I am now blogging at www.markfretwell.com

Read about how I cycled the length of the Rhine in 13 days.

Starting April 2013 I'm blogging at www.markfretwell.com where you can find a new extended version of this blog as well as my other two wheeled trips.

In May 2013 I will be cycling from John O'Groats to Lands End.

Riding the Rhine - some more photos from the trip

I wasn't particularly good at taking photo's on the trip.

I started out with enthusiasm - but long days and distances often provided a powerful dis-incentive for stopping, unfurling dry bags to get at the camera - or anything much else that would have impeded progress.

If I do another trip like this I will definitely take some kind of bar bag to make access to essential items (phone, camera, wallet, haribo) a little easier.

The road through Decentis, looking back at the mountains where I had decended from the top of the Oberalp Pass.

More views heading down the valley from the Oberalp Pass.

Chur City Centre. Very Swiss.



Rorschach Harbour. I sat here outside a Thai restaurant watching fireworks on Swiss National / Yorkshire Day. 

At the time I did not realise I was in Konstanz in Germany.

On the way from Kreuzlingen and Konstanz down the top-most section of the Rhine to Shaffhausen. This was probably the prettiest section of the river.

Old building in Shaffhausen. Don't know what it was.

Basel old town

Mending a puncture on the road I should not have ridden in France.

Catching the ferry to the opposite bank, on the evening I ended up cycling through woodland to reach Goddelau.

Best lunch menu, in Mainz. Might be why I broke a spoke straight afterwards.

View accross the Rhine on the run up to Koblenz.

German Corner in Koblenz where the Mosel joins the Rhine.

Mel would have been amused by this.

Breakfast in Koln.

Koln Cathedral and the tower I climbed on my 'day off''.

The bridge over the Rhine between Kleve and Emmerich. Little did I know I would be coming back the same way within an hour.

The main square in Nijmegen, which was full of Saturday night revellers when I cycled through the first time just after midnight when I was desperate for a hotel room.

Day 12-13 Gronichem to Hoek van Holland and the end of the Rhine

Reaching the end of the Rhine, the strand at Hoek van Holland.

I set out from Gronichem at 1pm for the shortest days riding so far - just 47km.

At least it should have been, but for an incorrect signpost that gave me a 6km round trip into a dead-end road running along the wrong side of the motorway.

It looked there had once been access to an underpass, but I wasn't about to try scaling the 12ft fence with razorwire.

That sort of thing had got me into trouble before.

Arriving in Rotterdam I promptly jumped on a train to Amsterdam where I'd arranged to meet a friend from our round the world travels for dinner and a few beers.

I've been to Amsterdam a number of times, but never had the luxury of my own bike - and what a difference it really does make. Everywhere can be reached within just a few minutes, and the dutch transport system really does favour the cyclist above all other modes of transport.

When cycling is safe and convenient, it is without a doubt the best way of getting around.

I woke quite early the next morning, with only one thing on my mind. I could not go back to sleep without doing something about it.

Where on earth was my bike?

I'd ridden to meet Chrissy the evening before, and after having a few drinks sensibly started walking back with the bike. However part way home and needing an excuse to use the toilet facilities of a bar, I'd inadvertantly stopped for another drink.

The only problem was that when I left the bar went to retrieve my bike it wasn't quite where I thought I had left it, and despite a further 30 minutes of searching every available bike stand within a reasonable radius of where I thought it was, I just couldn't find it.

I'd decided to leave it until daylight, hoping that and a clearer head would improve my chances.

I didn't really think my bike had been stolen - it was secured with a very good lock - but in a city where millions of bicycles are chained up at any given moment not knowing where it is was was tantamount to pretty much the same thing.

I was so worried I even formulated an alternate strategy for completing the ride.

It involved buying the cheapest wackiest bike I could find and riding it to Hoek van Holland for the final 32km of the ride. For some reason I had a bright green tricycle in mind.

So, at 7.15am the next morning I set about looking for my missing bike.

I find it utterly amazing that what I could not find it 30 minutes of looking the previous evening, I was able to find so easily within 30 seconds of starting to look in the same location in daylight. It was still very early morning but I was so elated I did what anyone else would have done.

I decided to join in the morning commute for a bike ride around Amsterdam and Vondel Park.

It was the first time in ages that I had ridden any distance without the weight of panniers, and the cycling was easy, brisk and enjoyable. I ended up spending the entire morning cycling round Amsterdam, and really enjoyed it despite these not being kilometers I needed to complete.

Lunch, a quick tour of Chrissy's new offices and it was time to head back to Rotterdam to pick up the trail for the final leg of the journey.

On the way I recieved a message from another friend enquiring 'on an off chance' whether I would be in Rotterdam that evening as she would be there on business.

We planned to meet for a quick beer, but in the end an incident involving the zipper on a skirt (which I don't yet fully understand) prevented us from connecting. It sounds like it will be an interesting story when I get to hear it.

I headed out of Rotterdam at 6.30pm last night, with just 28km separating me from my goal.

This time I didn't get lost once, and I took the bike as far as I could reaching the strand (beach) just before 8.30pm.

It had been a fairly overcast day, but the sun was starting to make some interesting colours in the sky to provide one last photo opportunity for the trip.

It felt really good to have completed the distance, but just a little bit sad not to be carrying on.

Distances covered, 53km and 32km (85km total)
Time, 2hrs 20mins (all ride time)
Total distance covered, 1667km

The keen eyed amongst you will notice that the total distance means I have covered over 1,000 miles in a total of 15 days (of which 13 were ride days).

I would like to thank you all for your generous donations, which have taken the total to over £2,800 plus gift aid as I write this.

It just needs twelve more people to donate 1p for each kilometer cycled, and we will reach the £3,000 mark. If you haven't already donated and would like to, please click the link for the Just Giving page.

I had a few problems uploading images while on the road (entirely because of my own lack of planning), so I will post a round-up later today.

Day 11 - Nijmegen to Gorinchem, clogging it along the dijks

I've no idea what time I would have eventually woken up on Sunday if the maid at the hotel hadn't knocked on the door to see if she could clean the room at 11am.

Still it gave me an hour to slowly surface before check out.

Yesterday's epic meant I was getting relatively close to the end now, so I could look forward to a couple of more relaxing days on the bike.

I set out after a late lunch for the relatively short ride to Gronichem.

Mission control had informed me that the driving distance was around 63km, so I could take it easy.

I decided to follow the dijk on the north bank of the Rhine, and the first 10km was very pleasant and relaxing until I reached a roadblock. As I got closer I realised that a longish section of pathway was closed because of an organised bike race, and a couple of minutes later around 50 riders whizzed past to complete a lap.

I now had a bit of a dilemma, as I could see people being directed to wheel their bikes down the steep grassy bank and then along a bumpy dirt/grass track at the bottom of the dijk to avoid the closed section. I wasn't desperately keen on that as the bike is quite heavy when fully loaded, and I was also trying to avoid any further off-road adventures in order to preserve the rear wheel.

I spotted another guy wheeling his bike along the side of the closed section, stepping back onto the gras verge each time the race came through. If it was good enough for him it was good enough for me.

I nipped through the barriers when the race steward was looking the other way, and started making my way along the course stepping back and pulling my bike onto the grass each time the race passed through.

It wasn't until I got the other end and spotted him talking to a steward that I realised I had been following the lead of the official race photographer. Oops.

The rest of the ride passed without incident, although it did take me rather longer than I'd expected due to the distance along the dijk being about 20k longer than the official road route.

I arrived into Gronichem with a bit more time to relax and enjoy the city than usual.


Distance, 83km (est)
Time, 4hrs, 50mins (4hrs 20mins ride time)
Total distance covered so far, 1582km

Day 10 - Moving north from Cologne

I'd spent my rest day in Cologne doing a little shopping, and some sightseeing including the rather strenuous cathedral climb.

A mere 522 steps.

Perhaps not the bext way of relaxing my weary legs, but the views were amazing.

The evening before resuming the ride I went to Peter's Brauhaus to sample some of the local Kolsche (the local beer in Cologne).

I had 8 beers.

That might seem like a bit much for someone needing to be hydrated for a long cycle ride the next morning, but the thing about Kolsche is that it is served in 200ml glasses, so it was only 3 pints really. The waiters continually walk around with large roundels filled with fresh glasses of beer, so despite sounding like an inconvenient quantity, the refills usually arrived immediately, and the score is kept by marking your beermat.

The traditional accompaniment of Kolsche Kaviar was not as fishy as it sounded.

It was black pudding, but poached rather than fried and served cold with raw onions. Interesting, but not as good as the English, French and Spanish versions.

I had a big ride planned for Saturday, so made sure I was properly hydrated before leaving the hotel at 8am.

I was making very good progress for the first 90 minutes, before the cycle track turned to dirt, then dirt tracks and finally just a grass field.

I must have missed a turning, and even worse than that I was in another nature reserve, my traditional means of getting lost. I didn't get lost this time, but instead found a route out to the road and slowly rode my bike along it in fear of my delicate spokes.

I was half way back to the road when the wheel suddenly buckled again.

I'd broken another spoke.

This time the bike was at least a little more rideable, and I made it to the 35km point without any further issues before stopping for breakfast. Chatting to some locals it became clear there was no bike shop in town so I was forced to push on, eventually arriving 12km later in Neusse where I set about finding a bike shop.

It was just before midday, so I used the downtime to good effect grabbing an early lunch while they worked on my bike, and at 1pm I was ready to roll again.

I took a route slightly inland through Krefeld, and then using the sun for direction up through a large area of nature reserve arriving early evening in Xanten having covered another 89km.

The final 37km to Kleve was completed in double quick time, and I arrived at 7.30pm hardly feeling tired at all - despite having covered 173km.

I wasn't very impressed by Kleve.

Despite being a staurday night in a fairly large town the place was completely dead, and very uninspiring. So, after a 20 minute cycle around I decided I would be better placed heading to Emmerich on the east bank, and felt confident I had another 11km in my legs.

Arriving in Emmerich I stumbled a huge event going on that involved a 150 strong brass band playing in the main square, carrying flaming torches and a bustling promenade along the Rhine.

In short I had discovered life.

Unfortunately life came at a cost, and despite my best efforts over the course of an hour I could not find a single empty hotel room in town for the evening.

I reluctantly headed back to Kleve, looking forward to a hot shower, food and a cold beer wherever it was.

Every single hotel room in Kleve (which has very few hotels) was full as well. I couldn't believe it, and in all my travels round the world this has never happened before.

By now it was 10pm and I had no choice but to head out into the night and continue the journey.

At 11pm I reached the first small town just over the dutch border where I found a small takeaway mopping the floors and getting ready to shut for the evening. I had no idea how long I was going to be riding for, so I needed some food.

They say everyone in Holland speaks good English, but not here.

They were however happy enough to give me some chips and engage in a game of charades, during the course of which I managed to learn that there was a hotel 1.5km down the road in the town centre proper.

I was feeling more positive when I set off down the road at 11.20pm, only to have my hopes dashed yet again by the owner of the hotel. No room at the inn.

Could this really be happening?

She advised me to head for the City of Nijmegen, some 18km away. She obviously thought it was a long way at that time of night, but compared to the distance I'd already put in I was happy to do it if it meant getting a bed for the evening.

Another hour of riding and I arrived to a bustling Saturday night out, with hundreds of people sat in cafes lining the main square - the kind of life I had not seen in the whole journey so far - the Swiss and Germans being a much more reserved bunch.

This was more like a Saturday night out in Camden.

My hotel search didn't start particularly well, with the first couple of hotels also full, but I sought the advice of a taxi driver who pointed me in the direction of the Mercure at the train station.

I checked in at 12.25am, showered and went out for a pint.

I really needed it.

Distance, 223kms (not including hotel searching)
Time, 16hrs 25mins (14hrs 30mins ride time)
Total distance so far, 1499km's
Pints needed, 4

Day 9 - Koblenz to Cologne, the day I hit the wall

Would a straighforward day be too much to hope for?

The signs were good as I set out.

I made a quick stop at German Corner where the Mosel meets the Rhine, being extra careful to take the right waterway on this occassion.

I wearing totally clean clothes having managed to get my laundry done, it was a nice cool morning and I was rested and relaxed. What could go wrong?

On paper nothing, but as I approached the end of the first two hours ride I suddenly started to feel very weak. 10 minutes later I had to pull up as all my energy had gone.

I was slightly aware of only having had a light evening meal and a roll for breakfast while washing my clothes (rather than the usual plate of bread and cheeses) so deployed a tactical portion of emergency Haribo Gold Bears.

They didn't work.

The lift only lasted 5 minutes, before I had to pull over again at a Gasthouse for a much longer than usual lunch break and a large lunch with a couple of half litre cokes (purely for medicinal purposes). I was still feeling a bit shaky, but managed to push on for another hour after lunch before I had to stop again.

At this stage I was fearing a case of food poisoning.

It was time to look for another solution and I focused on getting as much water inside me as possible.

The effect was almost immediate, and whereas I had laboured through the first 40km in 3hrs, back on form I was able to complete the remaining 64km to Cologne in the same time.

I'd struggled a bit with hydration for the first couple of days, and I think I'd got a bit complacent after having no problems for the last few days and it had just caught up with me.

I arrived in Cologne to find half the city out enjoying the sunshine along the banks of the Rhine, lying on the grass, eating and drinking in cafe's with street performers and skateboarders providing the entertainment.

I was looking forward to my rest day, and keen to get out and explore what looks like a great city.

Distance, 104km
Time, 7hrs 20mins (6hrs ride time)
Total distance so far, 1276km

If I look at the original intended distance, I should almost be done by now. However there is still another 380km of 'official' route to go, which I hope to complete in 3-4 days once I recommence. 

The main gremlin is the extra kms caused by route errors, but I also think that the official distance is mis-stated on the website. It should probably be pointed out that EV15 isn't an official end-to-end route until 2013, so I imagine there will be some revisions when it goes live.

Where I can I am using stated distances on official signed cycle routes which invariably add up to more than the official EV15 distance for a leg. I'm adding in distances from mission control, and estimates based on ride time where I need to.

Day 8 - Goddelau to Koblenz on a spoke and a prayer

I started mid-morning and in the first two hours made 40km of good progress along fast smooth cycle tracks to the city of Mainz.

I stopped for an amazing 15 euro set lunch at a yacht club on the bank of the Rhine. It was incredible value and one of the best meals of the trip so far.

I was making giood progress, free from the directional issues that had plagued me the previous morning, and set off again at 1.45pm.

However today the issues would all be mechanical.

I couldn't have been more than 10 mins into the afternoon's ride when I heard a sickeningly familiar clanking from the rear wheel.

I'd broken another spoke.

At least this time it hadn't wedged itself in the derailleur, and I was in a city full of bikes and bike shops. The only problem was finding one that could fit me in for an unscheduled repair. It took four attempts, but eventually I found one and got work underway.

It seems there is an underlying radial problem with the wheel, but they hoped that by replacing the spokes immediately either side of the broken one that the repair would hold this time.

We shall see.

So it wasn't until 3.30pm that the mission for the day could resume, and I set out to complete the further 100km to Koblenz.

The section of the Rhine just beyond Mainz was pretty industrial, but after 15km or so it gave way to open countryside and then beyond  Bingen (the end of stage 4) the valley sides steepened and I was into a long section of picture postcard perfect town's overlooked by castles as the Rhine flowed beneath.

The riding was also pretty good, with smooth surfaces and long sections in shade that enabled me to put in a steady 25kmph average.

With the unscheduled repairs I hadn't been sure whether I could make it to Koblenz, but arrive I did just before 9pm and checked into my hotel.

I wasn't sure how I felt about being assigned room 101, but let's hope it's not an omen for the rest of the journey.

Distance, 140km
Time 10hrs 20mins (8hrs 20mins ride time)
Total distance so far, 1172kms
 

Day 7 - Karlsruhe to Goddelau and more getting lost

The day started out well enough.

I headed west from Karlsruhe and picked up the thin band of parkland that I had followed coming into town the day previously, criss-crossing the small river and picking up signs for the Rhine Cycle route.

This brought me to a nature reserve like a delta of lakes, small chanels of water and trails running in all directions. The problem was the bike trail is not very well signed here, and on reaching points where the trail was not signed at all it left me with little option other than to guess.

This led to a lot of backtracking and frustration.

After 3 hours I eventually spotted a sign for what should have been my first destination of the day, Speyer which was 25km away. Given the amount of time I'd been cycling I initially thought I must have gone 25km past it, but no, I was basically only about 15km into my intended journey because of all the difficulties following the route.

The next 10km were no problem, taking me to Lingenfield which was in theory about 11km from Speyer, however every cycle or road route I tried just kept looping me back in to the village 30mins later. After 3 attempts like that and in utter frustration, I almost bought a map.

Well at least I tried, however the outdoors shop didn't sell them.

However the owner did explain why I was having so much trouble. The bike route is in the process of being re-routed because of some closed roads and to make it more scenic (i.e. longer) which means that may of the signs are missing or wrong.

So even with a map I would not have stood much chance, but he directed me out of town where a couple of kms later I picked up the new 'scenic' route, another 18km into Speyer arriving a full 6 hours after setting out from Karlsruhe. I had covered an official distance of about 35km, but must have cycled at least 75km in the process.

I had also realised that my directions from mission control were a mixture of locations on each side of the Rhine, on two different bike routes. So I decided to stick to the left bank, just using the bike route signs and to see how far I could get.

Along the way I met and chatted to another cyclist called Frederick who had exactly the same route issues around Lingenfield.

So it wasn't just me.

From here it was easier, and I made 60km of relatively quick progress to Ludwigshafen and then Worms for my ice-cream stop at 6.45pm. I was tempted to stop here, but saw then the next location of Gernshiem was only another 24km, so figured it was worth a go.

I made it to 'Gernsheim' by 8pm to find what is known as a NATO ramp on the bank of the Rhine, with the town on the other side. I was stuck out in the middle of nowhere, so caught the next ferry over.

At which point I found my situation immediately worsened.

I could find nowhere to stay in Gernsheim and to be honest didn't really want to from the look of it. There was only one thing to do, pick up the cycle track on the other side and ride until I did find somewhere.

For the next hour I cycled through open countryside and forest, eventually having to put lights on the bike in order to see where I was going. It was exciting stuff, and reminded me of the time Mel and I got stuck in the cloud forest on Mt Fuji.

In other words it was getting a bit scary.

When I eventually came to another village at 9.45pm it was time to make a more concerted effort to find lodgings. Of course there were none in the village, but I managed to recruit a teenager on roller blades (who was seemingly out having a crafty fag) to guide me to the next town of Goddelau where there was a hotel.

I hoped the unexpected exercise would offset the smoking, but in reality he probably just had another cigarette on the way home.

I just mamaged to persaude the kitchen to stay open, and at 10.30pm settled down to a steak dinner and a couple of Grosse Biers.

Tomorrow I will study the map more closely before setting off.

Distance, 165km (est), vs route distance of 125km
Time, 14hrs (13hrs ride time)
Total distance so far, 932kms

(it is going to be a lot more than 1320kms by the time I'm done)

Day 6 - Strasbourg to Karlsruhe

At last a relatively easy day.

I set off after lunch, preferring to make up my own route rather than following the designated Eurovelo 15 and headed over the Rhine to Kehl in Germany.

What I saw of Kehl was purely industrial, but I soon picked up a cycle route right alongside the Rhine, and started racing with a cargo barge a few hundred metres ahead. It took me over an hour to catch up and overtake, after which I headed 'inland' to a nearby town for my ice-cream stop.

The ice-cream stop is now a sacrosanct part of every day, and it was the main reason I decided to travel on the German side - everywhere in rural France is shut as I found out yesterday.

I'd been riding for over 2 hours and had already covered 50km for the distance to Karlsruhe. The final 30km was entirely 'inland' as I tracked (but manged to stay off) the highway headed north.

Karlsruhe is one of those places I instantly liked, it's quite a big city (hard to tell when cycling around, but maybe the same size as Sheffield?) and has lots of bars and cafes. It just seemed to have a good atmosphere.

I finished the day with a grosse bier and schnitzel on one of the main squares before getting an early night ready to put in some more km's tomorrow.

Distance, 80km
Time, 5hrs (4hrs 30mins ride time)
Total distance so far, 767kms

Day 5 - Strasbourg or burst?

I set out this morning with every intention of following the German side of the Rhine.

100 yards from the hotel door I spotted a sign for the cycle route into France and thought, why not?

I could probably give your several reasons now, but the previous evening I'd been weighing up the merits of both and so felt equally underprepared for the French side.

I was the first in a series of poor decisions I would make today.

I'd popped over the border within 10 minutes of leaving the hotel to find the French side rather less well marked than my trusty cycle route 2 in Switzerland had ever been, leading to a good few wrong turinings into Rhineside docks and industrial estates in the first couple of km's alone (in 4 days in Switzerland I'd only ever taken a single wrong turn).

However I quickly got back on route finding the wide sweeping Rhine canal and made rapid progress for almost an hour along a good cycle track. I then hit a sign indicating that the surface ahead was not suitable for cycles, and diverting me onto the road.

This caused me some concern as without the Rhine canal in sight and without clear route marking there was a clear potential for getting lost. So a couple of km's up the road I hopped back onto it anyway.

Second bad decision of the day.

It was pretty bumpy, but not entirely unrideable and I still managed to make a decent rate of progress.

However I was just starting to think about what it might be doing to the bike when wallop, another puncture. I changed the tube in pretty quick time and made it back onto the road to Kembs and the beginning of the Rhine au Rhone canal.

Reaching the confluence of a handful of canals I studied the information board carefully, before selecting the Rhine-Rhone cycle route and following the canal northwards in the direction of Strasbourg.

The riding was good until 50 minutes north I was forced onto the road for a section just before the town of Mulhouse. This didn't present a significant problem as I could still easily see the canal from the road bridge passing over it and manage to select a road running paralell, before rejoining it near the train station and continuing onwards.

It was now the middle of the day, but somehow over the course of the next hour I became aware that the sun wasn't in quite the right position versus my direction of travel. I stopped for lunch and got the smartphone out, emailing mission control for route confirmation.

Finally I managed to get a good enough signal to bring up a small Google map confirming I was indeed on a section of canal running in a NW direction, which gave me enough confidence to continue for another 40 mins. The sun however was definitely not in right position now, so I stopped again to check email and recieved some bad news from mission control.

I was headed SW on the canal in the exact opposite direction of Strasbourg, having now reached a position some 150km away. Having started 120km away at 10am and it now being 2.45pm this was soul destroying news.

70km of riding for a net loss of 30km. How could I ever hope to get to Strasbourg now?

In the debrief we worked out that I had taken a NNW canal (instead of NNE) that had somewhere turned back on itself to lead me heading in the wrong direction. The only option was to head back to Mulhouse, and then Kembs in order to pick up the right canal.

I was furious with myself and put in some of the fastest riding of the trip so far on the route back to Mulhouse.

On the way back I could see clearly what I had not noticed on the route out. The turn in the canal was under the road bridge and I could also see a main road that continued as far as the eye could see following the previous trajectory of the canal.

What would happen if I followed it?

Over the next 1hr 40mins I put in some hard and fast miles on the road in blistering heat with the sun in exqctly the right position just over my left shoulder. I reached Colmar for my afternoon ice-cream and soda stop (now a daily ritual) in a state of near exhaustion - though it had been worth it.

Finally some good news from the smartphone, which confirmed I was only 76km by road from Strasbourg and for the first time I realised I could do this.

I set off with renewed vigour at 5.45pm to continue following the main road North east and having crossed motorway junction headed back onto my road. Or so I thought.

You wouldn't believe the fuss people make when you try and take a pushbike on a motorway!

I realised my error about two thirds of the way down the sliproad in the extra wide bicycle lane (a.k.a. the hard shoulder), and rather than head back up against the flow of traffic I continued down until  spotted the opportunity to manhandle the fully loaded biike over the crass barrier and down the embankment into a retail shopping park.

My only problem now was how to get out of it and back on route.

As my luck for the day would have it, the only route out took me a few km's north in wrong direction into the foothills of the Rhine valley, and pictureseque vineyards before I was able to head east again in roughly the direction of Strasbourg.

The hills were slowing me up, so I once again heqded south to try and get back on route, but never quite finding a road with the right trajectory to do so. I think we have already established that France is effectively closed at this time of year, and I was becoming increasingly needful of water, eventually interrupting the evening meal of an old couple in their back garden to get my water bottle filled.

It was now 7.30pm and I checked where I was on my phone to discover to my horror that I was only 10km from Colmar.

I needed to drastically rethink my strategy, and headed for the only reliable constant in the trip, The Rhine.

Heading east I found the Rhine au Rhone canal running through a small village just 20 mins later, and the waymarkers confirmed a distance of 49km to Strasbourg.

I could still do it!

It was 7.50pm and the sun was falling low in the sky, but I was finally on my intended route and proceeded to smash out the km's over the next 2hrs 15mins reqching Strasbourg just after 10pm arriving to this.

They'd heard I was coming!

The day had one final challenge left for me and as I rode round town looking for somewhere to stay a thunderstorm of almost biblical proportions erupted, delivering me like a drowned rat on an unsuspecting hotelier at 10.45pm.


Distance covered   260km (est), vs route distance of 120km
Time, 12hrs 45mins (11hrs 40 ride time)
Total distance so far 687kms

Days 1-4 - round up of photos

Daimian does not function well on little sleep

Overoptimistic use of yellow jersey at the foot of the Oberalp Pass Road

Reaching the summit of the Oberalp Pass

The source of the Rhine

Great riding down to Descentis from Oberalp Pass.

Stunning alpine scenery

Chur at the end of the hardest day

Lunch in Vaduz, Lichtenstein

The Harbour in Rorschach on Lake Constance

Heading through the underpass into Konstanz

Where I had my bike fixed in Kreuzlingen

Typical views on the ride down to Schaffhausen

Schaffhausen

Day 4 - Schaffausen to Basel and the end of the Swiss section

Today was easily the best riding so far.

Since Chur I've been following Swiss National Cycle Route No. 2 - the 'Rhein Route'. It's not always the quickest route from point to point (as I discovered cycling from Chur to Rorschach) however it's interesting, is always easy to follow the way markers, and follows the Rhine very closely.

Does anyone else think these might be fun in a raft?

First stop downriver today was just 4km into the route, at the Rhine Falls. 

The 5 Swiss Francs is well worth paying for access to the view platforms, as you don't get a clear view from anywhere on the bike trail.

It was very impressive but I had a long ride ahead so didn't hang around too long.

To reach the viewing areas the trail had gone up while the river went down, so the next few kilometers were spent on country roads with smooth tarmac and very few cars, sweeping up and down the rolling countryside making use of gravity as I returned to the waters edge.

The bike trail then delivered long sections of woodland trails, which gave a welcome break from the beating sun before a long uphill climb (though nothing on the scale of the alps) which eventually gave way to the best down hill section so far. 

It wasn't as fast as the descent from the Oberalp Pass, but the absence of switchback turns and far reaching views of the road ahead made it a lot more relaxing and comfortable.

On reaching the first set of distance marked signposts for the bike trail it soon became clear that today's distance was going to be rather longer than the expected 103km - 128km to Basel.

I stopped for lunch after the first 60km and resolved on an additional tactical ice-cream stop in order to be able to make the extra distance.

The remainder of the ride continued in much the same vein as the morning, a huge variety of surfaces and scenery ranging from industrial estates to picturesque villages and views of the Rhine. There were plenty of gradients (of both types), but with every uphill delivering a corresponding downhill I didn't mind that too much.

When I have needed water and there have been no shops to hand, I've occasionally been using the fountains that feed little water troughs in villages. It was only today I noticed as sign informing me that the water troughs are only for dogs. 

Oops.

It made me think of the recumbent cyclist and of course I followed the chain of thought to its natural conclusion. From here onwards I resolved to only drink tap water and Evian.

128km makes for a long day, and I didn't make it to Basel until 8pm looking forward to a couple of well earned cold drinks and my rest day tomorrow.

Distance, 128km

Elevation, quite a bit!

Time, 9hrs 40m total (8hrs 30m ride time)

Total distance covered, 427km (ave. 107km per day)

You will have noticed that the photos are back! So as tomorrow is a rest day I will take the opportunity to publish a round-up of the pictures so far instead of my normal blog post.

Day 3 - Rorschach to Schaffhausen and the need for professional help

This was the easy day that turned out to be anything but.

I set out early with the objective of completing stage one by lunchtime before heading back onto the Rhine proper as it leaves Lake Constance.

The first incident happened just after pulling out of the hotel garage, following two althletic looking guys in matching lycra on their very expensive looking mountain bikes. Poseurs in the extreme who somehow managed to end up crashing into each other while turning left and ending up in a heap in the middle of the road.

I tried not to laugh, I really did.

Setting off early was a good move. It was much cooler, and I really enjoyed the run along the lakeshore as the route ducked in and out of little villages and towns with wooden framed houses, vineyards, orchards and seafront.

It was after about 15km that it happened.

I was cycling along casually when all of a sudden there was a mass of clanking from the bike and the gears started jumping around. I pulled up quickly to retrieve the end of a broken spoke from my derailleur, managing to bend and twist it into a position so that I could carry on riding.

However all was not well with the bike. It quickly became apparent that spokes serve a very useful purpose, and my wheel was now slightly warped, with the net affect that the rear brakes were being applied during every turn of the wheel.

It's been said before, but I was in need of professional help.

I managed to limp along the next 20km to Kreuzlingen where I spent an hour finding a bike shop, and leaving it with them went off the grab lunch.

I must have spent so long on the bike now that I found myself wandering through the edge of town in a bike lane, like someone out of a Flann O'Brien novel.

Yesterday I managed to eat lunch in Lichtenstein without realising. Today whilst wandering through a park I accidentally wandered into the adjoining town of Konstanz in Germany. I didn't even realise until it came to pay and I discovered the bill was in Euros.

If I had a map I would know about these things.

After picking my bike up I made a very belated start on the next section of the journey to Schaffhausen.

Or at least I tried.

Just 2km down the road I got a flat tyre in the rear had had just been changed in order to fit my new spoke. The culprit a sharp piece of plastic that must have somehow found its way in there while in the bike shop.

Grrr.

New tube in, I was finally able to set off for the final 46km down the Rhine to Schaffhausen, and what a lovely section of river it was. The route swept up and down through vineyards and villages, criss-crossing the Rhine several times and would have been even better had it not been for the advancing hours and the need to get to my destination and find lodgings and food for the evening.

I was now in the Rhine Valley proper.


Statistics for the day

Distance, 85km
Elevation, 300m (estimated)
10 hours total (5hrs ride time)
Total distance covered, 299km (ave. 100km per day)

Day 2 - Chur to Rorschach and lunching in Lichtenstein

I didn't start cycling until late morning on the second day.

Not because I was too tired (surprisingly), but it just seemed to take ages to get going and also the ageing computer in the hotel made getting my blog post done rather hard work.

The fan was so loud I was convinced it was about to blow up.

When I did get going I headed straight for the Rhine and picked up the cycle track, just behind a cyclist on a recumbent bike. No matter how hard I tried I just couldn't keep up with him on the tarmac, and it was only when we hit a dirt track section that I was able to overtake as this really slowed him down.

This game of cat and mouse continued for around an hour as the surface kept changing from rough to smooth, until finally I had to make a short stop to adjust my front mudgard. I'd just passed an elderly lady walking her dog, and when the recumbent came through around 30 seconds behind me something strange happened.

He started barking really loudly at the woman and her dog!

I feel a bit better about not being abale to keep up (having now read that recumbent bikes are faster than normal ones), although I think I'll always be slightly wary of the people who ride them.

I made good progress and reached Vaduz in just under two hours (39km) where I stopped for a pleasant lunch and took on some more fluids. It had been very hot and hydration was clearly going to be the main challenge for the day.

It wasn't until I left Vaduz that I realised the signposts on the east bank were different, and on closer inspection realised that I was actually in Lichtenstein and that so was Vaduz.

It wasn't to be the first time that day that I would have benefited from having a map.

I carried on up the Lichtenstein side of the river until I reached a sign telling me I was in Austria, at which point I decided enough was enough and crossed back over to Switzerland at the next opportunity. I'd already crossed over two international borders without showing my passport so I didn't want to push my luck, and all the way up the river from there I could see that border controls were very definitely operational.

At lunchtime I'd decided I would push on as far as Rorschach on Lake Constance, which an email from mission control had confirmed as being another 59km, thus completing my 100km for the day.

I should have read the email more closely.

Had I done I would have realised that the distances referred to drivetime, and in fact the road cut off a large corner of my route. I'd been averaging a pretty consistent 20kmph on the flat, so in the end when I finally reached Rorschach I was able to put a fairly accurate estimate of the distance together - about 80km from Vaduz.

The town itself ended up being a nice place to break the journey, and I had dinner and a couple of beers on the 'seafront' with a view looking out over the lake while I watched the firework displays for Swiss National Day.

It was also Yorkshire Day so a double celebration for me.

I've been rediscovering some long forgotten German, and today I re-learnt the word for large beer - 'grosse bier'. Though given the state of the computers in the hotels I am staying in, perhaps learning how to say 'your internet facilities are rubbish' would be more appropriate.

So once again, I am struggling to upload photos.


Statistics for the day:

Distance, 119km (estimated)
Elevation, nothing!
7 hours total (6 hours ride time)
Total distance covered, 214km (ave. 107km per day)

Day 1 - Andermatt to Chur and the hills that nearly killed me.

The road to the Oberalp Pass from Andermatt goes straight up the side of the mountain.

The uphill is uttlerly relentless for almost 7km, and combined with the thin alpine air my heart was pounding almost immediately.

I can't have been more than a kilometer out of Andermatt when I heard a noise that filled me with dread. The clicking coming from the rear of the bike was getting louder and louder, and when I looked round I saw something worse than I could have possibly imagined.

I was about to be overtaken by a guy on roller blades using a set of ski poles.

It took well over an hour of gruelling slog to reach the point where the road started flattening off, and from there I made fairly rapid progress to the Oberalp Pass at 2042m, and first sight of the rivulet of water that is the Rhine.

It was really tough going, but well worth it. The view down the Rhine valley was amazing, and I hardly touched the pedals for the next 21km as I let gravity take over on the steep run down to Decentis, passing through chocolate box perfect towns along the way.

I'd really enjoyed the ride up to this stage.

After lunch things got a bit tougher again, and although the general trajectory was still downwards there were long sections of flat for the next 30km, along with a fierce headwind that made it quite tough going in the blistering heat.

It felt a bit like cycling into a hairdryer.

I was just starting to feel tired when it appeared in front of me. Another hill.

At first it didn't look too bad, and although I was struggling a bit with the heat I was looking forward to getting past it. I'd really thought the hilly section was behind me, but this thing just kept going up and up for about 10km in the scorching heat and for the most part at an even steeper gradient than the Oberalp Pass Road from Andermatt.

It almost destroyed me over the course of two very painful hours, and to make matters worse the route was now very busy with lorries and cars whizzing past my left hand shoulder. By the time I got to the summit and a petrol station my entire body was craving calories, which were rapidly consumed in the form of an ice-cream and a can of pop.

Somehow it didn't feel like nearly as much as I'd expended on the way up.

I'd been following highway 19 which should have taken me all the way into Chur, but my next challenge came at the summit of the hill when I reached a long road tunnel with signs prohibiting cyclists. I'm travelling without a map (on the basis it would be hard to lose the Rhine) so this gave me serious pause for thought as I had a choice of two alternative turnings, but no idea which would get me to Chur.

By this stage I really couldn't have cared less about where I ended up, so I took the option that came most naturally - the one that went downhill. I figured it would end up at the bottom of the valley sometime, and from there I would be able pick up the Rhine again.

The route down through Flims was very fast, and I must have hit speeds of over 50km per hour in places as I raced toward the valley floor, rather fortuitously picking up the 19 again as it exited the mountain further down.

I'd only managed another kilometer of the 19 before hitting another tunnel prohibited to cyclists, with the alternate route involving another uphill while the tunnel went down into the mountain. I was hardly in the mood for it, but at least this time the gradient wasn't too bad, and after another swift downhill section on the other side I once again rejoined the 19 a couple of km's later.

Just outside Chur I picked up a cycle path that ran alongside the Rhine, which by this stage has turned into quite a substantial fast flowing river. This was more like what I'd signed up for, and despite the exhaustion I found myself starting to enjoy the ride again.

I finally arrived in Chur 8 hours after leaving Andermatt, booked into a hotel and immediately ran myself a cold bath to try and revive my aching limbs.

I am quite sure the ride is going to throw up lots more challenges along the way, but it feels really good to have completed what is undoubtedly the most physically demanding section. A quick check on the internet confirmed what I was hoping for.

It really is all downhill from here.


For those of you interested in statisitics:

Distance, 95km (plus the unplanned bits)
c. 1.5km of combined elevation
8 hours total (of which about 7 hours was ride time)

I'll have to catch up on photo's at a later stage, as can't get them to upload from here. 

I think the first bit might be a bit hilly ...

The view from my hotel room window in Andermatt.

We arrived in Andermatt just before 9pm after an epic 510 mile drive from Lille.

Or rather it should have been a 510 mile drive, but for a few wrong turnings and a failed attempt to find lunch at a nice local restaurant en-route.

I can only imagine that the whole of France must have been on holiday or strike, because despite it very definitely being lunchtime every single restaurant we found (in three separate towns) was closed.

The climax of our failed attempts to find lunch was when we stopped at a Best Western hotel just off the motorway on the basis it would be definitely open, at 1.58pm. After answering the call of nature we returned to the hotel bar at 2.01pm to find the barmaid turning off the lights.

Thankfully we had better luck at the motorway services, where I was able to have a steak cooked to order. I think that could only happen in France.

The remainder of the days calories were provided by a bag of acacia gums, which came in a range of flavours, all of which seemed to be located on a continuum of flavour that began with pine resin, and ended in toilet duck.

I do not recommend them.

It turns out my driver Damian has some history of driving this route, having previous driven a "£60 Volvo with no brakes" the exact same route passing through Andermatt in the Staples to Naples rally a few years ago.

Thankfully he has upgraded his car since then.

My first impressions of Switzerland are very good. It's been on my list of places to visit for a long time and the scenery is as stunning as the people are warm and friendly. Despite managing to reserve a hotel room online for the wrong evening, the manager just laughed and charged me 80 swiss francs less than the agreed price.

Andermatt is a lovely little Alpine town, that seems to be doing almost as well with hikers, cyclists and touring motorcyclists in the summer as it does in the winter when it turns into a ski resort.

We spent the evening having a pizza and a couple of beers in a friendly local bar that never seemed to want to shut. In the end the bar tender outlasted us and we headed back to our hotel to grab a few zzz's before the morning.

I'd definitely come back here, however now the time has come to ride.

Setting off for Switzerland

I set off yesterday morning for Switzerland, feeling like this is probably the most hastily organised and poorly planned trip of my life.

I threw some clothes, spares for the bike and other essentials into my new panniers, and headed out for the first time on a fully loaded bike.

I quite like it.

Once I got over the feeling thqt the panniers we're going to jump off the back of the bike with everypot hole in the road, I found the extra weight quite stabilising and made good progress to Tottenham, before picking up the Lea Valley Walk and heading north to Enfield Lock for my lift to Dover.

We made it to Lille for our first overnight stop at 11.15pm and will complete a further 8 hours drive to Andermatt in the morning.

A big thanks to my logistics support: Damian, for agreeing to drive me to Switzerland at such short notice, and my Dad (the self-proclaimed Fat Controller) who will be feeding me route information by email as I go.

If you would like to support the trip, please find time to make a small donation, or spread the word. If you would like to join me and cycle part of the route, email me at fretwell.mark(a)gmail.com and let's see what we can work out.

In return I'll try to write as much as I can inbetween truning pedals and sourcing calories.