Bicycle Rental in and around Düsseldorf

Düsseldorf is the provincial capital of Nordrhein-Westfalen in north-western Germany. The city is a paradise for shoppers on the Kö, beer drinkers in the Altstadt (old city centre) with the longest bar in the world and good links into the Niederrhein area which like the Netherlands is ideal for cycling. It has an airport, good train connections with the rest of Germany and Europe and is a good place to start and/or finish a cycling holiday. As ever with the exception of the Nextbike system it is better to book ahead to avoid disappointment.

Nextbike offers a number of bicycle rental stations with standardised urban utility bikes on a 24 hour basis using mobile phones to log in. These bikes, similar to the schemes in London and Paris, are not intended as touring bikes, but as flexible addition to public transport. The website is in English but flips into German when you start to look at individual German cities. Google Translator solves that problem easily.

Unfortunately the excellent Niederrheinrad bike hire network does not have any hire stations within the city boundaries, though there are two hire stations in Neuss across the Rhine: 

• Hotel Ibis Düsseldorf/Neuss. (Take a train to Neuss Hauptbahnhof (Main Station) and take a taxi.)
• Hotel Fire and Ice, out of town by the all year round ski hall. (Take the S-Bahn to Neuss Hbf (Neuss central station). Leave Neuss Hbf through the exit “Further Straße” and follow the sign to “Bahnsteig Nr. 1” Take bus 843 toward “Grefrath” and get off at “Skihalle” after a ride of approx. 25 minutes.)

Fahrradverleih Price Düsseldorf, Duesseldorfer Str. 36, 40545 Duesseldorf, phone: +49-211- 5590635, mobile +49-1520 - 4697087, approx. 100 m / 320 ft from youth hostel, Bus 835 836 to bus stop Jugendherberge, Opening times: Mo.-Su. 9:00 - 11:00 and 16:30 - 18:30, Rates: € 10.00 per day ; € 40.00 per week

Zukunftswerkstatt Düsseldorf (ZWD) – Services for cyclists

The workshop, a training establishment for the long term unemployed, offers repair services, restored bicycles and second hand parts. It rents out 20 – 28" bicycles, helmets and children's seats. You can also leave your bike here in safety while you look at the city. There is room for 450 bikes. 

Radstation der Zukunftswerkstatt Düsseldorf
Willi-Becker-Allee 8 a, direkt behind the  Hauptbahnhof (Central railway station), 40227 Düsseldorf, Tel.: +49 (0)211/5 14 47 11, www.zwd.de/zwd/zweiradwerkstatt

Prices

Rental: €10 daily. Parking 70 cents a day. 

Sport-Freizeit-Center Cremers Fahrradverleih

Sport-Freizeit-Center Niederkassel is on the Rhine bank. You can hire 7 gear (hub)touring bikes, either for men, women or children.

Am Pappelwäldchen 92
40547 Düsseldorf
Tel.: +49 (0)211/57 26 00

Underground U70, U74, U75, U76, U77 to Luegplatz
Bus 834 to Niederkassel; 833 to Johannsenstraße
Prices

Komfort-Bike 2 hours: €6, 1 day €11, weekly: €49

Opening Times: March to the End of October. Mo 1 am to 8:30 pm, Tu to Fri 11 am to 8:30 pm, Weekends and public holidays: 10:30 am to 8:30 pm

Common sense triumphs, amazing!

It appears to be believed in the upper floors of some railway administrations that as soon as bicycles need to be loaded on and off high speed trains there will be delays and the loss of five or six seats that are replaced by a bicycle compartment will ruin the economics of the trains. On Dutch, German, Italian and Spanish high speed trains bicycles except folders and bagged bikes are verboten. Common sense says that this belief is rubbish. Nobody bans mothers with prams or three children because they find it difficult to get on and off trains or they need room to put their Kinderwagen somewhere. Some of the French TGVs on the newer routes from Paris Gare de l'Est, for example take 8 bikes per train and seem to run profitably and punctually.
Not very often, but occasionally I am amazed that a common sense approach to demands from the travelling public has been taken by the Fat Controllers of railway organisations. Recently the ÖBB, Austrian railways announced that all 51 of their premium railjet trains will modified to include a compartment to take 6 bicycles with plugs allowing e-bike charging while underway. This work will be finished in 2013. More information can be found on http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=b0c3ff3f53e4c6a8be5677245&id=def475c28e.
On the other hand, the new generation of German IC/EC trains, the ICx will offer 8 bike places, less than the dozen or so on offer at the moment. This model will also form the basis of the replacement ICE1 and ICE2 stock by the end of the decade. It could be possible to offer high speed transport for bicycles, but don't hold your breath. I have the feeling that the Fat Controllers believe that only "suits" with brief cases are the proper class of people to travel on ICEs.

Bicycle space on an IC at present.

Dutch cycleway technology triumphs again!

Groningen is a town in the North of the Netherlands. Some of the traffic lights in the town have been equipped with rain or snow sensors, so that when it rains or snows cyclists do not have to wait as long for a green light. There does not appear to any complaints from motorists who have to wait longer. It is intended to equip more traffic lights in this way later. Unsurprisingly about 50% of all journeys in Groningen are made by bicycle.
Source: LVI-Info 86 2/2012

Bicycle hire in Paris, France

Paris has 200 km of bike lanes and 70 km of bus lanes which cyclists can use. In our experience it is a good place to cycle, at least between Gare de l'Est and Gare d' Austerlitz. If you want to hire a bike in Paris then the following addresses and links could be of use. They are in alphabetical order and we have not used any of these companies, so we cannot advise which are the best. The dialling code for France is +33 and you drop the first zero in the number when dialling from abroad.

Velib is run by the City of Paris. It was the first city bike hire company offering automatic pick up and drop off of somehow slightly frumpy bicycles from points in the street allowing almost spontaneous trips. With 20 000 bikes it is probably the biggest city bike hire organisation in the world. The bikes are low geared and you need to obtain a daily, weekly or annual card to use them. Details on the Velib website: http://en.velib.paris.fr/.

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Allovelo.com hires out a wide range of bikes including Bromptons and other folders.

2, rue Beauregard, 2ème arrondissement, Paris. T: 01 40 35 36 36,

eMail: allovelo@gmail.com

Website: Allovelo.com (In French, but you are in Paris. Hint  Bike Hire = Location de vélos)

GPS : Latitude : 48.8691762 - Longitude : 2.347784499999989

Métro : Station Bonne Nouvelle (Lines 8 et 9) et Sentier (Line 3)

The shop is open 7 days a week from 10 am to 7 pm. 

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Bike About Tours 
http://www.bikeabouttours.com/

Le Peloton Cafe
17, Rue du Pont Louis Philippe 75004 Paris

Phone: +33 (0) 6 18 80 84 92

Metro: St Paul (Line 1)

Office Hours (& bike rental pick-up times):

Feb 15 - April 15: 9:00am -11:30am

April 16 - October 3:
9:00am -11:30am and 1:30pm- 4:00pm

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Paris à vélo c'est sympa !

22 rue Alphonse Baudin

75011 PARIS

Between République and Bastille

Metro station:

St Sébastien-Froissart (8)

Richard-Lenoir (5)

Tél : +33 1 48 87 60 01

e-mail: info@parisvelosympa.com

Website: http://www.parisvelosympa.com/en/

Opening hours from April to October:

Monday - Friday

9.30 - 13.00, 14.00 - 18.00

Saturday and Sunday

9.00 - 19.00

Closed on Tuesday afternoons

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Paris Bike Tour offers two ways of renting a bike in Paris. You can either pick up a bike at the shop or have bikes delivered to a hotel (minimum of four). Complementary equipment, such as helmets, locks, raincoats or baskets are available on request and are free of charge. 

38 rue de Saintonge, 75003 Paris, open everyday from 9.30 am to 6.30 pm  
http://www.parisbiketour.net/uk/paris-bike-rental.php
Metro Filles du calvaire /République
T: + 33 (0)1 42 74 22 14

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Bicycle Hire on the Lower Rhine (Emmerich)

It is often easier and cheaper to fly to a country without a bicycle. On the other hand a major disadvantage of bike hire is having to return the bike to the start point, especially if you wish to cycle along a linear route like a river. Niederrhein Tourismus, the tourist authority for the Niederrhein (Lower Rhine) an excellent cycling area northwest of Cologne have cracked this problem, by setting up a region-wide network of bike hire stations. You can hire from one station and return it to another. The bikes are popular. We saw several groups using them last week when we were cycling in this area.  With over 2000 km of signposted  cycle routes you will not be bored.

The bicycles cost €9 a day for the first two days, €8 a day between the third and fifth day and €6 a day after that. Returning a bicycle to a different hire point costs €4. You can reserve bicycles in advance on http://www.niederrheinrad.de/. 

The bicycles are sensible Dutch tourers manufactured by Koninklijke Gazelle and are ideal steeds for the flat Rhine plain. The bicycles feature:

Seat height is adjustable with quick release without tools
Tyres with puncture protection  
Gel saddle
Sturdy baggage carrier
Easy to use 7-speed hub gears
A coaster/back pedal brake
Hub dynamo

Bicycles are available in Emmerich from the infoCenterEmmerich (Tourist Office), Rheinpromenade 27
46446 Emmerich am Rhein

Tel 0 28 22 - 93 10 40

Opening Times

April - October  
Mo - Fr    10.00 - 18.00 (10 am - 6 pm)
Saturdays, Sundays, Public Holidays    11.00 - 17.00 (11 am - 5 pm)
November - March   
Monday - Friday: 10.00 - 17.00 (10 am to 5pm)

www.emmerich.de

Bicycle hire on the Lower Rhine in Germany (Kleve)

It is often easier and cheaper to fly to a country without a bicycle. On the other hand a major disadvantage of bike hire is having to return the bike to the start point, especially if you wish to cycle along a linear route like a river. Niederrhein Tourismus, the tourist authority for the Niederrhein (Lower Rhine) an excellent cycling area northwest of Cologne have cracked this problem, by setting up a region-wide network of bike hire stations. You can hire from one station and return it to another. The bikes are popular. We saw several groups using them last week when we were cycling in this area.  With over 2000 km of signposted  cycle routes you will not be bored.

The bicycles cost €9 a day for the first two days, €8 a day between the third and fifth day and €6 a day after that. Returning a bicycle to a different hire point costs €4. You can reserve bicycles in advance on http://www.niederrheinrad.de/. 

The bicycles are sensible Dutch tourers manufactured by Koninklijke Gazelle and are ideal steeds for the flat Rhine plain. The bicycles feature:

Seat height is adjustable with quick release without tools
Special frame design for comfortable cycling
Tyres with puncture protection  
Gel saddle
Sturdy baggage carrier
Easy to use 7-speed hub gears
A coaster/back pedal brake
Easy-running hub dynamo

There are two hire stations in Kleve (Cleves): 

City Hotel Kleve***

Lindenallee 37
47533 Kleve

Tel 0 28 21 - 7 26 30

Open every day between 8 am and 8 pm.

The Rilano Hotel Cleve****

Tichelstraße 11
47533 Kleve

Tel 0 28 21 - 71 70

Open 24 h a day.

By bike to the Floriade

The Netherlands is famous for its flower production and every ten years the country organises a world horticultural exhibition. This year it has been held in Venlo just over the border from the German province of North Rhine Westphalia. (If you fancy a quick trip to the Netherlands it still on until October 7. ) Judith is a keen gardener and so it was obvious that we'd should go. We went last week and decided to stop in Straelen just over the border in North Rhine Westphalia. We are rewriting our Rhine 2 guide and so it seemed a good idea to combine a trip to look at new types of garden forks, bird houses and rubber boots with an investigation of the cycle routes in the Lower Rhine region.

We had the bikes with us in Straelen and discovered that the town had laid out a cycle route to connect with a Dutch cycle route to the exhibition. Taking public transport to the exhibition and return using a collective taxi to the station in Venlo and the bus to the Floriade would have cost us €14 a piece, so taking the bikes was quite attractive. We followed temporary signposting into the Netherlands. Finding the the exhibition once we crossed the border was easy we just followed the signs painted on quiet country roads.

There was adequate free bike parking available:

Our guesstimate was about a thousand bikes:

The exhibition was excellent and we enjoyed our 32 km trip there and back.

E-bike development

We went out to dinner with friends on Saturday night and I was stopped short in my tracks by the former colleague who asked whether we had a pedelec. Do I look that old? We do have 9 bicycles, but I don't see any need at the moment for an electric bike. However it strikes me that if one is returning to cycling after a long period as a car driver and couch potato, maybe after heart problems have developed, then the new Kalkhoff system which monitors the rider's pulse and zaps up the power when the pulse rate gets too high could be the answer to worries about taking too much exercise:  The Kalkhoff Impulse Ergo Nuvinci 360 Harmony is the “exercise machine” for outdoors – This e-bike is an absolute world-first. In collaboration with the Institute of Sport Science and Sport Erlangen, (A department of the University of Erlangen) Kalkhoff has developed the unique Impulse Ergo System, which enables you to train in your chosen pulse range beyond the four walls of the gym or fitness centre. The bike is able to detect any pulse change of the rider and in turn increases or decreases the power of the motor.
(Taken from the Eurobike 2012 new items press release)

This could save your life

I found this in the advice section of the German Motor Club (ADAC) magazine. This information was new to me. If you are cycling in flat country or at the top of a hill and are caught out in a thunderstorm, then get off your bike. Move away from it to a distance of several metres (yards). A lightening flash which strikes your bike could jump over to you if you are too near. The next piece of advice was given to me as a Boy Scout. So not lie completely flat but sit or kneel down so that you are a small target.

A Cycle Route Planner for the Netherlands.

Although we are Luddites when it comes to GPS we have noticed in recent months that route planning software has improved greatly. We wrote about the North Westphalian Route Planner earlier this week. By chance while checking the links in "Cycling in Europe, Hints and Tips for the Touring Cyclist" our new free pamphlet, I found a Dutch Route Planner for the Netherlands and a few km over the borders: http://www.fietsersbond.nl/fietsrouteplanner/. It is excellent. You have a choice of four languages: Dutch, German, Friesian and English. There is a bar across the top of the map with a "Languages" tab. Click on that to get the language you want. You can click on the map to set up the start and finish points, add intermediate points to adjust your route, see the location of the Knooppunt nodes, find all sorts of useful information for the tourist like cyclist friendly accommodation, bike shops, bike hire shops and even park benches (picnic spots?). It is quite wonderful and can offer hours of virtual cycling pleasures in the warmth of your living room when the icy wind is whistling off the frozen ponds outside. It could be even better if it connected to the North Westphalian Route Planner, but maybe one day…

More information on-the-spot 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 is worth knowing what you should or shouldn't be doing as a cyclist. We wrote about this earlier, but some new fines have been established.

You can be fined €5 for cycling on the pavement/sidewalk, unless it’s allowed.

You can be fined €10 if your lights or brakes don’t work. 

You can be fined  €10 if you cycle in a pedestrian zone where cycling is not allowed. If you endanger others by doing this the fine rises to €20 and if your cycling in a pedestrian zone causes an accident you are liable to receive a €25 fine.  

You can be fined €15 for cycling in the wrong direction on a cycleway.

You can be fined €15 for cycling on the road next to a cycleway, i.e. not using s cycleway when one is available.

You can be fined €25 for using a mobile phone when underway on a bike.

You can be fined €45 if you jump a red traffic light when the red phase lasted for 1 second and €100 if it was longer. If you cause problems for others when you jump a red light the fine rises to €160 or €180.

If you cross a level crossing when the barriers are down, when red lights are showing you are liable to a €350 fine.

Any fine above €35 brings a point in the German Central Register which may also be transferable to other road traffic sin bin systems as well. 

Above a blood level concentration of 1.6 mg/l a cyclist is deemed to be absolutely unfit to cycle. In which case the happy drunkard is facing seven points in the German Central Register, a fine of a month’s wages after tax and deductions and probably immediate loss of his or her driving licence, at least until the case comes to court, which can be a year. 

However only once in 25 or so years of cycling in Germany have we seen police handing out tickets for one of the above offences, but you could be unlucky. 

Improvements for German cyclists?

Politicians have an amazing ability to not think in a joined up manner. The best British example I know is the combining the aim of reducing carbon dioxide output while planning the building of new airports and runways. This type of thinking is also unfortunately true for Germany. The German Minister for Transport has just announced the new Radverkehrsplan 2020 (The bicycle in traffic plan 2020). This is basically a set of aims for the future, e.g. The aim is that cycling should make up on average 15% of all journeys up from 10% at present. Unfortunately at the same time the budget for cycleway construction and publicity will fall from €76 Mio this year to €60 Mio in 2013. How these two match is not easy to see.

Using the NRW Cycling Route Planner

The German province of North Rhine Westphalia (NRW) has an online cycling route planner: http://radservice.radroutenplaner.nrw.de/rrp/nrw/cgi?lang=DE. This meshes in with the Hessian Route Planner offering bicycle routing down as far as Mannheim and Heidelberg. It offers a choice of languages: German, English, French, Dutch and Polish.

We are off to the Lower Rhine shortly to visit the Floriade horticultural exhibition in Venlo and check out a route across NRW along the Rhine as part of the research to update our book: "The Rhine End to End Part 2: Basel to Rotterdam". The guide will then be published as an e-book. We decided to use the online route planner to lay out our route and report on our experience.

Using the English version it is necessary to spell city names in German not in English, e.g. Köln not Cologne. The mode of operation of the English and German versions is different. In both versions one defines the start and finish points and calculates the route which is shown on screen.  There are preferences one can apply: ignoring hills or avoiding them; following any convenient route or road, the province's bicycle network, all the named routes (e.g. the 100 Castle Route) or a specific named route.
In the English version to modify the route you insert intermediate points in  order and then recalculate the route. You can have a problem if you need to modify a route early on as you will need to delete all the intermediate points to pop in the new ones. Zooming in and out means finding an intermediate point  and clicking on it. This all gives rise to a lot of work.

Unfairly the German version is a lot easier to use. Once you have set up the route in that you can add an intermediate point anywhere and the map immediately is modified. If you need to put an additional intermediate point in the middle of the field the other points renumber. Zooming is easier as well. There is a layout similar to that of Google Maps. In addition clicking any point on the route gives you distance from the start.

You can download GPS tracks, instructions or printed maps from both versions. I found the German version easy to use and very useful.

Red face avoided

Bauhaus is a major German chain of DIY shops. There is a branch on the Rhein Neckar Zentrum our local shopping centre. The shop has a fair to middling garden section and we decided to go today to pick up some grass seed to convert the moss patch in the garden (yard) into a lawn or, at least, that's the plan. It is much quicker to cycle there and so we took the Bromptons. When we arrived we could not see the minimal bike rack that has been there for years. The shop is forever having stands outside the entrance selling plants, so we decided that our bike rack had been sacrificed to mammon. We fastened the two bikes together and marched into the shop to the Information Stand. I had already started to work out a plan of action involving the local branches of the ADFC to shame shop managements in to giving us adequate bike stands. I explained to the young woman on the Info Stand that the replacement value of our bikes was about €2000 and I was not happy leaving them outside where they could be popped into a motor car as easy as winking. Could she tell management please? I was about to launch into my description of the forthcoming campaign, when she then told us that metal thieves had stolen the former bike rack, but steps had been taken to order a new rack cemented into the floor.

Kalmit Klapprad Race 2012

Last year we went to watch the Kalmit Klapprad Races which is held on the first Saturday in September.

Kalmit is one of the Pfalzerwald Hills in Rhineland-Palatinate and lies across the Rhine west of Heidelberg (Germany). The Kalmit road up to the hut near the summit climbs 1551 feet in 4 miles 22 chains, i.e. on average 1 in 15 or 7%. In the early nineties of the last century members of the local community organised the first race up to the summit of Kalmit on 1970s Klapprads from the village of Maikammer. The race is now traditionally held on the first Saturday in September (http://www.kalmit-klapprad-cup.de). Over the years the rules have crystallised to allow only single gear Klapprads or Klapptandems. Challenge Cups are awarded for the overall winner, the fastest lady, the oldest oldie, the largest family (Bring the appropriate paperwork!), the fastest tandem, the fastest youngster and three prizes for the best outfit and the most original folding bike. In view of recent royal marriages this year the race was held under the motto "Welcome to the Royal Klapp!” and participants were encouraged to dress accordingly. We felt it was our duty as British Subjects not only to visit the event to report to the far flung corners of the world and, of course to offer technical advice on matters appertaining to flying the Union Flag, clothing, dress and etiquette. We had no desire to see the Bolton Lifeboat called out because someone was flying the flag upside down.

It is an ill wind, of course that blows nobody any good and our original plan to visit a folding bike shop in Germersheim before going to watch the Kalmit race were stymied by the late arrival of our tram at Mannheim Central Station, so we were in Neustadt an der Weinstraße much earlier than expected. We decided to cycle the four miles to Maikammer rather than take the train. A great idea. The Weinstraße cycle route climbs and drops through the vineyards along the lower slopes of the Pfalzerwald Hills. On arrival we presented our credentials to the race administration but they were not accepted as earnestly as we had hoped. Freed of this role we had more time to observe and photograph.

The Klapprads fall into three groups - old and rusty, brought wearing the dust from the back of the garage; the majority that have been polished to improve wind resistance, tuned by sticking go faster tape on the frames and accessorised with teapots, horses’ heads, bouquets, amongst other items; and  completely rebuilt with disc brakes, hydraulic forks, new wheels and handlebars where only the frame is original. Which you use is a question of what cup you hope to win. The fastest up the hill are naturally on rebuilt hot rods and with fastest times under nineteen minutes they do not hang about. 

This area is a stronghold of Karneval, the pre-Lent celebrations when fancy dress is the rule rather than the exception, so Kalmit is another good chance to pop on the mother-in-law’s cast off floral polyester summer frock to cycle five miles. Normally this event is a paradise for cross dressers, but this year because of the British theme, kilt wearers were well to the fore. Large sticky out false ears were removed before the start of the race to reduce wind resistance. 

The results: Just over three hundred cyclists took part: 264 Kings, 25 Queens and eleven tandems. My dear left turner, the fastest gentleman up the hill took just over nineteen minutes; Lady Eve the fastest lady just under 25 minutes and the fastest tandem piloted by Kate and Pippa 27 minutes 20 seconds and Tail End Charlie just over an hour. A good time was had by all. After the race before the promised party started, weeping with emotion raised by repeated versions of “God save the Queen”, “Auld Lang Syne” and “Land of Hope and Glory”, we made our excuses and left.

This year? We missed it I am afraid. The race had a religious theme. We had an invitation to visit a former colleague of mine and wife in Frankfurt on that very day (1 September 2012) to look at their new son. However next year we will be there and if I can find a klapprad in Sperrmüll, I might take part. Course I might feel a need to swim the English Channel first.

A memorable meal

Judith writes: Now we are back from our cycle trip across France we’ve had time to savour not only the ride but also the meals we had en route. This reminded me of a meal I enjoyed in India way back in 1984, linked by both bicycle riding and France. I had been fortunate enough to spend a sabbatical away from my normal secondary school job teaching geography. It enabled me to find out about agricultural and health programmes in parts of rural India that few teachers ever see as well as to take a real interest in the lives and aspirations of a wide range of people. I hope I was able to pass some of these experiences to my classes later.

I stayed mostly with Indian families and tried to eat the same fairly simple diets that they did but like many people away from their home comforts I sometimes found myself dreaming of European style food. One trip south of my main base in Madras took me to Pondicherry, formerly a French colony, where many of the older buildings still looked as if they were part of a film set, amid palm trees and paddy fields. I stayed a guest room of an ashram here and found food hard to find, according to my diary my staples were bread, bananas and peanut brittle, all available at streetside tea stands. The following day I hired a bike from the ashram and was able to widen my explorations. At that time Pondicherry was a very quiet place with few vehicles apart from other bikes, rickshaws or animal driven carts so I felt relatively secure although the bike seemed unwilling to turn right. After a somewhat expensive trip by taxi out to Auroville (founded in 1968) where the Matrimandir was then just a stark mass of spherical concrete girders, surrounded by scrub land and under darkening skies, I returned to the ashram a bit dejected and hungry. 

But I had a bike! So I rode into the town again and located the Grand Hotel d’Europe with its French restaurant, talked to the manager and booked myself a meal that evening at 7.45 pm.’’ Don’t be late’’ he warned ‘’I don’t want to give your meal to anyone else.’’

I remember I rode there as fast as that boneshaker would allow, really to escape any police since it was dark and I had no lights, of course. Air conditioned with potted palms, a large table set for one, it really was a film set. In former French Pondicherry, then at least, there were few restrictions about alcohol, grapes were grown here, wine and even brandy produced. However the manager advised me to have a beer, since the litre bottles of wine would be too much for one. 

The food came, a garlicky fish soup with large chunks of fish and tomatoes, together with garlic toast; a main course of a tender fillet steak and buttered rice; eggs mimosa with shrimps and mustard flavoured sauce, garnished with lettuce. I note in my diary that I could barely manage to eat a delicious almond egg pudding, though I found the coffee useful. It was a fantastic meal and gave me enough courage to cycle back to the ashram through the dark. There was little danger of being caught by the police, though running into  some cow lying in the road was real enough. 

Next day I cracked the secret of food in the ashram, there was a simple restaurant on the floor about my room, so I did not starve but was glad I hadn’t found it too early in my Pondicherry sojourn.

And what of Auroville? It has continued to develop and has achieved some of the goals of its founders, the Matrimandir is now a golden dome as you can discover from Wikipedia.

A winter excursion to Copenhagen Part I

Deutsche Bahn (DB) German Railways offer BahnCards - a range of reduced price cards giving substantial discounts on travel. One of the side benefits of buying a card is that you are offered a cheap trip to a specific destination from time to time. Recently we were offered a trip to Copenhagen and decided since this is probably the most cyclist-friendly city in the world, it would be a good place to exercise our Bromptons. In addition because we would be travelling on ICEs, we could check out the ease of travel with a folding bicycle on German high speed trains.

We took the midmorning ICE from Mannheim to Hamburg via Hanover which takes about four and a half hours to reach Hamburg. We had two seats in the middle of the open plan section of the first or second generation stock which was ideal, near to the luggage stand and with room between the seats to slip in a Brompton. We had 50 minutes or so to change trains in Hamburg Hauptbahnhof, but were rather surprised to see a very short ICE-TD with just four carriages arrive to take us to Copenhagen. Normally ICEs are nine or ten carriages long. However anything longer than four carriages would not fit on the ferry. Again the train was full, but there was room enough between seats to store the bikes. If we had needed we could stored them on luggage racks in the middle of the train.

The run from Hamburg to the German ferry port at Puttgarden is pleasant enough through Holstein. Passengers must leave the train once it arrives on the ship. The trip on ship was not so exciting. It was a pitch black November night and so we did not see anything. The ship's journey takes 45 minutes which is just enough time to eat a moderately expensive snack, or hit the duty free shop to buy chocolate, beer and spirits. Our Danish train conductor announced that due to urgent bridge repairs that we would transfer to a bus to Copenhagen in Nykobing. This went well and there was no problem popping the bikes and our bags in the lockers under the bus.

We arrived at the central station Københavns Hovedbanegård at about 20:30 on cold windy pitch night. The cycling facilities in Copenhagen are mind boggling, e.g. wide physically separate cycleways and green wave traffic lights for cyclists. We suspect that any British, American or even German cyclist cycling around Copenhagen would think they had popped their clogs and gone to heaven. However we are from the North of England, so any chance to complain should be taken: There are no town plans on display in the station and thus no cycle routes on display. We needed to go the south of the city to the Amager Youth Hostel. Fortunately drawing on many years of carrying out research for our cycle touring guide books, we had a city plan tucked in the back of a guide book and had googled and printed out the approach to the Youth Hostel. We peered out of various entrances, managed to orientate ourselves with the help of the lights of the Tivoli pleasure gardens and studied our maps. We worked out our route and moved out. It was Saturday night. Road traffic was fairly heavy. There are few signposts for cyclists, but we had no trouble getting out of the centre and across the Langebro bridge over the harbour canal. We turned off into a area of tenements still on a cycle track and then got lost. In the ensuing efforts to find our way we lost the guide book, but not the map. Finally we found our way past the university campus to the hostel. 

Christmas in August?

A friend told us this morning that she visited the REAL store in Käfertal, a suburb of Mannheim yesterday (28 August 2012) and was horrified to see Christmas cakes - Stollen, Dominosteine on sale. It does seem much too early for us. It would appear that in Austria that the law is such that no Christmas confectionery may be sold before 1 November. This strikes us also as being too early, but better than starting in August.

Putting your bike on a long distance bus in Spain

It came to pass that we needed to travel to Oviedo from Irun and the quickest and cheapest way is to take the ALSA bus. ALSA are the biggest bus company in Spain and offer a good network of services all over the country. If you read the ALSA website you will see that you can reserve storage for up to four bikes, golf bags or surf boards per bus in advance and the bus driver must take them, unlike in the old days where the bus driver would accept the bike if he liked the cut of your jib and if not you were doomed to sitting by the side of the road until the next bus came along, which can be twelve hours. We had reserved room for our two Bromptons for ten Euro per bike at the same time as we booked our own tickets. I printed the tickets out at home. We arrived in good time at the bus station in Irun, a bus stop in front of the railway station and showed the driver our Bromptons expecting to load them directly into a padded luxurious pair of compartments. No, we had to put them in a cover, which meant folding them and then he insisted that we hadn’t paid for the bikes, so I had to return to the booking office for this to be validated. We had problems because the bus driver spoke no English and my Spanish is limited to buying a cheese sandwich and a draught beer. I went to the ticket office and the appropriate section of the ticket was ringed by an angry employee who was not happy having her time wasted. I returned to the bus, waved this under the driver’s nose and he grudgingly agreed to let us and the bikes on the bus, though we had to help him stack the bikes with our luggage in the space beneath the bus to protect the other baggage against our bikes. There was no talk of protecting our two thousand Euro or so worth of bikes. In contrast, the journey afterwards was superb in comfortable leather seats with coffee and snacks and a good in-bus entertainment system.
I am quite pleased that we had booked the Bromptons as bikes, although normally I am ready to fight for the principle that a folded covered folding bike is baggage and should not be charged as a bike, but if you don’t speak the language… One plan we had originally considered was to pack the bikes folded in their covers and in a blue IKEA shopping bag. I suspect this would have been a no no in this case.
When we got to Oveido I checked the ALSA website and found a sentence I had overlooked earlier:
“Because of the limited space, we admit 4 objects (bicycles and surfboards) total in each coach, one per ticket. They have to be good conditions to travel without causing any damage to other baggage, so it is obligatory for them to be well packaged in boxes or bags suitable for transportation.”, i.e. if you are going to travel with bike on a Spanish long distance bus then you will need to find a friendly bike shop beforehand for a cardboard box or take a bike bag with you. It is probably not a bad idea either, if you print out your ticket yourself at home, to highlight the bicycle booking.

French Maps

On our recent trip across France we bought a number of the excellent Michelin 1:150 000 departement maps. These maps classify roads into motorways where cyclists are forbidden; “red” roads – international and national with heavy lorry traffic, less congested interregional “yellow” roads and “white” roads which are often very quiet. The white roads are further classified into D (departement), C (community) roads and unnumbered roads (think of tarred farm tracks). The latter suffer from the disadvantage that they are rarely signposted. Conventional cycling wisdom is that “white” roads are almost traffic-free and they are the best to follow. However the lack of signposting on the most basic roads can mean slow progress due to the need to orient oneself at frequent intervals. We did find that some of the “red” and “yellow” roads had painted stripe bike lanes. We felt safe cycling on these.

Other good maps to use for touring are the IGN 1:100 000 ‘Carte de Promenade’ maps with lots of detail. Their web site is at: www.ign.fr. We have had difficulty finding these maps in smaller towns. The company publishes 1:25 000 and 1: 50 000 maps that are excellent but do not cover enough area for cyclists. These maps are easier to find.

Bike Hire in Copenhagen

We were most impressed with the cycling facilities in Copenhagen. If you land in the city while  touring without a bike, a good way of experiencing la dolche vita à la Copenhagen is to hire a bike. This company offers guided tours and bikes to hire on a daily basis. We used our trusty Bromptons the last time we were there, so we have not hired from the company, but I was quite impressed with the no nonsense approach shown on its website.

Bike Mike

Email: bikecopenhagenwithmike@gmail.com - best way to get in contact with Bike Mike

Phone: (45) 26 39 56 88

Web: http://www.bikecopenhagenwithmike.dk/

Address for Bike Mike tour base - meeting point for all Bike Mike tours:
Sankt Peders Stræde 47
1453 Copenhagen
Denmark

Cycle touring and wine tasting

The Moselle Valley is good area to drink wine, look at castles and enjoy the twists and turns of the meanders as the rivers wriggles its way towards the Rhine. The good thing about Moselle wines is they are well flavoured but low in alcohol, which means that a pleasant evening is not followed by a heavy head in the morning. The valley was one of the first in Germany to develop cycle ways and is still one of the leading areas for cycle touring. The regional tourist authority is offering a seven night self-guided tour on the River Saar and Moselle stopping in small hotels with five days cycling for 332 Euro. Bike hire and luggage transfer is extra.  Check out: http://www.mosellandtouristik.de/en/angebot/cycle_tour_in_the_moselle_region-223.aspx.

A new Kindle Book

We have recently published our cycling guide to Lake Constance on Smashwords as an e-book (http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/173312) and on Amazon as a Kindle book (http://www.amazon.de/Mainly-cycling-around-Constance-ebook/dp/B0091J39UY/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1345821327&sr=1-2). Our print version is now out of print.

Value for money accommodation in France

We recently cycled into Poitiers in France and had some trouble finding the Office de Tourisme. The whole story is reported on the Crazy Guy on a Bike website: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/SpanishWedding.
We found the Lamartine Apparthotel by chance, but were very impressed, as it offers not only a comfortable ensuite room at a reasonable price (63 Euro), but a kitchenette as well, meaning we could prepare and eat a salad, rather than having someone choose this for us. After almost four weeks on the road, eating out every night this was very welcome. The company Séjours & Affaires has hotels all over France (http://www.sejours-affaires.com) and are worth checking out if you wish to spend a day or more in a French city.

Bike Hire in the Loire Valley

In addition to any number of castles or palaces, the Loire Valley offers good cycleways, excellent food, superb wine and the beer is better than you would expect. It is an ideal place to enjoy a leisurely cycling holiday. However transporting a bicycle to the start of your trip can be a problem and you may want to spend some time in Europe travelling, but not always on a bicycle. The regional government in Cher has an initiative to encourage bike hire in the Province of Berry (www.berrycyclettes.fr). Bikes can be hired on the Loire in Belleville-sur-Loire. Boullert, Cosne-sur-Loire, Sancerre, Charité-sur-Loire and Cuffy, and away from the Loire at Sainte Montaine, Vierzon and Bourges. The prices are reasonable ranging from 14 Euro a day up to 59 Euro for a week. There are good bike carrying train links along the Loire, so you could cycle down to Nantes and take a train back to your starting point.

Whether the bikes come equipped with a tool kit and a lock is not clear, so it would be worth your while taking a spanner, tyre levers, a puncture repair outfit and a bike lock. If you are wandering round Europe with a rucksack, you don't need to wear the thing when you are cycling, you can lash it to a luggage rack with a bungee. Cycling with a heavy rucksack raises your centre of gravity and can lead to swerves ending in attempt to kiss the asphalt. Not to be recommended.

Eating out on Sunday evenings in France

We have just come back from a trip through France and will try to write about various things that struck us there over the next few weeks.

Finding a restaurant that is open on a Sunday in France is an activity that can be difficult. Sunday lunch is a very busy time for French restauranteurs and restaurants often shut on Sunday evening. This means that in small towns often only one restaurant is open. If it is an expensive restaurant and you need to eat, well, grit your teeth and pay the price or cycle up to 10 or 15 km to the next village where there might be a restaurant open. Count yourself lucky! We once found ourselves in a village on the Canal du Midi some years ago on a Sunday evening. We waited patiently outside the only Auberge in the village for it to open. It didn’t open and we found out later that if the landlord had a good Sunday lunchtime, he took the evening off. We were forced to boil up a dried chicken soup using our primus and pan. If I remember correctly the soup packet had the immortal words "No animal was harmed in the making of this soup" on the back.

Bromptons!

We've changed our ADFC (German Cycling Club) section and are now members of the Mannheim group. We live in the Hessian town of Viernheim which is bordered on three sides by Baden-Württemberg. Normally in the ADFC one is assigned membership depending on where one lives. In our case we should be members of the Bergstraße County group whose centre lies 20 km to the north with inconvenient public transport links. However Mannheim is 12 km away and there is a reasonable tram system between Viernheim and Mannheim. It seemed more logical to change sections and after about twenty years we finally got round to it.

We went to Mannheim two weeks ago to the annual Radsalon - a mixture of market, exhibition and a bicycle parade through the twin cities of Mannheim and Ludwigshafen and helped on the ADFC stand.  We were supposedly helping people choose the best fitting cycle helmet, although as we had taken the Bromptons we ended up as ever discussing the merits of the über-folding bike and the advantages/disadvantages of folding bikes in general.

Another hire company in Heidelberg

We cycled through Heidelberg yesterday and discovered that Fahrradverleih an der Alten Brücke at the corner of Neckarstaden 52 and Lauerstraße 11, 69117 Heidelberg, T: 06221/65 444 60, eMail: info(AT)fahrradverleih-heidelberg.de, www.fahrradverleih-heidelberg.de offers a wide range of bicycles for short-term and long-term hire.

"Mainly in High Gear" available as e-book.

"Mainly in High Gear" our guide to cycling around Lake Constance will only be available as an e-book in future from Smashwords.com and shortly as a Kindle book. We have just published the new updated book on Smashwords and will prepare the Kindle version over the next few days.

Improvements to Mannheim's cycling network.

The work towards establishing cycling as a serious part of local transport can only be carried out here in Mannheim as a series of minor improvements. Germany already has a good, when it must be admitted, but not perfect cycling network. We were very pleased to see, for example, that the ramp between the Neckar bank and the cycle routes along the B37 north of Mannheim near to two of the major hospitals in the city has been finished. Before one needed to carry bikes, baggage and trailers up or down two flights of stairs. If you decide to follow the Neckar Cycle Route and wish at the start or finish of your journey to go to the Mannheim Hauptbahnhof (Central Railway Station) you will be very grateful for this "minor" improvement.

Mannheim City and Province encourage bicycle mobilty

The Baden-Württemberg government has started a project to encourage sustainable local transport in four cities in the province: Lörrach, Mannheim, Stuttgart and Tübingen. The cost of this project (€3 million) is financed by the tax on motor fuels.  Cyclists can take their bikes today to a mobile service centre parked on the Mannheim Wasserturm (Water Tower) near to the main shopping streets of the town to have their bikes checked by an expert free of charge. The team will be there next week (23 June, 2012) on the pedestrian zone as well, as part of the third Mannheimer Radsalon, a fair with 20 exhibitors and a bike parade.
If you are passing in the afternoon we should be on the ADFC stand for a couple of hours.

A motor club gets in on the act.

British and US cyclists have probably heard of the ADFC, the Allgemeiner Deutscher Fahrrad-Club. A word for word translation of the name would be the General German Bicycle Club. The British equivalent organisation is the CTC, the Cyclists' Touring Club to give its old name or as the organisation prefers to call itself,  The UK's national cyclists' organisation. Some of us prefer the old name which we think is clear, but both names describe the function of the club, whereas the "General" in the German club's name is superfluous. Why did the German club give itself a rather odd name when it was founded as part of the Green movement twenty-five years ago? It was intended to cock a snoot at the older well established German motoring club, the ADAC, Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club. This organisation which as a supporter of motoring was a bête noir of the Green movement in Germany at that time. The ADFC has had a successful time since then and plays an important role in cycle touring in Germany for cyclists and those in the know.
The ADAC still acts as though there is an unlimited supply of oil in the world, but at the same time it has recognised that bicycles, especially e-bikes have an important role in short distance mobility. The organisation has taken over the role of its younger competitor in this area and its speakers are often called upon to present short features on on e-bikes on German TV. Its magazine "Motorwelt" has just devoted four pages to e-bike tours.
In addition the ADAC has brought out an app called Fahrrad Tourenplanner Deutschland 2012 - Bicycle Touring Planning Germany 2012 with 1500 bicycle tour suggestions. The ADFC had better not rest on its laurels.

A little more about Luxembourg Accommodation and Organised Trips

If you are thinking of going cycle touring in Luxembourg, you may be interested to know that the Luxembourg Cycle Club has organised a bed and bike website listing bicyclist- and even tricyclist-friendly hotels: www.bedandbike.lu. Similar to its German cousin the website is in German, but as befits a country where French is spoken, in French as well.
We can recommend the services of Velosophie s.à.r.l., 144, avenue de Faïencerie, L-1511 Luxembourg, velosophie@pt.lu, t:+352 26 20 01 32, http://www.velosophie.lu/ (in German) in case you wish to order a made to measure tour.

Bike Hire in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg

There are three bike hire organisations. We have found only these which are in the south and east of the country. As you can see by the names of the bike rental organisations, dialect is big in Luxembourg.

Rent a Bike Dikrich    (Diekirch)       

27, rue Jean l'Aveugle
L-9208 Diekirch (Luxembourg)

Tél. : (+352) 26 80 33 76
Fax : (+352) 26 80 33 75
eMail : nordstad@cig.lu 

www.rentabike.lu

This organisation hires out city, mountain and children's bikes not only on a daily basis but by the week as well. 

Rent a Bike Miselerland (Moselle Valley)

info@rentabike-miselerland.lu

(+352) 621 21 78 08
http://www.visitmoselle.lu/en/rentabike-miselerland

This organisation seems to be more interested in daily rather than weekly hire. However it also has a repair van that shuttles up and down the Moselle Valley in case your steed breaks down.

Rental Stations:

Wasserbillig 

Deutsch-Luxemburgische Tourist-Information
Moselstr. 1
54308 Langsur-Wasserbilligerbrück
Tel: +49 6501 / 602666
Fax: +49 6501 / 605984
eMail: info@lux-trier.info

(Actually over the border in Germany, but who's counting? Borders, thank goodness, don't count for much, near to Schengen.)

Open: April to October:

Mon - Fr: 09:00 - 17:00
Sat / Public Holidays: 10:00 - 14:00
Sun: Closed

Camping Schützwiese Wasserbillig

T: +352 74 05 43

F: +352 26 714 203

info@camping-schuetzwiese.eu

rue des Sports oder rue des Romains

http://camping-wasserbillig.lu/

Open: April to September:

09:00 - 12:00, 17:00 - 18:00

Mertert

Camping Mertert Rue du Parc L-6684 Mertert Tel: 74 81 74 Fax : 74 98 08 email: emejos@web.de

Open: April to October:

Mon - Sun: 10:30 - 20:00

Flaxweiler 

Administration Communale de Flaxweiler 

1, rue Berg 

L-6926 Flaxweiler 

Tel : 770204 - 1 

Fax : 770833 

Mon - Fr: 08:00 - 12:00, 13:00 - 17:00 (Closed Thursday afternoons.)

Grevenmacher
Camping Route du Vin
route du Vin
L-6794 Grevenmacher
Tel: 75 02 34
Fax : 75 86 66
email:sitg@pt.lu

Open: April to September:

Mon - Sun: 07:00-22:00

Ehnen
Musée du Vin (The Wine Museum)
115 route du Vin,
L 5416 Ehnen

Open: April to October:

Mon - Sun: 0930 - 11:30, 14:00-17:00

Stadtbredimus 

Hotel Restaurant l´Ecluse
Famille ALBERT
29, Waistrooss
L-5450 Stadtbredimus
Tel.: + 352 23 61 91-1
Fax: +352 23 69 76 12
Email: info(at)hotel-ecluse.lu
Internet: www.hotel-ecluse.lu

Open: Fr to Wed: 08:00-11:00, 14:00-18:00

Remich Gare Routière (Bus Station) Esplanade Moselle L-5533 Remich T: 621 35 61 37 Open: Mon - Sun 10:00 - 18:00

Schwebsange (Schwebsingen)

Camping du Port

R.N. 10

L-5447 Schwebsingen 

Tel: 23 66 44 60

Fax : 23 66 53 05 

email: commune@wellenstein.lu

Open: April to October:

Mon - Sun: 08:00 - 22:00

Mondorf-les-Bains

Tourist office of Mondorf-les-Bains

26, avenue des Bains

L-5610 Mondorf-les-Bains T: +352 23667575 F: +352 23661617 www.mondorf.info www.mondorf-info.lu contact@mondorf.info Open:

Tuesday - Saturday 09:00 - 12:00 & 13:00 - 18:00

Remerschen

Youth hostel Schengen/Remerschen Sacha Jeitz & Melanie Bausch 31, Wäistrooss L- 5440 Remerschen T: (+352) 26 66 73 1 F:(+352) 26 66 73 2 e-mail : remerschen@youthhostels.lu http://youthhostels.lu/luxemburgish-youth-hostels/schengen-remerschen/10_114_EN.html

Open Mon-Sun 08:00-10:00, 17:00-22:00

Schengen
CENTRE EUROPEEN - Centre d'information touristique, Centre d'information Europe Direct 

Rue Robert Goebbels 

L-5444 SCHENGEN 

Luxembourg

T: 0035226665810

F: 0035226665811

info@schengenasbl.lu

www.schengen-tourist.lu

www.europedirect.lu

Open: Tu - Fri 10:00 - 18:00, Sat, Sun 11:00 - 18:00

Rentabike Mellerdall (Müller Valley)

Syndicat d’Initiative et de Tourisme Berdorf

7, An der Laach  L-6550 Berdorf
Tél.: 79 06 43 Fax: 79 91 82
berdorf.tourisme@pt.lu
01.06. - 30.09. / Mon-Sunday / 09:00 - 17:00
30.09. - 31.05. / Mon-Saturday / 08:00 - 17:00

www.rentabike-mellerdall.lu

Madeira per e-Bike

Madeira is a great place to cycle, but there is no shortage of hills. Assistance is at hand however: Natascha and Marco Mück from Cologne have opened Moskito Drive, an e-bike hire business in Funchal on Madeira. They rent out Flyer bikes. The batteries can be recharged underway at various restaurants.
Their address:

Moskito Drive, Lda
Estrada Monumental 316
Hotel Alto Lido, loja 4
9004-529 Funchal

Tel: + 351- 291765180
Mobile: + 351- 963204964,
www.moskito-drive.com
info@moskito-drive.com