Cycle touring in Europe

Around the Bodensee is about a week's fairly easy ride at 50-60km/day. There
is a bike route on either dedicated paths or quiet minor roads the whole way
around the lake - it takes you into Austria and Switzerland as well. Border
controls are pretty much non-existent. There are none between Germany and
Austria, and we just got waved through without being asked to show our
passports when entering and leaving Switzerland.

Nick

"BT Humble" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

My lovely wife and I will be taking a 3 month European vacation from
September-November this year. We'll be in Germany from mid-October
for a few weeks, and were looking at doing a short cycle tour (or
two). Something up to week long perhaps?

BT Humble said:

.. We'll be in Germany from mid-October
for a few weeks, and were looking at doing a short cycle tour (or
two). Something up to week long perhaps?

First you need to figure out what kind of riding you want to do. For a more relaxed ride you can tour the vineyards, and/or basically follow one of the big rivers as they meander through the landscape. Organised rides are(should be) available (that time of year too), with different service levels and degrees of support. Or you can head into the alps which are, all things considered, nearby. October isn't much of a holiday season (unless you're counting Oktoberfest, which isn't fully compatible with bike riding...) so I don't know if the organised, supported tours that runs during summer will still be available. Wouldn't surprise me if some of the smaller gasthauses at the higher elevations would be closed down for the season too.

Bringing your bike on the train is usually easy, so if you're unable to plan a looped itinerary it shouldn't be problem with riding out and then catch a train home.

If you're hoping to stay in towns and villages that mostly looks like fly specks on the maps some advance planning is recommended to make sure that you really have a hotel room and an operating restaurant available at the end of your day's ride.

BT Humble said:

Does anyone here have any experience with cycle touring in the region,
recommendations, etc.?

I recommend taking a photograph of yourself in traditional german
lederhosen (so we can point and laugh 🙂

G-S

G-S said:

BT Humble said:

Does anyone here have any experience with cycle touring in the region,
recommendations, etc.?

I recommend taking a photograph of yourself in traditional german
lederhosen (so we can point and laugh 🙂

G-S

Aw heck, you can do that in Hahndorf, when visiting SA for the Tour
Down Under.

Donga said:

G-S said:

BT Humble said:

Does anyone here have any experience with cycle touring in the region,
recommendations, etc.?

I recommend taking a photograph of yourself in traditional german
lederhosen (so we can point and laugh 🙂

G-S

Aw heck, you can do that in Hahndorf, when visiting SA for the Tour
Down Under.

I'm not sure that chances to laugh at BTH should be passed up wherever
they happen to occur... so sure... if BTH chances to put on Lederhosen
in Hahndorf then feel free to laugh at him ;-)

G-S

G-S said:

BTHumble said:

Does anyone here have any experience with cycle touring in the region,
recommendations, etc.?

I recommend taking a photograph of yourself in traditional german
lederhosen (so we can point and laugh 🙂

You really want me to link to *that* picture, don't you?

BTH

BT Humble said:

G-S said:

BTHumble said:

Does anyone here have any experience with cycle touring in the region,
recommendations, etc.?

I recommend taking a photograph of yourself in traditional german
lederhosen (so we can point and laugh 🙂

You really want me to link to *that* picture, don't you?

BTH

I'm immune to the effects of *that* picture now... *backs away slowly*

G-G

G-S said:

BT Humble wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

You really want me to link to *that* picture, don't you?

Quoted message said:

I'm immune to the effects of *that* picture now... *backs away slowly*

What scares me is that he turned up at my house a few hours after taking
*that* picture, and left his undies behind.

Theo

Theo Bekkers said:

G-S said:

BT Humble wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

You really want me to link to *that* picture, don't you?

Quoted message said:

I'm immune to the effects of *that* picture now... *backs away slowly*

What scares me is that he turned up at my house a few hours after taking
*that* picture, and left his undies behind.

Theo

I think he was geofrpahically confusing it with the 'undies for westies'
charity that's been running in sydney for a few years now.

G-S

G-S said:

Theo Bekkers said:

G-S said:

BT Humble wrote:

Quoted message said:

> You really want me to link to *that* picture, don't you?

Quoted message said:

I'm immune to the effects of *that* picture now... *backs away slowly*

What scares me is that he turned up at my house a few hours after
taking *that* picture, and left his undies behind.

Theo

I think he was geofrpahically confusing it with the 'undies for westies'
charity that's been running in sydney for a few years now.

G-S

Gawd... now that was a typo and a half :-/

G-S

G-S said:

G-S wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I think he was geofrpahically confusing it with the 'undies for
westies' charity that's been running in sydney for a few years now.

Quoted message said:

Gawd... now that was a typo and a half :-/

Msot of the lerttes are tehre. :-)

Theo
Tryin the theory that things read OK if all the letters are there and the
first and last letters are in place.

"Theo Bekkers" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

G-S said:

G-S wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I think he was geofrpahically confusing it with the 'undies for
westies' charity that's been running in sydney for a few years now.

Quoted message said:

Gawd... now that was a typo and a half :-/

Msot of the lerttes are tehre. :-)

Theo
Tryin the theory that things read OK if all the letters are there and the
first and last letters are in place.

Oh yaeh, taht difntelay wkors. It sltil wderis me out taht it deos but it's
a fnkuy tnhig awnyay.

I lot of people that I know have done the Danube river ride and
enjoyed it. I've ridden up to the Black Forrest fron Zurich which was
nice as well. But if you want awesome scenery and brilliantly marked
cycle routes its hard to beat Switzerland :-)
http://www.cycling-in-switzerland.ch/02_cyling_routes/change/frameset_radwadern_change.html
or go to the general website http://www.englishforum.ch and do some
searches on cycling.

Cheers
Greg

GPW said:

I lot of people that I know have done the Danube river ride and
enjoyed it. I've ridden up to the Black Forrest fron Zurich which was
nice as well. But if you want awesome scenery and brilliantly marked
cycle routes its hard to beat Switzerland :-)
http://www.cycling-in-switzerland.ch/02_cyling_routes/change/frameset_radwadern_change.html
or go to the general website http://www.englishforum.ch and do some
searches on cycling.

Cheers
Greg

I have never cycled in Germany but have to agree that cycling in
Switzerland is fantastic. The cycle ways are so good they make NSW main
roads look like farm tracks.

Jack Russell

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"BT Humble" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

My lovely wife and I will be taking a 3 month European vacation from
September-November this year. We'll be in Germany from mid-October
for a few weeks, and were looking at doing a short cycle tour (or
two). Something up to week long perhaps?

Does anyone here have any experience with cycle touring in the region,
recommendations, etc.?

crazyguyonabike.com is an excellent resource

...

Quoted message said:

My lovely wife and I will be taking a 3 month European vacation from
September-November this year. We'll be in Germany from mid-October
for a few weeks, and were looking at doing a short cycle tour (or
two). Something up to week long perhaps?

Does anyone here have any experience with cycle touring in the region,
recommendations, etc.?

Where about in Germany will you be? Lots of different things in different areas.

Cheers

Geoff

BT Humble said:

My lovely wife and I will be taking a 3 month European vacation from
September-November this year. We'll be in Germany from mid-October
for a few weeks, and were looking at doing a short cycle tour (or
two). Something up to week long perhaps?
Does anyone here have any experience with cycle touring in the region,
recommendations, etc.?

Well, Germany is quite big (not really in comparison to Australia, I
know), but nevertheless cycle-wise it is.
Where do you plan to stay? In the north, where it is flat, in the center
where it is hilly or in the south, where you may tackle one or the other
alpine pass in fantastic scenery on the border to Austria?

Quoted message said:

Also, if you have any contacts in the region or suggestions of German
equivalents of aus.bicycle that don't mind foreigners posting in
English, I'd be happy to hear about it! ;-)

You're asking for de.rec.fahrrad. A very active group. English might not
be a problem at all.
As I am an Austrian I could give you some advice for the southernmost
alpine end.

Speaking of Austria:
The cycling route from Passau (border town DE-AT) along the Danube
through Austria, Slovak Republic and Hungary to Budapest ia a
mid-european classic!

If you need any info on that, don't hesitate to e-mail me.
Tadej
--
"Vergleich es mit einer Pflanze - die wächst auch nur dann gut, wenn du
sie nicht jeden zweiten Tag aus der Erde reißt, um nachzusehen, ob sie
schon Wurzeln geschlagen hat."
<Martina Diel in d.t.r>

Tadej Brezina said:

BT Humble said:

My lovely wife and I will be taking a 3 month European vacation from
September-November this year. We'll be in Germany from mid-October
for a few weeks, and were looking at doing a short cycle tour (or
two). Something up to week long perhaps?
Does anyone here have any experience with cycle touring in the region,
recommendations, etc.?

Well, Germany is quite big (not really in comparison to Australia, I
know), but nevertheless cycle-wise it is.
Where do you plan to stay? In the north, where it is flat, in the center
where it is hilly or in the south, where you may tackle one or the other
alpine pass in fantastic scenery on the border to Austria?

Quoted message said:

Also, if you have any contacts in the region or suggestions of German
equivalents of aus.bicycle that don't mind foreigners posting in
English, I'd be happy to hear about it! ;-)

You're asking for de.rec.fahrrad. A very active group. English might not
be a problem at all.
As I am an Austrian I could give you some advice for the southernmost
alpine end.

Speaking of Austria:
The cycling route from Passau (border town DE-AT) along the Danube
through Austria, Slovak Republic and Hungary to Budapest ia a
mid-european classic!

If you need any info on that, don't hesitate to e-mail me.
Tadej

Thanks for that, and thanks to everyone who contributed. We've found
a German tourism site that has quite a bit of detail about routes,
organised tours, etc. Since we want to visit the Somme battlefields
(we both work for the Department of Veterans' Affairs, it sort of
grows on you) we were thinking of actually buying a couple of bikes
and lugging them around with us for a while. I'm guessing that Europe
gets the same kind of Chinese department store bikes that Australia
does? ;-)

BTH

BT Humble said:

Tadej Brezina said:

BT Humble said:

My lovely wife and I will be taking a 3 month European vacation from
September-November this year. We'll be in Germany from mid-October
for a few weeks, and were looking at doing a short cycle tour (or
two). Something up to week long perhaps?
Does anyone here have any experience with cycle touring in the region,
recommendations, etc.?

Well, Germany is quite big (not really in comparison to Australia, I
know), but nevertheless cycle-wise it is.
Where do you plan to stay? In the north, where it is flat, in the center
where it is hilly or in the south, where you may tackle one or the other
alpine pass in fantastic scenery on the border to Austria?

Quoted message said:

Also, if you have any contacts in the region or suggestions of German
equivalents of aus.bicycle that don't mind foreigners posting in
English, I'd be happy to hear about it! ;-)

You're asking for de.rec.fahrrad. A very active group. English might not
be a problem at all.
As I am an Austrian I could give you some advice for the southernmost
alpine end.

Speaking of Austria:
The cycling route from Passau (border town DE-AT) along the Danube
through Austria, Slovak Republic and Hungary to Budapest ia a
mid-european classic!

If you need any info on that, don't hesitate to e-mail me.
Tadej

Thanks for that, and thanks to everyone who contributed. We've found
a German tourism site that has quite a bit of detail about routes,
organised tours, etc. Since we want to visit the Somme battlefields
(we both work for the Department of Veterans' Affairs, it sort of
grows on you) we were thinking of actually buying a couple of bikes
and lugging them around with us for a while. I'm guessing that Europe
gets the same kind of Chinese department store bikes that Australia
does? ;-)

BTH

If you are going to do the Somme try to get hold of a copy of "The
Battlefields of WW1 " by John Laffin. Failing that there is an new book
called Marching with the Anzacs (I think). Under no circumstances miss
the last post at the Menin Gate. Also the school and Australian War
Memorial at Villers Bretenoux. We stayed at "Old Toms" right by it
although it may have changed by now.
Also do not miss the school and Australian War Memorial at Villers
Bretenoux.
I can also recommend the Hotel du Nord at Albert although again it may
have changed. 10 years ago we basically cycled from Ostend to Amiens and
back to Calais, just picked up accommodation as we went.
Make sure you are recognisably Australian ( without being an ocker).
The locals still remember the Anzacs with great affection.

Jack Russell
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