27 May 2013

2. Cycle Paths Galore!




It was good to reap the rewards of the preparations I made before my home departure.  My first few nights accommodation was via the wamshowers.org website which meant I could concentrate solely on the riding itself.  Andrew + Friedel, my host’s in The Hague  (shown on the Accommodation Host’s page) had done a three-year tour so we had much to talk about and swapping various ideas of things we’d encountered (such as muesli with orange juice) much the same with the other hosts I would meet later.  Departing The Hague felt good, almost like where the tour really began, a new country for me and new things to see.  Holland was really a cyclist’s heaven, bikes galore and dedicated cycling lanes  - and at times their own traffic light, although I was told Denmark's Copenhagen is the cyclist's capital. As the Hague faded away Rotterdam soon turned up and proved much the same, bikes, bikes and then some more.  As with any large city, getting lost proved inevitable, although my trusty compass - and the tourist information centre - soon got me back on track.  The flat terrain made a good start in getting my calve muscles used to the year ahead's demand.

The cycling lanes continued between the towns and cities, running alongside the road but with surfaces equally as good, and everyone obeying the rules of cycling.

Crossing into Germany on the second day was a no hassle affair, just an old disused border check-point on a relatively quiet country road. The cycle lanes were more so a start-stop affair, as opposed to Holland but still made for pleasant traffic-free cycling.
 Germans love their cakes and German cakes are excellent!  Am I counting calories? Yes, but not enough.


In Munster I had promised I’d give a picture presentation of my African tour to a cycle group that my host, Klaus, was a member of, this unfortunately meant another long day of 160 km, fortunately I had a slight tail / cross wind but still cutting it fine and arriving with less than one hour before the presentation start time but my efforts paid off as the cycling group appreciated seeing the pictures.


Surely the German classic!
Traditional style German houses as seen in many of the villages.


Much of the German cycle networks comprise of small inter-village lanes that cut alongside fields, kilometres from the busy roads – not always the most direct route but a pleasure to cycle along. One of the reasons to only have an 'approximate' route plan, then each day becomes more of a day-to-day adventure.



My plan to visit the Rohloff bicycle hub factory in Kassel was a success.  My reasons being to show them a special tool I had made that they may have been interested in making themselves to sell.  My hosts for the night, Peter and Silke actually knew someone within the company and - as opposed to me cold-calling at the factory reception - called his contact and made an appointment for my visit.  Silke cycled with me the next day to the factory. To the non-cyclist Rohloff means little but a keen cyclist knows they make the Rolls-Royce of hub gears, as opposed to a conventional derailleur, so to visit their factory, and meet ‘The Chief’ himself (as they call him) was pretty cool.  His office was simply a workshop, with their chain-making machine opposite him, he said: “I like the smell of oil!”…a true mechanic in anyone’s book!  Talking of books I was given one on the company’s history.
Mr Rohloff, 'The Chief'



A road-sign in Gottingen, I was actually heading for Wittenberg after the Berlin visit.  













These wool-covered bikes were outside a shop selling clothes, certainly an attention-grabber. That must have kept someone's grandma busy knitting those!

In Germany there is another touring cyclist’s hospitality website, or more-so a book.  To arrange my following night’s accommodation Peter telephoned the person listed in the village I intended to arrive at the following day.  This was at the top of a small mountainous area called Harz National Park.  Renowned by mountain-bikers and walkers alike it was a big change to the flat-lands I’d been cycling through. A long, slow climb with hair-pin bends at the end of the day but again, traffic-free roads, although upon passing the boundary I was greeted with a brief down-pour then later, near the summit in the town of Saint Andreasburg two of Europe’s steepest roads, one was a 15% gradient whilst the other 18%!! They were only ~ 100 metres long but still far too steep to cycle fully-loaded…it hurt my legs simply pushing the bike!
On arriving at my host's house I found out Tony was an ex-English soldier, served in Arab states, married to a German lady and they were once keen canoeists and walkers.  After talking for a while it turns out Tony’s daughter lives in my home town of Milton Keynes, not five minutes cycle from my front door...it’s a small world!


Being in a small mountain range the following day’s weather had turned wet and cold, so clad in my water-proofs off I went.  Not before long the sweat from climbing the ascents soon made me feel cold when free-wheeling the descents.  The day’s average temp was about 8'C with drizzle all day and camping at the end of this sort of day was not [yet] on my agenda.  Briefly stopping in Blankenburg at a pizza / kebab joint to get some hot food...and warm up.. then later called the day short at Aschersleben in a budget hotel.
....the quiet lanes continued....

 Stopping early the previous day meant I hadn’t reached my proposed stopping point of Coswig.  Later I realised it was considerably further than previously thought, but passed through it on this day.  The town sits on the River Elbe, a route I would be cycling along a few days later to Prague.  The cycle lane was more-like an autobahn!  At times the lane was quite narrow so paying strict attention to oncoming traffic was a must.  Here the route crosses the river.


Wanting to reduce the next day’s home-run to Berlin I pressed on for another hour or so, this meant no doubt having to free-camp but my main concern was how little food I had had.  This day was a Sunday and all shops are closed (also articulated trucks are not allowed on the roads on a Sunday) so dinner was a measly pack of biscuits.  For breakfast I was fortunate to find a garage / café so took full advantage of it's mouth-watering offerings.
The Brits like fishing, but the Germans appear to prefer bird-watching, as many fields had one of these around the edge.
Asparagus farming, the shoots are covered with soil then plastic sheeting to prevent photosynthesis occurring and hence staying white in colour, this being more of a delicacy in Germany, and several other European countries. Any keen cooks may like this link.
Nearly there, following part of the EuroVelo 2 cycle route which starts at the Hook of Holland and finishes in Moscow, I had rode some of it at the beginning but veered away from it for the Kassel visit…now back on it but best I turn-off again soon.

One of the many Berlin bike shops.



 Berlin's Check-Point Charlie.  The former East-West divide crossing point, tourist shops galore and more cameras around than a Kodak factory...mine included!







One of many government / council buildings in the main centre.



My first host lived next to Berlin’s Templehof airport.  Little did I know this had been closed for three years and was now recreational land.  There were roller-bladers, kite-boarders, joggers, kite-flyers, electric scooters, Segways…. just about anything with wheels and /or sail based.  It felt really strange to be cycling down the middle of a run-way and in the middle of Berlin!  This area had helped unite a rather unstable neighborhood that was now flourishing, with house prices steadily increasing as it becomes more trendy, so long as it doesn't out-grow it’s own inhabitants.





Roger Ramjet, clear for take-off...
My second night in Berlin was spent with hosts Brigit and Nadine who had toured on a tandem...but no ordinary tandem, theirs was as pink as the Pink Panther himself! Shown on the Accommodation Host's page.

So after having my bike's hub serviced at an accredited Rohloff service agent it was a quick sprint back  down to the River Elbe for the first of several German river routes that I've planned to follow.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Jokes about German sausage are the wurst.

I know a guy who's addicted to brake fluid. He says he can stop any time.