New Deutsche Bahn High Speed Trains

Amazing! Deutsche Bahn German Railways has fought against putting bicycles on ICEs, their high speed flagship trains since they were first introduced more than 20 years ago.  The fat controllers have changed their minds in a big way. The latest class, the ICE4, will take at least 8 bikes, probably in summer. It is a miracle. I hope that we can use them when the trains come into service in late 2017.

Bicycle expressways in and around Heidelberg, Ludwigshafen and Mannheim

The German Fedral Government plans to invest in new cycle freeways. These will be designed to take bicycles and e-bikes with a maximum speed of about 19mph, which means no pedestrians crossing the road, no junctions and lighting when dark. These routes are not designed for day rambles out into the country, but for commuters. The Mannheim region is planning to apply for financing for several routes:

East West: Heidelberg Mannheim Ludwigshafen and farther west in to Rhineland Palatinate.
A vaguely North South route from Mannheim to Darmstadt.
A southern route towards Karlsruhe.

I am a little dubious about the design speeds. It does not sound like much fun to ride for the slow moving like Judith and I. I just just hope I can see them before I have to hand in my bicycle clips for ever.

Kalmit Klapprad 2016

We went to the annual Kalmit Klapprad meeting for the first time in 5 years on September 3rd. Quite why we've missed it in between we don't know. For those that don't read this blog the Kalmit Cup is a Klapprad bicycle race up hill to Kalmit hill (400m climb over 6km) from Maikammer a village on the edge of the Rhine Plain in the south of Rhineland Palatinate. A klapprad is a pre Brompton folding bike, maybe sitting dusty and unloved at the back of the garage. We travelled there by train with our Bromptons (5 and 10 gear models) and followed two race participants on single gear Klapprads from the railway station to climb about 100m to reach the starting line. They disappeared up the road as if I was standing still and I was half dead by the time I reached the line.
It is a serious race. The winner (male) took just over 19 minutes to reach the top. The fastest signora took somewhat over 24 minutes. However there are also prizes for the best costumes. The theme this year was Italy, so we spectators were treated to a cycling leaning Tower of Pisa, Roman Centurians, pizza delivery vans, Chianti bottles, ice cream cones and, of course, the Mafia. All good fun. This year the requirement that the riders have a mustache was dropped, but registration was only possible if the rider could give their start number in Italian!

Anyone for pizza?

Pizza trike followed by 2 gondolas

"Ben Hur" meets ""Death in Venice"

Bellisimo! The essence of Italy, the flag, the Romans, Pisa, Chianti, the Mafia

Packing for touring

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

Finding a room when touring in Germany

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

Bicycles in the Stoewer Museum in Wald-Michaelbach

Stoewer was a small motor manufacturer in Stettin (now Szczecin in Western Poland). The company is best known for its technically advanced cars. However it also built sewing machines, typewriters and bicycles. Examples of all these can be seen in the Stoewer-Museum, Michelstraße 1, Wald-Michelbach, Hesse, Germany. The museum is only open between 2 and 5 pm on the first Sunday of each month. Wald-Michelbach can be easily reached by car or by bus from Weinheim, Bergstraße. More information is available under www.stoewer-museum.de .

Questions to ask a bike hire company

If you are planning to hire a bike or an e-bike for a touring holiday then it is worthwhile checking the following points:

• Saddle:  
  • Can you take your own saddle with you and fit it before you leave? 
  • Can you leave the hire company's saddle with the hire company?
• Pedals:
  • If you normally cycle in clip pedals then check whether you can take your own with you and fit them before you leave? This is not as silly as it looks. A friend of ours hired a bike in Ireland some years ago and was surprised to see on arrival that the hire bike had the curved steel rod cranks often fitted to children's bicycles.
• Bags: 
  • Does your favoured bike have a rack? Try and avoid carrying a heavy rucksack on your back.
  • Will it take your brand of panniers?
  • Do you need a pannier? You can always buy bungees or straps to attach a small bag to the rack.
  • Can you attach a bar bag to the handlebars? This is often not possible with e-bikes.
• Locks:
  • Does the hire company offer locks free of charge?
    
  • Are they just the rear wheel frame locks beloved of cycling midwives, as seen on TV?
    
  • Can you hire a better lock so that you can attach the bike/s to a fixed object?
    
• Mudguards/Fenders:
  
  • It does rain in summer in much of Western Europe in spite of the brightly coloured photographs in the tourist office brochures. I realise that bikes with mudguards/fenders don't look as cool as those without, but muddy legs don't look cool either.. Obviously this does not apply if you are going mountain biking and are used to showering with your bike and your clothes after a day out in the hills.
• Helmet:
  
  • Helmet wearing in Europe is not compulsory. In fact in countries with heavy use of bicycles as a means of transport, e.g. Denmark, the Netherlands, it is unusual apart from keenie-beanie road men and women. If you wear a helmet when touring in these countries you run the risk of being thought a German. Some hire companies throw bike helmets in with the deal others charge you a Euro or so a day to hire.
• Punctures:
  
  • It is worth enquiring what to do in case of a puncture? Does the hire company supply a tool kit, a pump and a puncture repair outfit? Bigger supermarkets will sell cheap spanners and puncture repair kits.
• Spare batteries for e-bikes:
  
  • Hire e-bikes see some kilometres in a season, so it is worthwhile trying to pin the hire bike companies down to find out what the typical range of their batteries is to decide whether to hire a spare battery. A spare battery weighs more than a kilogram.

• Water Bottle
• Does the hire bike come with a bottle or a holder? 
• If it's just a holder would your bottle fit in it? 
• Does your pannier and/or rackpack take a bottle?
  

English is a simple language, nicht wahr?

Our local paper the German language "Mannheimer Morgen" has problems with the English language. Homophones like "boarder" for "border" are very common. However the editorial team has excelled itself in an article about the new waste heat and electricity plant in the Plymouth Royal Dockyard - designed and run by the MVV, the Mannheim utility, opened by Prince Charles this week, when it described the plant as being in the "Royal Duckyard". 

Cycling in Latvia

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

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

Adopt a Signpost!

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

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

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

Bike Hire in Wismar

The following companies offer bike hire in Wismar:


Buddha Bike´s
Owner: Martina Fritz
Dankwartstraße 49
23966 Wismar

E-Mail: info@buddha-bikes.de >>>

Telephone: +49 (0) 3841 – 4 73 62 02
www.buddha-bikes.de



Fahrrad Wulf
ABC-Straße 13
23966 Wismar
T:+49 (0) 3841 282787
Fax: +49 (0) 3841 213448
E-Mail: info@fahrradwulf.de

www.fahrradwulf.de

Both websites are in German. The word for Bike Hire is Fahrradverleih.

How you celebrate the invention of the bicycle?

As we mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Mannheim will celebrate 200 years of cycling next year. One of the suggestions made to celebrate this is that downtown Mannheim should be car free for the weekend of 11 and 12 June. This idea was suggested by the Green Party and is backed by the SPD, the German centre-left party. The reaction of the local shopkeepers could be summed up in the phrase, "Are you off your trolley?". The centre-right CDU suggested a car free Sunday. The Greens want a car free weekend and the shopkeepers pointed out with some force that 60 or so % of their turnover for the week is on Saturdays. Eighty % of the customers come from the Umland, from the region. Most of these come by car. Some shop keepers have responded by threatening to close their shops on the Saturday. One suggestion is that the roads leading to the multistorey carparks should be kept open, which does not find favour with the Greens. I personally am not that worried about a car free day, especially as trams and buses would be running normally. I do wonder what all the fuss is about. I don't think a car free day will encourage people to cycle thirty or so km into Mannheim.

Cycling the Camino's Aragon Route

We have recently walked the Aragon Route of the Way of St James: Somport Pass - Jaca - Sangüesa - Puente la Reina. I had been asked by a friend for information on the possibilities of following the trail on a mountain bike, so we kept our eyes open. 

The Aragon arm of the Camino is not the main route. It is much quieter. We saw ten other pilgrims/walkers and four cyclists in the ten days we were walking the Aragon Route. We joined the main trail for a few km on our last day. We saw about 40 pilgrims and 2 cyclists in the hour we walked down into Puenta la Reina. I suspect the Aragon Route is a lot wilder and more mountainous than the main trail. There is little information about cycling available from Tourist Offices. I enquired whenever I had chance. 

The “Camino de Santiago en bicicleta” is a club dedicated to cycling the Camino. Most of its info is in Spanish, including maps. People do cycle the route. There is a guide in Spanish available from the “Camino de Santiago en bicicleta”. The Kompass 1:100 000 walkers’ map struck us as being useless for cyclists from what we could see. 

Bicycles in German TV Police Thrillers

Judith and I are great fans of "Tatort" (Crime Scene) fresh episodes of which are shown on German TV three Sunday evenings out of four. The programme features a police team from a number of different German cities and regions. One of the most popular features a Kommissar (Inspector) and a pathologist in Münster, the cycling capitol of Germany. The inspector cycles a lot in the city centre. What I find unbelievable is that he arrives at a crime scene or a block of flats, he leaps off his bike, throws it to one side and runs into the building, leaving the bike unlocked. His bike is almost always never stolen! In one of the earlier episodes he lost his new MTB and there was a running gag of the inspector seeing his bike and running off to retrieve the bike. With this experience he still leaves his bike unlocked. Weird!

Spezi Germersheim 2016 Initial Impressions

Our first feeling was that there were too many people attending the 21st Spezi Special Bikes Show in Germersheim this year. It was very difficult to take photographs in the halls. It could have had something to do with the weather. It was brass monkey weather and wet with it, at least on Saturday, so the outdoor exhibitors definitely had to stamp their feet to keep them warm. We spent some time wandering around the three halls but I have never run round the outdoor stands as quickly.

My second feeling was why  the Germersheim Stadthalle administration cannot organise fitting fresh roller towels in the male WCs. There are four machines but in my experience over the years only one will have a wet wrinkled tail of towel hanging from it.

SPEZI is the world's largest show for recumbents, recumbent tricycles, quadracycles, folding cycles, tandems, family cycles, velomobiles, transporters, electrical bikes, special needs bikes, adult kick scooters, child and load trailers, customised designs and accessories. Our feeling was that it is still a show for the type of bike or trike that causes onlookers to ask questions. The show has got a bit slicker over the years, but it is still down to earth and you can easily spend half an hour or so chatting to chief engineer of a bike or trike company. There aren't many salesmen or -women in suits knowing little about the products only how to sell on the stands. My feeling is that we visitors are all trike/folder/cargo bike fans/freaks/nerds together with family and friends looking at vehicles for disabled or vertically challenged members or mates. The market for disabled folk plays a major role. I was surprised but I read today that Transport for London has found that around 15% of disabled people in London actively cycled for transport in 2014, compared to 18% of non-disabled people.The other trend I felt was important was city centre logistics and transport for craftsmen using cargo bikes and e-bikes. There were even four British bike or trike manufacturers represented.

Over the next few days we will write about the exhibition, but here is a photograph of the Schwalbe stand. I wanted to ask whether one could buy a 16" JUMBO JIM tyre (on the right below) for a Brompton but my nerve failed me at the last minute.

Henty Wingman

If you need to take a suit to work and you want run or ride there by bike or motorbike to arrive at work with a suit that looks presed and not like you have slept in it, then check out the Wingman from Henty: http://henty.cc/. It's a suit bag that wraps round an inner bag which you can wear as messenger bag or strap it on the bike. I have not seen the gear and the nearest stockist is in Frankfurt. Anyway I am a pensioner and have stopped going to work. From the YouTube film I've seen it looks well made and is an excellent idea, albeit very speciaised for a limited range of uses. It will take the stuff for the office like the suit, shirt, tie, shoes and socks. It will take a tablet. If you want to use anything else, like a laptop I think you will need to buy the Wingman Backpack which resembles a tubular rucsac.  

Do you need an excuse to avoid the London Marathon?

In case you wish avoid taking part in or watching the London Marathon on 24 April 2016, then consider going to the Special Bike Show in Germersheim, Germany on 23 and 24 April 2016. More interesting I suspect as well and the beer is cheaper. See you there.

A Brompton saves the day

German public television offers a fictional police procedural programme on one or other of the channels every evening. Last night (8 April 2016) we watched the latest episode of "Der Alte" on ZDF about a murder squad in Munich. The main suspect was visited by two detectives primarily to unsettle her and to what see she did next. Outside another detective waited in a large BMW to follow the suspect when the other two left. They left. Suspect comes downstairs. She climbs on a fashionable training bike, one of those mudguardless fixies and flashes off. The detective realising he cannot follow her by car, opens the boot, produces a Brompton, which he unfolds rapidly in a professional manner and nips off to follow her to the flat of a witness. The suspect intended to silence the witness for good, but the Brompton riding detective was able to arrest her and the case was almost solved.
I wonder if a Brompton is standard issue in all of the big BMWs driven by the Munich Police on TV? Will we see more of our beloved bicycles in future? The series has just come to an end at the moment, so we will have to wait a few months to see.

E-bikes for the over 60s

As we wrote recently, we borrowed two e-bikes over the Easter weekend to take part in a course for whiteheads in Mannheim organised by the Police at the Jugendverkehrsschule (Road Safety Centre for Children). We spent the Easter weekend cycling with electrical assistance around the neighbourhood. On Tuesday afternoon nine e-bikers met and listened to a policeman who himself has no car and uses an e-bike for transport on:

• legal aspects of e-bikes in Germany, 
• e.g. maximum allowed speed, 
• pedal assisted rather than electrically propelled
• no need for a licence plate or insurance placard 
• helmet not proscribed but very highly recommended
• motor position
• Most useful of all for us was the statement that if one hires an e-bike as one leaves the hire station one should securely mount the bottom on the saddle and both feet on the pedals before starting pedalling to keep control of the bike. It is difficult to keep control of the bike standing up with one foot on a pedal.
• discussion on helmets and the Swedish head airbag system.

The police officers then checked the positioning of our helmets on our heads -

• one finger between eyebrow and front of helmet
• the down straps should be vertical
• maximum two fingers space between chinstrap and neck. 

We went out to the test track where he cast an eye over the various bikes. The Road Safety Centre has a model road layout with roundabout and we were soon pedalling round the track weaving our way through slaloms, cycling tighter and tighter circles and braking to order. This went on for three quarters of an hour before we retired to the classroom again to drink a cup of coffee and do the written road safety test normally done by school children. We passed the test.
We then got on our bikes for a half hour ride round very quiet suburban roads with a policeman front and back.
We can recommend this type course highly especially if one has not cycled for some years. If your local or regional police do not offer this course then check out your local bike shop or the local cycling club to encourage them to organise this type of course.

Changing trains in Augsburg Station and enjoying the odd snack

Augsburg Hauptbahnhof - Central Railway, or if you insist, Train Station has long been a bête noire where we were concerned. It is one of the few major German railway stations without lifts/elevators and so if you are going to change trains here give yourselves plenty of time. You need to walk and carry your plus baggage down a steep flight of steps to the tunnel running under the lines and then up another steep flight to get to the platform you need. If you cycle to Füssen along the Romantic Road, for example and wish to take local trains back to the main lines then Augsburg is one place you can change to a long-distance train. The good news is that lifts/elevators should arrive in 2021 or 2022. Until then it is probably better to travel via Munich.
This is a pity because you will miss a snack bar called URBAN Fu:D in the Augsburg Hauptbahnhof which offers an excellent range of freshly made snacks, muffins, coffee, tea, etc. It is opposite the bookshop in the entrance area of the station.

First impressions of an e-bike

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

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

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

We see at least two major problems:

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

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

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

It's almost 200 years since the first bike ride

A von Drais hobby horse

On 12 June 1817 Karl von Drais left Mannheim to travel down to "Schwetzinger Relaishaus" (a coaching inn in Rheinau, a suburb of Mannheim) for a quick refreshment. He cycled, he scooted or he pushed his hobby horse or draisine on Baden's best road which is why he went to Rheinau. It was less than 5 miles. The round trip took him little more than an hour, but it was the "small step for a man and a big step for mankind". It was the start of individual horseless transport. It was the first bicycle.
Although Mannheim is better known as the birthplace of the motor car due to Karl Benz, the city is going to celebrate the 200th anniversary of this ride in a big way.

• There will be a major exhibition on the bicycle in the provincial museum of science and industry: Technoseum from 11 November 2016 until 25 June 2017 - Zwei Räder 200 Jahre Two wheels 200 years. The exhibition will show original hobby horses, historic bicycles and special developments along with social aspects of the bicycle's development and its changing image over the centuries.
• From May to September 2017 films are going to be shown in unusual spots all over Mannheim. The audience will supply the power via bike dynamos.
• Tour de Karl On 2 June 2017 children from classes 4 to 6 will follow the route taken by Karl Drais from Mannheim city centre to Rheinau.

Tour de Karl 2015 Waiting around for the start

• Monnem Bike - das Festival Three days of bicycle events from 10 - 12 June 2017 including hobby horse racing, the recumbent bicycle world championships and a World Klapp event - racing on modified or original Klapprads.
• Monnem Bike - die Show The Finale is an event with theatre and music in the courtyard of the Mannheim Schloß on 16 September 2017.

Mannheim is lies in the middle of good cycling country and is not far from Germersheim, home of the SPEZI Special Bicycle Show, so next year would be a good year to visit SPEZI and get new design ideas by reviewing the history of the bicycle.

Ways of encouraging cycling to work

We are thinking of building a bicycle box for the front of the house and came across the Velo-Boxx which is manufactured in Belgium. It would appear that Belgian tax laws are very cyclist friendly:

Pursuant to article 64 (b) of the Belgian Income Tax Code (WIB of 1992; assessment year 2010), the Velo-Boxx is a 120% deductible expenditure;
ｰ all costs incurred or borne that relate specifically to encouraging employees to cycle to and from work to the extent that any such costs have been incurred or borne in order to:
- Acquire real estate, to build or renovate a facility for parking cycles during the
working hours of the employees; or
- Provide sanitary conveniences or changing rooms, with showers as appropriate.

An excellent idea.

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

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

Bicycle and e-bike hire in the upper Rhine Valley (Southern Rhineland Palatinate, North Baden) in Germany

Bellorange Fahrradverleih offers a range of hire bicycles in the South of Rhineland Palatinate and North Baden (Black Forest) for both short and long periods. The website is in German, but you can check the location of the bike stations, look at prices "Preise" on the website or ring the company on +49 6323 957 423 1,  where you can chat in English. Bikes can be picked up in:

• Edenkoben.
• Bad Bergzabern.
• Wörth.
• Speyer.
• Bad Dürkheim.
• Bad Wildbad.
• Enzklösterle.

Bikes can be returned to other locations. Many hotels in the area offer this company's bikes for hire. Many of the hire sites only have a few bicycles and so, it is necessary to book, at the latest, a few days in advance. For the busy periods, school holidays, public holidays and the like, for example, it is better to book as soon as you can.

There are two sites in Edenkoben, one of which is the company's central warehouse. This is near to the railway station. Bike hire here is at the time of writing 10% cheaper than in the other locations. Need we say more? Information about rail travel in Germany can be found on http://www.bahn.co.uk and local public transport (bus, railway and ferries) in Rhineland Palatinate and Northern Baden-Württemberg  can found on http://www.vrn.de.

Prices are reasonable. There are serious discounts for multi day and for group hire.
The company offers:

• Touring bikes with 8 gear hub gears and a back pedal brake.
• Touring bikes with 24 gear derailleur gears.
• Premium touring bikes with 30 gear derailleur gears.
• Mountain bikes.
• Pedelecs (e-bikes). As long as all goes well we hope we can hire at least two of these bikes to follow the Rhineland Palatinate Route, mentioned last week.
• Trailers for drink crates, dogs and children. Not all at the same time.
• Helmets.
• Gloves and other oddments. 
• Extra batteries for e-bikes.

We have yet to hire from the company, but from our written contact it seems to be well organised. We will report after our trip later in the year.

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

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

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

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

Car fasting in Lent 2016

Last year we wrote about the Lent car fasting action of the protestant church in Rheinland Palatinate and Luxembourg. The action was a success and over 2000 people took part. The action is being repeated this year from tomorrow February 21 to March 20: http://blog.bistum-trier.de/autofasten/?page_id=3 (in German and French*). It strikes us as an good idea to give up using one's car or using it less for a month and walking, cycling, taking public transport or forming a car pool. It has obvious health, social and environmental benefits. From the point of view of health it is probably more effective than giving up cream cakes for a month.

*Even text from religious organisations can be roughly translated used Google Translator.

Cycle round Rhineland-Pfalz and effectively climb up to Tibet

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

Sending bicycles from Britain to western Europe

About three years ago we wrote a series of small articles for the atob.org.uk website on travelling to Europe accompanied by a bicycle. We are in process doing a major spring clean and revision of these articles. Unfortunately the slow death of sleeper trains in Europe means that the Paris-Munich and Amsterdam-Copenhagen CityNightLine trains no longer run. These were keystone routes in our suggestions to whisk cyclists and bicycles across the continent. The night trains have been replaced by early morning high speed trains, but these unfortunately do not often take bicycles unless disassembled and put in bags. Apart from flying or hiring one cure for this problem is to send your bicycle on in advance and you can travel across Europe on High Speed Trains unencumbered by a bike bag. I recently came across two British firms that organise shipment. You can send the bike to one place and have it picked up somewhere else for the return, so a long linear ride along a river valley, for example, becomes a possibility. Unlike hiring a bike the you do not have to return it to the starting point. Details, prices, delivery times can be found on the websites.

• Luggage Mule UK Telephone:  0161 870 2364 or 0161 870 2175 Website: https://www.luggagemule.co.uk/
• First Luggage, Telephone +44(0)1895 254 240 (Main Number), 0800 083 5503 (UK toll free) Website: http://firstluggage.com/

Baggage (especially bicycles) forwarding within Germany.

Deutsche Bahn, German Railways offer baggage forwarding services including bicycles. The company does not transport baggage itself, but uses a German logistics company called Hermes. Information about these door to door services is only available in German.You cannot send your bike from a station to another, i.e. you will need a pick up address in Germany and a shipping address. The space formerly occupied by baggage express services on the station will now be filled by a shop selling ladies' underwear or a night club. Such is progress. However you can send a bicycle in two or three days from any German address to any other German address for 27.50€.  If you inform the railways of your wish to send one or more bikes, the pick up service will bring you packing for it or them. For four Euros more you can specify a three hour time window when the bike/s will be picked up. If you send the bike to an airport then it will be stored until you pick it up. You will have to pay a few Euros a day charges, but in case you have damaged your bike or yourself, shipping your bike might be worth doing, rather than lugging it about with you.

E-road bikes?

I came across an advertisement today in our Sunday paper for a local big shed bicycle dealer who is currently selling over 1000 bikes at much reduced prices. The E-bike section caught my eye. In addition to sensible bikes like second hand Flyers at 55% cheaper than the new price and new Kalkhoff Agattu Impulse for ca 1500 Euros, a saving of 600 Euros, there are also E-mountain bikes and E-road bikes for sale. I can just about understand the concept of E-mountain bike. There was an article in "Panorama", the German Alpine Club's magazine last year about a group of more mature cyclists (65+) who cycled one of the Transalp MTB routes and used the extra power to ascend steeper bits on the way. This is not a bad wheeze, especially at my time of life. However a road bike is a fitness machine and to add electrical power to make life easier is a bit like having an escalator to reach a fitness studio on the first floor.

Aldi Süd solar power

Over the last few years Aldi Süd, the German discounter, has installed solar photo-voltaic collectors on the roofs of one thousand of its German stores and logistic centres. The electricity collected is mainly used to power the stores, depots and offices. A little however is used at fifty stores in South and West Germany to power charging stations for cars and e-bikes, so while cyclists and motorists are visiting the store they can top their batteries free of charge. Not a bad idea and it would be good if other stores and shopping centres could do the same.

Wertheim, A new town joins the Romantic Road Part II

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

Bicycle transfer on Majorca

We received the following email from Mallorcan company. We thought the information might be of interest to cyclists planning a visit to Mallorca this winter and spring.

2016 CYCLING SEASON……….Majorca Airport Transfers is a reliable specialist provider of transfers for passengers travelling with bikes, from Palma airport to all locations on Majorca.  Each year our regular cycle training groups and individual customers come to Majorca from all over Europe, North America and Canada for training / competition events in Puerto Pollensa, Alcudia and Paguera.

*********

2016 FAHRRADSAISON..... Majorca Airport Transfers ist ein zuversichtlicher Spezialist für Fahrgäste die mit Fahrrädern in Fahrradtaschen oder in Hartschalenkoffern

reisen.  Wir können Ihnen einen zuversichtlichen Transport vom Flughafen von Palma zu Ihrem Urlaubsziel auf Mallorca anbieten.  

Jedes Jahr und in einem regelmässigen  Zyklus kommen aus ganz Europa , Nordamerika und Kanada Radsportfahrer die hier trainieren oder an Wettkämfen teilnehmen die hier auf der Insel stattfinden und unseren Servíce nutzen.

From our customer reception office in Palma airport arrivals hall, flights are monitored for any delays to ensure transport is always available. Transfers are by quality vehicles (mainly Mercedes) with secure sturdy box trailers for the bikes or minibuses/coaches for passengers and bikes.

We also have a low cost Shuttlebus service. Example. 1 passenger with luggage and 1 bike in bag or hard case just 46 euro return to and from Puerto Pollensa or Alcudia.

Whatever your transfer requirements with bikes please e-mail us for a competitive quotation.   info@majorca-airport-transfers.com

**********

Von unserem Kundenbüro aus, dass sich in der Ankunftshalle vom Flughafen Palma befindet, überprüfen wir Ihre Flüge so das Ihr Transfer auch bei Verzögerungen und Verspätungen gewährleistet werden kann.  Die Transfers werden nur in hochwertigen Fahrzeugen ausgeführt, hauptsächlich Mercedes sowie in Kleinbussen und Bussen für Fahrgäste und Räder, die mit einem sicheren stabilen Trailer extra für Fahrräder mit Sicherheitsboxen ausgestattet sind. 

Wir können unseren Kunden kostengünstige Transfers anbieten Zum Beispiel :  1 Fahrgast mit Gepäck und einer Fahrradtasche oder Hardschalenbox wäre der Preis 46 € für die Hin und Rückfahrt nach Puerto Alcudia oder nach Puerto Pollenca.

Wie auch immer Ihr Transportbedarf mit Fahrrädern ist, um Ihnen ein wettbewerbsfähiges Angebot zu machen, wenden Sie sich bitte per e-mail an uns. admin3@european-airport-transfers.com

EUROPEAN AIRPORT TRANSFERS SL

Majorca Airport Transfers - Menorca Airport Transfers - Ibiza Airport Transfers

Edificio Túcan,

Avda Túcan 33, Esc 3, 2ºD

07400 Port d'Alcudia

Tel:  (0034) 971 549497   Fax:   (0034) 971 549875

Móvil:  (0034) 664 267644

Email: info@european-airport-transfers.com

www.majorca-airport-transfers.com   :   www.palma-airport-transfers.com

www.menorca-airport-transfers.com  :   www.ibiza-airport-transfers.com

De conformidad con la Ley Orgánica 15/1999 de Protección de Datos y su reglamento de desarrollo, le informamos que sus datos personales se incluirán en un fichero responsabilidad de EUROPEAN AIRPORT TRANSFERS SL. con la finalidad de gestionar las comunicaciones necesarias, así como realizar acciones de publicidad y prospección comercial. Usted podrá ejercitar sus derechos de acceso, rectificación, cancelación y oposición, dirigiéndose a la siguiente dirección:

EUROPEAN AIRPORT TRANSFERS SL., Avda Tucán 33, Esc. 3, 2ºD, 07400 Puerto de Alcudia, Illes Baleares.

E-bike hire in Feuchtwangen

Rental- and Service / Prices

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

Services

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

Rates:

One day 20€

Three days 35€

One week 60€

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

Bicycle and e-bike hire in Dinkelsbühl

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

T:09851 902-440

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

E-bikes can be hired from the same office:

Rates:

One day 20€

Three days 35€

One week 60€

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

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

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

Knooppunts (navigation nodes) on the Rhine Bicycle Route

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

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

A sentence or two I found in Huffington Post recently:

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

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

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

Schools and Bicycles in Viernheim Part II

More on bikes in Viernheim…

We wrote to the member of staff who runs the bike team and he summed up the thinking behind the idea better than we could:

"…teenagers onto their bikes instead of watching them wait for their parents to take care of even such simple things in life as going to school.

Viernheim is small enough to make them all go by bike. I hope that once they have tried and realized that it is quicker, more convenient, and most of all it makes you independent from your parents, pupils will continue to enjoy the comforts of a bicycle."


This is an example that others could follow.

Schools and bicycles in Viernheim

A quick tale to cheer the heart, which in times like this, we all need.

Viernheim has an extensive sport park to the west of the town (or city if you're an American). There are two secondary schools, one secular and one Roman Catholic about 2km away north east of the town. The schools have sports lessons at the park that are two teaching periods, i.e. 1h30m long. It is a bit far to walk, so rather than using a bus or Mama-Taxi, the staff at the secular school investigated the option of the kids cycling to the sports park in groups supervised by a member of staff. The schools and the sports park are linked by a cycle paths. The journey would probably take about quarter of hour and allow a sensible period of time for sport training. In addition the children would learn about cycling in the town and recognise the use of the bicycle for short journeys. Many of the children at both schools come by bicycle, but there was a problem with children who lived far away or who came by Mama-Taxi. After making inquiries it was found that about 10 bicycles would cover any deficit amongst the children's bicycles. There then arose two problems:  where to get the bicycles and where to store them. 

• German school budgets are under pressure as are public budgets anywhere. The staff at the school turned to Andreas Hofmann, who runs one of the local bike shops. He chatted up sponsors and manufacturers and came up with trumps with 10  simple robust bicycles for about €2000.
• The staff at the secular school realised that their school did not have storage for all 10 bikes and enquired of the RC school who found they could store 5 bicycles. Both schools now share the use of the bicycles and storage. 

The story with photograph  can be found under http://www.morgenweb.de/region/sudhessen-morgen/viernheim/mit-rad-zum-sportunterricht-1.2525603 (in German).

Wertheim, A new town joins the Romantic Road Part I

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

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

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

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

Bike Hire in SW France

Bike touring in France is getting better year by year and I was interested to come across a bike hire company in Southwestern France. Bike Direct offers a good range of touring bikes, tandems and accessories at reasonable prices (http://bikehiredirect.com). We have cycled in this area and it was very enjoyable.

Bike hire is offered in the Charente (16), Charente Maritime (17), Dordogne (24), Gironde (33), Deux-Sevres (79), Vienne (86), Haute-Vienne (87) and from 2015 in the Vendee (85). - See more at: http://bikehiredirect.com/#sthash.UONMKkxK.dpuf

Bike hire is offered in the Charente (16), Charente Maritime (17), Dordogne (24), Gironde (33), Deux-Sevres (79), Vienne (86), Haute-Vienne (87) and from 2015 in the Vendee (85). - See more at: http://bikehiredirect.com/#sthash.DSE5Dbhi.yvQrfWNi.dpuf

Moselle Valley News

The cycleway along the Moselle Valley near Metz in Lorraine, known by the French as la véloroute "Charles le Téméraire" (V50 Moselle Saone) has been extended to Moulins-lès-Metz. This means it is possible to cycle on quiet roads or cycleways from the French-German-Luxembourg border to Moulins-lès-Metz. After that our feeling is that it is better to cycle up into the hills as described in our book: "The Riesling Route".

Mannheim's battle with the bicycle

To take one of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's epigrams about Cologne slightly out of context, but still on the Rhine: Mannheim, Germany, whose "…pavements are fanged with murderous stones", has problems with bicycles. Agreed the first trip by the hobby horse, the forerunner of the bicycle was made in the city. To this day local school kids follow his route one day of the year and there will be major big time celebrations in 2017 two hundred years after the day when Karl Drais swung his leg over the not very comfortable seat of his invention and propelled it and himself to a pub in Rheinau, at that time a nearby village, now a suburb of Mannheim.
However after that Carl Benz built a cycle car, but still a car and his wife nipped off to Pforzheim in 1886 to come back the next day. The age of idly sitting about during individual travel was upon us. The Daimler company, successor to Carl Benz, still builds buses and lorry engines in Mannheim. The next Mannheim inventor in this area of technology was Heinrich Lanz, initially an importer of American and British farm equipment who developed the Bulldog tractors, propelled by a semi-diesel motor. Mannheim can truly be said to be a pioneer city for individual travel, both motorised and unmotorised.
Is it a bicycle city as is repeatedly declaimed by the city fathers? I doubt it. There are some good cycle paths and there is an active cycling community, but it is still major fight to cut down space on the roads for motorists. Without this there will be no real improvements for cyclists.

Bike repair for schoolchildren

The Heidelberg branch of the ADFC, the German cycling club offers weekly repair sessions every Monday where young people can learn to carry out simple repairs on their bicycles. These free sessions - Schüler-Radwerkstatt on Mondays between 15:00 and 18:00 are led by four youngsters and the training officer of the ADFC Heidelberg.  These sessions give young people the chance to repair their bikes under instruction and thereby learn to carry out simple repairs to their bicycles. It strikes us as a good idea that could be taken up by bike clubs and youth groups elsewhere.

Rhone Cycle Route - Valence

I have written before that the French have discovered the advantages of cycle tourists for the hotel and restaurant trade. We recently stopped overnight near Valence in one of the B&B chain hotels which are normally slightly out of town centres. We decided in the morning to cycle into Valence and took the Rhone Cycle Route. I don't how the rest of the route is, but if this stretch was typical for a conurbation then the French have cracked cycle touring. It was initially on a footpath/cyclepath along the Rhone bank and then followed quiet well signposted roads into the city centre. The town did not seem to be as old as Avignon, Nimes or Orange, but it made for a pleasant morning, swanning round the town on our Bromptons, peering in a number of very odd shops. Napoleon was a member of an artillery unit there before his rise to power. There is a life sized statue of him reading some military tome much favoured by the selfie types to add a little spice to their photographs.

Good clear signposting

Frequent clear information boards

Judith caught me looking over Boney's shoulder.

Cycle touring in Provence around Mont Ventoux

Every time we go to France I notice the growth in cycle routes and cycle touring facilities. Gone are the days when the only technique, which was a good one, for the cycle tourist was to follow the white roads on the Michelin maps. It still is a good way for cyclists to get about, because France is a big largely empty country, but these days there are many cycle circuits and  signposted long distance routes available to the cyclist.
We were in Malaucène recently. This village sits at the start of one of the routes up Mont Ventoux often a make or break climb on the Tour de France.  Its bars, shops and streets are filled with the Lycra® clad. We did, by chance, have our Bromptons with us in the back of the car, but since the hill has been conquered by not just one, but several dozen Bromptoneers

(e.g. http://www.freewheelingfrance.com/where-to-go/cycling-ventoux-brompton.html, 

http://velojanaway.co.uk/velojanaway/bromptoux/mont-ventoux-brompton-queen-stage/), 

and because we were visiting non-cycling friends, we decided not to bother shocking the Lycra®-clad and spent our time travelling about the area, eating large meals, etc. The kind of thing many of us do in France.
As conscientious bloggers we investigated the cycling possibilities of the area in various tourist offices and found piles of pamphlets describing circuits on the south side of Mont Ventoux. These are available in digital form on the Provence Cycling website: (http://www.provence-cycling.co.uk).

A sunny day near Mont Ventoux

Cycling in the Autumn along the Carp Route

There is much to recommend waiting until the shorter days before setting off along the Carp Cycleway: Fewer people, hotels still open and welcoming, autumn colours to see, carp harvesting and the opportunity to eat them.
We first came across the Karpfen Radweg (Carp Cycle Trail) as we were late cycling out of Feuchtwangen to our hotel in the nearby village of Thürnhofen. "It is easy, not steep, avoids the main road and takes you right past your hotel", advised the guy in the tourist office.
Since then we’ve returned many times, to walk or cycle past the many carp lakes dotted around Feuchtwangen and Dinkelsbühl. Carp ponds were a feature of local life as monasteries flourished here some 800 years ago. The monks were required to eat fish on Fridays or during fasting and as the monasteries began so towns and traders followed. It seems carp prefer to live in sluggish or dammed streams, feeding on plants, worms or crustaceans close to the mud floors. After about three years in the ponds they were big enough to harvest, by netting or draining the ponds. In early days, before refrigeration they were only eaten in certain months, after capture and being stored alive in clear running water to cleanse them. Now you can eat them at almost any season, since they can be frozen, though they still taste a bit muddy in our opinion. After the monasteries were secularised by Napoleon, many of the carp ponds probably began to silt up and disappear. However business in carp, a Christmas delicacy in many parts of Europe, now seems to be booming and the Karpfen Radweg extends from Dinkelsbühl to Erlangen some 210 km distant along river valleys and through picturesque villages and towns. En route you will find hotels and guest houses, restaurants and hundreds of carp ponds in the folds of the landscape. The route lies mostly on quiet roads, well signposted and past other cultural landscapes like the Obstwiesen, often ancient apple, pear and plum orchards. Go at the right time and you can gather walnuts too.
This is secret, leisurely Franken, away from the madding hordes in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, across old river bridges over the Altmühl, a Danube tributary and bypassing the towers of Nürnberg. The route could be pleasantly completed in a week, and there are others following on from Nürnberg if you wish. More information is available on the Romantic Franken website: http://www.romantisches-franken.de/. Some of the pages are in German so use a translator app.

Excellent signposting

A mediaeval protein factory

The trees are old and the apples often too sour to eat…

VW and the diesel engine exhaust software fiddle mess

So the big news of this week which has largely pushed the refugees off the pages of the German press is VW's fixing of the software used to control diesel motors, so that under test conditions the car used up to 5% more fuel per mile, but emitted less nitrogen oxide. In normal operation the motor did not meet the values laid down by legislation. VW will in all probability modify the software controlling the motor so that it uses more fuel in future, but emits less nitrogen oxides. This could well mean that VW owners in Britain and elsewhere probably will have to pay 5% more fuel costs and maybe more tax, as the amount of pollution put out by the car often determines the road tax paid by the owner.

To make one thing clear. I am horrified by the actions of VW. I am also amazed. My experience of German engineers after 30 or so years working in German industry has been that they are pernickety in the extreme and thus not always easy to work with, but I have never had any reason to doubt their honesty, at least at work, apart from filling out travel expense forms.

VW diesel car owners are faced with the prospect of ca. 5% higher fuel costs.

If you have a diesel engined car what do do when the costs rise? A few answers:

• Get on your bike. Up to 5 miles distance a bike is as quick as car especially when you don't have to find a parking spot. 
• If the cycling possibilities in your neighbourhood are restricted or even life threatening join an organisation like the CTC in Britain or the League of American Bicyclists in the USA to press for improvements. The day that the CTC or the League has as many members as the motoring organisations is the day when politicians will really sit up and listen.
• Walk. Think about buying a pensioner Ferrari, i.e. a shopping trolley. Use your local shops.
• We do most of our shopping on foot or by bike. We buy less but we still have enough to eat. We throw less stuff away though. 
• If there is any, take public transport. It helps if it is electrically powered like a tram or Bombardier's clever induction charged battery buses. 
• Plan your trips so that you don't need to drive as far.

A cycle museum on the Rhine

The Rheinhessisches Fahrradmuseum, Schloß Ardeck, Schlossgasse 12, 55435 Gau-Algesheim between Mainz and Bingen on the left bank of the Rhine is a small bicycle museum. It is open on public holidays and Sundays between Easter and the second Sunday in October from 11am to 5pm. The website gives details of arranging a tour outside of opening hours. It has four departments: The bicycle in Rhine-Hessen, the bicycle as a means of transport, the bicycle in art and cycle sport. Entrance is free, but there is nothing to stop you giving a donation. http://www.fahrradmuseum-rheinhessen.de/startseite.html in German.
It'll be open this  year in 2015, on 3, 4 and 11 October 2015, so if you are planning a Rhine tour it's worth organising it, so you can visit the Schloß. We don't mention the Schloß and its museum in our two Rhine guides, but I will put them in shortly. The Rhine guides are available as e-books from Smashwords and your local branch of Amazon: “The Rhine End to End part 2: Basel to the North Sea", "Following the Rhine gently upstream Rotterdam to Basel. A Cycle Tourist's Guide".

The ten most beautiful bikes in 2015

In recent weeks both the BBC and the "Observer" (A British heavy Sunday newspaper) have featured reviews of bicycles, in all cases by their motor car journalists. I do begin to wonder whether these characters actually ride bikes rather than just praising their aesthetic qualities. If we ignore the full enclosed cycles, less than half the bikes shown in the BBC list have mudguards (fenders) and none of the "Observer"bikes shown over the last three weeks had any mudguards. Has it stopped raining in Britain these days? No mudguards means not only wet legs, but wet, dirty legs and the black stripe down the back of the shirt shown, for example, displayed by Chris Froome on his yellow jersey during the last day of the Tour de France on the Champs Elysee. I despair, I really do. If we are going to have articles on bikes, what about articles on bikes normal folk can afford and that can be used as a means of transport and why do motoring correspondents have to write them?

Mannheim powers through Part II

Did the app used by Mannheim to encourage cyclists and maybe non cyclists to cycle to work function. In our case definitely yes. Unfortunately we were away on walking trips for much of early September, but we definitely put in some hours on the bikes to get us out of Finland when we got back.

Cycling Tours up, and around Mont Ventoux

By chance we were stopping in the excellent Domaine des Tilleuls Hotel de Charme in Malaucene, one of the hotels of the Ventoux Club Hôtelier association (www.ventoux-hotel.fr) last weekend and met a group travelling with Forever Holidays Ltd. I was impressed with the friendly but clear, professional way the guide prepared the customers, a group of road bike men, for their trip around  Mont Ventoux. If you are interested in pulling on the Lycra and pushing aluminium or carbon fibre bikes up some serious hills in France with sag wagon backup, but are worried about not having any French or travelling around an area without any noticeable public transport then check the company out. You do not have to be male to travel with the company, this particular group was all male, but the female of the species is obviously welcome too. The company also offers bike hire and self guided tours.

Road bikes for hire in Berlin

If you are looking for a road bike to hire in Berlin, then check out:

Aspire Cycling (Road bike specialist)
This company delivers your bike to your hotel, B&B, crash pad etc. It offers Canyon Carbon Frame Endurance CF bikes. The company also offers guided tours. The company is not cheap but offers value for money especially when you check out the prices the airlines will charge you to get your bike to Berlin, the quality of their bikes and the service they offer. At the time of writing the first day's hire cost 65€ with serious reductions for longer term hire.
http://aspirecycling.com/
info@aspirecycling.com
T: +49 173 7457479

Emergency Services for Cyclists

Like a lot of cyclists over the age of 18 we also own a motor car. When we are travelling in the thing we know that if it starts to make funny noises, a tyre punctures or the gears stop functioning we can ring a motor club hotline and sooner or later a representative of the club or a contract garage will appear and repair the damage. Until recently these services were not available in Germany for cyclists. If your bicycle gears went belly up, you needed to walk or get transport to the next town or village to find a bike shop or if your bike was stolen, you had to find a bike hire station, etc. This service for cyclists has been available in the Netherlands from the ANWB for some time. I was pleased to read that the German ADFC is now offering a similar service (ADFC-PannenhilfePLUS) as an additional package to members for 11.90€ (individual) or 19.90€ (family) annually covering the EU and Switzerland and Norway. A 24 hour hotline will provide those insured with information about bike repair workshops and bike hire stations, send a sag wagon if the bike is damaged beyond repair or organise a return home. This applies to all bicycle problems except punctures. This could well be adopted by other bicycle clubs, even the CTC, the cycling charity. Then of course the various clubs could cooperate to make life easier for cyclists travelling abroad, but is this asking too much?

Saving weight when touring by bicycle, can you take it too far?

This is a cautionary tale that's worth bearing mind when you come to pack for the tour. Judith talked to a member of our walking club during a ramble. We are well known as cyclists and enjoy discussing cycling, so we are often asked our opinion about cycling matters. It turns out that the member and her husband started to save weight when cycle touring using hotels by not packing any nightwear. We assume they slept in the altogether. All went well until they found that the hotel they'd booked had showers/WCs across the corridor from their room rather than having facilities en suite. We always take simple night attire: a T-shirt and a pair of boxer shorts for me and an old thin light weight nightshirt for Judith. I don't think the extra weight adds much to the load.