Romantische Straße and the Mittelrhein

Trip List Calendar

2017-06-17 : To Füssen
Category Type Name Description Service Provider Cost Kms To Date Total
Activity Cycle Rottenbuch to Füssen
Today: 45km; Total: 777km $0.00 45.00 45.00
We started the day by backtracking into Rottenbuch to see the church, which the authors of "The Romantic Road" called a "Rococo Explosion". The campingplatz opened at 7:30, and we had to wait for that to pay on departure. The church opened at 8:00, so it worked out perfectly.

From Rottenbuch to Halblech it was extremely hilly... up and down and up and down and up and down. It was also extremely beautiful - the countryside itself, and the Alps showing more and more. From Halblech the rest of the way to Füssen was surprisingly (and mercifully) flat.

We did it. We cycled the Romantische Strasse!!
Füssen is extremely beautiful... and extremely busy and chaotic with tourists. I have mixed feelings of enjoying the beauty and being vexed by the crowds. I feel like we've spent the last two weeks backcountry camping and now we've suddenly emerged in Times Square. Yikes!

Even our Campingplatz is crazy busy. The Zeltplatz, which is normally just, you know... for ZELTS... has cars all over it, and tents all on top of one another. It's not going to be our favorite place to stay. I'm hoping the Rhine will be more normal again rather than this touristy anthill.


2017-06-18 : Schlösser!
Category Type Name Description Service Provider Cost Kms To Date Total
Activity Cycle To and from things we did
Today: 26km; Total: 803km $0.00 26.00 71.00
Our schedule allowed for spending a day or two in the Füssen area. When we got into town yesterday, I had such a negative reaction to how touristy Füssen is, and how insanely crowded the Zeltplatz was with car campers (and their stupid cars), that I suggested we spend only one day and then move on. Surely there's a less crowded place we could spend our day.

This morning, though, the Campingplatz started clearing out in a big way and we realized that the Zeltplatz would likely be much more livable after Sunday check-out. Brent suggested staying for the extra day to do everything we want to do, and Laura and I thought it was a good idea. We'd even be able to move our tents to a better spot on the Zeltplatz, which would make it easier, too. Good thing we'd decided to stay, because it turned out we didn't really have much choice. The DB (Deutche Bahn) office turned out to be closed today and we weren't able to buy our train tickets for tomorrow. We could have used the automated ticket dispenser, but it doesn't deal with bicycles, and with having two tight connections we wouldn't want to take a chance on not being able to get our bikes onto our second two trains.
The first thing we did this morning was head over to the ticket office for the castles. We managed to get tickets for the last tours of the day, which was advised by the interweb (the tour busses are mostly cleared out by then). We then went back to the Campingplatz and prepared to move our tents, had lunch, waited out the departing campers, and moved to a much better spot on the Zeltplatz.

Then, we headed back to Schwangau, where the attractions are. We visited the museum first and learned about the Bavarian kings, then we walked up the one hill for our tour of Hohenschwangau castle and then down that hill and up the second hill to see Neuschwanstein castle, which is the one that the Disney castle is based on. We had just enough time before the Neuschwanstein tour to hoof it on up to the Marienbrucke suspension bridge, which is a primo location from which to see the Newschwanstein castle. I was concerned that I'd make us late for our tour (I was the one who wanted to go to the suspension bridge), so I hoofed it up that hill super fast. To Neuschwanstein was about a 120m climb (over 1.4km) and then to Marienbrucke was another 30-ish. We made it on time to take a couple of pictures and then hoof it back on over to the castle.

You're not allowed to take pictures inside the castles, but Neuschwanstein was really great. It was really unique and beautiful with an amazing bedchamber, throne room, and a fake grotto right within the castle. I would totally live in this castle - it was fantastic.


2017-06-19 : Forggensee and Cable Car
Category Type Name Description Service Provider Cost Kms To Date Total
Activity Cycle To stuff, and Forggensee Lake
Today: 49km; Total: 852km $0.00 49.00 120.00
First thing this morning we went off to the Deutche Bahn office again to get our train tickets for tomorrow. Unfortunately, all of the Fahrrad spots on the trains were reserved already so we can’t travel tomorrow. So, the nice lady helped us book for the next day instead – thankfully that was available, otherwise our plans for riding the Rhine could be in jeopardy.

That means we have an extra day before we leave for Koln. Laura suggested that we do a scenic train ride, perhaps to somewhere in Tirol, or to Innsbruck. Brent and I were all over that, and when we looked into tickets, it turns out that the train to Innsbruck actually connects in Tirol, so we’ll essentially get to do both.
After taking care of the conundrum of what to do with our extra day here, we rode our bikes around Forggensee (the lake that we’re camped by). It was super scenic. Then, we went and rode the Tegelbergbahn cable car up the mountain past Neuschwanstein Castle to the top of a mountain where all the paragliders we’ve been seeing launch. Laura and I hung out while Brent did a short 30-minute hike (we were wearing clip shoes, so couldn’t do the walk with him).


2017-06-20 : Day trip to Innsbruck
Category Type Name Description Service Provider Cost Kms To Date Total
Activity Cycle Between Campingplatz and Fussen
Today: 12km; Total: 864km $0.00 12.00 132.00
Today we took a day trip to Innsbruck. Laura's grandfather was from there, and Brent and I really liked it when we were there in 2015, so it seemed like a good thing to do with our spare day.

We took a regional bus first to Reutte, then transferred onto a train to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, then another train to Innsbruck. It was a great opportunity to see some gorgeous Alp scenery.

We had lunch and ice cream in Innsbruck, walked around the Altstadt, and saw the Hofgarten and Spitalkirche with the time we had in Innsbruck.

We then took the Flixbus back to Füssen - another opportunity to see some beautiful Alp scenery (and use the bus WiFi because the Campingplatz WiFi SUCKS).


2017-06-21 : Train to Köln (Cologne)
Category Type Name Description Service Provider Cost Kms To Date Total
Activity Cycle To Fussen, then Koln Campingplatz
Today: 13km; Total: 877km $0.00 13.00 145.00
Finally we’re enroute to Köln! We got away from the Campingplatz nice and early and enjoyed “first coffee” at the bakery next to the Banhof. I forgot that I’ve sworn off of caffeine and had a nice strong coffee, oops. I also had a “Nussplunder”, which is a glazed pastry filled with hazelnut filling. Mmmmmm… Nussplunder!
I hate traveling with the bikes by train. There are always challenges… like having to lift the bikes into a high train carriage, having to hang the bikes from hooks, being crammed in with a million other bikes… extremely short transfers between trains requiring you to haul the bikes up and down stair cases or in elevators that are too small… there’s just always something.

For this journey, we start in Fussen, and then transfer in Augsburg and Stuttgart. We have special tickets for the bikes that we had to affix to them (they're sort of like hospital bracelets), and for legs 2 and 3, we have assigned carriages.

Getting on in Fussen was delightfully easy. There was a 9” gap to step across into the train, but no step up. The bike carriage is nice and wide – no freakishly narrow corridors or turns to make. The only thing was that we’d originally gotten into the wrong carriage and were on a train that was stopping sooner than Augsburg, but the conductor helped us correct that issue easily enough. There are no hooks to hang the bikes – they can just sit on the floor, loaded. There are no cords to tie them up, though, so Brent and Laura have used Brent’s bungees, and Dewie is just in a deep “lean” in hopes of preventing her falling over. If every train journey was this easy, it would certain lend a whole new dimension of opportunities for cycle touring in Europe. I wouldn’t be so adverse to the train travel.

Augsburg is an ok, but not ideal station. We had to take the bikes down a set of stairs, then up a set of stairs, to make our transfer. The train we got on had three stairs up, and already had a bunch of bikes on it, so we rolled on full and then tried to get out of the way of some other cyclists embarking, and then stripped our luggage off and piled it in the corner. We’re transferring at Stuttgart, which is not the terminus for this train, so we’re going to have to do a fast disembark also. Stressful but not anxiety-inducing (yet). We had 25 minutes in Augsburg to make the transfer, which was comfortable. At Stuttgart we’ll have 31 minutes. We’ve had shorter transfers and I’ve deliberately avoided this – good thing!

Stuttgart is a great station for transfers because everything is on one level. You just have to push to the end of the track, cross to the platform you want, and badda-bing. Our last train for the day has two bike cars, and most of the other bikes got into the other car. We are in the very last car of the train, but there are very few other bikes in it, so alle ist gut. The train was again a three-step up, which I find very challenging when it’s just me and Brent, but with Laura helping (i.e., doing the hard work for me), it’s been a breeze!

We arrive in Köln at 3:05 today, and our one and only train journey for this cycle tour is completed (successfully and without too much stress). Only the leg from Augsburg to Stuttgart was kind of a mess of cyclists, and that’s because Ulm was one of the stops. Ulm sits on the Donau (Danube), and the Danube Cycle Trail is one of the most popular routes in Germany. Ulm is a beautiful spot along the way and I suspect a lot of the cyclists on that train were heading to Ulm to cycle part of the Donau. They pretty much all piled off in Ulm, anyway. There were a few of us who stayed on, and we all piled off in Stuttgart. Here’s hoping that Köln has a “civilized” Hbf and then we can call the whole journey done.

The Campingplatz that I anticipate piling into for tonight is about 5km down the line from the Hbf, so should make for an easy rest of the day. Tomorrow we’ll explore Köln before moving on the day after.
We have been extremely fortunate with weather on this trip. The seasonal weather forecast told us to expect rain pretty much every day in June. People told us that normally it rained all the time this time of year. But for the most part, we’ve had glorious weather. Occasional thunderstorms at night, and occasional, brief showers in the afternoon, but mostly just sunshine and glory. I was seriously researching options for what we could do instead if we had to bail off of the Romantische Str due to weather, but it turned out to be a complete non-issue. It is a great trip… not for beginners, mind you, and we’re grateful to have seen it in such splendiferous conditions.
Brent and Laura are giving me a hard time because this tour was uphill both ways. And it really is. We cycled “up” to Fussen. Now we’re taking the train to Köln and we’ll cycle from Köln “up” to Frankfurt. Technically it was Brent’s idea to do it this way, but yeah… I’m taking the hit. It’s ok… I don’t apologize for it at all. The scenery going to Fussen was amazing, and Brent was right… it would have sucked to cycle “away” from the Alps.


2017-06-22 : Day in Köln
Category Type Name Description Service Provider Cost Kms To Date Total
Activity Cycle Between Koln and Campingplatz
Today: 19km; Total: 896km $0.00 19.00 164.00
Yesterday, when we got into town, we started making our way to the Campingplatz. As we were crossing the river, Brent was "accosted" by a cyclist (Hans) who wanted to chat. He had just finished his own tour through Belgium, France and Spain. He's a walking tour guide in Köln. He escorted us most of the way to the Campingplatz and when we told him we were spending today in Köln, he asked if we wanted a tour. We said yep.

Today we met up with him at 9AM for our tour. He showed us all kinds of awesome stuff around Köln and told us about the 4km underground parking lot, the “Crane Houses”, which were developed to resemble historical loading cranes. He showed us the statue of Tunnes and Schal, and told us a couple of jokes about them (including one that was funny in English). We were really happy to have the tour - we saw and learned things that we wouldn't have otherwise.

After Hans left us, we went to the Roman museum, and the Chocolate museum.
I learned an expensive lesson today. I forgot my camera battery on the charger in the Campingplatz common area. Tonight when we got back, they're gone (along with my power adapter). Boo.


2017-06-23 : To Remagen
Category Type Name Description Service Provider Cost Kms To Date Total
Activity Cycle To Remagen
Today: 62km; Total: 958km $0.00 62.00 226.00
Thankfully yesterday’s heat wave has eased up a little and we had a pretty easy 62km ride to Remagen, including the ferry at Erpel. The Campingplatz at Remagen was a little hard to get into because we kept coming at it from the wrong direction, but eventually we got in and it’s quite nice (for a German campground).
Brent is trying desperately to make his shorts last to the end of this trip. The left butt cheek has disintegrated out of them, so he’s put a duct tape patch on it. This morning, he’s got a matching patch on the right… preventative, he says.
This section of the Rhein isn’t the most stunning. A lot of the terrain today was completely flat and there were relatively few Schlosses (castles). In the next day or two we’re going to start getting into crazy Schloss and canyon terrain. We’re looking forward to that. We had to pay attention to where the ferry was to cross over to Remagen, so we were remembering that we had to pass through Unkel then Erpel, shortened to “Unkel Erpel”. We had many moments of entertainment with that. Unkel Erpel. Unkel was a really nice little town, and Erpel was too! Yay for Unkel Erpel!
Turns out I didn't really need a comprehensive list of Waschsalons. Almost every Campingplatz we've stayed in has had a washer and dryer. We used a Waschsalon in Wurzburg, and we probably will again in Kelsterbach, but other than that, we haven't needed them at all!


2017-06-24 : To Koblenz
Category Type Name Description Service Provider Cost Kms To Date Total
Activity Cycle To Koblenz
Today: 56km; Total: 1014km $0.00 56.00 282.00
We had a leisurely ride to Koblenz today with lots of time to enjoy the sights. Andernach was a very nice stop, and Brent managed to get some new shorts there as well, even though they're inferior to the old shorts (before the old shorts started to disintigrate).

Koblenz is a beautiful city. We got to town around 1PM, checked into the Campingplatz and set up, and then went into town to explore. We took the cable car across the Rhein and up to Ehrenbreitstein Forstress, which was fantastic.

Tomorrow we start riding through the Middle Rhein, which goes from Koblenz to Bingen, and is a UNESCO World Heritage area.


2017-06-25 : To Bacharach
Category Type Name Description Service Provider Cost Kms To Date Total
Activity Cycle To Bacharach
Today: 54km; Total: 1068km $0.00 54.00 336.00
Today is Sunday, which is always something we need to plan around because so many things are closed. So, we bought double groceries last night to prepare in case no grocery stores are open tomorrow. We only had to ride as far as Boppard, though, to find an open café so we enjoyed “Second Breakfast” there (and “First Coffee”) and checked out the Romerkastel.
I’m feeling oddly fatigued and a little depressed today. Not sure why but I also feel like a bottomless pit, and as I eat numerous meals throughout the day I do start to feel better… so… maybe I was just down a litre?
Leaving Boppard we encountered a delightful surprise. The road that we’re following down the Rhein from Boppard all the way to Bacharach (and perhaps all the way to Bingen?) is closed to vehicular traffic. It is bicycle super highway! There are a few roller-bladers, and other folks with some kind of creative locomotion, but mostly bicycles. And bicycles and bicycles. I’m currently enjoying a Radler in Bacharach while Brent and Laura climb the hill to the Schloss. When we’re done here we’ll move on just a couple of km down the road to the Campingplatz. In Bacharach we discovered a flyer on the town bulletin board for an event called “Tal to Tal” for today’s date which had the road blocked to vehicles from Rhens to Bingen. Awesome!
We traveled through a good part of the Middle Rhein today, which is known for being particularly scenic, and absolutely littered with Schlosses. Everywhere we looked there was a Schloss. It’s spectacular. We highly recommend riding this portion of the Rhein.


2017-06-26 : To Wiesbaden
Category Type Name Description Service Provider Cost Kms To Date Total
Activity Cycle To Wiesbaden
Today: 54km; Total: 1122km $0.00 54.00 390.00
Today we rode the remainder of the Middle Rhein, which was more crazy castle town. We were sad that we didn't have the bicycle superhighway, but it was still just awesome to have had that yesterday. We spent a fair amount of time in Bingen, and Laura and Brent climbed up to the "Castle" there (which is still the active town admin offices). Then we took the ferry over to Rudesheim and back into the "industrial" part of the Rhein.

We found our Campingplatz after a weird, unnecessary detour around Schloss Park. We're staying at the same place where Brent and I stayed two years ago, and where we met Simon, the motorcycle tourist from the UK. It's in Wiesbaden… I’ve been calling Mainz, but it’s really across the river from Mainz. Oops.
It’s our second-last day of riding, and tomorrow will be a very easy day. Only about 30km to Kelsterbach. That will give us time to find a Waschsalon. We’ve been trying for a few days, now, to do a load of laundry.
I’m super impressed with my Microsoft Surface. It’s the Surface 2 (not Pro) that I bought in early 2015. It took a beating for six months on our tour, and to be honest, I didn’t really expect it to make it through THAT tour, nevermind making it all the way to, and through, THIS tour. Way to go little computer-buddy!


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