Würzburg bike parking

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

Accommodation on the lower River Weser IV

We cycled into Bremen, stopped for a quick glance at a historic building or two, lunch and then, as ever, had trouble getting out of the city, even though we had only drunk coffee with our Bratwurst. We stopped underway in a village between Bremen and Bremerhaven. We would try to avoid the hotel in future. It was very noisy, so we will mention neither its name or the village.
The next day we fought a Dutch style headwind to reach Bremerhaven where we were faced with the problem of finding our hotel. It was for once dead easy to find. We followed the cycle route into town and arrived at Bürgermeister-Smidt-Str 1 near the Columbus Center. Our hotel was the havenhostel (T: +49 (0) 471 30 96 69 0) at Bürgermeister-Smidt-Str 209. Part of the Straße is in a pedestrian zone where cycling is only allowed between 22:00 and 10:00, so watch out  and walk unless you wish to contribute to the city's coffers.
The havenhostel is a former navy barracks, built around 1902. It offers simple lean but clean accommodation. The rooms are large and all ensuite with plastic floors. Breakfasts are self-service, but good. The staff are very friendly. At 75 Euros a night plus 6.50 Euros pp for breakfast in a big city the rooms are good value for money. One slightly weird thing is that the website is only in German though the staff speak English. Evening meals can be available during the week, depending on demand. It was weekend, anyway, when we were there. We ate an excellent Lobscouse in the Treffpunkt Kaiserhafen, "The last pub before New York" in the docks and a good Italian meal in a nearby restaurant the night after.

Accommodation on the lower River Weser III

We met our one flooded section on this day and discovered the only way through is to pedal fast and ignore the wet feet.

Keep on pedalling!

So far we had been paying about 50 Euros a night and decided to make a stop before Bremen where, according to the Bett und Bike website, prices for a double room can be as high as over 100 Euros. We arrived in Thedinghausen and discovered that the bridge over the River Eiter on the edge of the village was being rebuilt. As a result the village was host to a number of visiting building workers and there was no room at the inn for us. We talked to the mayor, but he was unable to help and so cycled 2-3km to the off route village of Morsum where we stopped in Döhlings Gasthaus at Zum Fleet 1 (http://www.doehlings-gasthaus.de/,  doehlings-gasthaus(at)t-online.de, T: +49 (0) 4204 91710). It was fine. If you decide to eat the cold cuts Platte then order one between two of you. Two were too much for us.

Accommodation on the lower River Weser II

The next night we stopped in Bücken, Lower Saxony in the 18th century Pension Rosengarten, (Manfred Behrmann, Markstraße 15, D27333 Bücken. T: +49 (0) 4251 6522, F: +49 (0) 4251 671796, E: info@weserradweg-rosengarten.de/). This is an excellent B&B where we enjoyed a pleasant room, a superb garden and an extensive tasty breakfast. 

A garden is a thing of beauty and a job for ever,

The house was built in 1740.

Accommodation on the lower River Weser I

We cycled last week from Minden to Bremerhaven along the Weser Cycle Route. It was a great trip. We started in pastoral splendour amongst large fields dotted with cows and good views across the river with the occasional barge.  We visited the ancient city of Bremen and then followed the Weser estuary with sea going vessels as far as Bremerhaven. The route appears to be unknown in Britain which is a pity.
We had met our friends Maxa and Tim when they joined our train in Kassel and we travelled to Minden together. After lunch in Minden we set off down the Weser or parallel to the Weser as although  the river levels were not as high as on the Elbe, parts of the cycle route were blocked by flooding. At about 16:00 after about 20km we discussed where we wanted to stop the night and decided to stop at the next Gasthaus. Within 200m a notice board pointed us left to the Mühlengasthof & Pension "Zum Letzten Streich". * This was an excellent decision. We had small but comfortable ensuite rooms and for one night lack of space is no problem, especially at these prices: 27 Euros per person in a double room. Dinner in the beer garden was excellent and breakfast equally so. A bike repair service and e-bike battery charging is available. The owners are mildly offbeat souls. The house and gardens are decorated with mosaics and ornaments that remind me of those created by the Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser. The owners feed and offer shelter in the garden to 18 ± sterilised cats, castoffs from the local farmers. (No fear if you have a cat allergy, the cats know their place. They stay in the garden and on the ground floor. Just check the chairs before you sit sit down.) The pub has an annual blues night at the end of June. What more could one want?

*Mühlengasthof & Pension, Großenheerser Mühle 4, T: +49 (0) 5765 7330,
info (at) windmuehlegrossenheerse.de

The decision makers at work. The notice board is on the left of the photograph.

Mühlengasthof & Pension "Zum Letzten Streich".

Bike Hire in the Ruhr

As we have written before, we are rewriting our Rhine II downstream from Basel to Rotterdam cycle touring guide as an e-book. We have altered our philosophy. We no longer attempt to describe both banks in detail but lay down a route which is mainly on the left bank. If there is anything very interesting on the other bank,  Heidelberg, for example, we will run our route through the city. We will however describe the Ruhr in very general terms, but not run our route through it. If you find yourself in Duisburg, Essen, Dortmund or one of the other Ruhr cities when Schalke or Borussia are not playing then think about taking a cycle ride. The Ruhr like Gary, Indiana or the Black Country used to be an area of heavy industry: coking plants, steel works and coal mines. These industries have declined since the 1960s leaving some magnificent industrial architecture and a number of railway mineral lines that have since been converted into cycleways. Check out Ruhr Tourismus: www.ruhr-tourismus.de . Bikes are available to hire at various sites. We will add to this list over the next few weeks. 

Radstation am Bochumer HBf (Main railway station)

North exit of HBf Bochum

Kurt Schumacher Platz
Bochum

ViA Bochum

T: +49 234 41411-24,
radstation(at)via-bochum.de

Very reasonable prices for 7 gear trekking bikes for daily (9 Euro daily) or weekly hire (5 Euro daily). 

Radrunde Allgäu (Around Allgäu)

A high percentage of Germans like to cycle on holiday. Many Germans like to go on holiday in their own country. This is good news for the rest of us as it means tourist authorities all over Germany are hard at work laying out new cycle routes and improving those they have already.  The Allgäu is a area between Baden Wuerttemberg, Bavaria and Tyrol, which is much visited by people who want quiet rural holidays. In order to cater for normal cyclists six counties, three provinces: Baden Wuerttemberg, Bavaria and Tyrol, and two countries Austria and Germany have developed an amoeba-like circular route around the Allgäu and incorporated two earlier routes across the middle. The Allgäu is the cheese producing region of Germany, home to thousands of light brown cows with soulful eyes, green meadows, high roofed farmhouses and forests with the Alps in the background. We have cycled along the eastern edge to Füssen on the Romantic Road and written two guide books about the route: "Cycling the Romantic Road from Würzburg to Füssen" (eBook) available from Smashwords and Amazon.
“The Romantic Road from Würzburg to Füssen Culture-nature-romance A Cycle Guide from North to South and South to North” available from Bergstrasse Bike Books (http://www.bicycletouringeurope.eu/)

The route is 450km long, mainly tarmac with some hills. The Iller and Allgäu routes cross in Kempten and link the parts of the Allgäu route together. It is due to open on 2 June 2013. Our summer activities are already planned unfortunately, but given the chance I suspect we will go.

The sketch map is taken from the website www.radrunde-allgaeu.de (in German) which is published by Allgäu GmbH, Gesellschaft für Standort und Tourismus, Allgäuer Straße1, 87435 Kempten, Germany. 

Heller's vegetarian restaurant in Mannheim

Vegetarian Restaurants are fairly rare in Germany: Most restaurants can prepare simple dishes though, like boiled veg with Hollandaise sauce. This probably gets a bit boring after a while. There are also a lot of Italian restaurants in the Fatherland who will dash off a cheesy pasta dish or even a vegetarian pizza. It is nice however to be offered a good choice of dishes and if you are following the Rhine either upstream or downstream you can pass through Mannheim. Our recommended routes suggest following the Neckar to Heidelberg (upstream) or from Heidelberg (downstream). In the centre of Mannheim between the Wasserturm and the Hauptbahnhof (Central Station) you will find Heller's Restaurant in N7 on the ring. This is a very successful self service vegetarian restaurant. This excellent restaurant  has been going for 25 years offering vegetarian and vegan wholemeal food. They also have a coffee bar at the back offering delicious healthy cakes. The cooks succeed in cooking healthy food that does not taste like healthy food, but like good home cooking from an inspired cook.
Our Rhine upstream e-book guide is available from Smashwords in a range of formats or from Amazon. (Look for Judith Forsyth as author to see all our books.) Our downstream guide is in preparation at the moment.

Bike Hire in Vienna

We are hoping to spend some time in Vienna this summer and intend to hire bikes for a few days. There are 1200 km of bike route in Vienna. Here are the results of our searches. I will report on our experiences. So far we have found the following companies:

Pedal Power, Austellungsstraße 3, 1020 Wien T: 0043 1 7297234, F: 0043 1 7297234, eMail: office@pedalpower.at, http://www.pedalpower.at/z_englisch/01.php

There is a city bike system similar to London and Paris:
Rental charges: The duration of the rental starts with the removal of a Citybike from the bike box and ends when the Citybike is returned to a bike box. The first hour is free, after which a usage fee is charged:
2nd hour: 1 euro per started hour
3rd hour: 2 euros per started hour
4th - 120th hour: 4 euros for each started hour. Flat fee for exceeding the hours or loss of the bike: 600 euros
Obviously it pays to use the bike;  pop it into a dock; play the tourist on foot and then pick up a bike again.

More information under http://www.wien.info/en/vienna-for/sports/cycling.

If you do not wish to register, Pedal Power offers a special service for tourists: You can rent several bikes at the same time with your credit card, without having to register with Citybike.

How to do it: Leave your credit card details with Pedal Power as security in return for the desired number of Citybike tourist maps (one per bike) for the desired duration  - and off you pedal. Map rental fee: 2 euros per day

Citybike Tourist Card at Pedal Power

Bicycle Rental Pedal Power

Ausstellungsstraße 3 

1020   Wien
www.pedalpower.at
Radverleih Pedal Power - City Office
Elisabethstraße 13
1010   Wien
www.pedalpower.at    

I suspect it is slightly cheaper to register.  The one-time registration fee costs 1 euro. It depends how much bike maps cost and how many you need.

VIENNA EXPLORER

Franz Josefs Kai 45; 1010 Wien

Email: info@viennaexplorer.com
Tel/Fax: 00 43 (1) 89 09 682

Skype: viennaexplorer
Facebook: Vienna Explorer – city tours & day trips
Twitter: @ViennaExplorer

The company offers city bikes (€14 a full day) and slightly more expensive trekking bikes (€19 a day). Bikes cannot be hired online.

RADVERLEIH DONAUINSEL

Herta Aschauer 1210 Wien, Donauinsel / Parkplatz Floridsdorfer Brücke 
The company offers a wide range of bikes, trikes and four wheeled pedalled vehicles. 

The Swabian Potato Cycle Route

There are a number of culinary bike tours in Europe and we hope to describe some of them over the next few months. We will kick off with the Swabian Potato Cycle Route. It is a 215 km long family-friendly loop south from the Danube in the four districts of Günzburg, Augsburg, Ulm and Neu Ulm through the Allgau Bavarian Swabia. It is hilly in parts.  Ten inns along the route have joined together and each one offers very innovative and interesting potato dishes.
It is a round trip, so you can simply enter where you want.
http://www.radtour-schwaben.de/ (In German, but the sketch map of the route is understandable whether you speak German or not,)

Youth Hostels

The regular reader of this blog will have noticed that we are fans of Youth Hostels, even though our youth was some time ago. We noticed recently that some German Hostels are now offering one night membership for €2.50, rather than insisting that one takes out annual membership to stop for one night. This is unfortunately only for people 26 and under,  for some hostels and is only for a limited time, but I think it is a pointer to the future. The Swiss Youth Hostels have a similar system for everybody and Dutch Youth Hostels do not demand membership, but offer you a rebate if you are a member.

Basel Cycle plans

We have cycled through Basel fairly often and it is an interesting place to cycle, what with other cyclists, trams and motor cars, lots of motor cars. We are rewriting our Rhine II Basel to Hook of Holland guide as an e-book so I have been doing some research to update our notes. I was interested to read that Basel City has produced a new cycle plan which aims to separate the commuter cyclists and tourists, children etc. (http://www.bzbasel.ch/basel/basel-stadt/so-will-basel-zur-velofreundlichsten-stadt-der-schweiz-werden-126338189). The link is in German. As well the planners want to ensure that the needs of cyclists are taken into account in new road schemes. When this wonder is going to happen is not clear, but don't hold your breath.

Strasbourg's city bike scheme

As we have recounted before on one of our early trips across Strasbourg there were no cycleways and in order to get away from the traffic we ended up carrying our bikes up steps and over a giant bridge in the harbour. Things are much better these days. There are any number of cycle paths and the city even has signposts pointing to the German town of of Kehl.
One item that could be improved is better rail links to Mannheim and Frankfurt. After a high speed TGV trip from the South of France, it's still necessary to wait for the local train to Offenburg to catch an ICE north. We had an hour between changing trains at the central station a few weeks ago. I checked out Vélhop, the Strasbourg cycle rental scheme which is similar to schemes in Paris, London and major German cities. The bikes seem to be sensible roadsters.

You can pick them up at a number of points in the city both from automatic stations (1 € for an hour or 5 € for 12 hours) using a credit card as ID or from manned stations (one day for 5 € and 15 € for a week  leaving a 150 € deposit and showing ID). The shops offer extras like helmets, baby seats and children's bicycles. There is more information under www.velhop.strasbourg.eu.

New Books about Cycling in Europe and on the Romantic Road

We have produced two new e-books.

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

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

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

 Neil photographing the harbour quarter in Düsseldorf.

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

SPEZI Special Bicycle Show Germersheim 2013

Our impressions and what struck us as being of interest. 

The Spezi 2013 website can be found at: http://www.spezialradmesse.de/index.php?welcome.

The exhibition has got larger. There is now a second area for test riding of e-bikes rather than mixing powered and unpowered bikes together on the bus station which is what happened until this year.

New trends: e-bikes, cargo bikes and trikes, pedelec cargo bikes, and trailers. Riese and Müller are aiming to produce more pedelecs than unpowered bikes in the future. Obviously the major trike manufacturers were also represented, but to my not very learned eye the improvements in this area were all detail changes.

www.bike43.com a transport bike prototype for up to 2 children. The geometry is similar to that of a Brompton, at least for the rider. The weight distribution is designed to avoid doing a wheelie with a child on the back of a bike. This it would appear is a danger with conventional child seating.

www.bicicapace.com (Website in English) very stylish cargo bikes, to be expected as they are designed and built in Milan. The basic model is to be seen on the right hand side of the photograph above.

www.kemper-velo.de (Website in English) practical and stylish bikes including Pedersen bikes and a wide range of cargo bikes. The grey one above is the Filibus. The company does also sell bikes via eBay, but that bit of the website is in German.

www.family-cycling.com (in German but with good photos). Manufacturers of children-adult bike linkage and trailers. British distributor: http://www.cyclesense.co.uk

www.pedalpower.de (in German only) Long Harry cargo bike

www.radkutsche.de (in German only) interesting cargo bikes.

www.drymer.nl (in Dutch, but take a look) A all weather electric trike similar to the BMW C1. the trike shown above is the basic bike without the bodywork.

A neat Hungarian solar assisted velo car -  http://pannonrider.pannonsolar.hu/pannonrider/pannonrider_main_english.html

Bikes on buses in Germany

Germany now has long distance buses crisscrossing the country. Until this year long distance bus services were forbidden and had been forbidden since the 1930s when the Nazi government wanted to protect the railway monopoly. The present government has reversed this decision and long distance bus services have sprung up all over Germany.
The MeinFernBus company offers accompanied bicycle transfer for up to five bikes a trip. The company offers trips between Heidelberg and Nuremberg, Berlin and Frankfurt, Munich and Zurich and Cologne/Düsseldorf  to Freiburg. Prices are much cheaper than trains, but the journey times are longer. You can book your bike online. Bike transport costs nine Euros a trip. We realise that you are coming to Germany to cycle not to sit on a bus, but Cologne for example is a major hub for low price airlines and if you want cycle in the Black Forest or around Lake Constance then the Cologne/Düsseldorf to Freiburg services could be very interesting. The website is at www.meinfernbus.de in English and German.

Rickshaws in Cologne

If you are thinking of visiting Cologne which as a city has much to recommend it, then check out the activities of perpedalo (http://www.perpedalo.de/). The English on the website is a source of wonder. I suspect it's machine translated. The company offers cycle rickshaw tours of the old town, conference bikes, guided tours on foot and if you are feeling brave you can hire a rickshaw to pedal yourself. The centre of Cologne is best investigated on foot or a bike.
When we were in Cologne we stopped at the Köln-Deutz Youth Hostel, which is to be recommended. It is ten minutes walk from the cathedral and Hauptbahnhof (central railway station). However you will need to be a member of a YHA.

Cargo bikes in Berlin

There is another aspect of cycling as well as the Berlin-Copenhagen Cycle Route that links the two cities: The popularity of cargo bikes. Cargo bikes are often to be seen on the streets of both cities. Denmark is home to a number of major cargo bike manufacturers: Bullit, Christiana, for example.
An almost parallel society of enthusiasts has blossomed in Berlin. The Berliner Lastenrad-Netzwerk (Berlin Cargo Bike Network) has a mobile workshop to help groups build cargo bikes or modify conventional bikes. Its website: www.werkstatt-lastenrad.de features films on the building of and plans for cargo bikes. All this information is in German. If you want more information use the contact details on the website and drop the folks an eMail in English.
The Lastenrad-Fans Berlin (http://preview.tinyurl.com/d4zepuf) meet once a month to cycle round the city to encourage the city fathers to build wider cycle paths and offer safe parking areas for these bikes.
Unlike Copenhagen there does not yet appear to be a manufacturer of cargo bikes, but in a city like Berlin that is very open to new ideas, it won't be that long before somebody starts to manufacture.

A Bullit cargo bike amongst the messengers' bikes at the City Museum in Copenhagen

Copenhagen by the harbour

A parking area in Copenhagen especially for cargo bikes

Another Dutch German bike route, The Berkel Route

The River Berkel starts west of Münster and flows 168km east through an area of quiet countryside to finally joins the River Ijssel in Zutphen. This area is not well known as a tourist area, but offers a number of treasures:

• Billerbeck with the gothic Ludgerus Cathedral, the Romanesque Johanniskirche and the historic merchants' store houses.
• Coesfeld set in a park landscape.
• Gescher with its bell museum.
• Stadtlohn famous for its potteries.
• Vreden borders on the Zwillbrocker Venn nature reserve which offers a flamingo colony.
• Borculo and Eibergen both offer water mills, chateaus, ancient churches and in addition the biggest labyrinth in the world the village of Ruurlo. 
• Zutphen offers defensive gates and merchants' houses.

However having written this list from E to W I would suggest that wise cyclist follows it from W to E. The west wind in the Netherlands is a serious matter. In addition once you arrive in Billerbeck you can travel on to Münster which was recently voted the most cyclist friendly city with over 200 000 inhabitants in Germany.

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

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

Weikersheim Castle Copyright Landesmedienzentrum Ba.-Wü

Saarland Tourist App

A newish app for cyclists and walkers from from the Saarland Tourist Authority struck us as an excellent idea. The app shows a zoomable 1:25 000 map of every cycle and walking trail in the province with extensive descriptions, profiles, photographs, sites of interest and restaurants/cafés. In addition the happy or not so happy wanderer on finding damaged signs or not finding missing signs can take a photograph and send a message to the tourist authority describing route problems. If gps is turned on, the location is sent automatically. When we find a missing sign, we tend curse and promise to send an eMail when get home, but we often forget. Unfortunately the app is only available in German the moment, but profiles, maps and photographs don't demand much knowledge of the language. You could of course send an eMail to info@tz-s.de requesting a version in English. This type of app would be of use to folk like Sustrans as well. The app is available free of charge from the Apple iTunes store and the GooglePlay store. Check www.tourismus.saarland.de to find direct links and lots of information on the Saarland. The website is in German, English, Dutch and French, but only the German version offers a link to the app.

More and better GPS devices

According to a report in the Südhessen Morgen, 2 April 2013 GPS devices for outdoor use are selling like hot cakes. It is no longer just  nerds who are buying the instruments but also normal cyclists who want to have a quick tour at short notice.  Thomas Froitzheim of the Allgemeiner Deutsche Fahrrad Club (ADFC), the German cycle touring club, pointed out that newer systems offer the comfort of the navigation systems for motorists combined with outdoor touring maps. One enters either a target or a time limit and the GPS device works out a route, often using an audio system to describe which way to go. Obviously there are still buy instruments available where the cyclist or walker needs to work out a route on his or her PC which is then transferred to the GPS device. This stage will be a critical point for us, as a number of these instruments and their map collections only recognise Microsoft Windows® systems, which is not much use for those sensible souls who use Apple Macintosh computers.
The more modern GPS devices help the errant cyclist who leaves the suggested route to return to the path of righteousness, whereas the older systems show the route and  the cyclist's position letting him or her find their way back. However, Thomas Froitzheim thinks that both the older simpler and the newer systems suffer from content quality. There is not yet enough information about the quality of cycle routes built into the system. We think it would be better if cyclists could specify the most scenically interesting route or the one with the best tea rooms, etc. This could be the app the cycling world is waiting for.

If we buy two new bikes then at least two old ones have to go.

As ever there is an additional problem. We have nine bicycles sitting in our cellar and in the cupboard in the hall: 

• Three "Bahnhof's bicycles" we can leave at the tram station in the town and be sure that there are more attractive bikes about in the bike parking area at the tram station. 
• Two Dahon tourers.
• Two mountain bikes.
• Two Bromptons.

The first five would be favourites to pass on, but of the two Bahnhof's bikes one is a historic Peugeot Cologne tourer and the other is the first bike that Judith ever bought new. In both cases it would be like putting down a family pet.
The Bromptons are in use most days of the week. 
It looks like the Dahons would be favourites. One of the Bahnhof bikes can be donated or flogged off for €20.
I suspect we will leave things as they are for while and not buy new bikes.

Cycling in the Italian lakes

We received an eMail from the Province of Varese with a link to its cycling/hiking website in a cheerful mix of English and Italian. It offers information, GPS tracks and links about road biking, mountain biking, cycle paths, pass storming (if it turns you on), bike hotels, campsites and lots of practical information. We have cycled there and in the Swiss canton of Ticino next door and found very enjoyable.

Bike Theft Locks

The German consumer testing organisation has recently tested bike locks and to put matters succinctly the organisation is not impressed. By far the majority of the locks did not stand up to the treatment handed out by a group of determined "bike thieves". What this means I suspect one needs to check around before handing over your hard-earned cash for a lock. I cannot give you the results of this test which is in German anyway because the test organisation would like €2.50 to release the results and would not like me to give it away for free. However there is a summary in German on http://fahrradschlosstest.net/fahrradschloss-stiftung-warentest/.

• However one piece of advice from the article that I can give readers for free is that bike thieves in Germany specialise in one particular type of lock, so it pays to use two types of lock when you lock your bike up.  

Our advice would be in addition:

• Keep your bike somewhere parked in the open in view during the day. 
• At night lock the bike away in a closed room. In addition try to run the locks through all the wheels. Do you really want loose your high quality wheels? 
• Lock the bike to a solid piece of street furniture. Otherwise the thief can pop your bike in a van and it's goodbye bike.
• If you are travelling in a group lock all the bikes together. The bike rustlers will find it difficult to put a package of four or five bikes into the back of white van. 

Buying a new bike

One of the advantages of an old-fashioned bike shop over the big shed variety of bike supermarket that are springing up in Germany is that if you visit the shop at the right time the owner has time to talk to you and gives advice to help you rather than just improve his sales figures at any cost. I was very impressed last week when we wandered in to our local bike shop to say hello to the owner. I have been thinking about buying two new touring bikes, because I would like slightly faster bikes than the 20" wheel Dahon TRs we use at present.  I had already noticed that the ancient diamond framed Peugeot tourer I have used in the past seems to have grown and swinging my leg over the saddle, especially when the bike is carrying two panniers, is getting more difficult with the passing years. I think it is time I bought a step through unisex or ladies' bike, rather like our beloved Bromptons.

We checked out the bike brands on offer at our local bike shop on the internet and defined a number of parameters. We often follow sandy, unsealed tracks and we are not big on cleaning the bikes, so a hub gear is better idea than a derailleur. I have used a Mountain Drive on my Brompton for some years to extend the range on offer, but it does suffer from the disadvantage that changing gear from the lowest gear in the top range into the bottom means rapidly changing both gears. This can be difficult. Unfortunately we also need to climb hills, so the wider the range of gears the better. This points at a Rolhoff or an Alfine 11 hubgear. That seemed to be the problem solved: We needed two unisex/ladies' tourers with hubgears.

We arrived at the bike shop. It was a quiet afternoon. We looked around and discovered another problem: Aesthetics. I could quite fancy a bike from the Riese and Müller Avenue/Culture/Hommage range. Judith was not impressed. She does not like the design. We prefer to tour with both of us riding the same model. It makes for easier maintenance. So that was that. We will not buy those. Andreas, the shop owner, appeared and I explained the problem to him. He defined our choices: a mixte frame, a swan neck ladies' model (the bike not the lady) and a 'Y' frame.

• Mixte frames, he suggested were almost tall enough so that it is easier to swing the leg over the saddle. In which case we could buy a diamond frame.
• Swan neck ladies' models are a bit too much wicker basket and to quote George Orwell, 'Old maids bicycling to holy communion through the morning mist'. They were out.
• We ended up agreeing the Y frame Campus Bike would be the one. (www.campus-bike.de)

Another problem then arose, weight. Not so much the weight of the bike when we are trying to pedal them, what about getting them on trains? Fortunately the Alfine 11 hub gear is not the heaviest hub gear made by Shimano, but as Andreas said we will need to make sure the other components are as light as possible. We are researching the weight at present.

Backwards and forwards across the Danish German border

The 130 km long Deutsch-Dänische Grenzroute (German Danish Border Route) from  Højer (DK) to Flensburg (D) is based on two interlinked routes on both sides of the Danish German border: Danish Nationalroute 8 and Nord-Ostsee Radweg. During the trip east from the North Sea to the Baltic one crosses the border thirteen times. It is possible to cycle a circular route which is over 200 km long. It looks like an interesting route. It is on our list of possibilities in case we have a week to spare this summer. However I suspect would be easier to cycle from Flensburg to Højer and back again, if you wish to travel by public transport to your starting point. The city is on both the Danish and German main line railways. The website gives all the info you need to cycle the route.

GPS, iPad, iPod, iPhone maps

BVA,  Bielefelder Verlag the German Cycle guide and map publishers have converted a number of their regional ADFC maps (1:50 000 or 1:75 000) for the iPad, iPod or iPhone. Other regional maps are in  process of being converted. The app can be downloaded from the iTunes. We don't know when and if the company is going to offer an app for Google phones and produce digital version of the smaller scale ADFC touring maps. We have enquired by eMail at BVA, but have not received an answer.

Vennbahn

We both enjoy cycling along national borders, crisscrossing from one country to the next. For us Britons it is fascinating that within a metre that laws, language, coffee flavour and cakes change completely. In Britain one needs to cross over or under the sea to experience this change. We are also fascinated by the concept of the enclave, an island of one country in another. The Vennbahn cycle route from Aachen (D) to Trois Vierges (LUX) offers the chance to experience slightly artificial enclaves and frequent border crossing on a former railway line, i.e. with very few steep hills. The enclaves arose because two German counties were annexed by Belgium in 1920 under the Treaty of Versailles. In addition Belgium was granted the Vennbahn railway between Aachen and Luxembourg. At the time the line connected the Ruhr coal mines and steelworks with the iron ore and steelworks in Luxembourg. It was of commercial and military importance. Unfortunately the line ran in part to the east of the border of the new Belgian cantons and so a number of German villages found themselves to be enclaves, because it was necessary to cross the railway line back in to the Fatherland. This gave rise to interesting smuggling activities, coffee, for example after WWII when coffee was very expensive in Germany and cheaper in Belgium.
We are hoping to cycle the 125 km route from Aachen to Luxembourg later in the summer. The problem in the moment is what do we do once we arrive in Luxembourg. Although there is an extensive network of cycle routes in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg the routes in the north are steep if memory serves correctly. More research is required. We could take a train from Trois Vierges to Trier and go home cheaply on a Rheinland-Pfalz ticket, but it seems to be a lot of railway for a little cycling.

Holidays in Emsland

We've mentioned the value of booking self-guided touring holidays in Germany before. It saves serious amounts of work. We noticed today that the Emsland region in NE Germany on the Dutch border offers a number of value for money tours which crisscross over into the Netherlands and back. The tourist office does the hard work books the hotels, etc. and you can enjoy the cycling. I cannot find any information in English on the website www.emsland.com, but a note to the tourist office at info‎‎‎@‎emsland.com should yield information.

The Black Forest Panorama Cycle Route

The Southern loop we wrote about yesterday is a family route. At one point does the going get tough and you can get on a train. However the Black Forest Panorama Cycle Route  is slightly longer and a lot hillier. The description uses the word challenging from time to time. The first day is 75 km long with a climb of about 500 m. In this case there is a let out and you can take the the Sommerberg Funicular Railway 300m uphill which chops 25 km off your day. The day after on your way to Villigen, the 70 km are easy. On day 3 you cycle 52 km and climb to the highest point of the trip at 1084 m. The day after, on the final day cycling is easy, mainly downhill to Waldshut and the railway station. If the vision of long climbs is not your idea of fun, then you can hire e-bikes to ease the pain.

The Black Forest Tourist Authority offers organised self guided tours with B&B, luggage transfer and lunch packets starting at around €400 for a four or five night trip. Contact service@schwarzwald-tourismus.info for more details.

Southern Black Forest Cycle Route

Cycle touring on holiday is offered by all the major German holiday companies. I was pleasantly surprised recently to see cycle touring holidays in a brochure put out by ALDI, the German discounter. It is therefore no surprise to find that the regional tourist authorities have planned and executed cycle routes and that one can book self-guided holidays.

The Southern Black Forest Cycle Route or as it is known in German Südschwarzwald-Radweg is a fairly gentle circular 240km long route around the edges of the higher regions of the southern Black Forest. The main route crosses the Rhine into Switzerland and goes through Basel/Basle. After Basel you can also visit the French nature reserve "Petite Camargue" in southern Alsace, before crossing the Rhine again to return to vineyards and picturesque villages of Markgräflerland to reach Freiburg and return to the Black Forest heights. There is a rail link between Kirchzarten and Hinterzarten. There is no shame in taking the train. If the vision of the odd slight climb is too much you can also hire e-bikes. This is an ideal route for families.

There is more information in German about trips of up to a week from the following companies:

Original Landreisen AG
http://www.original-schwarzwald.de/Radwandern-im-Schwarzwald-Suedschwarzwald-Radweg.
The company is based in Hinterzarten. Price per person sharing a double room range from € 289 to € 949 for up to a week depending on the quality of the accommodation and the length of the holiday.


Radissimo GmbH
 http://www.radissimo.de/en/bike-holidays/self-guided-tours/
This company is preparing information in English. It is based in Freiburg or Hinterzarten. Price per person sharing a double room is from €429 for up to a week. If the photographs of the Black Forest Cherry cakes shown on the website are anything to go by you may end weighing more after a few days cycling than before you started.  

The NRW online route planner extends into Belgium and the Netherlands

We have mentioned the excellent NRW route planner before, www.radroutenplaner.nrw.de/. You can use the planner to map routes thirty kilometres or so into those bits of Belgium and the Netherlands that border NRW. It makes planning trips along the Rhine, for example, easier.

E-Bike Hire in Cologne

Liebe-Bike, Hohe Straße 76, 51149 Köln, Porz, Ensen nearest underground station: Ensen Gilgaustraße offer six geared e-bikes of their own manufacture for €14 for two hours, €21 for four hours and €29 a day. The company will deliver bikes for a fee as along you order more than five bikes. A tour guide is also available.
T: +49 2203 120 20,  www.kölle-bike.de, info@kölle-bike.de.

River Rhine Cycle Route

The German Allgemeiner Deutscher Fahrrad-Club (a German cycling club) produces an annual guide to cycling in Germany in German unfortunately. We received our copy last week and I was interested to see that finally, at long last that the club has recognised that the Rhine Cycling route runs through six countries and it is possible to cycle in, for example France or Germany. In the past the information on the Rhine route suggested that there were no facilities in France, that the Rhine route started at Konstanz and finished at the Dutch border. There are serious amounts of information in English available under http://www.rhinecycleroute.eu/UK_front-page?set_language=en.
We are in process of rewriting our Rhine 2 book from Basel to Rotterdam as an e-book. If all goes well it should be available from Amazon and Smashwords by the middle of May, this year.

Bett und Bike

It is not good cycling weather at the moment. It is wet and cold, so we are in progress of updating the Romantic Road book. I am hopeful it will be out in ten days time.
I am glad to announce that the ADFC (the German cycling club) have finally, at long last brought out an English version of their excellent Bett und Bike (Bed and Bike) website: www.bettundbike.de. The idea behind the Bett und Bike website is that it lists accommodation where cyclists are welcomed as guests: They need only stay for  one night. The accommodation offers secure bike storage. (This is true in the main, though we have found two participants in the scheme in the last 20 years where our bikes were locked up in the open. It pays to take a lock with you.) There are drying facilities available. Simple tools are available for minor  repairs. For more major problems, your hosts know where the nearest bike shop is. Your hosts will have background information on the area on offer. Breakfasts are excellent and filling to give the cyclist a good start to the day.
The web site is much improved since it was necessary to search in German. However you do need to use German spellings of town and city names: Köln not Cologne, Hannover not Hanover and München not Munich. The federal states are given German names, so it's Bayern not Bavaria and Niedersachsen not Lower Saxony, for example.If you are searching a route then jot down the names of the towns you wish to stop in and extract the information that way, rather than using the route maps provided. The information you receive using the routes is in German.

Sleeeping in straw in Switzerland

Cycling in Switzerland is not all mountain passes and expensive hotels. There are flatter routes: The Rhine Route from Chur downstream, Route 5 the Mittelland Route from Zürich to Lausanne and Route 8 the Aare Route from Meieringen through Interlaken, Thun and Berne towards the Rhine. Swiss Trails (http://www.swisstrails.ch/swisstrails_engl/default.html) offer reasonably priced trips with luggage transport and bike hire along these routes with prebooking of farms offering sleeping in straw. It's a great holiday and would be wonderful for children, because they can also take part in the life of the farm. Quite often the farmers, more often their wives will run you and the family up an evening meal. It's an excellent and economical way to see the country. You will of course need to take a sleeping bag and a torch per person.

A "sexy" Brompton?

We are not using our bikes much at the moment, except the Bromptons for the odd trip into town or to the Rhein-Neckar Zentrum, our local mall. Cycling is faster than walking and the bikes are easier to park than a motor car. This morning as I was cycling into town, I passed a group of young women outside the church down the road when one of them called "ein sexy Fahrrad!". Our Bromptons have been called goldig (sweet) in the past, but sexy? Dependable, well designed, fun I can understand but never sexy. Perhaps the word has a different meaning in young Germans' language than in English.

French Revolutions

I am reading Tim Moore's "French Revolutions" book, about his 3000 km trip around France following the route of the Tour de France and are amazed at his ability to sink by our standards vast amounts of alcohol. Apart from his first day he drank half a litre of rosé wine every lunchtime. On his first day he drank a quarter litre. We both feel that if we drank even a quarter litre of rosé at lunchtime we'd fall asleep on the first meadow we passed.
The book is excellent, however and well worth reading.

Bicycle hire in Mannheim

Obviously we have not tried these people but they are on the approved bike hire company list put out by Deutsche Bahn (German Railways): BIOTOPIA Fahrradstation, Heinrich von Stephan Straße 2, 68161 Mannheim, T: 0621 1223077. It is a social organisation offering training and work to the long term unemployed. The building abuts platform 1 of the Mannheim Hauptbahnhof (Railway Station). The workshop repairs bikes as well.

Transport Bicycle and Rickshaw Rental in Berlin

We have written before about bike hire in Berlin. We found a new shop recently: If you wish to hire a transport trike or a rickshaw check out: 
Moghul Rikschas in Neukölln: Elbestraße 1, Ecke Sonnenallee, 12045 Berlin.
eMail: info@moghul-rikschas.de, T: 030 544 88 393, M: 0178 143 99 82. 

Our new website

We have just uploaded our new website: www.bicycletouringeurope.eu. It needs some work, but we have been thinking about it for months. It will summarise a lot of the ideas in this blog.

Bike Hire in France

I have just spent some time looking at the SNCF (French Railways) bicycle website recently as we putting together an article for "AtoB". The website is in French unfortunately, so if you don't know your le's from your la's you might find it less than useful. However if you looking for a place to hire a bike in France then check out: http://www.velo.sncf.com/louer-un-velo/les-loueurs-agrees-sncf/. This is a site that's simple to follow. Just click on the map in the region where you want to hire to a bike, to generate a list of louers (hirers) approved by the SNCF. Each region of France with the exception of Limousin (aucun louers) has a number of hire stations spread across the region. The list offers address details, telephone number, website and opening times.

Bike hire in the Czech Republic

As we blogged two days ago you can hire bikes in Prague, but if you want to to at the views  Z českých luhů a hájů - From Bohemia's woods and fields, it might well be better to hire from elsewhere in the country. CD, Czech Railways offers trekking bikes for hire at railway stations over large areas of the country between April 1 and October 31. This is a bit late for this year, but next year…

CD offers:

• On selected lines you can transport your rented bike by train free of charge
• You can store the bike free of charge at ČD luggage storage locations
• You can usually return the bike at a different location from where you rented it
• You can reserve a bike in advance
• Low rental rates. In 2012 it was about €8 for one day and €48 for a week. Prices vary from region to region.

More information is available on http://www.cd.cz/volny-cas/. Click on the map to find detailed information on hire stations and prices.

Bike Hire in Prague, Czech Republic

We found the following. There may well be other bicycle hire centres in Prague. We can neither recommend nor advise you against these shops. The shops are listed alphabetically. We think that city hire bikes are not going to be pristine and new, but well maintained, a bit like your bike at home, hopefully. By the end of the season the bikes will be well used.  These companies also offer guided tours of the city.

Bike Rent

Hotel INTERCONTINENTAL

náměstí Curieových 43/5
Prague 1 ( Pařížská st.)
110 00 Czech Republic
e-mail: info@bikerent.czhttp://www.bikerent.cz
T: + 420 725 40 56 15
Bike Types: City bikes.

Broadway Bike and Scooter Rental

Telephone: +420 774 345 747 (Non-stop reservations, Info line)
E-mail: info@rentcarprague.com Office: Jindrisska 7, Prague 1 (Inside the arcade, opposite the main Post Office)

Skype:  rentcarprague1

City Bike

Králodvorská street 5, Praha 1 Czech Republic

e-mail: info@citybike-prague.com

phone: +420 776 180 284

skype:  city.bike.prague
Bike Types: Trekking bikes, cruisers and tandems

Praha Bike - Tours & Rental

Dlouha 24
Stare Mesto
Prague 1
11000
Czech Republic
info@prahabike.czhttp://www.prahabike.cz tel:+420 732 388 880
150 bikes.
Bike types:
-Mountain 26"wheel bikes-Trekking/Hybrid 28" wheel bikes-Tandem-Kid's bikes-Team Bike(bike for 7 persons!)

Cycle Touring in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia

We have recently found two websites that are of interest for cyclists planning to cycle in the Czech Republic and Slovakia: www.cykloserver.cz for information about cycle routes and route planning and http://www.cyklistevitani.cz/ for cyclist friendly accommodation.

Google Maps for Cyclists, Great but…

Whilst cleaning the layers of papers, mail, scribbled notes and similar off the desk in the office, I came across the August September  issue of  "Radwelt", the ADFC members' magazine. I scanned through it to see if there was anything of interest I could use in the blog before I flung it in the bin. A big mistake, because I started to read it so the pile of papers on the desk stayed the same. I found a paragraph on the new Google Maps cyclist routing function. Basically the "Get Directions" function has been extended to include bicycles.  The bicycle routing app does not yet work in Germany, but has been opened for use in Switzerland and in Austria. If you request a cycle route in Germany, you receive the message: "We could not calculate directions between …" although you are shown the cycle paths and routes in the area of interest. These still need a lot of work, at least around Viernheim, where for example the signposted cycle route along the old railway line to Lampertheim is not shown.

I checked out cycle routes in Switzerland. As test routes I used Grindelwald to Meiringen and Andermatt to Basel.

• There are two cycle routes between Grindelwald and Meiringen: 
• Grindelwald to Interlaken and follow National routes 8 and 9 to Meiringen on the south side of Lake Brienz. 
• Grindelwald via Grosse Scheidegg and Rosenlaui to Meiringen.
• Both of these routes are to be found in our Cicerone Guide: "Cycle Touring in Switzerland", ISBN: 9781852845261.
• Google Maps suggests neither route. It shows a route down to Interlaken and then along the main road between Interlaken and Brienz on the north side of the lake. You can pull the route using the cursor across the screen to follow one or both of the suggestions above. This is fine if you know the area, but less than useful if you don't.

• There are again two signposted cycle routes between Andermatt and Basel
• Swiss National Cycle Route 2 along the Rhine.
• Swiss National Cycle Route 3 through Lucerne and Aarau
• The Google route follows neither following "Route 2" through Schwyz, Arth and Rheinfelden. What this Route 2 is not clear. It could be Road 2. You can pull the route using the cursor across the screen to follow one or both of the suggestions above. This is fine if you know the area, but less than useful if you don't.

Before one uses Google Maps to work out cycle routes in Switzerland, we would advise cyclists to obtain a copy of Switzerland Touristic Cycling Map (1:301 000) from Kümmerly + Frey ISBN3-359-00533-1 or check out the maps section of www.veloland.ch. Once Google Maps suggests a route then check to see if it does really follow cycle routes and modify it accordingly, if needed.

PS We have informed Google and await their reaction.

Bike Hire at Weeze Airport

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

Bicycles are available at Weeze Airport from the 2-LAND Tourist Information Office, Flughafenring - Terminal, 47652 Weeze, Tel +49 (0) 28 37 - 66 63 82 from 09:00 until 22:00. If the Tourist Office is closed the left luggage counter takes over. Not only can you pick bikes, you can drop them off here as well.

Bicycle Rental in Switzerland

The Swiss are amazing. Their country is not a natural place to build railways, so they build them up to the top of mountains. They live in a country that does not naturally spring to mind when one thinks of cycle touring. The country is full of mountains and lakes, so common sense would suggest that it is a great place to go mountaineering, hill walking, sailing, or sailboarding or board sailing but cycling? The gut wrenching pictures of the top of the Tour de France climbs come to mind, but can we expect grannie to make it? Yes, we can! You too can, actually. We did, too. The Swiss have done the impossible and turned their country into a cyclist’s paradise with 4500 hire bikes.

If you arrive in the country without a bike and want to hire a bike for a day or two, the good news is there are bicycle rental stations all over the country at railway stations, hotels, youth hostels and camp sites. The bad news is the bikes are not cheap. In 2012  the basic bikes: touring bike, MTB and children's bicycles cost CHF 33 a day for one day if you return the bike to the same rental station and CHF 40 if you drop it off at another station. The rate drops to about CHF 22 a day if you hire for a week, about CHF 17 if you hire for two weeks. (At the time of writing one Euro was worth: CHF 1.20, $US 1 about CHF 0.93 and £1: CHF 1.50.) The bike rental company is called Rentabike. Its website: www.rentabike.ch. The website unfortunately is only in French and German. If you cannot speak either language use Google Translator. We have never hired from Rentabike. We don't live that far away from Helvetia, so always take our own bikes. Helmets are supplied. What we have noticed is that it is a good idea to take a few tools and a puncture repair outfit. They are not supplied. However it is probably not a advisable to wave your repair kit under the noses of the hire station personnel. They might not appreciate you taking their bike to bits.

Although the major Swiss bike rental company is Rentabike, there are others. We picked up a leaflet about a bike shop in Basel (Basle) called Obst&Gemüse GmbH, Kasernenstrasse 32, CH-4058 Basel, T: +41 (0)61 683 07 80, hello@obstundgemuese.org, www.obstundgemuese.org. The shop will rent you a Bakfiets, a Bullitt or a Christiana cargo bike for a weekend. If you have ever fancied buyuing one of these, but thought you would like to give it an extended try, here's your chance.

On-the-spot fines for cyclists in Zurich, Switzerland.

As promised yesterday here are a number of offences for which you as a cyclist can receive an on-the-spot fine in Zürich. I assume that similar fines apply to the rest of Switzerland, but unfortunately this blog is a nonprofit effort and we cannot afford to travel from city to city and canton to canton in Switzerland to pick up a list of fines, so for safety's sake assume that these apply throughout the country. Some of these appear to be ignored but you shouldn't push your luck. You might just meet a policeman who takes matters seriously.

You can be fined CHF 20.- :

• For riding without holding the handlebars or taking your feet off the pedals.
• Stopping on Zebra Crossings.
• Carrying an item that prevents you giving hand signals.
• Riding more than two abreast.
• Being towed or pushed.
• Cycling without lights through a lit tunnel. 
• Carrying a person who is more than seven years old, unless there is a seat for this purpose, I assume.
• Parking your bike where it is forbidden.
• Cycling without a bell or a lock.
• Cycling on too worn tyres.
• Turning right without giving a hand signal.

You can be fined  CHF 30.-:

• For ignoring traffic signs.
• Cycling on pedestrian ways.
• Cycling on a cyclepath in the wrong direction.
• Not stopping completely at a Stop sign.
• Turning left without giving a hand signal.
• Cycling in a bus lane (or does this only apply to motor cycles?)
• Cycling on a path that is not suitable for bicycles or is not intended to be used by bicycles.
• Not using a cyclepath or a bicycle stripe.

 You can be fined CHF 40.-

• For cycling without lights on a lit street during the hours of darkness.
• Cycling on the pavement (US sidewalk) or on road stripes for pedestrians.
• Carrying a person who is or less than seven years old, unless there is a seat for this purpose, I assume.
• Cycling without a rear facing reflector.

 You can be fined CHF 60.-:

• For cycling without lights on an unlit street during the hours of darkness.

• For ignoring a traffic light.

 Happy cycling!

Police on Bicycles in Zurich

We went to Zurich for a few days last week. By chance we went to the Züspa - an ideal home exhibition. The Zurich Police were represented and we enquired about bicycle police. "Oh yes", said the young policeman we asked, "we have seventy two policemen and -women on bicycles, obviously not all the time. I, myself, would normally be out there, but I am here today." He said that the bicycle police were faster across the city with its pedestrian zones and tram tracks as well as being quieter than the vehicles the other police use. These factors lead to high arrest rates for the bicycling bobbies. We were also able to get a copy of the Zurich Police list of on-the-spot fines for cycling transgressions, but that's tomorrow's blog.

Free Bike Hire in Zurich, Switzerland

From May to October, you can rent one of over 200 robust City Bikes in Zürich completely free of charge, seven days a week. Bikes can be picked up at the following locations by presenting valid ID and a returnable deposit of CHF 20.00. The bikes cannot be reserved in advance. It is intended that they are used for daily hire, nipping around the city out along the lake rather than trundling up an Alp or two for a couple of weeks. You can pick up the bikes at any hire station and return them to any other. Daytime hire is free, but an overnight hire costs 10 CHF. 

There are two hire stations opened all the year round by the Hauptbahnhof in Zurich: 
Bike Station North, Swiss National Museum: daily, 8am-9.30pm 
Bike Station South, Sihlpost: daily, 8am-9.30pm 

and a number opened in summer from May to October: 
Globus City: daily, 9am-9.30pm 
Bellevue: daily, 9am-9.30pm Bahnhof Enge: Mon-Fri: 10am-9.30pm, Sat-Sun: 9am-9.30pm Bahnhof Oerlikon, Swissotel: Mon-Fri: 12am-9.30pm, Sat: 9am-9.30pm, Sun: closed Im Viadukt: Mon-Fri: 11am-9.30pm, Sat-Sun: 9am-9.30pm 

Does our Mayor need to buy a Stetson?

There is a geological lens beneath Viernheim which might contain significent amounts of hydrocarbons - oil or gas. As the moment a team of specialists are carrying out seismic investigations and it was our turn this afternoon to watch the men at work. We should know sometime next year whether we will be shortly dancing under wildcat gushers. The earth definitely moved for us this afternoon.