An automatic released photo of Flavio and me after our first lunch break.7-15-06, Saturday / Basel - Rhinau
s: 105.87 km
t: 6:50:18
As I wrote before we took the 6am train from Buchs to Basel where we started our tour. The first day wasn't very interesting for the surroundings were all the same (Rhine, boats, dams...) and head wind was blowing pretty strong.
The most boring and hardest part of our first day. A long street on which we were absolutely turned in the terrible head wind!Since there were tons of gravel plants with some small lakes where people took a refreshing bath we hopped in one of these as well and were all happy to enjoy the cool!
One of the gravel plants we saw during our trip.When we arrived in Rhinau (F) we luckily found a camping ground there - we didn't know there's one because our maps didn't show many of them.
We put up the tent, cooked some food, talked, went sleeping.
7-16-06, Sunday / Rhinau - Lauterbourg
s: 114.77 km
t: 7:16:21
In the morning we drove to Strasbourg - not along the Rhine itself but along a canal which lead us right into the city. In Strasbourg we saw the cathedral and the building of the European council.
A canal and some cute houses we saw in Strasbourg. You can also see a moving bridge. The bridge as to be able to be moved so the tourist boats can float on the canal.In the afternoon we rode along the Rhine again where we saw many surfers. In the evening we decided to spend the night on a French camping site again because the French ones are cheaper than the German ones. It appeared to be a very nice place including a lake where we went swimming after having satisfied hunger.
7-17-06, Monday / Lauterbourg - Worms
s: 128.76 km
t: 7:53:42
The first couple hours we were able to follow a special biking track which lead us through the meadows of the Rhine which was very nice. And on this day, on our third day, it was the first time we did not have to fight head wind which made driving easier! During lunchtime Flavio had to mend his tire which allowed me to have a rest in the park. Later in the afternoon we passed a town called Speyer. Speyer presented itself to be a gorgious town! There was a very nice cathedrale as well as an interesting technique museum. Unfortunately we didn't have time to have a closer look at both of them. Some kilometers later we passed another city called Ludwigshafen. This one did not leave the same splendid impression as Speyer. The reason for that probably is that we had to drive along different BASF (a chemical company) buildings for almost half an hour which almost made us freak out!
The parking site for all the bikes of the BASF workers... And this was only at one building - so you can image you that whole building site looks like...Since there wasn't any camping ground on our map in the area after Ludwigshafen we decided to ask somebody. The man we asked told us about a camping ground he once spent a night when he was a kid not fare from where we were. So we decided to follow his advice and drove over the Nibelungsbrücke where we actually found the mentioned camping ground. It was more expensive but very cute indeed! And we meet an Australian couple which was great of course. They were also doing some biking stuff - actually all over Europe - they have started in Portugal, went on to Spain, France, Germany and were planing to go up north!
7-18-06, Tuesday / Worms - Boppard
s: 136.96 km
t: 8:10:58
Tuesday probably was the most beautiful day of our tour. The first region we drove was cute: small German villages, vineyards... Later we came by Mainz where we had a quick look at the city and ate lunch at the riverside. After lunch we drove on to Bingen. As we were told the part from Bingen to Bonn is supposed to be a gorgious area - and it for sure is! The Rhine is flowing through a lovely valley and the villages are very nice as well and there are also different castles which are pretty to look at. Since the weather was so nice and we had the pleasure of a strongish tailwind we drove on and on. At last we arrived in Boppard where we decided to stay at the local camping ground. For the last kilometer we raced against a cargo ship - it actually was rather funny. The cargo ships usually moved at approx. the same speed as we did!;)
This picture shows you the very beginning of the valley - it's still rather wide here.7-19-06, Wednesday / Boppard - Cologne (Köln)
s: 130.20 km
t: 7:40:43
On Wednesday we were able to enjoy the last few kilometeres in the gorgious valley before we came to Koblenz. In Koblenz we went food shopping, tried to get some information about the ship and train traffic system from Cologne to Emmerich/Arnheim which seemed kind of hopeless. Later that day we came to Bonn (post tower, opera...) and then to Cologne. Cologne looked pretty impressive with its bridges, the cathedrale, the train station, the cute places along the riverside... After we had bought our train tickets for the next day (to go to Emmerich so we wouldn't have drive along the Rhine where there are all these huge cities), we drove to a campingsite. There we cooked, took a shower and went to 'bed'. Since we knew we had to catch the train the next morning we set the alarm clock on 7am and already prepared all our luggage so would be able to leave fast in the morning.
The cathedrale of Cologne - the picture is taken from the inside of the train station.7-20-06, Thursday / Cologne
When we got up that morning on 7am our bikes (including all our baggage as well) were gone - stolen. First it was rather shocking of course. We walked the whole camping ground but couldn't see anything, asked the owner... Luckily two guys (a father and his son, both from Düsseldorf) we've met the day before offered us some breakfast. Afterwards, Flavio and I took all our possesions and started our stroll to the police station which is in the train station building.
That's the two of us on our way to the police station with all we had left.
At the police station it took us about an hour to get the report. Hereon we strolled around a little, ate some lunch - got to know the city a little. Then I decided to be in need of a new shirt because the one I wore was the one I had been wearing for biking and it certainly did not smell excessively well. After some thinking Flavio and I decided to stay in Cologne for the rest of our holiday and we planned to catch the train in which we booked two seats (from Utrecht on) in Cologne. So we went back to the camping ground again (this time we did not walk but went there by the subway and streetcar).
Since we still had our tent, sleepingbags, mattresses and nothing to loose we had a good night sleep and a long lay-in the next morning.
7-21-06, Friday / Cologne - Basel, Buchs (7-22-06)
On our last day in Cologne I went to buy some books and I visited the Museum Ludwig which is an art museum exhibiting contemporian art. The museum was huge but I really like the art exhibited. Not everything of course but it was quite worth going there I'd say! Writing postcards, strolling...
Finally, at 11:46pm our train arrived and we got on and left Cologne. When we arrived in Basel the next morning, we first went and had our tickets returned and then took the train back to Buchs.
Condensed said it was a very nice trip although we were robbed (which was a bummer!). The landscapes were beautiful (at least most of them) and it was a nice time!
First of all, you traveled 100 or 130km a day by bicycle, and did it for days? How amazing! Is it so common a practice(leisure) in your country?
ReplyDelete(if you do it in Japan, you'll be asked,"are you a professional biker?!")
And you got stolen your bicycles and baggage... what a pity. But what is respectable is that you say you enjoyed the trip despite the unlucky accident(of course you must have got disappointed).
In the situation like this, people in my coutry tend to put too much emphasis on their unluckiness. It is good if you'd say you had a nice trip.
However, the most great thing is that you yourselves were safe and could go back home!! :)
Hi asta!
ReplyDeleteDoing such bike trips isn't normal in Switzerland either. My 'friends' for sure think I'm crazy - but they think so anyway!;) On the other hand there many people doing such biking trips in Summer. Some sleep in hotels, others on camping grounds; some bike short distance, some longer ones...
When I was in Alaska I actually figured that Swiss people seem to be more into biking than any other countries. I went to school by bike there and I was looked at really weird!;)