reisen per Rad, D-85604 Zorneding www.rotalis.de, info@rotalis.de Modified hire bike 140€ extra per trip (about a week)

Austria Danube Valley Passau Vienna Colditzer Reisebüro Töpfergasse 5 D - 04680 Colditz, Germany   www.fahrrad-wandern.de/danube_cycle_path.htm Flyer About 700 € per person for seven nights bed and breakfast with baggage transport. An electrobike costs about 90€ a week. 

Switzerland All nine Swiss National Routes SwissTrails GmbH Chlupfstrasse 8, CH-8165 Oberweningen www.swisstrails.ch/swisstrails_engl/veloland/veloland.html Flyer

Switzerland Jura Saignelégier to Neuchâtel via Mont-Soleil, Tête de Ran and Couvet. Goût & Région Case postale 131 CH 2108 Couvet www.gout-region.ch (Only in French and German) eMail: info@gout-region.ch Flyer About CHF 370 to CHF 500 per person with baggage transport for two nights bed and breakfast. 

Switzerland Meiringen, Grosse Scheidegg, Grindelwald, Interlaken, Kandersteg, Brig, Rhone Valley, Grimsel Pass, Meiringen Alpavia GmbH, Bahnhofstrasse 35, CH-3700 Spiez www.alpavia.ch eMail: info@alpavia.ch Flyer A trip round the Jungfrau and Eiger. Good value for money at CHF 1280 for 6 nights HP. 

Unexpected Hazards

When cycling past a line of parked cars in Germany, it's obviously necessary to watch for folks opening car doors to avoid being "doored", but German motorists have invented a variation that makes life even more difficult for the innocent cyclist abroad: It is usual in Germany to put small children in car seats behind the driver on the left hand side of the car. When the car is parked, the driver will get out, open their own door even wider or the rear door to get little Hans or Edeltraud out of the back seat. This brings with it three potential dangers:
The parent  is only concentrating on getting the child out and does not notice the two wheeled technicolor dream bearing down on the car.
When Hans or Edeltraud are freed from their seat they spring out into the road.
If this activity is happening on the other side of the road passing motorists can swerve out to avoid the open car door and/or little Hansi or Edeltraud.
All we can do is advise cyclists to do is keep a watchful out when passing parked cars, but you do that anyway, don'tcha?

Avoiding a faux pas in a German pub

This definitely applies to Bavaria: When you walk into a country pub/restaurant you will notice that although there are tablecloths/ cutlery on most of the tables, one biggish table will be bare. This is the Stammtisch, where the regulars sit. There is no restriction on sitting there, but we advise you not to sit there, even if the landlord/lady lets you. It is not done. You only sit there if you are invited.

Guided Cycle Touring

We, like Tim Burleigh of www.bicyclegermany.com, do not lead multi-day tours in Germany or anywhere else. We offer advice about where to cycle, how to cycle etc. with our books (www.bergstrassebikebooks.com) and website, and Tim with his website. Judith and I have experienced both sides of guided touring. (Judith and I have organised a day tour for the local group of the ADFC over most of the last few years. If any of our readers wish to come on the next club tour we organise, drop us an eMail, but be warned we do live a long way south of London town.)

We worked as member of a tour leader team for an American organisation and as customers with a Geman tour company. The former was superbly well organised with back up van, directional signs painted on the road and well maintained hire bikes including spares. It was expensive, but value for money.  The customers had to pay for a driver and two guides. 

We paid serious sums of money to join a German tour group last year. It was advertised an easy trip for beginners. The less said about the trip the better, but we found that many of the members of the group including the leader saw the whole trip as a sporting exercise. We had been looking forward to a leisurely few days in the autumn, but found ourselves struggling having to race up hills.

If you are going to travel on a group tour enquire about its aims, so that you don't find yourself bored out of your mind because the group wants to cycle 30 or 40 Km a day or you're struggling to keep up the whole time. Be prepared to remind the leader about this. 

Cycling across Strasbourg

It strikes us that cyclists are often interested in cycling through a city, but not that bothered about seeing the sights or at least spending a lot of time doing it. This is quote from our new eBook: "Following the Rhine gently upstream, Rotterdam to Basel, a cycle tourist's guide" showing how to cross Strasbourg.
It starts in la Wantzenau just north of the city.

In la Wantzenau turn off left towards la Robertsau and Strasbourg through the village and then turn left into the woods. The route through the woods is delightful, allows easier access to Kehl and avoids finding one’s way through the maze of streets that is central Strasbourg. 

Once out of the Robertsau Woods follow the route through a posh suburb to reach the Quai Jacoutot and the Marne Rhine Canal. Cross the canal, turn left along a cycle path on the canal bank. It is easier to cross the road to the left hand side before the bridge and cycle on the footpath across the bridge. Follow the path along the edge of the canal by Rue du Général Conrad to Rue du Général Picquard. 

To reach Kehl turn right along Rue d’Ostende. It is signposted. Left along Boulevard d’Anvers to cross Anvers Bridge. Swing right at the end of the bridge to follow Route du Petit Rhin to Route du Rhin. Follow this to the left signposted Kehl/Allemagne to cross the Europa Bridge to reach Kehl.

To reach the Vélo Rhin route south towards Marckolsheim (and Basel), carry straight on along the Quai des Belges under the Anvers Bridge to reach the Quai des Alpes, Quai du Général Koenig, Quai Fustel de Coulanges and Quai Louis Pasteur. Turn left to cross the bridge and then right to reach the Vélo Rhin cycleway to Illkirch-Graffenstaden (signposted). 

Without wishing to be trivial, the two highlights that tourists visit in Strasbourg are the Minster and Petite France, an area of half-timbered houses and narrow canals. Following our route around the centre of Strasbourg it is possible to visit both tourist highlights: 

Strasbourg Minster At the second bridge carrying trams look right. You will see the Minster, turn right to follow Rue de la Première Armée Française towards the church. It is difficult to miss. There are a number of cycle shops on Rue de la Première Armée Française.

Petite France Return to the same route and follow the canal side cycle path along Quai Louis Pasteur toward Illkirch-Graffenstaden. Just before crossing the bridge turn left across the canal to join the towpath, then dive off left to cycle under the bridge and then follow the towpath right to reach the edge of Petite France.

The Fest

Yet again apologies for the length of time that it has taken us to sort out the new book: "Following the Rhine gently upstream, Rotterdam to Basel, a cycle tourist's guide". It is finally finished and is on Smashwords.com. It is available in just about every form for every type of reader that Smashwords can think of.  Why it took us so long we don't know and we are still fighting to set up the Kindle version for sale on Amazon, but readers can buy a version for Kindle from Smashwords.
The next issue of atob Magazine will feature an article by us about travelling by rail with bicycles in Italy and we were asked to write something new about ourselves. One of the lines we used to describe the Rhine Valley was "where the Fest is a way of life…" The magazine's copy editor, Peter Henshaw was troubled by the term "Fest" and asked us to explain it. We are using the term to describe the ability of the Germans to organise an event with lots to eat and drink and much jollity to celebrate almost anything. This weekend, for example, there is an Oktoberfest on two evenings with a marquee, Bavarian beer and food in Mannheim; there are two nights when the multicultural Jungbusch area of Mannheim (read Soho) celebrates between 20:00 and 02:00 with live music on stages set in the street, classical concerts in the churches and food from all over Europe and the Near East; the local power from waste incinerator is having an open day on Saturday with, of course, eating and drinking, games for the kids and a visit by the Mannheim ice hockey team and there is a week long annual fair starting next weekend in nearby Speyer. Viernheim's annual Kerwe ( a fair to celebrate the founding of the church.) looms. The Town Hall car park is closed from next week. In addition we received an invitation in the post this morning to visit the 50th anniversary of the founding of our local electrical goods shop with fun and games for children, special offers, cooking demos and the odd item to eat or drink. We learned today that one of the local annual German-American Volksfests will continue even when the US Army leaves the area in 2012.
What this means for the touring cyclist: As you travel along the Rhine Valley on a Saturday or a Sunday you are likely to pass tables and benches where folks are sitting nibbling on a pig's leg and sipping beer, wine or lemonade, listening to  live music anything from Country and Western  through swing to an oompaah band. Get off your bike and join them. You will be made welcome.

Mannheim hard done by yet again?

First of all an apology for the lack of blogs since August, but we are trying to finish our new Kindle e-book "Rhine Upstream". As well we needed to find some photographs of railways in Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands for publication in "AtoB" (www.atob.org.uk) This was a more difficult job than either we or David Henshaw, the editor of that august publication imagined. We cracked the problem and this had the added advantage that we were better prepared to source photographs for the next country in the list: Italy.
Mannheim can lay claim to being very important in the development of individual mobility. Karl Friedrich Freiherr Drais made the world's first "bicycle" trip in June 1817 on his velocipede or hobby horse, a kind of simple bicycle between the centre of Mannheim to the Schwetzinger Realaishaus,  a pub. Drais was born in Karlsruhe and the citizens of Karlsruhe claim that really Karlsruhe should be considered the site of the start of the age of mass individual mobility. (There is however a Drais bike route in Mannheim.)
Then in 1886 Carl Benz was awarded the first patent for a vehicle with gas engine drive. Two years later his wife Bertha undertook the first car trip in the world and drove from Mannheim to Pforzheim. (Somewhat of a kick in the pants for chauvinistic male drivers. Not only are women reputedly safer drivers, but one of them was the first driver in the world.) The route she took can be followed: http://www.bertha-benz.de/indexen.php?inhalt=home, including seeing the first filling station in the world, a chemist's shop in Wiesloch where she bought ligroin. However at the same time Gottlieb Daimler was building similar machines in Stuttgart. The HQ of the company the two founded in 1926 is in Stuttgart, so we Mannheimers have the impression that the role of Mannheim yet again is being diminished for the greater glory of one of Stuttgart's sons. The company's name no longer reflects the role of the Carl Benz since 1998 when Daimler - Benz AG absorbed the Chrysler company and since 2007 when the Chrysler operations were divested, it is just called Daimler AG.

Between the Rhine and the Odenwald Hills Part II

Ried Club Run Cycling distance 70 km

The weather forecast for July 14 2011 suggested that early sunshine would give way to cloud and probably thunderstorms by the afternoon, but our group was 18 strong as we left Bensheim Station, close up against the Odenwald edge. First along cycleways, quiet roads past a war cemetery where not only combatants but also forced labour camp victims were buried, then into the shady forest bearing gradually northwest. We sped along on gravel tracks heading for Maria Einsiedel, a pilgrimage church and our first contact with the Geopark route. The signs are so discrete that several members of our party did not see them until we had passed at least 10 of them!

Now out in the Ried proper, the former marshes have been drained and the loams and clays aided by modern fertilisers are fertile. We followed country roads, often on cycle ways through farming settlements like Allmendfeld with its half-timbered buildings and flower gardens passing by fields of wheat, barley, oats and maize, interspersed with potatoes and sugar beet. We dodged great sprays of irrigation water jetting over the crops, including a whole field of chives. This had just been mowed as we passed by on our pre-tour ride, the aroma was wonderful and made us hungry! We were cycling over a natural gas storage reservoir, which uses porous rocks from which oil has already been extracted, its existence marked only by occasional fenced off head works. In the little town of Riedstadt, an elderly local caught our group up and insisted we visited the museum just on the corner. It was well worth it, if only for the remains of a Bronze Age 'Lady of the Sands', a fully 5'10'' tall young female complete with bracelets and earings (picture). She was found nearby in 1994 as a field was being ploughed.

We pressed on to Stockstadt, where the Romans probably had a harbour on an old meander of the Rhine. We had passed the shadowy remains of a Roman road on the way here, revealed from the air by crop marks. In Stockstadt we had our picnic, on the southern edge of Kühkopf, a large nature reserve, with a visitor centre complete with huge tabletop models of the whole area. Oil was produced here too, comparatively recently. Kühkopf is well known to most local Germans and has a well founded reputation for its biting insects. We kept out on this occasion. Here, during WW II a wooden decoy model of Mannheim was constructed but many Allied bombers went on to destroy large chunks of that city.

Lunch over we swung in and out of Stockstadt to pick up our route along the high dam of the meander cut off to the Rhine itself, at the spot where the Hesse engineer Krönke had a 7 m trench dug in March 1828 to straighten the river. With the next high water the Rhine widened the trench greatly and the meander was history. The short section south along the river bank was a little hazardous because of families walking and noisy with jetboats. Hmm...getting deafened while metaphorically ripping up 50€ notes isn't my idea of fun, but each to his own. The local historians had been busy weaving the route past fish ponds, now haunted by many herons and waterbirds, locating vanished villages and the old farmsteads and mills as the regions life and working patterns changed. Many sections of Rhine embankment had been seeded with wild flowers and even riding past by bike it was easy to see butterflies, hear the birds and the bees. We turned inland a little making for the large numbers of storks wheeling overhead close to the bird park in Biebesheim am Rhein (picture). Clearly the breeding programme established a few years ago has been a great success. Time for snacks, drinks or large portions of cake at the little cafe there.

As we left the clouds were gathering up and we hastened through the grain mill and harbour town of Gernsheim along the busiest section of road on the trip. Cars and cyclists waited for the Rhine ferry here but we headed along the river for a final short stretch before turning away through Klein Rohrheim. The old village street is lined with tiny cottages end on to the road, some renovated, some apparently dating back before 'Schinderhannes', a robber and thug whose real name was Johannes Bückler. He was hanged after killing a policeman in a brawl in a tavern here. He was evidently the kind of man mothers of the time (1802) frightened their children with...'if you don't stop asking for sweeties, I'll tell Schinderhannes!'

We made our escape by the railway underpass and over the fields to Maria Einsiedel back towards the blue Odenwald Hills to the circuit start. Maria Einsiedel? Well you will have to find that out for yourselves - all the notice boards throughout the Geopark have sections in English. Use the link to access information about bikes and trains in Europe.

Our group seemed satisfied with the gentle scenery along good trails and claimed to have learnt a few things, as we made it back to Bensheim just as the first threatening drops fell. Within 20 minutes the streets were awash as we headed for home, the bikes safely in the car. Our normal train to Bensheim does not operate on Sundays.

Between Rhine and Odenwald Hills Part I

This year our 'Backyard' cycling has focused on the right bank Rhine plain - locally known as the 'Ried', the marshland. It stretches north of Mannheim in a 15 km wide band, bounded to the east by the straight line of the Odenwald, the clear indication of the Rhine Rift Faults. As the Ice Age ended, the Rhine flowed again but as a braided stream like many Icelandic rivers today. Sometimes great floods washed away recent deposits and the river flexed its muscles across the whole plain. In dry conditions windblown sands created a long dune chain, roughly parallel to the river, mostly left as forest today and the home of rare plants and wildlife. Along the edge of the Odenwald the early Neckar meandered slowly to join the Rhine near present-day Mainz. Early settlers lived here in remote communities, the first woods were full of wildlife including bears and only recently has more than speculative information come to life about these settlers. As elsewhere in the Rhine valley, Celtic groups were displaced by Romans, who left both written and much physical evidence behind them. They were replaced by farmers, fishermen and by religious foundations beset by wars, famines and gradual change until the industrial revolution brought rapid alteration. More wars, including those of the twentieth century have also left their mark on this apparently gentle and rather unremarkable part of the Rhine Valley.

As newcomers we often learn our history 'on the hoof, or perched on a bike'. Until the local section of the Odenwald became a UNESCO Geopark most of the small town and rural history, geography and geology was known only to a relatively small number of enthusiasts. Scenically it is easy on the eye, the old towns pretty, the vineyards and orchards stepping away into the distance (see picture) but it is NOT dramatic, no Rhine Gorge, no Neuschwanstein round the corner. However UNESCO status, visitor centres, guided walks and signposted trails have increased numbers of local and far flung visitors which have had a spin-off into the marshland regions sloping towards the Rhine. These farmlands, nature reserves, little towns with hidden corners are ideal places for cyclists to stray into away from the well ridden banks of the Rhine itself.

On the other hand there are some extensive unbroken forest regions, a couple of major autobahns, a few rail lines and a plethera of local and regional cycle trails, often with few directions and we've sometimes mislaid our route. We were delighted to find that the Geopark office in Lorsch, 10 km away on a known trail through the Viernheim woods, had planned and waymarked a bike route through the Ried. This would make a great club ride from Bensheim, around which town most of our members live.

Getting around Viernheim by bike

Viernheim is not ranked amongst the biggest cities in the world. With about 30 000 inhabitants it is tiny. It is however a great place to cycle. Within 15 minutes we can each almost any point of the town. On arrival we can always park the bike which cannot be said for the motor car. When we say this to people,  they nod and agree, but we are still regarded as being eccentric by these very same people. We were both at our dentists this morning and both us were asked by our dentist and his staff whether we had come by bike, even though they agree that it is the best way to come. Our dentist too is a fan of mountain biking.

What a difference 5 km can make.

We are planning to cycle to Basel (Basle, Bâle) as soon as it stops raining. Once we are there we will need return by rail to Viernheim. Basel has three railway stations, belonging to three different organisations: Basel SBB, the Swiss station, Basel Badischer Bahnhof, the German station and Bâle SNCF, the French station. The platforms of the latter two are legally German or French, but the buildings themselves including ticket offices etc. are on Swiss soil. This means if you pay by credit or debit card that the tickets will be slightly more expensive.
However what amazed me was the price difference between travelling from Basel SBB and Basel Bad to Mannheim. As long as you are prepared to travel on regional trains fairly slowly the trip between Basel Bad and Mannheim costs 29 Euro for up to five people plus 4.50 Euro per bike for the bicycles, i.e. 38 Euro in our case. Travelling between Basel SBB and Mannheim via Basel Bad will cost you 63.30 Euro plus ten Euros/bike for an International bicycle ticket, i.e. well over twice as much. The five minute ride from Basel SBB to Basel Bad will cost over 40 Euro.

Cycle touring as a mainstream activity

We have written recently that cycling has become a normal feature of holidays offered by German companies. I was still surprised to read that Nicko Tours carry a fleet of hire bikes on one of their ships: MS Wolga travelling from Passau along the most famous section of the Danube cycleway. On most of the eight days of the trip cyclists can borrow a bike and cycle between 40 and 70 km along the cycleway. This would help work off the meals that one is offered on the ship. Of course, if it rains, you can sit in your cabin and watch the scenery going by at cyclists' speeds. The same company offers a return trip from Ruse to Vienna or Passau, so cyclists on the lower reaches of the Danube could possibly come back with the company by ship. Thee are a couple of snags: the price 1000 Euros plus and a week of sitting watching the scenery go by and eating large meals.

Fines for cyclists in Germany

Germany has a traffic code which allows the police to impose on the spot fines for minor infringements of the traffic laws, so if you are touring in Germany it worth knowing what you shouldn't be doing as a cyclist.
You can be fined 5 Euros for cycling on the pavement (sidewalk).
You can be fined 15 Euros for cycling in the wrong direction on a cycleway.
You can be fined 25 Euros for using a mobile phone when underway on a bike.
You can be fined 45 Euros if you jump a red traffic light.
You can be fined 10 Euros for cycling in a pedestrian zone.

How times have changed or is it just old age?

We want to cycle the last kilometres to Basel along the Rhine from Ludwigshafen to be able to finish off our planned electronic cycle touring guide. As usual before we start I run up a quick spreadsheet to decide where are the best place to stop overnight. To do this I need distances and so this morning I fired up the Mac to google "Rhine Cycleway". I found a number of hits and then saw our own website. This reminded me that down in the cellar we have a number of printed cycle touring guides which contain all the info I need. Nowadays however the first move I make when I am looking for information is to turn on the mac. Odd really.

Cycling information from a motor club?

It is still surprising to realise how mainstream cycling is in Germany. Our local brewery is giving away a cycling map with every crate of beer sold in August. What surprised me most of all, the ADAC the German equivalent of the AA or the AAA announced recently that it is selling an iPhone app through the Apple App Store that can be used to find and follow over 1500 cycle tours in Germany.