In 2019, my wife, Kathy, and I cruised the Rhine River with friends, and we got to see the cities, towns and villages of the Rhine, as well as the magnificent scenery in between suburbia. Perhaps as interesting were the myriad of well-formed bike paths along the river, and the numerous camping grounds dotted along the journey.
Occasionally we took the supplied electric bikes for rides through those towns and even between towns, eventually meeting the cruise vessel upstream. The idea to ride the the length of the Rhine River was borne.
The cities of the Rhine are full of history - ancient or modern - and I'm looking forward to wallowing in the cultures of different nations along the river. Travelling through Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, France, and the Netherlands should see that box ticked.
I landed in Zurich for an overnight stay before heading by train to Oberalpass where I'll start my ride. I'll need to change trains 3 times, with one of those changeovers being just 6 minutes. Seems easy enough until you take into account I'll need to get my bike and 4 panniers off and on to trains. On arrival at Oberalpass, I'll drop my gear off and then hike to Lake Toma (Tomasee) where the Rhine starts. Hopefully, the weather holds up ... meant to be showers and a top temperature of 5 degrees. I may freeze to death before even starting!
My accommodation at Oberalpass is the last booking I have until I board my flight in Amsterdam some 31 days later. I hope to average 50 km a day, taking time to stop and explore local villages and towns - their highlights, attractions and campgrounds! In practical terms, I'll need to ride more km per day as I want to 'bank' some extra distance each day so I can have every 3rd or 4th day off to explore the larger towns and cities.
Along the 1400 km journey, I'll pass by Lake Constance and through cities such as Basel, Strasbourg, Cologne, Dusseldorf, Nijmegen and Rotterdam. The ride will also travel through or near the historic towns of Rudesheim, Heidelberg, Spencer and Mainz and pass countless castles and vineyards along the way.
I've read so many blogs of people who have done this journey - there seems to be a real sense of community in the tour biking fraternity so hopefully this blog gives back in some small way to others that have the want to ride. Another great resource for route information is the official Eurovelo website (eurovelo.com).
Perhaps the best resource for my research of the route, what to see and do, as well as gpx files that you can download and use, is Mike Well's book The Rhine Cycle Route (4th Edition). The book goes into significant detail for each segment of the ride - in this case, the author divides the ride into about 26 stages - each around 50 km in length. This will be my guide by my side for the trip. I've downloaded the gpx files onto Komoot - my preferred route planner - although you can use Strava, MapMyRide, etc. Although I can download Komoot to use offline on my phone, I prefer to use a dedicated GPS so I've purchased a Hammerhead Karoo II (alternates are Garmin, Bryton, Wahoo and others).
What a lovely story about the inspiration for ride, from Cruise to bike&tent. You're awesome!!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward those little villages pictures.
Thanks Jorge! Beautiful scenes everywhere!
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