Blogs from Germany, Europe - page 12

We were down for breakfast at 7.30am, as instructed. There was a superb choice, including gluten free. We were off by 9.00am and there was a lot of flat to start with. We passed through towns with amazing buildings and large arable farms. We also saw more storks and a few cows but hardly any other animals. We had yoghurts and nuts sat under a tree, on a bench, in the middle of huge flat fields. There was only one real climb, up through some forests, and true to form the path was rutted, gravelly and steep. Fortunately at this point there were only the two of us so we didn't have to navigate other riders as well. Once at the top we crossed over the water shed of the Rhine and Danube rivers. We arrived ... read more

Bavaria D4 What a pleasant ride today. Just one 2 mile section of gravel and not too much climbing giving my legs a rest from yesterday. Thank you Lyta for lending me your one sided pedals which made life a lot easier. Nice villages and towns again with pleasant buildings and sculptures and a nice coffe stop in Adelsdorf. The cycleways are occasionally bricks and mostly tarmac, which are much better than the Lancashire roads. I found a stork nest on the chimney by my room last night and Dave managed a photo of two heads appearing above the nest. Just after Adelsdorf we saw about 10 in a field and for a treat a couple flying above. We got into Neustadt an der Aisch mid afternoon and I dashed to Aldi for a sandwich and ... read more

Bavaria D3 The Turkish Cesme restaurant last night was very good. The festival all over town is an event put on by local Protestant churches every two years, with around 100,000 people attending from all over the country. The logo they have, Jetz ist die Zeis means ’The time is now’ with music and singing everywhere. Big shock overnight, I awoke at 4am realising that I had not packed my cycling shoes. A big bag emptying session followed with searches for bike shops on my phone. A Trek shop nearby said it opened at 8am so an early breakfast and off I went only for it to not open at all due to Corous Christie holiday. A Decathlon shop 4 miles away said 9am, so off I sped only to be sat there like a rat ... read more

Bavaria D2 Continental breakfast at the B&B Hotel before venturing out to do the walking tour of the old town of Nuremberg where Hitler held his rallies in WWll. Firstly we went to the old wall but unfortunately could not find a way to get onto it. We did however come across a sign saying no photographs finding that we had strayed into the red light district with young ladies ( I think) leaning out of the windows with large body parts hanging over the window cill. We did a hasty retreat keeping our eyes down and went to the St Lorenz Church,which was bombed during the war,and luckily rebuilt to its former magnificence with its twin towers. There are many old magnificently restored buildings around town which are unique to this part of Europe. The ... read more

Tomorrow many of us will be travelling across Europe to start a 16 day cycle tour of Bavaria. Some of the 12 participants are already on their way having visited relatives along the way, or travelling by train and cycle. This is a BIKEXPLORE tour lead by me in this wonderful area of Germany, rich in history and traditional architecture. Much of the route will be on excellent cycle paths in the country and along its vast river network. The tour starts and finishes in Nuremberg going in an anticlockwise direction for 860km passing through Augsburg, Munich and many other impressive towns, following such rivers as, Aisch,Eger, Isar and Danube. We hope that the weather will be kind to us , as it has been for the past three weeks in the UK. The forecast is ... read more