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2023 Itzonagen European Ride

Ağustos - Ekim 2023
Early in 2018 I started making plans for a new European Cycling Adventure, to be conducted in September 2020. However, Covid 19 put a stop to those plans for three years. Now finally "Itzonagen". Okumaya devam et
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  • The World on Two Wheels2023 Itzonagen European Ride
    Gün 26

    Zell to Kues

    12 Eylül 2023, Almanya ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    The early morning was comfortably cool as we set off on the 45 km ride to Kues. The milder weather was very welcome, as was the fact that the ride closely followed the river for the entire ride.

    Along the way we passed through Traban Trabach. While it was undeniable that the city was picture perfect in just about every detail, I could not help but wonder how authentic the place really was. It seems that these places have been recreated specifically for the bustling tourist trade. Every such "recreated" city has the daily influx of busloads of elderly, camera toting tourists, all eager to make the walk from their bus to the waiting tourist train which would take them through the town. It is all a bit too much like Disneyland for me.

    We battled our way through the centre of the city, fighting to wheel our bikes through the solid mass of people. It felt like I was taking my bike to the MCG on Grand Final Day.

    After leaving Traban Trabach, we continued to Kues, arriving at 12.30 pm. We found ourselves ahead of all the others (apart from David, who had ridden non stop without stopping to see anything at all). We then waited on the side of the Moselle for the Olympia to arrive at around 2 pm.    Okumaya devam et

    Çeviriyi gör
  • The World on Two Wheels2023 Itzonagen European Ride
    Gün 27

    Kues to Mehring

    13 Eylül 2023, Almanya ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    Last night we were entertained by an extended electrical storm that regularly punctuated the night sky with brilliant flashes of lightning. I love these displays of nature, and it also foreshadowed a break in the run of hot and humid days that we had been experiencing.

    This morning was much cooler, the sky was overcast and the humidity was quite a lot more comfortable. It would be a good day for riding, but I was somewhat distracted by a personal problem. I was discovering life without the Internet.

    It is amazing how you can take something for granted unto you no longer have it. Back home in Australia, the Internet is so easily accessible that we do not stop to think about it. Since arriving in Europe four weeks ago, I had been accessing the Internet via an eSIM that I had purchased before leaving Australia.

    The advantage of such a device is that it does not require anything to be installed in your phone. It is purely a piece of software that somehow allows you to connect to the local mobile phone provider. It had been working well from the time I first set foot in Holland. And then, a couple of days ago, it stopped.

    I wasted hours fiddling with my phone, resetting everything and changing every setting I could find. It still did not work. The boat did offer very limited (and extremely slow) Internet access, and I was able to contact the provider to seek help. Nothing they suggested worked. This meant that, as soon as I left the boat, I was out of contact with the world.

    Today's ride was expected to be around 48 km, but for some reason, ended up being considerably longer that.

    The first major highlight was the town of Piesport. It turned out to be a place that had built its fame and fortune purely on the sale and promotion of alcohol. All along the bike path was an endless succession of booths and kiosks set up to sell alcohol to the passing cyclists. It might have been called Piesport by name, but I thought it was more like Pisspot by nature. I had no desire to spend any more time there than was absolutely necessary.

    We continued on our way to the town of Mehring, which was where the boat was due to be moored. Unfortunately we could not find the boat, and spent a lot of time riding from one of the town to the other looking for the familiar sight of the MS Olympia.

    Eventually we did see our boat as it passed under the big bridge, and then followed it to the mooring place. Dinner this evening took the form of a BBQ on the top deck of the boat. They really had put a lot of work into getting everything ready, so it was unfortunate that it came to a premature end when heavy rain started.

    It was a much cooler night, which greatly aided sleeping.    Okumaya devam et

    Çeviriyi gör
  • The World on Two Wheels2023 Itzonagen European Ride
    Gün 28

    Mehring to Trier

    14 Eylül 2023, Almanya ⋅ 🌙 16 °C

    One of the lessons I have learnt from all the previous rides I have done is to beware of the so called "short days", as often these can throw up the most unexpected challenges. Today's ride was originally supposed to be only 28 km - an absolute doddle in anyone's language. It did not turn out that way.

    The captain explained that there had been a problem with our intended mooring point in Trier. Apparently, this choice location had now been snaffled by one of the larger cruise ships (probably a Viking), and that we had now been relegated to a rather second (actually fourth) rate mooring about 8 km out of the town. To make matters even worse, the mooring was right in the middle of an ugly industrial estate, surrounded by stinking metal recycling plants and toxic waste dumps.

    The change of mooring point also had a further negative impact on our day's ride. The city of Trier is the oldest city in Germany and is famous for its impressive Roman ruins. It was certainly a place we wanted to explore, but, just like the old Roman buildings, our plans were also in ruins.

    Since the new mooring point was about 8 km before Trier, we would have to ride ahead to the city, and then ride the same path again to get back to the boat. If that was not bad enough, the following morning we would have to ride it a third time as we resume our ride along the Moselle. It was not the way it was meant to be.

    We started the ride at about 9 am and made good progress till we stopped at a substantial coffee shop for morning tea. Just as we were sitting in the sunshine, enjoying our drinks, a rather terrifying event took place. Every mobile phone (and I mean EVERY MOBILE PHONE) started pinging with an emergency alert message. Since the message was in German we had no idea what it was telling us.

    All around the coffee shop people were looking at their phones in horror. Surely Putin had not done the unthinkable, and pressed the red button? I looked up at the sky, expecting to see the vapour trails from incoming missiles. Fortunately the only trails I could see were from the normal air traffic.

    After several minutes of communal confusion, the waitress gradually assured everyone that it was just the government testing their alert system. Apparently it is something that is done once a year. For us, it was a rather unsettling experience, and certainly increased our anxiety levels off the scale.

    We continued on for a short distance, trying to regain our composure, when we struck the second major challenge of the day. The trail was completely closed for some sort of reconstruction. For a time, we did not know whether to just ignore the sign and try to go around it. Finally we decided to try to navigate our way instead.

    The fact that there were no detour signs made the navigation that much harder. We didn't really know where we were going, but just rode around a complex series of local roads, until we finally worked our way around the blockage. It added significantly to the distance we had to ride that day.

    After narrowly averting nuclear disaster, and negotiating a meandering detour, we finally reached Trier about 2 pm. By that time it was very hot, and the sight of a huge throng of tourists was not a welcome one. We went in search of somewhere quieter to rest for a while.

    Most of us had elected to participate in a "guided tour" of the city. I normally avoid these unpleasant experiences, but somehow decided to throw common sense aside and pay the 20 Euro fee for the unpleasant experience.

    The tour started at 3 pm. It was the hottest time of the day, so we all hoped it would be short. It wasn't. It went on and on, with lots of dates and other details that were immediately forgotten. We staggered around the city, just wanting the thing to end.

    When the tour finally finished at around 5 pm, we still had to get back to the boat. This is where the real circus began. There were about 50 of us in total, who all required guiding out of the city and back to the Olympia. Our cycling guide on the boat was a confident blonde German called Julia. Since she was going to lead us back to the boat, we thought it would be simple and straightforward. It wasn't.

    Julia did not seem to know where we were. The huge conga line of riders followed her as she twisted and turned through the narrow streets. I soon started to doubt her navigation, as we were heading in the opposite direction to where we should be going. I have never ridden in such a huge peloton, riding along busy roads in a major city. It was not only funny, it was potentially very dangerous.

    Julia eventually realised that she was going the wrong way, and the giant peloton found itself right back in the centre of the city - exactly where we had started about 20 minutes earlier. This really was developing into a very long day.

    After some more confusion, the correct path was finally located, and we started back toward the Olympia. By that time riders were stretched out over a huge distance, and several became disconnected from the group. It really was a perfect example of how NOT to lead a group of riders.

    It was after 6 pm by the time that we reached the familiar safety of the boat. It was almost dinner time. What a day.    Okumaya devam et

    Çeviriyi gör
  • The World on Two Wheels2023 Itzonagen European Ride
    Gün 29

    The Final Night on Board

    15 Eylül 2023, Almanya ⋅ 🌙 19 °C

    The final day of any extended ride is always a little sad, especially when the cycling conditions were absolutely perfect. Once you settle into a simple routine of daily riding, it really is hard to stop.

    Today we would not only be completing our final ride, but we would also be saying goodbye to the beautiful Moselle River that had been the theme of our week of riding. It was now time to join the Saar River and then follow it to the end of our ride at Saarburg.

    For almost the entire ride we stuck closely to the riverbank. At one stage we had a brief transit through the tiny country of Luxembourg, before catching a ferry back across the river back to Germany again.

    Maggie and I rode by ourselves for most of the day and enjoyed the quietness and solitude. At the end of the ride we removed our personal gear from the bikes, and prepared for the next stage of our adventure.

    That evening was the final night on board, and by tradition, this is when the captain plays host. He also made a special announcement that, because of the terrible mooring location in Trier, all the drinks would be free. I suspected that this would have happened regardless of where we had moored.

    Needless to say, it was a very noisy night, and we were happy to retire to our cabin earlier than usual.

    Tomorrow, we say goodbye to the Olympia, and look forward to a couple of bicycle free days in Saarburg.    Okumaya devam et

    Çeviriyi gör
  • The World on Two Wheels2023 Itzonagen European Ride
    Gün 30

    Goodbye Olympia, Hello Saarburg

    16 Eylül 2023, Almanya ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    After our week of exploring the bike/barge along the Moselle, it was time to get off the Olympia and make our way to our hotel. It was an early 5.30 am wake up, followed by breakfast at 6.30 am. Our bags were packed (ie crammed) and offloaded from the boat at 7.30 am.

    The Hotel Am Markt was a short distance away from the dock, so I grabbed the handles of both our suitcases and started walking. I had not gone far before I felt an unfamiliar weight in my pocket. I wondered what it was. It was the key to our cabin !

    I immediately Uturned and walked back to the boat where I was met by the scowling steward. They had already realised that I was about to abscond with the key (and probably incur a huge penalty fine in the process).

    With the great key scandal thus averted, I was able to complete the easy walk to the hotel and drop the bags in. The rest of the day was free to explore.

    Saarburg is a most pleasant small town, centred on a scenic canal. During the day the area near the canal is packed with tourists, but after dark it is very peaceful.

    The major landmarks of the city are the elevated Saarburg Castle and the Reformed Church, both of which are situated high above the town. We made the strenuous climb up to the top of the tower to look down on the village and the river from this vantage point. It was well worth the effort.    Okumaya devam et

    Çeviriyi gör
  • The World on Two Wheels2023 Itzonagen European Ride
    Gün 31

    White Knuckles in Saarburg

    17 Eylül 2023, Almanya ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    Since today was our free day in Saarburg, we both slept in to the quite ungodly hour of 8 am. Instead of feeling refreshed by such a long sleep, I actually felt rather tired. I had spent most of the night fighting a losing battle with the tiny doona.

    These cursed things seem have become a thing in Europe since our last trip 4 years ago. While I enjoy sleeping under a normal sized doona, those that we have been finding in our hotel rooms are tiny little things, not much bigger than a hand towel. I find it absolutely impossible to find a comfortable sleeping position and find that my body temperature alternates between hot and cold. I have even tried throwing the whole lot on the floor, and just sleeping on top of the mattress, While that works for a while, it is not compatible with a satisfying night's sleep. And so, the nightly doona battle continues unabated.

    One of the attractions of Saarburg is a chairlift that goes from the township up to the top of a nearby hill. All of the others in our group had already decided to take the ride. In contrast, I had a problem.

    Maggie has always had a paranoid fear of heights. Even standing on top of a chair is a death defying challenge for her. The thought of sitting suspended high in the air on a chair lift was enough to transform her into a quivering mess. In spite of that, we set out on the walk to the base of the lift, to watch the others setting off up the hill.

    In spite of her fear, Maggie somehow agreed to buy a ticket and join me on the ride up. Well join me is probably an understatement. She closed her eyes and then dug her fingernails deep into the back of my hand. When the chair started to wobble a little, the fingernails went in even deeper. It turned out to be a painful experience for both of us.

    We did safely make it to the top of the mountain, without suffering a cable break or a heart attack, however I was a little disappointed at the views that we were rewarded with. In my opinion, the view from the tower at the palace was infinitely superior.

    After a coffee, it was time to face the return chair ride back down the hill. The entire drama was enacted for a second time, with Maggie holding her breath for most of the way down. She did not resume smiling till we were both safely back down on the ground.

    Tomorrow morning, we will split into two groups. Ken Lister will be taking 16 riders to Passau to begin their ride along the Danube from Passau to Vienna. Another 8 of us will be coming with me to Donaueschingen (the place where the Danube River begins) to begin our ride along the upper reaches of the Danube.

    There are also 4 others who will now be heading back to Australia. Those are Steve and Gill Wilson, Pascale Turvey and Sarah Barlin.

    In case you have been wondering about the weather - it has been close to perfect. So far we have not had even a single wet day, and most days have blessed us with lovely conditions for riding. That is why we always choose this time of the year for our European rides.    Okumaya devam et

    Çeviriyi gör
  • The World on Two Wheels2023 Itzonagen European Ride
    Gün 32

    Trains and Trains and Pains

    18 Eylül 2023, Almanya ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    After our brief time in Saarburg, it was time for us to all to move on. Ken Lister would be taking 15 of our riders and heading to Passau to begin a week long ride from Passau to Vienna, while I would be heading with a group of 8 riders to Donaueschingen to begin a series of extended rides in Germany, Switzerland and France. There would also be four others who would be returning to Australia.

    After spending so many happy moments together, such partings are always difficult. Last night there were many hugs and farewells as the reality of the moment hit home. The Ken Lister team (let's call them the A Team) had the earliest start. In fact it was so early that they had to miss breakfast. It was just as well they did not know in advance just how exhausting their day was going to be.

    My team (the B Team) had a slightly more leisurely start (ie we were able to have breakfast), but at 8.45 am we began the walk to Saarburg Station. In order to get from Saarburg to Donaueschingen, we had to successfully navigate between four train journeys, all of them with quite short changeover times. What could possibly go wrong ?

    The first step went according to the plan. We even managed to find space for our luggage. The train ran on schedule and we arrived at Saarbrucken with time to catch the next train to Kaiserslautern. Here the transit time was very short 7 minutes, constituting a mad panic run from one platform to another.

    When we boarded the next train to Karlsruhe, we thought the worst was behind us. It wasn't. Even though we had prebooked 1st class seats on that leg, we clambered onto the train, only to find that strangers had commandeered our seats and refused to move. This threw all of us into a state of confusion (it doesn't take much to do that), and we found that we were soon spread over two carriages, with our luggage jammed into any space we could find. David found a comfy place lying on the staircase, I think Maggie found a seat in the toilet, and the rest were sitting on their luggage or on each other's knees. It was not a pleasant journey.

    Surely the worst was now behind us ? Actually it wasn't. We had thought that the final 2 hour ride to Donaueschingen would be quiet and peaceful. We did not anticipate that we would be soundly abused as soon as we set foot in the carriage.

    In the entry to the carriage the only seats left were occupied by two bicycles, While I am an avid supporter of cycling, it did seem a little unfair that these bikes actually took up 8 seats and left us all standing. I proceeded to rearrange the bikes so that they would take up less room. It was an obvious solution to an overcrowded train. I did not realise that it would provoke an outburst from the elderly (and obviously unhinged) owner of one of the bikes.

    With an overwhelming sense of righteous indignation, I explained to the guy that we were not taking any notice of him, and that he would be wise to mind his own business. Even so, we still had our team uncomfortably crammed in with suitcases and sitting on tiny fold down seats.

    It was not until well into the trip that the carriage emptied enough for everyone to more or less find a proper seat. The irate bike owner never did come back for his bike (a fact that I was very happy with) and the final hour of the trip took us through magnificent mountain scenery with a long succession of tunnels.

    We arrived at our destination at around 3.15 pm and went in search of coffee and cake to settle our nerves. In the meantime we had been regularly checking on the progress of Team A. We learned that their trip had been even more horrendous than ours. It looked like the train company had sold twice as many tickets as the available number of seats, leaving them sitting on the floor of the train. The train toilets were blocked and overflowing. It was a truly ugly scene. No wonder they were all completely exhausted when they finally arrived at Passau late in the afternoon.

    At least we had a very pleasant surprise waiting for us when we arrived at our hotel - the bikes that would be our transportation for the next few days. They were bright red ebikes made by Velo du Ville, with Bosch motors and batteries. They looked brand new, and certainly rode extremely well. Carol immediately fell in love with hers, and decided that David will need to purchase one for her the moment they arrive back in Australia.

    Tomorrow is a free day to recover from the travel trauma, before we begin cycling the upper reaches of the Danube.    Okumaya devam et

    Çeviriyi gör
  • The World on Two Wheels2023 Itzonagen European Ride
    1
    1
    Gün 33

    The Donaueschingen Doddle

    19 Eylül 2023, Almanya ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    Donaueschingen is a lovely township of some 20,000 inhabitants, sitting at an elevation of 700m above sea level. In the winter time, the city is blanketed with a thick carpet of snow, but at this time of the year, the climate is fine and mild - perfect for cycling and sightseeing.

    Donaueschingen is also famous for being situated at the confluence of the Breg and Bregach rivers. Although it is now recognised as the place where the Danube begins, the controversy has raged for a long time as to the true source of the famous river. Most references now regard the Danube river as starting from the Donauquelle Fountain in the centre of the city, although this unassuming small spring hardly looks capable of giving rise to anything more than a modest dribble.

    When we last visited this town during our 2016 Odyssey Ride, we quickly fell in love with the place. Now that we are back 7 years later, I can still feel an attraction for this pretty town and its clean, fresh air. At this time of the year there are almost no tourists, the bike paths are clear and inviting. Even the smoking seems to be far less of a problem here, than it was in every other place we have visited so far.

    Today was a rest day, and we all felt that it was thoroughly deserved after the chaos we experienced on the previous day's train ride from Saarburg. It was wonderful to quietly stroll the steets, enjoy the large park and enjoy a quiet lunch in one of the town's eateries.

    The Danube is not the only thing that starts in this city. The famous long distance bike path (The Donau Radweg) also begins right next to the Donauquelle Fountain. Tomorrow we will climb on our new bikes and head out of the city along that route.    Okumaya devam et

    Çeviriyi gör
  • The World on Two Wheels2023 Itzonagen European Ride
    11
    Gün 34

    Donaueschingen to Fridingen

    20 Eylül 2023, Almanya ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    What are the ingredients for the perfect day's ride ? I guess you could start with lovely weather. Clear blue skies, moderate temperatures and no wind would be ideal. You could then add in a great bike in perfect operating condition. If it is an ebike, that is even better. Next you would need some good friends to share the ride with. Finally, of course you need spectacular scenery and a lovely smooth surface to ride on. That should just about be enough to give you an experience to remember for a long time to come.

    And that is exactly what we had today. The Danube bike path from Donaueschingen to Fridingen surely must rank as one of the best cycle paths in Europe, if not the world. The Danube River starts from the confluence of two small streams - the Brreg and the Brigach. The Donau Radweg begins in the centre of Donaueschingen and closely follows the Danube (Donau) for hundreds of km.

    On this ride we will only be following the cycle path as far as Ulm, a distance of around 200 km over a period of four days. As we rode along the bank of the Danube, we could see that it was only a modest stream. This is a far cry from the huge river that it grows into downstream.

    The bike path is almost entirely sealed and wanders through the wide valley, passing a succession of farms and through beautiful small villages. When you first glimpse each village from a distance, the first object you see is the church steeple. The rest of the village is crowded around this central point.

    On this early section of the path, the most significant location is the Danube Sink, where the river disappears completely into the porous limestone. It then flows underground for several km, before gradually emerging again from the river bed, We stopped here for a group before moving on.

    Some distance further along we stopped at the sizeable town of Tuttlingen for lunch, before completing the day's ride to Fridingen by 2 pm. It was a bit of a nuisance that our luggage took another two and a half hours to join us. That meant we had to eat our dinner still dressed in our riding gear. But in the overall scheme of things, that really was only a very minor inconvenience.

    It really had been a sensational day.    Okumaya devam et

    Çeviriyi gör
  • The World on Two Wheels2023 Itzonagen European Ride
    1
    Gün 35

    Fridingen to Scheer

    21 Eylül 2023, Almanya ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    If yesterday's ride was rated 10/10, then today would have to up the ante to the proverbial 11/10. Not only did the run of perfect weather continue unabated, but the scenery was probably even more beautiful than what we experienced yesterday. It is little wonder that this section is often regarded as the most amazing on the entire Danube Bike Path.

    The first section from Fridingen to Beuron runs through a wide, flat bottomed valley, bordered by towering stone cliffs. We were never far from the river we had seen start in Donaueschingen yesterday. although with each passing km, it gets a little bigger.

    Beuron is dominated by a huge abbey. There are also signs everywhere that remind us that we are on a pilgrim route. This is part of the huge network of Camino trails that originate from all over Europe, and terminate in Santiago de Compostela in Spain. There are many small shrines and chapels along the path, that invite the cyclist to stop for a while and ponder.

    Unfortunately we are now down to only 7 riders. Carol has been suffering from a cold for the past couple of days and elected to catch the train instead of ride. She met us later along the way at Sigmaringen. Maggie was also a doubtful starter, having strained her back early in the morning at the hotel. She managed to complete the 50 km ride with difficulty, and only time will tell if she is able to ride tomorrow.

    You might think that by following a river downstream, the path would be all downhill. You might think that, but you would be completely wrong. Today's route was actually quite "lumpy", with some significant sharp climbs. In fact during the day, the GPS told me that we had a total ascent of over 800 metres. I guess that is why we all felt quite tired at the end of the ride.

    The town of Sigmaringen is dominated by a huge palace structure. While it certainly is impressive, to me it is just another reminder of the disparity of wealth and power between the royalty and the rest of the population. Four of us decided to have a quick wander through some of the buildings, but after about 30 mins we were keen to get to our hotel in Scheer.

    Carol joined us the final 10 km or so, and soon we were riding into the grounds of the lovely Donaublick Hotel. This hotel was a favourite on our 2016 ride, and it was a great feeling to be back again. It was even nicer when we were welcomed with a free cup of coffee and cake.    Okumaya devam et

    Çeviriyi gör
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