Around Europe by bike

In the top right corner my weight: I started at 79 kg, and arrived weighing only 71 kg. On the 20th of July I was up to 75 kg, but that was at the end of my stay with Margreet in Wattenwil.

At the bottom right a summary of the trip:

Total distance: 7725 km
Days riding the bike: 53
Average km per day: 144 km
Longest distance: 330 km
Highest altitude: 2407 mtr
Average cost per day, including my insurance: fl. 20.41
Average cost per day, excluding my insurance: fl. 18.79

In the photobook (where I got the pictures for this blog from) the last few places have the following items:

An article in the regional newspaper
A letter I received from the Dutchman who took my pictures going up the Pyrenees
An exhaustive list with all my equipment
A birthday card from all the sisters in Wattenwil
The repair invoice from t5he place where I had bought the bike

Distance: 330 km (in 26 hours)
Weather: It started out OK with a fresh SW wind, mostly from the side. It poured at the border crossing (we still had those!) from 19:30 - 21:00, but after that dry all night long. When I came to De Bilt (which is where the Dutch meteorological service has its headquarters) a welcome shower (organised by the weather service themselves) which lasted all the way home.

A pleasant day and night to ride a bike and to break records. When I had a meal of nasi with saté in Venlo, I heard it was the final day of the "Avond Vierdaagse" so I decided to keep going to Nijmegen to join the festivities there. I arrived there at about 1 am and stayed till 2:30, and then decided to keep going. The final hours were pretty hard (I remember this part very well: I almost had to walk up the Grebbeberg, but after crossing the Dolomites, the Alps and the Pyrenees without ever having to get off my bike, it was below me to have to walk in the Netherlands! The picture below shows the sign that indicates: steep climb.) After I arrived in Loosdrecht, I found that three more spokes had broken and all the other ones were loose. (When I took the tyre off a couple of days later, I found that the rim of the front wheel had separated into two parts; no wonder the riding had felt like my wheels were not round anymore.)

By and large not a very colourful day.

Distance: 165 km
Weather: The same as yesterday, in other words: good.

I was looking for a nice cup of coffee all the way from St Martin to Gruenstadt, where I finally found what I needed in a hotel. (Not in my postcard report: I discovered in that hotel that a continental style breakfast of various kinds of bread and a large can of coffee was really cheap. I wished I had discovered that earlier...)

From Gruensbach the road went through a rolling landscape all the way to Bingen. From there flat roads along both sides of the Rhine. A lot of tourists, especially Dutch ones, along this stretch. I had two eggrolls in Koblenz and then some more bread on the camping. The camping lies across from the so-called "Deutsche Eck", where the Rhine meets up with the Mosel. (I have added an aerial picture from Google maps below where you can see the camping still in the same beautiful spot. I camped there more than 20 years later again with son Peter and his friend Joost on a bike trip mostly following the Rhine.)

Distance: 165 km
Weather: Beautiful, not much wind, not too hot.

From Oberndorf in the Neckar valley I had to climb to get on a plateau going to Freudenstadt. Took my bike in for more repairs: 2 new spokes, new front tube, new front tyre. From there downhill to the Murg valley, a scenic route to Gernsbach. Had some refreshments there, and then it was back to climbing again out of that valley to Karlsruhe where I started back downhill. Not as fast this stretch.

I called home from Karlsruhe and had a coffee. Crossed the Rhine, and then uphill once again. At the camping, I first put up my tent, then a nice cold shower, and for a meal I had bread with jam and pudding as desert. I had left my new sweater given to me by Kapan in the supermarket in Landau. Stupid he?!

Distance: 150 km.
Weather: A slight SW wind, mostly from behind and a mostly overcast sky with very little rain and a lot of sunshine.

Altogether a nice day. An American couple had shared their breakfast with me, so I left in a good mood, after having changed one of the gear cables. By now I have scrapped all my canoeing plans.
Ten km after leaving the camping, my front tube exploded. I fixed the tube and replaced the tyre in the shade of a cherry orchard where the trees were loaded with cherries. Replaced a spoke while I was at it. The whole day riding in rolling hills until I got to Schaffhausen. The waterfall is beautiful. I enjoyed a warm meal there (Remember: I had just crossed into a new currency!) Because I no longer plan to buy a canoe, my finances are looking up.