Day 24 Flying Home

We set off pretty early from the hotel, about 7:30. It was great cycling through a big town at that time on a Sunday morning with the streets deserted, the only hazard being the tram lines.  We had absolutely no problem getting to the airport where we packaged up the bikes in big plastic  bags which we had carried all the way from home, we also taped our panniers and rucksacks together with parcel tape to reduce the number of bags we had to check in (airlines charge by the bag which is a bit of a pain in the bum when you have umpteen bags attached to various parts of your bike)

Check in was absolutely no hassle and a straightforward flight home,(much easier than trying to get bikes on a train in the UK)', the only problem being that we missed Andy Murray winning Wimbledon.

We've had a great trip, it was tough at times but the number of changes in the landscape and all the different styles of towns and cities we went through were fantastic. Travelling by bike you always get involved in conversation with other people, either other cycle tourists or just people who are curious to know what you are up to.

It would have been good to have had a longer time to do the journey as there were times when we would have liked to have spent longer in particular places, but we always knew that would be the case on this trip.

Due to the fact that we could only afford. 3 weeks holiday this was always going to be a challenge to see if we could complete this journey rather than a sight seeing trip.  This inevitably means that you sometimes don't always get to see as much of places as you would like, however on the other hand you do get to see a hell of a lot of places, and it gives you a great list of places to return to.

Here is a link to a rough map of our trip, it doesn't exactly follow the cycle tracks and roads which we took, (so don't follow the directions!) However it does follow our general route.

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/fullscreen/184077052/

The big question now is where next??

Today's miles 6  (by bike)

Total miles 1166

Countries travelled through 7 (including Scotland and England)

Continents crossed 1

Numbers of smiles - thousands!

Day 23 Venice

No biking today, instead it was a walk of a couple of hundred metres from our hotel to the bus stop then straight in to Venice itself.  Our hotel receptionist had given us plenty of information on how to get in to Venice but as we queued for the tickets for the water bus it was obvious that a lot of other people were totally confused which meant that it took a while to get our tickets.  The No1 (slow) water bus is a great way to travel down the Grand Canal, stopping every few hundred metres for passengers to get on and off, whilst dodging water taxis, gondolas and aquatic scaffy carts!

We took the water bus right down to St Marks square then spent the rest of the day wandering about on foot along with the thousands of other tourists, we've heard more English spoken today (usually with an American accent) than we have in the last three weeks.

Venice was a spectacular destination to end our trip and definitely one of those "must see" places, but it was no more spectacular than some of the small mountain villages we rolled through which generally seemed much more real.

Tomorrow we just need to find a way to the Airport!

Day 22 Citadella - Mestre

Well yesterday's guess of 30 miles to Venice was spot on.  Despite the lack of cycle paths our route was pretty straightforward following the minor roads through a series of small towns.  The landscape was much less spectacular than the last week or so, but the roads were flat, smooth and fairly quiet.  It was hot today, about 35 degrees, but we got a decent breeze as we swept along at a fairly fast pace, wheeching round roundabouts like a 2 man breakaway in the Tour de France (although carrying a bit more luggage!)

We had no problems finding our way into Mestre and the Hotel Vivit which will be our base for the next 2 nights before flying home.  The hotel is in a great location in one of the main Piazza's of Mestre ( the mainland part of Venice). The shopping is also excellent and has been taken advantage of, well as much as is possible with limited space in Sandra's panniers. Tomorrow  we'll have a wander round Venice itself. Unfortunately my camera has decided to pack in so I'll need to see how the new phone works as a camera, the results so far seem ok.

That's virtually all of the biking done for this trip and it feels a bit weird not to be planning tomorrow's route, although Sandra's already wondering where we're going next year!

Today's miles 30

Total miles1160

Day 21 Arsie - Citadella

Yet another great day's biking.  We started off pretty early this morning, on the road before 8:00 and starting the day with a climb of about 500 feet  The lake was pretty spectacular.

After that there was a fantastic descent down a wee single track road with loads of hairpin bends. It had been closed to traffic due to subsidence but fortunately we were able to get out at the bottom where we ended up in the small village of Cismon del Grappa for breakfast.  The valley of the river Brenta is really narrow at this point and the village is entirely surrounded by huge cliffs, in winter it must make Kinlochleven look like a sun trap!

 We then carried on down the river Brenta with steep mountains on either side until we came to Bassano del Grappa where the alps very suddenly stopped and we were on to the flat plain just west of Venice.

Unfortunately not only did the alps stop suddenly, so did the cycle tracks.  We had originally planned to go the whole way from Arsie to Venice in one day, but as we still have a spare day in hand we decided to stop off early at a hotel in The walled town of Citadella which probably leaves us about 30 miles to Venice tomorrow

Miles today 40 

Miles total 1130

Ascent today 948 feet (which was surprising as most of it felt downhill after our initial climb)

Day 20 Caldonazzo - Arsie

               This mornings ride was a fairly gentle descent down the Val Sugana, again on fantastic cycle tracks surrounded by hills on both  sides. 

We stopped at Borgo for a break to find a huge market in full swing in the middle of the old town where we had a wander round and a quick snack.  

We then carried on to Tezze where there was a campsite marked on the map we picked up at last nights campsite, however when we asked at the bici grill, (a snack bar for cyclists along the route ) we found that it didn't exist although they offered to let us set up our tent in the neighbouring field.  We decided to carry on to the next campsite at Arsie which involved a bit of a climb up from Primolano past an old fort which had obviously seen some action.

Arsie is a bit quiet apart from the occasional rustle of tumbleweed, although it is in a picturesque setting by the lake.  We now have two days to get to Venice but haven't quite worked out the route yet or where we plan to stop tomorrow night as there don't seem to be many campsites from here on.  Our plan is to find the tourist information office in Bassano del Grappo tomorrow and take it from there.

Today's miles 40

Total miles 1090

Day 19 Ora - Caldonazzo

You'd have thought that after crossing the alps the climbing was all over....fat chance!

The morning started with an easy 25 miles following the river down to Trento, another Change of scenery as the river was enclosed by steep cliffs of what I would guess was limestone, the orchards started to become interspersed with vineyards, and the track was pretty flat Tarmac the whole way.

We found a great wee place for lunch on the edge of an industrial estate just before Trento, it was obviously very popular with the local workers and served great grub at very reasonable prices.  The quality of the food has definitely improved now that we are into Italy.  We were a wee bit concerned about the afternoon section as we were leaving the main cycle route and heading into the hills to the east of Trento and the maps we have of this part of the route are pretty duff.

Luckily enough we got chatting to a German couple at lunch who were cycling the same way, they were armed with the Bikeline guide (which I hadn't bought because it was only in German), printouts of all the tricky bits through Trento and the whole route downloaded onto their GPS.  I really felt a bit inadequate!  However, having had a squint at their top notch maps and making a few notes on the freebie hand out we had got from the last campsite I was fairly confident that with the aid of our trusty smart phone (mark 2) we would find the way. Then our German friends took pity on us and offered to guide us through the worst parts of Trento. Result!

you can see what's coming can't you?  In the centre of Trento we picked up a fifth tourer, a solo German girl who was even more clueless than us, then got totally lost.

We kept ending up below the same railway bridge, our guide then discovered that his guide book had suggested getting the train for the next few kilometres and his GPS was expecting us to be on the bloody train! After consulting with a local we all ended up shoving up a hill through some park and some really steep inclines to eventually get to a village on top of a hill. The wrong hill! Back down again and eventually onto the right road which we climbed up for about another half hour before coming to a "road closed" sign, fortunately none of the Germans knew what road closed meant in Italian so we carried on and were lucky enough to get through

After that the going was fairly straight  forward and we have ended up in the really nice resort of Caldonazzo on the shores of the lake.  

Despite our traumas it was great fun and we a re really sorry that we didn't exchange contact details with our guides. ( although I'm sure he wishes he had never offered his services)

Miles today 50

miles total  1050.25

Today's ascent 1995 feet

Day 18 Prato allo Stelvio - Ora

Well that's the first thousand miles done!

This morning was probably the best cycling either of us have ever had.  The weather was glorious, beautiful sunshine and not too hot, the whole way down to Merano we followed fantastic cycle tracks through miles and miles of orchards

 

After last year's bike trip through Tuscany we had been a bit worried about what the cycle paths would be liked once we got to Italy, but they have been the best yet.  They are mostly excellent Tarmac and are almost totally separate from traffic and followed the river down a series of steps all the way to Merano with great views of the mountains all around.  Just Before Merano the path dropped quite steeply down with some great viewpoints on the way

We had talked about having a short day today and stopping just beyond Merano, however Sandra was on form today and going like a train so I just shamelessly tucked in behind into the headwind and we did another 25 miles on to Ora.  A great day!

Miles today 60

Total miles 1000.25!!!

Day 17 Purtz - Prato allo Stelvio

Sunshine... yeeehaaa!.  

carried on up the Reschen pass into some much bigger mountains.  Got slightly lost after Pfunds and ended up on a mountain bike track which petered out. After doubling back a mile or so we worked out that we had to cross the river into Switzerland and take the road to Martina. Although this is marked on the map as a main road it is actually really quiet and great to cycle on.  The scenery got better and better although somehow I haven't managed to get many decent photos. At Martina we turned left, back in to Austria and up the main climb of the day following the hairpins up to Nauders. All the way up we were accompanied by dozens of Motorbikes and the occasional Aston Martin.  The road never seemed too busy but it was a pretty stiff climb with gradients generally ranging between 7 & 10 % occasionally a bit steeper.

By Nauders we were starving so had a large lunch in the sun, unfortunately we weren't quite at the top of the pass yet and the legs started to struggle a bit after lunch, however we were soon at the top and over into Italy

At the top of the pass the cycle track undulated along the side of a couple of lakes which put a bit more pressure on legs which thought they had done enough for today.  The descent down the other side was fantastic, the cycle track was like a tarmac toboggan run all the way down through a whole series of small villages.  brilliant!!

Today's miles 50

Total miles 939

Today's ascent 3734 feet

Close encounters with snakes - 1

Day 16 Lermoos to Prutz

Today started off dry but cold, we had a mile or so of fairly flat country and then started up the Fernpass. The main road was very busy but the cycle path, the Via Claudia Augusta ( or Via Cloudier Augusta as we know it) is almost all off road over this pass.  The climb was steep but steady on good forest roads.

And the view over the other side at the top was amazing with the road twisting away hundreds of feet below us.

By this time the rain had come on so it was on with all the waterproofs again and off for some proper downhill mountain biking. Initially it was fast forest track, although we couldn't afford to pick up too much speed with a full load on.  Then it was into some proper single track with rocks, wet roots , cows and horses to negotiate!

Even with a full load it was still all rideable, although I wouldn't have liked to have been going in the other direction.  I was also glad that my back tyre had packed in yesterday as it would certainly never have survived today.  

We stopped at Nassereith for coffee and apple strudel, it was really cold at this point (about 9 degrees and chucking it down) so we had to put some more layers on.  A short uphill section soon warmed us up so we carried on through Imst (tricky navigation again), Landeck and on part way up the Reschen Pass to Purtz.  Despite it raining all day we've really enjoyed it, it would have been much nicer to have had better views, but it was a really good route and we felt really good on the hills.

We've now used up the second of our three spare days, we had originally hoped to do a bonus loop of the Stelvio Pass if we had been on time and the weather had been good, since neither of those have happened it looks like we'll need to give it a miss (this time!)

Today's miles 45

Total miles 888

Today's ascent 2765 feet

horses passed at very close range - too many!!!!

Day 15 Schwangau - Lermoos

'Much better day today.  Fairly leisurely breakfast at the campsite then on to have a look at Nueschwanstein castle, but decided not to stop as it was already really busy and my back wheel was so shoogly that it was almost unrideable.  So off into Fussen where we found a really helpful bike shop beside the station who soon sorted me out with a new tyre.  Fussen and the surrounding area looks well worth another visit to spend some more time there.

But onwards into Austria, today's climb was fairly steady apart from a really steep bit of off road section just after Reutte, not only couldn't we cycle it, but we had to resort to teamwork to push one bike at a time up between us.  This was when we really felt the weight of a 35kg bike!

After that the going got easier with breathtaking views along the way. We stopped off at the Tyrolean ski resort of Lermoos for the night.  Stopping I plenty of time to carefully check out the good variety of restaurants available and eventually decide on the worst one. (At least I hope it was the worst!)

 

We have now evacuated to cafe Sam for a decent pudding of chocolate cake and a small refreshment.

Tomorrow we'll head on over the Fernpass and see how far we get towards Italy. 

Today's miles 34

Total miles 843

Today's climbing 1965 feet 

Day14 Landsberg - Schwangau

We had a bit of a tough day today. Although we have only reached the edge of the alps tonight, today's route was very up and down resulting in us doing over 3000 feet of climbing, some of it pretty steep.  Someone must have snuck into our tent last night and filled Sandra's legs with lead, she was really tired from the start but insisted in struggling on to our planned destination at Schwangau.  The countryside was much more interesting today with lots of wee alpine farming villages unfortunately the rain came on heavily in the afternoon and that combined with our tiredness took the shine off it a bit.

We did see the alps from a distance but by the time we got to the places where the views should have been spectacular the clouds had closed in

However by the time we reached our campsite the rain had gone off, we've been really jammy so far in that we've managed to pitch our tent and pack up every day so far in the dry.  The campsite is excellent with good drying facilities and an excellent restaurant which even served proper vegetables...the first for weeks!

All day my back wheel has felt like a 50p piece, on inspection it looks like my back tyre is stuffed, I think a brake pad must have been just rubbing against it.

Tomorrow's plan (weather dependant) is to have a look at Neuschwanstein Castle, then into Fussen to find a new tyre then onwards into Austria.  

miles today 49

Total miles 809

Ascent today 3068 feet

Day 13 Oberndorf - Landsberg am Lech

Another cold day, about 12 degrees, but dry all day.  Fairly unexciting cycle today along the plain of the    river Lech.  A lot of the route was on dirt roads and forest tracks which made it a bit slower going.

We passed through a lot of fairly nondescript towns, stopping for Lunch at Augsburg ( twinned with Inverness), had the usual hassle finding our way out of a big town.  Landsberg was very picturesque

Apart from that we've nothing much to report so here's a picture of the coo scratcher from yesterday ( a bit of farmyard porn might increase ratings !)

Hopefully we'll get sight of the alps tomorrow.

Today's miles 60

Total miles 760

Day 12 Dinkelsbhul - Oberndorf

The weather was a lot colder this morning, about 14 degrees, fortunately the wind was behind most of the way.  Another day of undulating farmland and quite a few forest tracks with short sharp climbs in them. Not particularly exciting countryside, the highlight of the morning was a farm with an electric back scratcher for cows! ( Douglas would be impressed ).  lunch at Nordlingen and the weather brightened up a bit until we got to Harburg where the heavens opened and the temperature dropped even more.

At Donauworth we had coffee and cake to warm up and a bit of debate as to whether to stay at the campsite at Donauworth near the town, or carry on another 5 miles to Oberndorf, the risk with that was that we didn't know if there would be any where there to eat. We took our chances and carried on ending up in a good wee campsite with a cosy bar, dinner was available at the nearby football club. Scored!

Today's miles 57

Total miles 700

Day 11 Rotthenburg - Dinkelsbhul

Sho....! ( they seem to say that a lot round here), as it is Sandra's birthday we decided to have a day off. So after a leisurely breakfast in Rothenburg we just did 41 miles and 2400 feet of climbing and stopped after lunch at Dinkelsbhul, yet another fantastic medieval town where you expect to see Hans Christian Anderson strolling round the corner at any moment.

Today was yet another change of scenery, for the first time in about 500 miles we weren't following a river, instead it was rolling farmland and forests, very much like Moray or Aberdeenshire,  we also spent most of today on quiet back roads and a few forest tracks.  It was good to have some changing terrain rather than just flat all the time.  Our legs seemed to cope well with the hills but we know this is just the warm up for the bigger stuff to come in a few days time.

 

At Feuchtwangen we stopped for a coffee, and as there was a bike shop there we got a fresh supply of oil for our chains.  Also, since all the way along the Rhine and Main cycle routes we've been regularly tinged at by Roadies passing us, or tutted at by other tourers and electric bikers for passing them without tinging, we bought bells.  Needless to say we haven't seen another bike since.

Since we started we have been constantly been running about half a day behind schedule, mainly due to it taking longer to get off the Ferry than expected and taking ages to get through Amsterdam.  With today's "rest day" we have now cashed in one of our 3 spare days and can now try to keep to our original rough itinerary, although now a day behind. Time to look at the maps!

Today's miles 41

Total miles 643

Day 10 Reicholzhein - Rothenburg

Change of scenery again today as we left the Main and followed the much smaller river Tauber up through Tauber-bichofseim, had lunch at Weikersheim and had a wander round the palace gardens

Today's route had the most hills to date, not only was it generally up hill, but the path was pretty undulating.  If my bike computer is correct we had a total 2342 feet of ascent today. 

We ended up at Rothenburg which is a fantastic old town on top of the hill above the river

The cycle paths have been amazing, that's 600 miles so far, virtually all on way marked cycle tracks.  Despite our various diversions they are really pretty easy to follow. The only problem is if you miss any of the signs, it can then be a bit tricky to find the route again. 

Today's miles 64

Total miles 602

Day 9 Kahl am Main - Reicholzhein

Onwards up the River Main to Aschaffenburg, fairly flat agricultural land passing through lots of fields of wheat and Maize.  Stopped at Aschaffenburg (20 miles) for breakfast and to buy a new phone!  Carried on into a bit of a headwind to Miltenburg for lunch (sausages again!)

After this the valley got narrower and steeper again, the Main although much smaller than the Rhine is still navigable by the big barges and cruise ships, although they need to use a series of huge lock gates to get up stream.

At Wertheim we turned off the Main and headed south again stopping off at Reicholzhein.  Tomorrow we head off towards the "Romantic Road". So far we've only gone up 2 hills so we're a bit nervous of how the legs will cope when asked to do some climbing. 

Miles today 74

Miles total 538

Sausages eaten - dozens!

Day 7 Lahnstein - Hattenheim

As suspected we had to double back to get on to the correct side of the river, but on the way we stopped off for breakfast in the local bakery.  As we came out the heavens opened with a torrential thunder storm with hailstones the size of peas, so back to the bakery for another coffee

8 miles later we were back level with our campsite but on the right side of the river.  The Rhine is really picturesque along this section, steep sided valleys with vineyards all up the sides, castles at almost every bend in the river. And red kites soaring overhead. 

Just  before Bad Salzig it suddenly became dark and we just made it to an underpass before the next thunderstorm.  This one went on for ages so we eventually just got the waterproofs on and went for it. 

By the time we had lunch at Sankt Goer the sun was back out and the temperature was getting up to about 28. 

Beer stop at Bingen, after which we got the ferry across the river again with only about another 9 miles to our campsite.  From this point on the Rhine widens out a lot and we could see the signs of the recent flooding on the bushes, parts of the cycle path were also flooded with stinky stagnant water.  Initially it was only a few inches deep so we could keep our feet dry, then it came up over our pedals, then I fell off! 

Not only did I get totally soaked, ( and smelly) but my wallet, passport and, more importantly, phone all got soaked.  I am now clean, Sandra has almost stopped laughing, but the phone still seems to be dead. Blog updates might be a bit more sporadic from now on.

The campsite we are in was under about 5 feet of water a couple of weeks ago and obviously some of the regulars are taking no chances

Miles today - 53.5

Miles total - 399

Unintentional swims - 1

Day 8 Hattenheim - Kahl am Main

We had a spectacular thunderstorm overnight with high winds, torrential rain and lots of lightning.  This was probably the first really bad weather we've had in our tent, fortunately it stood up well and seemed totally bombproof against the elements.

The weather had cleared up by morning although there was a fair bit of tree damage along the cycle path

At Mainz we left the Rhine, we had a choice between following the major cycle path along the River Main through Frankfurt, or cutting across country to Aschaffenbach.  Given our record so far with navigation we took the former route which turned out to be very straightforward with a good tailwind most of the way resulting in us ending up in Frankfurt (39 miles) by lunchtime.

We had a good wander round the city centre which had a really nice atmosphere and had to find a map shop to give us clues for a campsite for tonight.

We eventually ended up in a pretty smart campsite overlooking the lake at Kahl am Main

miles today 65

Miles total 464

Disasters today - none ( although phone still dead! )

Day 6 Bonn to Lahnstein

After checking that the next campsite was open and accepted tents we had an excellent buffet breakfast in hotel. No problem getting out of Bonn just followed the West Bank of the river most of the day. The landscape has changed quite suddenly, now instead if power stations and factories there are hills and castles lining the river although the cycle route itself is still very flat.

Coffee stop at Remegen very picturesque. 

Onwards and lunch at Andernacht. By this time it was getting a bit warm 37 degrees C.  That didn't seem too bad until we converted it to fahrenheit , 98 degrees is bloody hot!! Carried on through Koblenz stoping for ice cream. 

Camping site at Lahnstein was at the top of our second hill of the holiday (a proper one this time!) which had us gasping for beer by the time we checked in.  We knew that there was an outdoor swimming pool next to the site, but due to the hot weather the queue was about a mile long so we just made do with the showers.  Overall a pretty straightforward day with most of the miles in the right direction. Unfortunately it looks like we'll need to double back about 3 miles tomorrow to get back on the right side of the river. Give us another few weeks and we'll have this sussed.

Today's mile - 50

Total miles- 345

Day 5 Kaiserswerth - Bonn

Excellent start to the day, ferry all to ourselves over to the east bank of the Rhine. Negotiated Dusseldorf without incident whilst picking up breakfast there.  Followed the dykes virtually all the way to lunch passing varied farm land and some fairly industrial plant nurseries. Cycle paths are still better tan many of our B roads

Had lunch at Zons, a really nice wee fortified town.

After lunch things got a bit tougher, the temperature got up to 37 degrees, which wasn't too bad as we got a breeze while cycling.  We navigated through Cologne pretty easily too,

However the campsite we were aiming for at Langel (about 54 miles) was closed (there's a theme developing here!) so we carried on to Bonn where the German cyclist next to us this morning had said there was another campsite.  Needless to say there was none to be found! Ended up searching round the centre of Bonn for a hotel, which we eventually found.  We are now showered and fed and feeling a bit chirpier  (though fairly knackered ), we're going to have to check ahead for accommodation from now on.

The bikes are locked up in the beer cellar so I can't check the exact mileage, but best guess is

Miles today - 74

Miles total - 295

Hills total - 1 it's still as flat as a pancake although it's starting to look a bit lumpier ahead

Day 4 Neidermormter- Kaiserswerth

  Set off from Neidermormter nice cycle tracks and country roads to Xanten for morning coffee. Really nice looking town. Site of an old roman town looks like it is worth another visit. On over our first hill according to the map! Didn't really count! On to Orsoy for lunch good lunch despite not knowing what we were ordering (must learn the lingo) then ferry across the river, mistake. 

Very industrial arrived in Duisburg city spent an hour trying to find our way back out the other side ended up doubling back on ourselves to get back on the West Bank. For all you bike tourers stay on the West Bank,Duisburg seemed pretty grotty and not worth the hassle. The last 20 miles were pretty straight forward despite some help from a recumbent cyclist who didn't know his North from his South!  We eventually arrived at a great campsite, right on the riverbank, with wine in the fridge and complimentary plastic chairs. Luxury!

Miles today - 72

Miles total - 221

Hills total - 1 ( a wee pimple!)

We're both pretty chuffed with the number of miles we're covering, if we could only link them up in the right direction we'd be laughing!