Cumulative total: 1530km
Today it rained all day and we got very wet on the parts that are exposed but the rest stayed nearly dry. Not much more to say really.
Continue reading Wednesday 13th August: Wahlweis, Lake Constance, to Breganz: 94km
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St Peter to Wahlweis, Lake Constance, Bodensee 106km
12th Cumulative total : 1436km
We woke with legs not too stiff from the previous day and free-wheeled from the campsite down to St Peter. This was a pretty town with a Benedictine Monastery and amazing baroque church. Luckily the caretaker (we presumed) had just opened the doors and we were able to see the interior – a plethora of gold, paintings, artistry. Completely different to what we had seen so far. A great start to the day.
Continue reading St Peter to Wahlweis, Lake Constance, Bodensee 106km
Strasbourg to Sankt Peter, Black Forest
Monday 12th August: 108 km : cumulative total: 1340km
Today was all about one decision we took at 3.15 pm, namely whether to begin a 1000m climb up a mountain called Kandal. We decided to do the climb even though we had covered 90km by then and could have avoided it by cycling around the mountain. Was it a good decision? There are some reading this who will shout “No” you blithering idiots of course it was not a good decision. And you are probably right, and half way up we would have agreed 100% with you, but by then the die was cast.
A day exploring Strasbourg
It was a treat to wake up leisurely and spend the morning pottering around and relaxing. We got out all the maps and spent an hour or 2 plotting out our next course. Our best guess at this stage was 10 days to Venice across the Black Forest to Lake Constance (Bodensee), along the lake to Austria and over the Alps into northern Italy. Of course we may not follow this but good to have a plan.
Seltz to Strabourg: 68 km
Total to date : 1232km
We were up and packed up early with the aim of being in Strasburg by lunchtime to meet up with Chantal and Philippe, our ‘Warm Showers’ hosts (for those who have not read out blog before, Warm Showers is a website for touring cyclists to use and provide accommodation in your own home).
Speyer to Seltz
85 km (cumulative 1169 km)
Bernie: David had a very early start to finish and email off his work. As he came back to bed for an hour’s sleep, I woke up and caught up on the blog. When David woke again we had breakfast and were on the road at 10 after a final brief look at the cathedral.
Oppenheim to Speyer
Oppenheim to Speyer: 93km : Total so far 1084km
We woke, packed up and left only to find both tyres on the trailer on my bike were flat. We changed one and pumped up the other (which had a slow puncture and needs sorting later). Eventually we got going and then cycled away from the river through a wine growing area.
Koblenz to Oppenheim
Koblenz to Oppenheim. 125Km : Total to date 991km
Bernie: Today was a picture postcard day along a Rhine lined with green hills with pretty villages nestled into every curve of the river, and often with a castle or 2 perched above it. We packed up early and cycled around to Deutches Eck, the confluence of the Rhine and the Mosel overlooked by a enormous statue of Kaiser Wilhelm 1st. It could be said that the destruction in 1945 by US bombers was a favour but the peices were kept and eventually recast and reinstated in 1992 to commemorate German reunification. It was certainly dominant.
Koln to Koblenz
103 km: Cumulative total from Bewdley: 866km
This will be a short blog because I am sitting by a river – guess which one – after Day 7 having got behind with the blog. Today was notable for 4 things.
Continue reading Koln to Koblenz
A day off in Koln
Bernie: It was great to wake up leisurely in our comfy bed. Trivago had come up with a great offer on this 4* hotel a few hundred meters from the cathedral square. Money is made from the extras of course so we coughed up for access to the internet but declined breakfast, opting for a stroll to the main market place for coffee and breakfast in a little cafe.
Day 4: Rheinberg to Koln (or Cologne in old money)
122 km (total to date 763km)
David: The hotel appeared to be a German version of Faulty Towers. At 9.45 the previous evening I was downstairs putting the blog on the internet when the reception lady (Who Harry said fitted a Dutch expression “she did not invent gunpowder”) told me that she was shutting up shop and “You must go to your room”. So I did!
Continue reading Day 4: Rheinberg to Koln (or Cologne in old money)
Arnhem to Rheinburg via Xantan
96km (total 641km to date)
Bernie: After an “average” Holiday Inn breakfast and a last glance over the Aardvark we were on the road at 8.30 with no delays. We cycled over the main bridge (which of course had a bike lane) and looked over at the bridge that was the cause of so much suffering in 1944. It was then an easy ride out of the city along the water meadows by the river.
Day 2: Schoonhoven to Arnhem: A failed battle and 10 metre high red Aardvark
96km and total to date is 545km.
The failed battle is obvious as we ended in Arnhem but the 10m red aardvark only makes an appearance at the end of this blog! So read on or aardvark only fans will have to skip to the end.
Continue reading Day 2: Schoonhoven to Arnhem: A failed battle and 10 metre high red Aardvark
Hoek van Holland to Schoonhoven (via Rotterdam)
Day 1 Netherlands. Hoek Van Holland to Schoonhoven. 76km (written by Bernie and running total is 449).
Jolly music blared out across the tannoy at 5.30 our time (6.30 local) shattering our sleep, as it was designed to do so. Coffee and pastries while we packed up and we disembarked about 8, cycling onto Dutch soil. As always one of the most difficult parts of navigating is getting out of the port and we fiddled about a bit round Hoek Van Holland but soon we were on the right cycle path along the Nieuwe Waterweg towards Rotterdam 
Continue reading Hoek van Holland to Schoonhoven (via Rotterdam)
Cambridge to Harwich
80 miles (Total 232 miles which is 373 kilometres as from now we will be working in km – sorry Mr Farrage but that is just how it is).
Today was the last day we cycled as a four We arose early, breakfasted in some style in the dining room at Westminster College (converted back from music venue from last night) and then got delayed as Bernie sheared off a tyre valve when pumping up her tyre. Such muscles after only a few days!
The Slow Cycling Blog 