Mountains and Lakes - Switzerland and Italy

By my reckoning, I've now been on the road for two and a half months. Time to make some awards: Best for food - the French. Unsurprising really, but there's nothing like a French croissant or baguette no matter how hard the rest of Europe try, and the quality of the food is just so high from markets or restaurant. Biggest surprise was Belgium - a lovely country with lovely people and I'll definitely head back again. Best roads: Switzerland. They win by a margin. I met a family a couple of nights ago who described driving over the border to Italy as driving into one big pothole. The Germans came a somewhat distant second and unsurprisingly the Italian roads thus far are the worst. For cycle lanes, I think that the Dutch have it by an edge from the Germans. They both have wide networks, but the when the cycle path is wider than the road in parts, you know that the Dutch have their priorities right! Scenery comes down to a three-way battle between some glorious parts of the Rhine and the Black Forest in Germany, the Italian/Swiss lakes that I'm traversing at the moment and Lake Geneva. I think that Switzerland just nicks it due to the view from Montreux out into the lake surrounded by the start of the Alps. Oolderhuuske in the Netherlands definitely deserves a special mention and also wins in the Best Value category, with Lake Lugano coming out as worst (not that it wasn't lovely, it's just that CHF40 a night combined with Swiss prices for everything else is not easy on the wallet). That was last night, which brings me neatly onto now! As I write I'm sitting just off Lake Maggiore. The coast is about 100m away and it is seriously hot. I left off last time in Geneva and headed out the next morning towards Lausanne, fittingly the home of the International Olympic Committee, though I doubt many will be staffing their offices now! The campsite was nothing special when considering the price but it was clean and within a short walk of the Lake (Geneva still). An early start the next morning took me off towards Montreux, a town about the size of St. Helier though slightly more affluent! The morning's ride was seriously tough, including a chunk of pushing the bike uphill when heading through the foothills of the mountains that surround the region. Although this was a huge effort and had me almost wiped out by lunch-time the afternoons ride was absolutely joyful! After a couple of hours drifting up and down the side of roads clinging to the hills and a short stint under a tree to avoid the heat of the day the first big chunk of the afternoon was spent racing down long winding roads through vineyards towards the level of the lake and the second chunk winding along the waterfronts of the towns crowding the coast. It was great when a fifteen foot tall bronze Freddie Mercury hove into view, and I stopped off for the obligatory photographs and to soak up the wonderful atmosphere and weather. Montreux is a great town for music and there are live jazz bands and individual musicians dotted around all over the place. The campsite was a welcome surprise at a very reasonable CHF18 a night (about £11). I said at the start of my trip that if I particularly liked anywhere then the freedom of my plans would give me the chance to indulge and the weather, scenery, atmosphere and everything else persuaded me to stay for a few days to take it all in. After that it was down to Italy. A short (four hours, standing with my bike) hop over the Alps dropped me off into Milan and I swiftly jumped on another to head back up towards the Italian lakes starting with Lake Como. After stepping out into the sweltering humidity and heat of the region my priority was to find a campsite - the ones I had scouted out were 15k away and through some pretty tough looking hills. With it getting on in the evening Christian (that's my brother by the way) came to my rescue with some research on campsites a little closer to me! At about half-pas eight I pulled in to a very basic campsite, though with the welcome addition of a swimming pool and a good restaurant. After a short dip I partook of my first pizza in Italy for some years and was thrilled that a hefty calzone, half litre of beer, large carafe of wine and a snifter of grappa came to less than the cost of a store-bought lunch a couple of days before! The swim and part of the evening were spent in the Company of Andy and Anne, a couple of CTC members with two of their daughters in tow who followed a similar route to me though sightly faster as they had on this occasion eschewed the bikes and jumped into the car!! Friday's ride was a relatively short one 45k) to try to adjust to the condition of the roads, temperature and humidity and of course the temperament of Italian drivers. In the latter regard I've been pleasantly surprised - although they drive undoubtedly quickly and a few times closer than I'd like, they are for the most part aware and understanding of cyclists. The amount of cyclists on the road during the weekends might give some explanation as to why this is the case, and a large proportion of the drivers must be cyclists themselves. For the second time in two days I crossed the Swiss/Italian border as I hurtled on to Lake Lugano (60kph is seriously fast when you're load with as much gear as I have!). Lugano was, as I've said, both seriously stunning and seriously expensive. A bad wifi connection (charged for) and a camp party with assuredly the World's worst DJ (playing New York, New York halfway through a rousing set whilst trying to sing along but not knowing the actual words really kills the atmosphere - I could tell from a tent thirty feet away...) left a bitter taste in the mouth, thou assuaged somewhat by the experience the next morning of watching the sun rise from behind the mountains from the confines of my tent. I'd done most of my packing before the sun was fully up which is a must here as the temperature in the tent goes from comfortably warm to hotter than a beach on Mars in a matter of minutes. I still don't think this is gong to inure me to early starts however. Today's ride (for that was this morning) was probably the best day's riding I've ever had. Starting off following the lake around for half the morning followed by climbing the foothills through typically Italian towns in the strong sunlight, then drifting down through Varese and towards Lake Maggiore I extended my ride somewhat, following the river at the foot of the lake for a few miles before crossing and heading back up towards the campsite. This is another truly beautiful part of the world, and the people here (albeit many of them tourists) are lovely. I've been offered use of a cooler for my beers today by one neighbouring tent and been fed a large slice of watermelon by the other! There are so many little comedies that I see when I'm riding, too numerous to mention - stints of off-roading when I decide that I know the route better than the GPS, children trying to row a boat across the river Neckar, an old man teaching himself windsurfing with extremely limited success or just watching the ducks, swans, herring-gulls, pigeons, starlings and other sea birds fight out the hierarchy whilst being fed bread. I know that I've got a few of these on camera which I'll share as soon as I can but the are hundreds that remain only in memory, but I'm glad they're there at least! The sun has just gone down, the temperature has dropped from it's earlier high and the theme tune to Top Gun is drifting through the breeze from a nearby camper van. I'm off to cook my dinner and I think I'll call that a night!

Planes, trains and automobiles (without the planes or automobiles)

The area around the black forest is stunning, and definitely somewhere that I will visit agin. There is a beautiful peaceful tranquility. Riding only 100 metres from busy roads is still totally quiet, all of the noise cancelled out by the thick wall of trees and greenery. I left off last time near Karlsruhe, and stayed there for another night due to the (increasingly wet) weather. The campsite itself was pretty basic, and bearing in mind the weather there weren't too many people around. My decision to delay heading off towards Stuttgart was justified by the next day's ride - 100k on the dot, through some serious hills as I moved away from the Rhine. The ride was great, with loads of beautiful countryside, and some great downhill tracts in stunning sunlight. Stuttgart itself was fascinating - the city is of some serious size - 6,000,000 people around the metropolitan area - and it's probably the biggest city I've cycled through thus far. The city is surrounded by some very high hills which proved a somewhat challenging start to the next day and signalled the start of the serious hills that have featured much more over the last week. I spent a nice quiet night in the city, sleep didn't come too difficult that evening! Finding the campsite that night was something of a challenge - I've had an experience before where the campsite that I planned to stay in simply wasn't there (thanks again Google!) and was a little worried that I'd have to carry on for a significant distance or try and find a hotel, but thankfully I loaded the GPS coordinates from the tinterweb and found the site without too much of a problem. The next day was a pretty tough ride even though I only covered about 45k thanks to some seriously tough hills and detours after arguing with my GPS about not wanting to ride on busy main roads! The ensuing couple of days were a real treat as I arrived in Tubingen on the River Neckar. The campsite, very reasonable, very pretty, with a lovely little restaurant and the best chips I've ever tasted was about 4k away from the aforementioned University town. The first night was spent savouring a few beers and getting acquainted with the local speciality of schweine-schnitzel and chatting with a couple of married Dutch head-teachers touring during the school hols. A young Dutch couple had introduced themselves, and I spent a good deal of time in their company over the next couple of days. In the morning I headed towards the local beer garden in Tubingen, encountering the music department of the Uni on the way with their choir blasting out traditional German classical music through an open window. I rewarded my walk with a lovely weissbier and bier-pretzel before taking a walk around the town. Stopping off in the cathedral I continued on the musical theme and sat listening to a very good organist practicing his music, though quite of a type that I'd never heard before - melancholy and almost bitter, but extremely well executed none-the-less. After a hearty lunch at the beer garden (pretty much a whole pig with dumplings) followed by a deserved ice-cream from a nearby cafe I wandered back to the campsite. I ran into Tim (one half of the lovely Dutch couple) on the way back and suggested a few beers for the evening so we wandered back in later and enjoyed a few more beers in a now well packed beer garden, encountering a barman from Exeter on the way! The area was so nice that I stayed for another day giving me the chance to catch up on some much needed washing and maintenance and after another evening with my neighbours (this time cards and pork-steaks with the obligatory weissbier) I set off again. The next day's ride was hard but rewarding. Long climbs through beautiful scenery and sharp descents followed each other rapidly and a stunning few km's through a forest capped the day off nicely. The campsite wasn't much, but cheap, clean and with friendly staff. It was only an overnight stay, but it served me well. The next day I had a short hop across to Rottweil where I jumped on a train for the day and crossed into Switzerland. Looking back at some of the scenery on the way I'm pretty glad that I did, otherwise I would probably still be on one of the various mountains now! I had intended to head for Zurich and cycle through to Geneva, but on the Spur(r) (geddit?) of the moment decided to head for Geneva to meet up with Jean-Luc, an old friend of mine residing in the city. After looking at some of the mountains I would have had to have crossed I think it was again the right decision! The scenery was incredible (including a schloss overhanging the cliff next to a waterfall!) and gave me a real feel for Switzerland. Geneva is a city of less than 200,000 people but feels much larger when trying to negotiate it on a heavily laden touring bike. After spending a frustrating hour heading out of the city proper (the lights stay red for AGES) I ignored my GPS and followed a cycle route right on Lake Geneva to my campsite. As I had expected it is expensive, but lovely. Right on the lake and with excellent facilities. I had planned to stay for only one night, but thanks to Jean-Luc and his penchant for inducing hangovers I booked in for another night. I spent today (for this is when I'm writing the blog) on a "plage" that included no sand, but a beautiful panorama of the lake. Breakfast this morning was a couple of croissant shared with the incredibly tame ducks who were pecking at my shoes, lunch as well of the rest of the day spent looking out over the lake with the temperature in the mid 30's, and dinner was (is) in the restaurant attendant to the site and with one table (mine) overlooking the lake! My next plan is to tour Lake Geneva for a bit and head to Montreaux, the home for a long time of Freddie Mercury. For those of you who know me well, this will be something of a pilgrimage and I'm looking forward to it greatly. After that, probably a bit of Italy and then Croatia, but apparently there's the little matter of a wedding to interrupt my trip. So again, that's me for now. I leave you as I'm sitting with a glorious view over Lake Geneva drinking a bottle of lovely Swiss red wine on a warm summer evening whilst working on my Best Man's speech. Until next time all...

Riding the Rhine

When I left off last time I was just outside Bonn, popping in and out of the city to try and sort a couple of bits out - no real problems, and it was lovely to have a couple of days rest on a lovely part of the river, and lovely it is. As I've said before, the Rhine is a beautiful part of Germany. It's very green, and often very tranquil. There are very good cycle paths going the whole way down, both next to the river and more inland if you want to cut a bit off the distance between A and B. Needless to say, having no real time constraints, I've been mainly following the meandering path of the river down-country (or up-hill as I near the Alps). Thus far I have been mainly lucky with the weather - the latter parts of Holland ushered in some beautiful sunshine, which has followed me most of the way down the river, however the last couple of days have been slightly less kind. I have a new addition to the bike - I stopped off at a bike shop to replace a coupe of broke spokes and decided to invest in a mirror. It's not particularly elegant or stylish, but it's a real help when riding on roads, something I am once again doing more of. As I've mentioned to a few people, I had the misfortune to see the after-effects of rather a nasty accident - if you don't want the particulars, skip over the next paragraph, but at least take this message with you - when cycling, ALWAYS wear a helmet. I was just past Remagen in the early afternoon right on the river - there is a high wall on the land-side of the path due to the changing levels of the Rhine over the seasons and on the other a couple of feet of brush before the river itself. As I was passing the scene, I noticed a bit of commotion and a couple of old chaps looking down the side of the path. I stopped to see if I could help, I carry a basic first-aid kit at the top of my pannier in case of minor emergencies, but I quickly realised that this wouldn't be much good. In the bushes were two men giving CPR to a third, one working on his chest and the other providing artificial respiration. I offered my services, but there was clearly little I could do - both of these men knew what they were doing vis-a-vis CPR, so I ran up the road to direct the Ambulance which had been summoned some minutes earlier. Once it arrived the Paramedics were extraordinarily efficient, taking control of the situation immediately, taking over the CPR and starting defibrillation. Unfortunately there was nothing that could be done. I spoke briefly with the paramedic who reckoned that the man had suffered a heart attack or similar whilst riding. The quick CPR provided by the two members of public and the quick response of the Ambulance would likely have saved his life, but the fact that he had crashed without a helmet, resulting in severe head trauma had wiped out any chance of survival. At the time it was a pretty horrific event as you can probably imagine, but if I can take any positives at all from it it is to encourage everyone that I know to take serious care when cycling and to ALWAYS wear a helmet, without exception (when cycling that is). YOU CAN START READING AGAIN. After the accident I spent the night in a lovely campsite, right on the Rhine near a place called Boppard. My pitch was almost on the river, beautifully sheltered but unfortunately shared with a couple of thousand mosquitoes. I am still sporting multiple wounds from them. I haven't tended to eat out too much on this trip, surprising maybe to those of you that know me well, but it's not all that easy. First is the price, which when you compare it to another night on a campsite seems a high price to pay, then there's the timing. A large meal at lunch-time is a no-go, as cycling on a full stomach is a recipe for disaster. In the evening, more often than not I am simply too tired to want to go through the rigmarole of sitting down and being fussed over. That evening however, my hunger overtook me, especially when I noticed the local speciality - a kilo and a half of ribs, served with bread and a pretence of a salad (sweetcorn, beans, sauerkraut and a chilli - mmmm). It went down exceptionally well, and a large part served as the next day's lunch as well - happy days! After Boppard I headed towards Mainz and spent a night surrounded by English voices! Besides me there was a Geordie (Alex - GeordieOnABike.com) the writer of a blog I have read a few times previously, an English couple on a motorbike on their way home and at least two other English (speaking at least) couples in the campsite overnight! The following days ride was a killer - headwinds all day and a long chunk of riding. I was heading towards Mannheim and the ride took me up and down hills, through winding roads (when all you want to do is go straight on), through a few very large industrial sites (including one owned by BASF that seemed about the same size as Jersey) and then through Mannheim itself. I don't know if I just saw a bad side of the city, but it was easily the least pleasant I've been to yet - impersonal, complicated traffic systems, dirty and noisy. Not what you want in a holiday destination. The campsite however, extremely close to the city as it happens, was charming. There is a large headland separated from the city, and composed entirely of woodland, with the campsite making up the very tip. I spent a very enjoyable evening in the company of a German lady who was into the last couple of days of a three-week tour, and then a couple of lovely lazy days sitting by the river (or in my tent thanks to the sodding rain) relaxing and waiting for a delivery from Jersey. The package arrived yesterday evening, so this morning I set off towards Karlsruhe. The ride today was fabulous - the scenery was great, changing from farms to small towns to river-side paths frequently and, although the wind was in my face most of the day, it wasn't too strong and my legs felt great for their rest. I had my first taste of the Black Forest - ignoring my GPS which wanted me to take a main road was an easy call on this occasion, and I spent a fantastic hour and a half cycling through the cool shade, watching streams and joggers flow past with an equal rapidity. As for now I'm sitting in a campsite just outside the city. I've just arrived, my tent is up and I'm looking judiciously at the restaurant, though it's more likely that my stove will be called into action again tonight. The next main target is Switzerland, but I'm told there might be some little hills in the way. I'm trying to work out a reasonable path at the moment, and will be off first thing tomorrow. Speak soon.

Roermond to the Rhine

If there is one massive downside about German campsites, it is that none of them seem to have Wi-Fi, so apologies for the delay but I'm now back online (even if the "n" button has fallen out of my keyboard). As such, please also accept my apologies for the length - I've been adding bits and pieces for more than a week now, and it's a long 'un. As the first paragraph suggests, I'm now in Germany and am following the warm weather down the Rhine - it's tranquil, hot and beautiful, but more on that later... When I left off I was heading down from Ledeacker towards Liege for the start of the Tour de France. I aimed for the Limburg region where I planned to stay overnight before setting up camp in Liege the following day. The day passed quickly, in mediocre weather (including roughing out a rain-storm chowing down on cherries at the side of the road. I arrived at my stop for the night witht the day passing into evening and took stock. The campsite was, to put it lightly, stunning. Marina Oolderhuuske near Roermond in Limburg is, as the name suggests, a large Marina facility that has a campsite on the side. As such there was a good restaurant, a nice bar, seclusion (it was on an islet accessible only by the Marina's own ferry or (as I found out) a VERY long winding side-road. It was picturesque, the staff were polite, friendly and helpful and the other patrons were also, to a large degree, lovely. Above all however, it was tremendously good value - at €10 a night it's amongst the cheapest of the sites I've stayed at, but undoubtedly the nicest thus far. Among the people that I met were the lovely Hanes and Nadine, a young German couple who teach wake-boarding at the Marina, commuting in each weekend from their home in Germany - their camper is easily the best that I've seen, a very stylish 1976 silver American trailer (I'm not sure of the specifics, but you know what I mean - I hope), kept immaculately polished and neat as you would expect from any self-respecting German couple! The Tour de France part didn't quite go as easily as planned - I had been e-mailing campsites around, but received no positive replies. After calling another half-dozen the morning I was due to set off I had absolutely no luck, so resolved to stay in Oolderhuuske and train down to Liege with my bike as necessary. The trial run on Friday (the Tour started on Saturday) didn't go too well thanks to a wildcat strike by the Belgium railways being called on the morning I was travelling there. With me departing from Holland there were no signs to show that anything was amiss, however the queue for the information desk in Maastricht Station told me everything. A very brief query later, a short bite to eat in the city and I was off back to Roermond. The next day, the start of the Tour, was thankfully more successful. No strikes, no delays, just incredibly packed trains. There were a huge amount of people turned away from stations along the way, as there was just no chance that they could fit anyone in, and as everyone was heading to the same destination, nobody was decamping to make room. Being a Jerseyman I am quite used to running into other Jersey whilst away - this trip has been no exception. For those of you who know him, I bumped into Ken Rondel on the train from Maastricht to Liege. In the same carriage. It was only due to the fact that I had struck up conversation with a couple of his colleagues from EFG as I'd heard a British voice that I ran into him. Of all the carriages on all the trains on all the routes into Liege I run into four of what must have been a tiny number of Jerseymen in the country! You couldn't make it up. The TT stage in Liege was fantastic - the city was wholly geared towards it, huge swathes of streets were shut off for the 6km course, and barriers were up everywhere to keep Joe Public out of the way of the teams who were about their serious business all day. After ogling as many team buses as possible and loading up my camera with photo's I started watching the stage itself in a great position near the start, listening to the crowd count-down, then watching riders, flanked by Police motorcycle and a team car/motorbike (and camera car depending on the import of the rider) speed off down the ramp and pedalling furiously into the distance. Congratulations to Brad Wiggins for his fantastic second place which sets him up well for this year's challenge. (Editors note - unfortunately as at the time of writing I haven't had an internet connection, so am completely in the dark as to who stands where!) I had arrived back in Roermond on the train at 5.52pm after the racing and ridden from the station to the ferry by 6.03pm - a ride that had previously taken me close to 30 minutes - only to see the ferry captain wandering off towards his car. This meant one of two things were happening - either a two hour cycle ride back through Roermond and all the way around the area to get back, or flag down a passing boat and hope for the best (that or swim, but I wasn't leaving my bike and gear there unattended all night). Guess which I chose. After trying to flag down a number of boats, a chap (Marius) in an 8ft rib saved the day. A lack of mutual language didn't slow us down as I threw my gear in beside him, clambered into the back, pulled my bike on top of me and looked worriedly at the water clearance, which ran at about 4mm above to 5cm below the waterline! The river was successfully forded however, and my adventurous day completed! I had been planning, from camping around Liege, to catch the second stage of 198km on the Sunday, however the timings involved really didn't work out. The ferry stops running at 6 pm as mentioned before, and I would not have gotten back to Roermond until it was almost dark, and a two-hour ride in darkness on foreign roads still doesn't appeal to me much. I was still hugely tired out by the previous day, so determined to stay at Oolderhuuske. I spent a free day reading, writing, eating and sunbathing, so it wasn't all bad. On to Germany! I set off from Oolderhuuske on a humid but cloudy Monday morning and crossed into Germany late-morning. The difference wasn't hugely noticeable until I reached Monchengladbach, a very industrial city. Riding through the factories and chemical processing facilities on the outskirts of the town provided a stark contrast to the calm and agricultural Low Countries. My target for the day was the Rhine, which was achieved in early evening. After a quick bite to eat, a chat with my neighbours (a Dutchman who has spent a large proportion of the last 20 years on the road) I fell into a long and comfortable repose. As to now, I'm following the Rhine down - it's a stunning river, but with a lot of action on it. There are always barges and Ferries ploughing through the water, and pleasure craft, canoes and row-boats flitting up and down, and it provides a constantly changing scenery which is very refreshing. My second night in Germany was spent at a very pleasant campsite near Dusseldorf, where I met an Aussie couple also on the road, sharing a tandem tourer! Evan and Sue were lovely - we shared ideas, information on kit and compared notes for a large part of the evening, and some of the advice has been pretty useful. They were meeting a couple of friends of theirs that evening to head down to Switzerland together. Last night was spent in a another campsite on the Rhine (I'm desperately trying to find sites on the river as it's so stunning) - Campingplatz Burger after a day travelling back up to Dusseldorf on Sue's advice to buy a 3G card (not as yet working), then following the river down through Leverkusen and Cologne. The campsite was lovely, plenty of shade (which I managed to miss when pitching my tent, a decent shop on the side and nice people. There was only one problem however, that of many children. With parents ensconced firmly in the bar, their noise carried on into the wee hours of the morning, before resuming at an alarmingly early hour. After catching up on a bit of my blog, and a bit of my reading, I had a nice early night in anticipation of today. In the morning my neighbour, an American come Frenchman come German called PJ shared his morning cup of coffee and his company with me, a great start to the day. As for today, I've travelled down through Bonn. I spent a couple of hours around lunchtime in the city to try and get my 3G sorted (not quite, but hopefully any minute now!), and then headed down to my campsite for the evening on the river. Tomorrow is a day off to try and sort out a few things (washing clothes, bike maintenance and heading back to Bonn if the 3G isn't resolved), and then it's back on the road thereafter. The weather can be summed up in two words. "Hot" and "Humid". It was 32c when I woke up this morning (outside of the tent that it, probably close to boiling point inside). It's been threatening to rain for almost a couple of weeks, but doesn't seem to really want to break. Hopefully soon - all this water's getting expensive. That's me for now - hopefully this will be posted tomorrow afternoon (or today in modern money). That's me for now - until next time.