We’ve had a pretty action packed week on the road and so I write this on a rest day from our hotel room where we are staying two nights (!) and a whole day in Ulm, on the Danube in southern Germany. We’ve just indulged in our first hotel breakfast of the trip. I’ll let Matt’s photo diary of what he consumed do the talking here… suffice to say we made the most of it!
Apart from the usual rest day washing (!) today is all about relaxation and exploring Ulm. Birthplace of Albert Einstein and home of the world’s highest church tower. Plus the location of the comfiest bed in all of Germany!
Last time we posted we had just diverted from our sojourn along the Rhine, one of Europe’s major rivers. We have now joined the Danube (or the ‘Donau’ auf Deutsch) – another major river, but following it in the opposite direction from the watershed (i.e. down, rather than up stream – which amazingly heads all the way Eastwards to the Black Sea). Apart from swapping rivers, we have also swapped EuroVelo routes (from the 15 to the 6 with a bit of 5 thrown in) and countries – from France, into Switzerland, back and forth between Switzerland and Germany a lot, and now back into Germany). Of the three countries we feel very at home in Germany – I can do enough of the language to get by, culturally it feels similar, we like the food and it’s not silly expensive like Switzerland.
So what have we been up to?
Cycling
Of course we have been busy cycling – six days of spinning since last posting. We’ve had real variety of scenery and terrain including probably the most beautiful day yet between Tuttlingen and Sigmaringen along the Danube. It was stunning – the pictures say it all but up and down little climbs, through wooded sections, on gravel and winding through the steep sided river valley was just soooo good! It was also a shorter day at 55km so we could really take our time and properly pootle. Lovely.
We’ve also done our first proper climb, up and over between the Rhine valley/the Bodensee (Konstanz) and the Danube valley. Not a massive climb compared to routes we have tackled on previous trips like the Col d’Iseran in the Alps but getting just shy of 1000m felt enough with the load on as we find our climbing legs. We both enjoyed the challenge in different ways and even the torrential downpour on the way up for keeping cool!
We’ve had some fiddly bits through major cities and towns including Mulhouse, Basel, Schaffhausen and Konstanz as well as lots of emptiness and tranquility. We’ve seen lots of storks, herons, birds of prey, rapeseed fields, wisteria, blossom at different stages and of course vineyards! We’ve also dropped by the Rheinfall, at the end of a long day with headwind and hills. The climb out was impossible (for one of us…) but it was worth it – look at this!!
We’ve also had drudgery and kilometre counting (how many is it to go?), some sore knees, rubbing bits, tired hands and tired eyes from all of the seeing (I know this sounds strange but try being on the move every day at cycling pace and you’ll see what I mean!)
Challenges
We’ve had a couple of challenges thrown our way (beyond the usual cycling/camping/rain/cold/wind related frustrations).
Number 1 was the night we stayed in Saint Louis (France) which is part of the Basel (Switzerland) metropolitan area. Given the distance from where we were staying into the main city centre, we caught a bus into Basel (just a short 10-15 min journey). Tickets bought on the bus on the way in, total cost for two singles €5.60 (we were told by the driver we couldn’t buy a return). Having crossed the border on the bus we were into Switzerland for an amble around Basel and an informal dinner at the Markthalle – lovely city, would recommend.
Later on we’re ready to head back so hail the bus to Saint Louis for our return. The driver tells us we can’t buy a ticket on the bus. Hmm. Must use the machine. We get off, knowing we have 15 minutes until the next bus, so walk to the next stop, just because (it turns out very prescient). We get to grips with the machine there and find that we need a ‘cross border’ ticket. Hang on, it’s 15CHF (Swiss Francs) to get us both back!! We’re not sure we believe this so ask someone else at the stop if we’re getting this right. Indeed we are. The exchange rate between euros and CHFs is nearly 1:1 so we’re talking about three times the price for the same journey!
We of course decide to withhold our cash and continue our walk… Wondering at the randomness of it all.
Number 2 was camping in Tuttlingen. I was interested to find out ahead of arrival in this town that the local council provides a free place for campers with tents to stay for the night, in the heart of their city-centre public park. The reviews were good and said that keys for the showers for the site (in exchange for a deposit) were to be collected from TuWass (the swimming pool complex for the town).
We duly turned up at TuWass to be told in German that they don’t have the keys anymore, and to head to the Town Hall (back in town). We dutifully turn around, and I enjoy visiting a Town Hall in another country (not as good as Manchester needless to say). Having queued up I explain to the front counter that we have been sent by TuWass front counter to collect keys/register for the campsite.
Town Hall front counter are completely bemused. They explain to me that the campsite is very much a TuWass job and nothing to do with them. I explain we’ve been there so she kindly calls TuWass – an argument ensues and I’m eventually told there are no keys to be found anywhere in all of Tuttlingen and to stay in a guest house.
We are undeterred and head to the site (which is empty) anyway. The groundskeepers who are based beside the site, welcome us. We work out that the public loos are nearby and who needs showers anyway so pitch up.
Later on we do wonder if it would be better to be there officially rather than feeling like we’ve just pitched our tent in a public park, so Matt goes to TuWass to try again, in English this time. They send him to a beer garden/pizzeria to ask for the keys..! They are completely confused as they are not part of the council and serve beers and pizzas rather than managing keys/deposits.
We sleep pretty well despite the trainline located less than 10m away and wake up fairly refreshed (Matt amazingly sleeps through two trains zooming past at 6am).
We get up, I’m doing ‘in tent’ jobs, Matt is making the daily vat of porridge when a security guard turns up looking a bit menacing (as menacing as a 19 year old security guard can look). Gulps.
After more terrible German from me explaining that we really did try to register properly with TuWass, the Town Hall, the pizzeria AND the groundskeepers know we’re here too he rings up TuWass. They tell him they have five keys. We are very confused. He is. I wonder at the weirdness of local bureaucracies, and miss MY local bureaucracy in the process.
People
We’ve also met and spent a little bit of time with a few other people (beyond each other) over the last week. Exciting!
We had a lovely Warm Shower stay right in the middle of Konstanz Altstadt (old town) with Joachim and Sabine, a lovely couple who at very short notice put us up for the night at the end of the bank holiday weekend on Monday night. Their apartment was beautiful and we were treated to an evening of conversation (all in English, I’m always embarrassed by doing this in a foreign country – but their English was far better than our German) and a delicious breakfast before they both headed off to work on Tuesday morning. Thank you both for a lovely and welcoming stay 🙂
We also met a German (based in Switzerland) cyclist Karsten who was on a few days trip on his bike combining work with travel. More interestingly he was recently back from two years on the bike travelling the world with his wife and 7 year old daughter. Some top tips received (as well as trying to convince us of the benefits of riding a recumbent tandem rather than have separate bikes – no thanks) we said our goodbyes.
We’ve seen and briefly chatted to lots of tourers on e-bikes. As in more e-bikes than non-e-bikes have been seen on the Danube path – good to see in some ways, but less good when sweating up a climb and someone in their 60s glides past you accompanied by that e-whirring noise…
We’ve also seen some very heavily laden tourers. We feel a lot of the time like our bikes are seriously heavy and ruminate on what belongings we can jettison. We realise now that we are definitely on the lighter side when considering we are camping, cooking and have chairs with us! More on this in another blog I’m sure.
We’ve also had a lovely evening at a campsite alongside the Danube – peace and tranquility beckoned with an early finish. Except we were accompanied by 60 German teenagers who we were sharing the facilities with. I can confirm that German teenagers are exactly the same as British ones. Loud, excitable and able to not sleep all night. Our only communication with them was shhhing and ‘ruhe bitte’.
There’s also been fun and relaxation of course… including a trip to a public thermal baths, as encouraged by Richard and Maggie. Logistically a little challenging to carry all our luggage into what is in effect a swimming pool, but we made it!
What next?
So definitely an interesting week! We are currently debating whether to continue on the Danube heading a bit North and East and into Austria or head more due East before rejoining the Danube in Austria, and then to Vienna. Watch this space.
Again, thank you for all of the comments and support received. Whilst there are still bumps in the road (and the occasional soul searching about what we are doing and why) we are overall getting the hang of this new way of life.
Here’s to life on the road…
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