Exploring the mighty Rhine

[redzed]

For the past month I have been almost absent from the forum. Certainly not intentional as I was on another cycle tour in Europe. Thank you Bob and Butterbean for keeping everything on track here. This time we did the Eurovelo Route 15 along the Rhine River, starting in Rotterdam and finishing according to plan in Chur, Switzerland. Total kilometres travelled was 1,432, through five countries: Holland, Germany, France, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. Got lost a few times, almost had to sleep at the railway station on two occasions, but it was a great and memorable adventure. Did a lot of sampling of different sausages, cheeses (and of course wines ) along the way. In Holland I tasted some very good cooked salami types and liverwursts; in Germany we always had some landjaeger in our panniers and feasted every day on a variety of cold cuts for breakfast; in France I could not get enough of the simple saucisson sec and varieties of pâté. In Switzerland we finished in the Canton of Graubünden, the home of the famous Bündnerfleisch, and finally I tasted a genuine version. Don't want to bore you guys with my vacation pics, but here are a few of the 400 or so that I took.

[Butterbean]

Wow! Amazing scenery. Beautiful. So how many miles did you cycle? I don't know how you even got to where you were going without staying lost. I'm sure I'd have been riding in circles except for in maybe France but its been a long time since I've used French.

[Bob K]

That is beautiful! Also how well the older structures are maintained.

[redzed]

Wow! Amazing scenery. Beautiful. So how many miles did you cycle? I don't know how you even got to where you were going without staying lost. I'm sure I'd have been riding in circles except for in maybe France but its been a long time since I've used French.

In miles it was 890. Actually not that difficult, as we averaged 70km per day. The route was primarily flat and on dedicated paved bike baths, with some shared roads with insignificant car traffic. Getting lost comes with the territory since the signage is not always there or can be easily missed. Fortunately people we stopped to ask for directions were very helpful and if were standing at an intersection and looking at our maps it would be only minutes before someone would approach us and offer help. on two occassions in Germany people went far in helping us. We were a bit off track in Dusseldorf and trying to find our way to a hotel in Duisburg. A couple on bicycles took us through a maze of trails and streets, for 22km to our destination. On another occasion we ended up on the wrong trail and another cyclist told us to follow him and took us 10 or 12km to our route. So the whole thing was definately an adventure.

That is beautiful! Also how well the older structures are maintained.

Lots of restorations going on. They don't tear down 60 year old buildings like we do in North America. In Switzerland we stayed in a hotel built in 1715 and two years ago in France in one dating all the way to 1472. That's even before Chris Columbus stumbled upon North America!

[airbrush]

Please share all the narrative and pictures that you can. Looks and sounds like an amazing trip.

Could you please detail you're route?

[redzed]

Thanks Airbrush! The route that we followed is Eurovelo 15, which covers the entire length of the Rhine, from the source in Switzerland to the Baltic sea. Almost everyone starts in Switzerland and finishes in Holland. We cycled up river instead. A description of the route is here: http://www.rhinecycleroute.eu/the-route ... urovelo-15

It is a route that can be done easily as long you do proper planning and have the time. The cycling culture in the countries we travelled through is truly amazing, incredibible infrastructure and wide use of the dedicated bike paths. There is nothing that compares in North America. If you want to travel distances of that length here you will need to do that along highways and roads with heavy traffic. Unfortunately many motorists here do not respect the rights of cyclists to be on the roads, so it can be scary.

This was our 5th cycle tour in Europe. We travel independently, and carry everything on the bikes that we bring on the plane with us. On past occasions we rented bikes but this time we bought them in Rotterdam and left them in storage in Chur, Switzerland. If all goes well we'll return next September an do another tour. Just have to decide upon the route.