Here’s the concluding part of Dary’ls transcontinental adventure. It’s edited highlights of Daryl’s own story so If, like me, you’ve been amazed and inspired, you can read the full version here: The long way home part 4, Northern Europe, August/September 2024 – Tales from the Saddle
Well, it’s all downhill from here. The plan for the final push north is to follow the Euro Velo EV15, which basically traces the River Rhine from source to sea.
On our 19th day of riding, we cycled in in 4 different countries. One great thing about the Rhine is its position in Europe and the fact that it creates a natural border between many of the countries in this region. If you cross a bridge over the Rhine here, the chances are you have crossed into another country. We made a right turn in Buchs and over the bridge out of Switzerland and into Liechtenstein. We then dropped onto the cycle path along the edge of the river, taking the next left turn over the river again and back into Switzerland. Later we travelled through Austria before ending the day in Germany.
The cycle path was amazing, mainly asphalt. . At one point we came across a field which must have had at least twenty Storks stood feeding in it. Apparently, Storks had been reintroduced into the area recently after been driven to extinction. We stopped at one picnic spot for a quick drink and snack and found what can only be described as a “service point” sponsored by Saris, the turbo trainer company. It had allen keys, spanners and a track pump, brilliant. We took the opportunity to check tyre pressures, as it had been a while since we had a genuine pressure gauge
The next day, shock, horror, we woke up to rain. I had forgotten what rain was like. We set off without breakfast and made for the ferry across the Bodensee at Meersburg crossing to Konstanz. It was only 20km, but very wet and cold, and I was shivering as we boarded the ferry. The ferry had a small café, so we went straight up and got hot drinks and some breakfast, at which point I put on my gilet. Something I had never thought about, was that over the past nineteen days in high temperatures my head had obviously been sweating and left salt in the helmet lining, all of which washed down into my eyes as the rain fell. I could hardly see a thing on the way to the ferry.
Our country hopping kept going, never quite knowing whether you were in Germany or Switzerland. Our final border river crossing of the day at Schwaderloch and that was Switzerland done for this trip. The final piece of cycle path led us all the way into Bad Säckingen, keeping us away from the traffic and leading us through the Alstadt, to our very quirky hotel. I was sure that the hotel must have been last decorated back in the 1970’s, but what was really cool was several big glass display cases full of model trains, stations and accessories, probably from the same era as the decorations, if not earlier.
On day 21, we headed back into France.On paper the day looked reasonably steady, starting at 300m and finishing at 175m elevation. In real life it was tough, with 600m of climbing in 35km, only forty minutes into the ride. However, they were stunning climbs on quiet roads and offered great views, but we had to cover some broken roads to get over the hump of the day. It felt good to be in France, a country I love, although this part is flat and most of the afternoon was spent either riding the D468 or on a pavement/cycle path along side it.
From day 22 the days were getting much flatter as we started to follow the Rhine closely, so our daily distance was stretching out to 150km plus. Breakfast in the hotel set us up for the day, and what a stunning start. By 08:00 we were turning onto a cycle path along the Canal du Rhône au Rhin, which would carry us all the way to the centre of Strasbourg. This was a one of the really memorable parts of the trip as the water was like a mirror, reflecting everything as you rode along it. It got busier as we reach the outskirts of Strasbourg as it was the main commuter route into town, hundreds of bikes everywhere, with riders in normal clothes, using the bike as just transportation. It was my perfect world, spoilt only by one clown on a derestricted electric bike doing about 40kph and blasting past everyone
The next day we continued along the EV15, riding through lush woodland on gravel trails away from the traffic. It is funny how we had now got used to be segregated from the traffic and it just felt normal. What was also becoming normal was seeing loads of riders in there 60’s and 70’s, wearing casual clothes, just enjoying being out on their e-bikes. If only this was the norm in the UK, I know I’m going to miss this when I got home.
Come day 24, we took the opportunity to get some of our casual clothes washed in the hotel. It had been difficult to wash them on the road because if we were not on the bike we were wearing them. The hotel said they could have them ready for the morning and sure enough, a very soft and bouncy pile of clothes were in our room after breakfast. There appeared to be a couple of cycle tours staying there as the garage was full of hybrid e-bikes, and the breakfast room was heaving, with queues of hungry cyclists waiting to get a table.
At Sankt Goer, the next day, I spotted a location I had been waiting for. In 1981, when I rode down through Germany on my Honda 400, on my way to the Simplon pass, I had stopped here and taken a photograph with Burg Katz in the background. Here I was 43 years later riding back up the Rhine on a bicycle on my way back from Turkey. It was a very poignant moment, as the 23-year-old me would not have imagined what I was doing was possible.
By 31st August, we had been cycling for 25 days. Just after Bonn we found a riverside café and got a nice brew and cake while we looked at the rest of the route and where to get lunch. Food and water seemed to be becoming more important to us as I think the last four weeks had started to use up what little fat store we had. Lunch consisted of locating a supermarket in the centre of Mulhiem, and a picnic by the river. These picnics were proving to be perfect for lunch as we could control where, when and how long we stopped for. After Leverkusen, we crossed the river again but this time using the first of two stunning bridges of the day, which were a real work of art.
Our last day in Germany, we swapped over onto the east side of the river after Duisburg and aimed for a town called Wesel. As we followed the EV15 signs for Wesel the distance shown were either not getting any less or in a couple of cases, had increased. Then to top it off, we came round a corner to find a couple of German cyclists in the middle of the road and there was an albino weasel in the middle of the road. Wesel/weasel….you had to laugh. We stopped to have a look and for some reason it took a shine to my bike and started to follow my wheel, but looked like it was about to nibble the tyre. We were not too sure if it was sick, or just a young one that was lost, but the couple looked like they were about to adopt it, so we moved on.
We spent the next couple of days cycling through Holland, meeting up with some friends and relatives.
As we rode along, we spotted a Mammoth stood in the field, not something I expected to see, but worth a stop for a photo. Shortly after we reach Looveer, where we take ferry number 11 and then head to Arnhem riding over the John Frost Bridge, named after Major-General John Dutton Frost, who commanded the British Forces that reached and defended the bridge during the Battle of Arnhem in September 1944, eighty years ago to the month.
By our second day in Holland, the weather had become quite overcast, but it was nice to feel the sea air on our faces again. This was the first time we had been close to the coast since Naples, two weeks ago. Was it only two weeks since we were in the South of Italy? We took a gentle ride down the coast, and the Hook of Holland. We found the cycle path out of Scheveningen, which followed the coast and routed us through the sand dunes all the way to the Moments Beach restaurant, where we had a stunning fish and chips to round off our journey. It poured with rain while we ate, so we had a taster of what we could expect once we had crossed to the UK. Goodbye warm weather and dry roads
We landed safe in Harwich on the 4th of September and had 240km to ride to get home. Here we were met by our friend Rob, who had ridden 250km after lunch the previous day to meet and ride back with us and I can’t tell you how much it meant. Great company and a real Audax legend these days, cheers Rob.
We stayed overnight in Cambridge, then set off back to Northamptonshire and Leicestershire to our respective homes. As we were leaving Thrapston, we spotted two other very good friends and keen Audax riders, Sophia and Wayne. We now rode as a group of six until Rob and Clive peeled off ten kilometres later. The rest of us rode back to Market Harborough for a tea and biscuits at Wayne’s house. It was there that reality hit us; the adventure was over.
It is only now that I have documented the trip, and looked at all the photographs that I can actually start to process what we had done during those forty-five days away from home.
We had ridden home from Asia, only skipping a small section through Italy by train, the rest were hard miles (or kilometres). From the Aegean Coast to the North Sea, via the Adriatic and the Mediterranean.
By the time we got home we had covered 3,640km with 28,125m of elevation with an average speed of 19.36kph and 188 hours in the saddle since landing on the 24th of July on Lesvos.
Thanks, Michiel for your company over the forty-five days.
Categories