Germany end to end

[Trickedem]

I have just got back from doing a Germany end to end. I have had this in mind for a long time and finally did it.
I flew to Memmingen, then caught a train to Oberstdorf. The southernmost point involves a 12 mile ride up the valley then a trek of a few miles. I was fortunate to do this in glorious sunshine.

And two weeks later I made it the Northernmost point is pouring rain.

This has been my longest unsupported tour. I was also camping some of the time which again was a new experience.
You can read a full account of the trip here

 

[Andy in Germany]

Excellent, and well done. I've often dreamt of doing something like this so if you have any experiences and tips I'd be very interested in hearing them. I'm also very pleased to see people coming and experiencing this lovely and increasingly cycle friendly country.

Of course, I'm slightly miffed that you missed the best bits out, but you can always come back next year...

 

[ianrauk]

Great going Timbo.
Looking forward to our Spanish tour next month.

 

[Trickedem]

Excellent, and well done. I've often dreamt of doing something like this so if you have any experiences and tips I'd be very interested in hearing them. I'm also very pleased to see people coming and experiencing this lovely and increasingly cycle friendly country.

Of course, I'm slightly miffed that you missed the best bits out, but you can always come back next year...

I have to agree Germany is a great country for cycling. There has clearly been a lot of investment in dedicated infrastructure and some of the paths I cycled on were exceptional. But...... there is always a but, some of it hasn't been maintained very well. I found this even more in Northern Germany. They have built dedicated cycle lanes on most main roads, but it looks like they planted trees at the same time. The routes of these trees are now cracking the paths and making them harder to use. It can also be annoying when you enter a town and are obligated to use the cycle paths, which often don't have a very good surface. However, just to be clear it is generally much better than most of what you see in the UK.
Campsites can be few and far between in some places, but I never had a problem getting a space even when I hadn't booked ahead. I also found that hotels, were fairly cheap and easily booked using booking.com
My lack of German was never a problem. Most people seemed to appreciate me at least trying to ask for things in German.
The bakeries that seem to be everywhere are fantastic. They all seem to have inside seating and serve coffee, cakes and fresh sandwiches. I used 1 or 2 every day.
Food is fairly cheap in the supermarkets and beer and wine (particularly German) is extremely cheap.

I have to review my camping set up. I probably took too much. I could do with a lighter tent, although it was great to have loads of room. I also had a camping chair, which weighs about 1kg, and at the majority of campsites there were chairs available.

 

[All uphill]

Oh!

That's an inspiration!

I can see my afternoon spent working out how to do a version of this using bike and train.

 

[Andy in Germany]

My lack of German was never a problem. Most people seemed to appreciate me at least trying to ask for things in German.

I'll probably get more comments than you, as I've lived in the south, so I use a lit of local dialect words without realising.

In my last job I was in the old Duchy of Baden, which used to be a different country. I still nave a strong accent despite living in Germany for about 25 years, and my boss was Moroccan. No-one batted an eyelid about that, but my colleague from "over the Border" in Württemberg got ribbed constantly for being "foreign".

 

[Andy in Germany]

Oh!

That's an inspiration!

I can see my afternoon spent working out how to do a version of this using bike and train.

As of last month I now have a garden, so I can offer a camping space and possibly a warm shower near Rottenburg if you ever want to try it for real...