Auntie Helen
Ich bin Powerfrau!
- Location
- 47906 Kempen, Germany
Well I'm all excited about my forthcoming planned German cycle tour - my first ever tour!
Last week my husband and I were on a river cruise of the Moselle, Rhine and Main rivers and the scenery was fantastic. More importantly, there were excellent cycle paths, very well marked and looking pretty flat (I am not good up hills!) It inspired me to definitely go ahead with a vague plan to do a tour next May.
I furnished myself with a couple of handy books (Rhein Radweg 3 and the Bett & Bike directory) so I'm all set to do the Rhine at least.
Thing is... in long conversations with 'Andy in Sig', it seems that the obvious route (train to Mainz, then downstream/north to Cologne) will be a bit short and a bit industrial at the end. I'm aiming to be cycling for about a week, would estimate I'll probably do 60miles/100km a day, and will want to spend time looking around some of the wonderful towns and villages that Germany offers. I absolutely loved the Moselle so would like to include that somehow but don't want to backtrack if possible, would rather avoid anything too unpleasantly industrial, and will be taking a recumbent trike on the trains when I go. The Main river was also very nice but the Moselle has caught my imagination more.
Andy has made one route suggestion which involves a train journey in the middle and means that I do both Moselle and Rhine downhill (hurrah) but I'm open to other recommendations as well.
I will be staying in B&Bs/Hotels/Guesthouses as I'm definitely not a camper. I also speak fluent German so shouldn't have any language difficulties... until I reach Bavaria and can't understand the accent!
So now I call upon all you experienced tourers to tell me what I really ought to know...
Last week my husband and I were on a river cruise of the Moselle, Rhine and Main rivers and the scenery was fantastic. More importantly, there were excellent cycle paths, very well marked and looking pretty flat (I am not good up hills!) It inspired me to definitely go ahead with a vague plan to do a tour next May.
I furnished myself with a couple of handy books (Rhein Radweg 3 and the Bett & Bike directory) so I'm all set to do the Rhine at least.
Thing is... in long conversations with 'Andy in Sig', it seems that the obvious route (train to Mainz, then downstream/north to Cologne) will be a bit short and a bit industrial at the end. I'm aiming to be cycling for about a week, would estimate I'll probably do 60miles/100km a day, and will want to spend time looking around some of the wonderful towns and villages that Germany offers. I absolutely loved the Moselle so would like to include that somehow but don't want to backtrack if possible, would rather avoid anything too unpleasantly industrial, and will be taking a recumbent trike on the trains when I go. The Main river was also very nice but the Moselle has caught my imagination more.
Andy has made one route suggestion which involves a train journey in the middle and means that I do both Moselle and Rhine downhill (hurrah) but I'm open to other recommendations as well.
I will be staying in B&Bs/Hotels/Guesthouses as I'm definitely not a camper. I also speak fluent German so shouldn't have any language difficulties... until I reach Bavaria and can't understand the accent!
So now I call upon all you experienced tourers to tell me what I really ought to know...