We had a big changeover day today. Tina caught a flight back home to Manchester and Pete, Conor and Chris arrived to start their stage of the trip. We took over a large part of the arrivals lounge and then turned it into a bike repair shop as 3 bikes were re-assembled. It kept the crowd of bored people sat in the cafe amused.
Once we were all set up then Pete took us on a detour to a bike shop a get a missing part for his pannier rack, of course they didn't have the parts so Chris kindly volunteered to carry some of Pete's stuff, well it was words to that effect anyway!
It took us a while to find the correct route away from the airport but once we did it was superb.
To set the scene a bit I should tell you about Conor, who has a bit of a reputation for doing his cycling at one pace...as fast as possible! As a result we missed a lot of route signs as we went past them in a blur! After carrying our bikes across a field we had a team discussion and it was decided that maybe we should keep a lookout for signs a bit more.
We had a bit of a race against the fading light to get to our first destination of Sursee and we were averaging between 25 and 35km per hour for the last part of the ride and a lot of it was uphill.
We cycled just over 100km in less than half a day and the legs are feeling it. We are back on track now so hopefully the pace will ease off a bit tomorrow and give us time to recover for the big climb on Saturday.
Total distance for the trip is now 1210km.
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Thursday, 9 September 2010
Wednesday, 8 September 2010
Tina's last night in Zurich
It's been another full day. My bike has been fixed and we managed to get our bikes on the train to Zurich. The Swiss are very organised and they provide hooks for you to hang the front wheel of your bike from. Every carriage had 2 or 3 bikes hanging up for the journey. We got to Zurich around 7pm and had a quick walk(or limp, in Tina's case) around. Considering it was a Wednesday night the place was alive with people and we managed to find a table in an old 'bier halle'.
This is a picture of Tina in the bierhalle.
We now have wifi in the hotel so I can post pictures so I will add a few from the last few days.
This is Tina sat on a cushion in a restaurant, she literally couldn't sit down because of the cycling blisters!
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A picture of me in front of a castle in the Rhine Valley (no, I can't see it either).
There isn't a running theme here of Tina drinking beer but this is a picture of Tina drinking beer in Strasbourg!
A typical view of the Rhine, it doesn't really do the river justice but at this point the river was at least 400m wide. I promise to add some better photos from my camera when I get back.
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This is a picture of Tina in the bierhalle.
We now have wifi in the hotel so I can post pictures so I will add a few from the last few days.
This is Tina sat on a cushion in a restaurant, she literally couldn't sit down because of the cycling blisters!
-
A picture of me in front of a castle in the Rhine Valley (no, I can't see it either).
There isn't a running theme here of Tina drinking beer but this is a picture of Tina drinking beer in Strasbourg!
A typical view of the Rhine, it doesn't really do the river justice but at this point the river was at least 400m wide. I promise to add some better photos from my camera when I get back.
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Bike fix in Basel
We are sat in beautiful Basel soaking up the atmosphere. We have a few hours to explore the city while my bike is being fixed. I broke a spoke yesterday on the rear wheel and it's the spoke that you have to remove all the gear cogs to replace....a job for a professional, not me.
We could say that Basel is a truly cosmopolitan city but at the minute it's full of England football fans from last night's match.
Today is Tina's last cycling day and she flies home to Manchester tomorrow, we are reminiscing over some of the things we have seen. Some of the most prominent things have related to the ingenuity of the Dutch and German cyclists. We have seen 3 wheelers, 4 wheelers, trailers carrying kids, a couple pulling trailers each with a huge St Bernard dog asleep in them, and a chap who was cycling with a cockatoo sat happily on his shoulder!
A combination of Tina's bad leg and my broken bike means that we are catching the train to Zurich tonight so Tina doesn't miss her flight tomorrow, it should be interesting to see how we manage to get our bikes on the train.
We gave now covered 1130km
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We could say that Basel is a truly cosmopolitan city but at the minute it's full of England football fans from last night's match.
Today is Tina's last cycling day and she flies home to Manchester tomorrow, we are reminiscing over some of the things we have seen. Some of the most prominent things have related to the ingenuity of the Dutch and German cyclists. We have seen 3 wheelers, 4 wheelers, trailers carrying kids, a couple pulling trailers each with a huge St Bernard dog asleep in them, and a chap who was cycling with a cockatoo sat happily on his shoulder!
A combination of Tina's bad leg and my broken bike means that we are catching the train to Zurich tonight so Tina doesn't miss her flight tomorrow, it should be interesting to see how we manage to get our bikes on the train.
We gave now covered 1130km
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Tuesday, 7 September 2010
1000km !!
Tuesday 7th September
We have had lots of unexpected events over the last few days. We crossed over the border into France and we have had problems finding somewhere to stay every night since. Hotels either look like the Bates Motel from Psycho or they are full, there is nothing in between. One night we asked a local B&B owner if he had room, of course he was full but he found us a room in someone's house. The old lady who lived in the house didn't speak English and we don't speak German so we had a lively conversation in the morning whilst she sat at the table watching us eat breakfast.
We then stayed in Strasbourg which was full because the European Parliament was sitting. I managed to find one room (a suite) and my credit card is still yelping! I have to say Strasbourg is a beautiful city and we would liked to have stayed a bit longer to explore it.
We woke up this morning to rain and it has bounced it down all day. Can't complain really as it's been the first day of rain since we left the Pennines behind.
For those who know of Sod's Law, then they will understand when I thought, I didn't say because that would be tempting fate, I just thought that we had been lucky with the bikes. In the next few minutes the spoke on my back wheel snapped. It was also the spoke that needs you to remove all the rear cogs to replace...nightmare! we are on a bike path in the middle of a corn field in the rain and my back wheel's knackered, lovely! Thankfully a local farmer helped me to cut off what was left of the spoke and I straightened the wheel as much as I could. Tina was overjoyed when I told her that she had to carry extra weight so I could take strain off my back wheel. We then limped on to hit a day's total of 115km and we are now staying in the Bates Motel 30km outside of Basel, it goes down as a 'character building' day!!
We have passed the 1000km milestone and we had a group hug to celebrate! I wanted a beer to celebrate but we were in the middle of nowhere. By the way, if you ever feel England is filling up, come to France, there is nobody here! The amount of villages we have cycled through and there are no shops and no people, you start to wonder how they eat and where are they?
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
We have had lots of unexpected events over the last few days. We crossed over the border into France and we have had problems finding somewhere to stay every night since. Hotels either look like the Bates Motel from Psycho or they are full, there is nothing in between. One night we asked a local B&B owner if he had room, of course he was full but he found us a room in someone's house. The old lady who lived in the house didn't speak English and we don't speak German so we had a lively conversation in the morning whilst she sat at the table watching us eat breakfast.
We then stayed in Strasbourg which was full because the European Parliament was sitting. I managed to find one room (a suite) and my credit card is still yelping! I have to say Strasbourg is a beautiful city and we would liked to have stayed a bit longer to explore it.
We woke up this morning to rain and it has bounced it down all day. Can't complain really as it's been the first day of rain since we left the Pennines behind.
For those who know of Sod's Law, then they will understand when I thought, I didn't say because that would be tempting fate, I just thought that we had been lucky with the bikes. In the next few minutes the spoke on my back wheel snapped. It was also the spoke that needs you to remove all the rear cogs to replace...nightmare! we are on a bike path in the middle of a corn field in the rain and my back wheel's knackered, lovely! Thankfully a local farmer helped me to cut off what was left of the spoke and I straightened the wheel as much as I could. Tina was overjoyed when I told her that she had to carry extra weight so I could take strain off my back wheel. We then limped on to hit a day's total of 115km and we are now staying in the Bates Motel 30km outside of Basel, it goes down as a 'character building' day!!
We have passed the 1000km milestone and we had a group hug to celebrate! I wanted a beer to celebrate but we were in the middle of nowhere. By the way, if you ever feel England is filling up, come to France, there is nobody here! The amount of villages we have cycled through and there are no shops and no people, you start to wonder how they eat and where are they?
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Saturday, 4 September 2010
The beautiful Rhine Valley
We have spent the last two days cycling through the Rhine Valley. It's amazing just how dramatic the changes can be over a few kilometres. We have cycled through Bonn which is a bit like Manchester, but with sunshine! We then went through the more dramatic gorges near Boppard and St Goar and we passed the 'World Famous Loreley' which was basically a rock but with added Japanese tourists. I'm sure some of the Japanese tourists took pictures of two knackered British cyclists as we tried cycling through the hordes. We then moved into the wine regions around Nierstein. All the vineyards were having open days today and there was a lot of red-faced and very 'happy' people about. I have to say the bike was nearly thrown in the river so I could join them wine-tasting.
We have finished in a city called Worms (!). We have now covered just over 750km. Tina has pulled a tendon in her leg and is in absolute agony but is taking whatever medicines she can find and carrying on....a strong Northern Lass!
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We have finished in a city called Worms (!). We have now covered just over 750km. Tina has pulled a tendon in her leg and is in absolute agony but is taking whatever medicines she can find and carrying on....a strong Northern Lass!
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Thursday, 2 September 2010
Lost in Cologne
Thursday 2nd September
We have spent almost 10 hours in the saddle today and quite a lot of it was spent going around in circles in Cologne! Don't get me wrong I'm sure Cologne is a lovely place but I don't think Tina and I will be rushing back there, well not until they put up some signs anyway!
Whilst part of the day has been frustrating we have also seen some fantastic countryside and cycled along the Rhine itself for quite a few hours. It's amazing to see the amount of activity on the river, some of the freight barges are enormous and they must take a lot of trucks off German roads.
We have covered 125km today and Tina is happy to report that she now has a red eye to match her interpretation of a baboon's bum!
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We have spent almost 10 hours in the saddle today and quite a lot of it was spent going around in circles in Cologne! Don't get me wrong I'm sure Cologne is a lovely place but I don't think Tina and I will be rushing back there, well not until they put up some signs anyway!
Whilst part of the day has been frustrating we have also seen some fantastic countryside and cycled along the Rhine itself for quite a few hours. It's amazing to see the amount of activity on the river, some of the freight barges are enormous and they must take a lot of trucks off German roads.
We have covered 125km today and Tina is happy to report that she now has a red eye to match her interpretation of a baboon's bum!
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Made it to Germany
Wednesday 1st September
We started the day in Holland and finished the day in Germany. To be honest, the border crossing was a bit of an anti-climax. We think the border was halfway across a cow field as we cycled along a dam, we just noticed that car number plates had changed when we got onto a road.
I have attached a picture of Tina stood in front of a windmill as proof that we were actually in Holland (and no, it's not the one in Lytham St Annes).
We have finished the day in a village called Budberg which is 20kms North of Duisberg. We have cycled 110kms today and the knees are starting to creak a bit, I am thinking that some nice German beer tonight might loosen things up! The only problem is that the hotel owners don't speak any English and we don't speak any German. I remembered the word 'zimmer' from 3rd year German but that was the wrong side of 20 years ago, we've no idea what we will end up eating tonight!
Total for the trip so far = 410km
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We started the day in Holland and finished the day in Germany. To be honest, the border crossing was a bit of an anti-climax. We think the border was halfway across a cow field as we cycled along a dam, we just noticed that car number plates had changed when we got onto a road.
I have attached a picture of Tina stood in front of a windmill as proof that we were actually in Holland (and no, it's not the one in Lytham St Annes).
We have finished the day in a village called Budberg which is 20kms North of Duisberg. We have cycled 110kms today and the knees are starting to creak a bit, I am thinking that some nice German beer tonight might loosen things up! The only problem is that the hotel owners don't speak any English and we don't speak any German. I remembered the word 'zimmer' from 3rd year German but that was the wrong side of 20 years ago, we've no idea what we will end up eating tonight!
Total for the trip so far = 410km
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
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