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Looking for inspiration/ideas for a tour in Germany.

Posted: 22 Jul 2014, 8:41pm
by binka
I'd like to take my trike to Germany and do a tour of approx 10 days.

Main requirements are;

Pretty countryside.

Flattish, my trike is quite heavy and is harder work than a normal bike uphill.



Ideally a circular route but if not then ends somewhere I can get a train back to the beginning. I'm assuming I can get my trike on a train. Its a folding recumbent Ice Trike. So should be doable but likely to be a pita as I'd have to shove trike, the seat, panniers onto a train.

Re: Looking for inspiration/ideas for a tour in Germany.

Posted: 23 Jul 2014, 12:21pm
by Ben@Forest
Many years ago (1993!) I did a tour in Munsterland which is famous for its moated castles. It is so long ago I can't recommend anything specific 'cos I've forgotten it and it probably would be out-of-date. But it was nice and must have been flat otherwise my girlfriend would not have done it! I've found a Lonely Planet link here:
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/germany/munsterland

Re: Looking for inspiration/ideas for a tour in Germany.

Posted: 23 Jul 2014, 4:39pm
by F70100
Some ideas for you here perhaps?

Re: Looking for inspiration/ideas for a tour in Germany.

Posted: 23 Jul 2014, 4:46pm
by binka
Thanks for those ideas.

I've done some googling About Munsterland routes and found the 100 castles route which can be split to four different loops. It looks a strong possibility.

Re: Looking for inspiration/ideas for a tour in Germany.

Posted: 23 Jul 2014, 5:33pm
by eileithyia
Rhine cycle route

Re: Looking for inspiration/ideas for a tour in Germany.

Posted: 23 Jul 2014, 8:02pm
by binka
The Rhine route appeals from an ease of navigation point of view, but I just worry it might be a bit industrial scenery??

Plus I'd have to cycle one way and then back rather than a loop.

Re: Looking for inspiration/ideas for a tour in Germany.

Posted: 24 Jul 2014, 8:06am
by Nigelrojo
I did the Danube route (from its source at Donaueschingen to Vienna) in 2012 and the Elbe route (Hamburg-Prague with a diversion via Berlin) last year. Both were 1000km in 12 days including 2 "rest" days. The Danube is an excellent first route, almost completely flat with a smooth surface, excellent infrastructure all the way and very nice scenery. The weather was also superb all the way. The Elbe was also flat but slightly more challenging, the surface not quite as good. Again, it was hot and sunny almost all the way, I only saw half an hour of rain. Lots of shady woods around Berlin helped in the 35C heat. The Elbe was also badly flooded last year so I had lots of diversions but was never lost. For both trips I went out via Eurostar and City nightline sleeper to Stuttgart/Hamburg.

I came back from Vienna on German regional express trains, city night line Munich-Paris, TGV to Caen and the ferry to Portsmouth; this was a pleasant way to come home. From Prague it was rather more difficult: a Czech train to Dresden, then I had to go back to Berlin, then back to Hamburg, then Luxemburg then Brussels, where I spent the night in the station. Finally I got the Eurostar to London. However because I hadn't pre-booked the return (with all the floods I didn't know which day I would be travelling), I could not get a direct train westwards with the bike. Going through Brussels Midi was a pretty unpleasant experience, and I wasn't too impressed with Belgian trains; I would recommend going via Paris if at all possible.

Re: Looking for inspiration/ideas for a tour in Germany.

Posted: 24 Jul 2014, 10:49am
by hamster
I have to second the Danube route. It's absolutely superb.

Re: Looking for inspiration/ideas for a tour in Germany.

Posted: 24 Jul 2014, 2:21pm
by foxyrider
How about Luneburg Heath? There is a great bikeline guide covering the area and rather than a single loop there are several which can be combined depending on your needs.

You can fly into Hamburg and take the train to a starting point of your choice, Luneburg, Uelzen, Celle for example. Pleasant scenery, great food, wide variety of accomodation options and plenty to see!

Easy riding - when i took my bike i can't recall needing to change gear in a fortnight! :lol:

Re: Looking for inspiration/ideas for a tour in Germany.

Posted: 24 Jul 2014, 4:27pm
by Ambler
Nigel
Any chance of explaining how you travelled to Donaueschingen?

Thanks

Re: Looking for inspiration/ideas for a tour in Germany.

Posted: 25 Jul 2014, 1:49pm
by Galloper
The following link will take you to a pdf for the Germany by bike guide. This is an excellent starting point and one I have used for several years.

http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/16f ... 16f8a1ad/1

A few suggestions. You can link one of the prettiest bits of the Rhine Cycle Route to the Moselle Route. They join at Koblenz. The northen part of the Rhine Route is indeed fairly industrial but the Rhine Gorge from Koblenz to Mainz is lovely. The Moselle route is just gorgeous!

The Elbe route in it's southern reaches, around Dessau, is quite pretty and easy riding.

The Main, Tauber, Altmuhl route is another delight but can be a bit hilly in parts. It intersects the Romantische Srasse which is also very pretty and which, eventually, links to the Danube route.

Prost!

Re: Looking for inspiration/ideas for a tour in Germany.

Posted: 25 Jul 2014, 2:12pm
by hamster
Ambler wrote:Nigel
Any chance of explaining how you travelled to Donaueschingen?

Thanks


I flew to Stuttgart, there were 5 of us and trains were going to be a nightmare to get us all on board (this was 1999 so things may have changed). We hired a car one-way to Villingen-Schwenningen and rode from there to Donaueschingen.

Re: Looking for inspiration/ideas for a tour in Germany.

Posted: 25 Jul 2014, 10:12pm
by binka
Thanks for the link Galloper. Will get reading.

Re: Looking for inspiration/ideas for a tour in Germany.

Posted: 26 Jul 2014, 2:06pm
by slowpeddler
The link from Galloper is very good. You used to be able to get it in hardback (and free)

Munsterland is very, very good. Not visited by Brits and very beautiful.

I'm off tomorrow to cycle camp the new route, the Roman-Lippe route from Detmold to Xanten. It only opened in 2013 and looks a cracker.

http://www.ruhr-tourismus.de/en/radrevi ... route.html

http://www.roemerlipperoute.de/

I'll post how I get on later in August

Enjoy the summer

John

Re: Looking for inspiration/ideas for a tour in Germany.

Posted: 26 Jul 2014, 4:33pm
by Nigelrojo
Ambler wrote:Nigel
Any chance of explaining how you travelled to Donaueschingen?

Thanks


If I remember rightly I had to wait 2 hours at Stuttgart, then got a regional express train to Tuttlingen at about 06:20, which took 2 hours. I was only at Tuttlingen a few minutes, then got on a local train to Donaueschingen, arriving about 08:45 am. I didn't have a problem getting the bike on either train.