rotterdam to vienna

[rich p]

good point andy, I hadn,t got that far really. I figured by the time I was in the south of Germany I,d have it sussed and just find my way. That,s sort of what I did in France last year. I must admit though it's very useful to have an overall idea of where to head for even if it isn't too specific so I much appreciate your information,thanks. Basically I'm looking for fairly gentle, pleasant and well surfaced routes with plenty of camping/accom options along the way. I had no probs in France but I speak a fair bit which was really useful. Unfortunately my German is currently restricted to the bits I read in comics as a kid ! Still it will be a challenge to overcome!

Gott in himmel, Paul, for you the cycle is over!

 

[HJ]

There's certainly a train from Vienna to Munich, possibly even to Frankfurt.

Looking at the DB web site there 3 options changing 2, 3 or 4 times, there is even an option to say "carriage of bicycles required"...

 

[Andy in Sig]

good point andy, I hadn,t got that far really. I figured by the time I was in the south of Germany I,d have it sussed and just find my way. That,s sort of what I did in France last year. I must admit though it's very useful to have an overall idea of where to head for even if it isn't too specific so I much appreciate your information,thanks. Basically I'm looking for fairly gentle, pleasant and well surfaced routes with plenty of camping/accom options along the way. I had no probs in France but I speak a fair bit which was really useful. Unfortunately my German is currently restricted to the bits I read in comics as a kid ! Still it will be a challenge to overcome!

The Rhine and Danube routes will meet your requirements. However to get from the R to the D there is no avoiding a climb. The Wutach valley is a steady but manageable slog or you could, say, go over the Black Forest at the back of Freiburg, which will probably involve a bit of get off and shove until you are on top. There is, however, then the reward of an arrow-straight 10 km long downhill through a wood on the other side. I'd tend to the former myself. The beauty of doing the Rhine and Danube to Vienna is that you need only four Bikeline books in all and one local map to get from one to the other. If you have any specific questions, let me know.

 

[Tedx]

Paulrw this is where i bought the maps from..

http://www.stanfords.co.uk/stock/germany-bikeline-cycling-atlases/

I will also be following the Rhine as part of my route

 

[mcr]

The Rhine and Danube routes will meet your requirements. However to get from the R to the D there is no avoiding a climb. The Wutach valley is a steady but manageable slog or you could, say, go over the Black Forest at the back of Freiburg, which will probably involve a bit of get off and shove until you are on top. There is, however, then the reward of an arrow-straight 10 km long downhill through a wood on the other side. I'd tend to the former myself. The beauty of doing the Rhine and Danube to Vienna is that you need only four Bikeline books in all and one local map to get from one to the other. If you have any specific questions, let me know.

I did Freiburg to Donaueschingen to Sigmaringen to Lindau three summers ago - the first leg was certainly a stiff climb (for me - I walked it!), but then it was downhill for the last 30km or more; you get to do the most scenic bit of the upper Danube the following day, too. The latter leg via Ostrach was the shallowest way I could find over the watershed to get back to the Rhine at Lake Constanz and probably wouldn't be too bad in reverse if you've come along the river from Basel.

Although weight and cost mount up, you can pick up some pretty good cycle-specific maps in any book shop in the region, with the roads graded by amount of traffic, so don't feel you have to keep to the major bike routes - you can easily make up your own - they're well signed on the road as well.

Matthew

 

[Brains]

The route that follows the Rhein/Danube ship canal is almost flat !

The canal is about 100 km long and runs from the Main (a tributary of the Rhein) to the Danube just above Regensburg

Total rise is only 200m over a distance of about 70km, so in old money about 3 feet a mile !

 

[Brains]

Another flat route could be to follow the Fossa Carolina, or Karlsgraben. This was the original Rhein/Danube canal - it's only 3km long and was dug on the orders of Charlamagne

Here is the wiki entry auto-translated from German
http://translate.google.com/transla...arch?q=Fossa+Carolina++Karlsgraben&hl=en&sa=G

Description: Fossa Carolina was a channel project planned to connect the Franconian River Rezat and River Altmuehl and thus to connect the large river systems of Rhein (Rhine), Main and Donau (Danube). In a way Fossa Carolina is the precursor of the Ludwigskanal (Ludwig Channel) and the Main-Donau-Kanal (Main Danube Channel). Fossa Carolina had to get over the European watershed.
In 793 Karl der Große (Charlemagne) ordered to dig a 3,000 metres long channel to supply his troops in the war against the tribe of the "Awaren” which had attacked Bavaria in 788.

 

[paulrw]

Brilliant, thank you all for this information. That will take me some time to research ! But brilliant, thanks again everyone.

 

[Andy in Sig]

The route that follows the Rhein/Danube ship canal is almost flat !

The canal is about 100 km long and runs from the Main (a tributary of the Rhein) to the Danube just above Regensburg

Total rise is only 200m over a distance of about 70km, so in old money about 3 feet a mile !

Yes but then you miss the first 150 km of the Danube where the scenery is simply stunning.

 

[smavter]

it sucks you have to start with the nether"lands, i live there and its pretty much flat and if it wasnt for the crazy wind flows i would start to think its easy to cycle here, the cycle paths are all over holland, but that doesnt make it easy, a flat terrain plays tricks on your mind, plus its about to be summer so there's lots of flowering going on which will sting your eyes and make you feel tired, regardless of hayfever, i have to be honest and its not going to be easy, especially since you will be climbing mountains after that. good luck man, st malo to narbonne is almost the same climate throughout when its summer, but here you'll experience weather changes not due to time but by geograhical locations. AND the worst is at the end, just train for it and much respect.