What is amazing is that where her Dad currently lives  is literally a stones throw from where he was born and went to school so you can imagine a walk involves literally everybody saying hello most of whom remembered Sally too!

I put the walk on Everytrail so you can see the ancient threshing machine (similar to the one I used at 14) plus Jim’s magnificent runner beans that will hopefully, find there way into our tummies this weekend.

Jim also gave us a trout he caught, later  in the evening this was expertly bbq’d by Anthony around at Kay’s where we stayed the night. A great day out

I couldn’t resist using the old sign board for this post’s featured image!

To fit in with this years theme I decided to follow the Rhine (from its source near the Oberalppass) to the sea (near Rotterdam with its convenient ferry back to East Anglia). However, to get to the Rhine from Les Gets you have to follow the Rhone to its source as well. I managed to cycle from Les Gets down to Lake Geneva and then up the Rhone valley to Martigny but then decided to hop on the train to Andermatt where my Rhein-Radweg books start.

The overall trip was just under 1100 miles which I did in 14 days at about 10mph, 12 days of which was following The Rhine.

My Dawes Galaxy Tour worked perfectly standing up to the rough off road bits equally well as the super smooth bike paths. The gear ratios are all perfect and Thierry adjusted the derailleurs so they clicked through effortlessly. After having it fitted with straight handlebars and click gears last year. This year I added the Altura drylined handlebar bag which worked perfectly. The new handlebar ends were disappointing and led to my rib damage! I need to find the ones like in Holland or that Gail has!

I fell off once with some damage to a rib which is still making me feel as though I’m having a heart attack a week later! However, it is improving.

I didn’t find the Germans or Swiss particularly friendly whilst riding so maybe the next trip will be to France / Spain or maybe New Zealand (A couple on a tandem had just come back from 6 months of touring NZ which they enjoyed).

Here is  a table of all the various blog posts, Everyttail’s and Picasa pictures:-

Thanks to Joost and Chris at GlobalMotion I have a complete Everytrail of The Rhine part of the trip (hang on it takes a while to download):-
Cycling the length of The Rhine at EveryTrail

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It proved an excellent route, although one part was down a track, but I was used to that by now!

What a pleasure to have fellow cyclists, passers by etc to smile, wave even say hello! It certainly brightens up your day to have a cheery smile rather than the ‘expressions’ you get in Germany & Switzerland which give you the uneasy feeling that they would mow you down rather than recognize your existence! I think life over there is VERY serious! I cannot say that I felt the same way when cycling in France last year. Although it has to be said the futility of marking cycle lanes on the roads which disappear when you actually need one is extremely frustrating for all road users.

This is a very pretty route if quite hilly, taking me past many of the places I have walked with Sally on the Cambridge Rambling Club walks. In fact I had a lunch break in one of the pubs we have used on our walks!

The ride was 67.6 miles which I cycled in 6hr 3min

Total ridden miles since leaving Les Gets was 1072.69 No punctures or breakdowns just one painful cracked rib!

Heres my Everytrail off the trip :-

Harwich to Cambridge at EveryTrail

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I did 90.5 miles in 8hr 13min making a near record 11mph! The smell of the sea beckoned!

For the first time I met a local cyclist who chatted to me on the Wijk ferry , telling me about how their royal family’s home was in Buren, home of William of Orange which I was about to bike through! Not quite as glamorous as Windsor but very pleasant place.

I dashed on past the intriguing barns where the roof moves up and down on pulleys. Past the poignant memorial of Sylvia who never made it to her 16th birthday, yet another road death.

I crossed the river again in Gorinchen, a very pleasant place full of canals. Eventually making it to Rotterdam where I had the first experience of taking my fully laden bike down a long elevator to cycle through the long cool tunnel under The Rhine (Nieuwe Maas) then to hang onto the bike for grim death on the up elevator!

It was then, in what seemed like an eternity cycling down an endless path to the ferry! The lady at Stena said that only Comfort 2 berth cabins were available at €156 no breakfast but you could empty the mini bar! To wrecked to argue (apart from the additional €6 they wanted for the bike!) I sailed at 10.30pm with the big surprise of free open WiFi.

I did the 77.6miles at 10.1mph on another really hot day, consuming 1 litre of Apple juice in just about one gulp! The countryside is pretty flat and uninspiring with no industry either. Although at Kalkar I came across a huge power station type of building which on close inspection revealed itself as Wunderland Kalkar some sort of Euro Disney/Butlins fun park I think.

There was a lot of uprooted trees and branches so obviously they have been having summer storms. It was good to see that all those modern windmills could be put to a useful task – as mobile phone towers!

I went through Arnhem thinking of all that lost of life trying to capture the bridge here. The cemetery is on a beautiful hill but I didn’t explore, but pressed onto Wijik, a lovely city sporting only one hotel, a quite expensive one at that! I couldn’t face searching around for b&bs so booked into the De Oude Lantaarn for €73.50 a night and enjoyed cheap mussels & chips around the corner at De Veldpoort!

Two things I hate about The Netherlands are (a) Scooters and small motorbikes are allowed on there otherwise fantastic cycleways. (b) The drivers get really agitated very quickly if you find yourself on their road instead of the cycleway hiding on the other side!

Having said that, the only other cyclist to have spoken to me whilst travelling along was here

Here’s the Everytrail of the day:-
Xanten to Wijk bij Duurstede at EveryTrail

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I felt pretty wrecked especially by the time I arrived in Mainz – as someone told me last year if you hear the word vines you know it means hills! and a couple of sections had taken me up those hills. Plus the heat really gets to you when biking.

However, things picked up in the afternoon once I was on the tourist trail. I chatted to the Crusader coach driver who was cleaning his coach, whilst his group doing the Royal Bavaria tour, were swanning down the river to Boppard. I even managed a river crossing myself between Rudesheim to Bingen, so my cruise was €2.50

By the time I arrived in Spay I was wrecked, so stopped at the first hotel, even though there was no internet to be had except from the passing barges and cruise ships.

Here’s the Everytrail of the day:-

Oppenheim to Spay at EveryTrail

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Today once I got going was a long one at 91.9miles but quite fast at 11.2mph on good tarmacced paths. I found it interesting biking alongside the Mercedes plants, BASF and other large chemical works. The Technical museum in Speyer looked pretty amazing as well! At Mannheim they were building an enormous new coal fired power station so I guess the Rhine will be full of coal barges for some time yet (I spent a bit of time thinking about the sense of transporting coal rather than electricity and which incurred the biggest energy losses per mile). The signage was much improved, although it was hard getting through Ludwigshafan due to the various detours.

My nights stop at The Hotel  Oppenheim was truly excellent. The owner plied me with free beer on my arrival! and the omelet with chips was only 6euro plus there is an ice cream parlour just down the road!

Here’s the day on Everytrail:-
Maximilansau to Oppenheim at EveryTrail

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The German’s struggle with the signing so that in the main centres like Kehl (Strasbourg) you get a proliferation of contradicting signs! I also love the sign covered in German & French text that forbids entry but fails to give you any information as to where the route has been diverted too! These guys need lessons in the use of simple signage like the Swiss and French GR5.

I drank about 10 litres of water/beer/apple juice yesterday but still felt dehydrated with an headache. Hopefully, today will be overcast

Oh yes why do German hotels only have wired internet and all WiFi is locked down?  and why can’t T-Mobile sort out my internet – instead of sending me messages that an error occurred and try again To me its pretty obvious the glorious days of open internet have gone for ever..

Here’s my route yesterday:-

Ottenheim-Schwanau to Karlsruhe at EveryTrail

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After lunch I had to turn away from the river and ended up in Rust which has an enormous Disney / Alton Tower type theme park. I then made a total hash of getting back onto the river – best not to look to closely at the gpx trail The German waymarking is not a patch on the Switz!

After 79.8 miles and over 7 hours of cycling with an average spped of  11mph, I ended up in Ottenheim at the delightful Hotel Gasthof Erbprinzen above Toni’s pizzeria ( 21 Euro for two beers, water, salad, pizza, ice cream & coffee). I asked the landlady if she had internet – she presented me with a shoebox!!

Here’s the route and pics.
Basel to Ottenheim-Schwanau at EveryTrail

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Sorry, Sally, I’m doing these posts direct from the WP control panel

Another hot day only partly alleviated by a little swim in The Rhine and copious, but expensive cold sparkling waters! The water mark up is horrendous less than 1F in the supermarket anything up to 8F in a cafe

Tomorrow I’m going to use the right bank rather than the left I’ve been using the last day or so (The handedness is taken looking downstream) as it seems to keep the waters edge better.

I’ve been eyeing up the ginormous barges which have now appeared in the river – maybe I will take a rest day on one

The bike is holding up well although it took an almighty bang when I failed to notice that  the bridge had a step getting onto it! plus the saddle is now loose due to the vibration of all the off road riding I’ve been doing.

We are getting heavy thundery showers right now so hopefully tomorrow will be cooler. I’m going to celebrate by staying for the 7am breakfast rather than setting of at 6am

Here’s today trail:-
Ellikon to Basel at EveryTrail

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