Europe 2023 from Frankfurt

Trip List Calendar

2023-05-21 : Oberndorf (Alberta Election)
Category Type Name Description Service Provider Cost Kms To Date Total
Activity Cycle To Oberndorf
$0.00 62.00 62.00
We started our climb through the Black Forest today, riding to the Laggai house in Oberndorf. It was very nice riding, and beautiful scenery, but it also kicked my butt pretty hard. From Rottenburg to Horb was difficult with a lot of election gain and loss, but it was the section from Horb to Sulz where I bonked. Thankfully everyone was very patient with me. We took a long break at a water sport park and then we rode the last 10km. I may have suffered a bit for that section but then we got to the Laggai house where I had a shower and a beer and made a miraculous recovery.

We will take a day off tomorrow to visit in Oberndorf before we continue on our way on Tuesday. On Tuesday we ride to Villingen - more climbing. Then we head straight west to Simonswald - more climbing. Then we go down to Freiburg the next day.


2023-05-22 : Oberndorf
Alberta is having its election soon and we are away. We requested our absentee ballots far im advance of our trip, but they wouldn’t be mailed out until May 1st, and by then we’d be gone. Thankfully, we had a confirmed stop in Onerndorf and my cousin, Ira, let us have our ballots mailed to her address. We picked them up from her last night and today we priority send to Alberta.

My other cousin, Claudia, cuts hair so she gave us much-needed trims this morning. As a bonus she drew an ‘R’ on the side of my head but most of my hair is too grey to see the ‘R’ clearly.

First stop of the day - post office. There were two choices to send - €7 or €69. Yikes! The €7 option takes a week so we are taking our chances that our votes will reach Alberta on time to be counted.
We drove today with Guido, Claudia, Erik and Bodo to a place where you can do a short hike to a viewpoint for the Hohenzollern Castle. What a crazy place to put a castle - on the very top of an old volcano.
Last year we camped in Guido and Trudis’ back yard. This year - we’re back again! If they’re not careful they’ll never get rid of us. ;)
After we got back to Oberndorf we had a visit with Ira. We started on the balcony but when a thunderstorm came up we quickly retreated to under the balcony where we would be safe from the thunderstorm and I would be safe from the Bodo dander.


2023-05-23 : Villingen
Category Type Name Description Service Provider Cost Kms To Date Total
Activity Cycle To Villingen
$0.00 51.00 113.00
We had a GREAT ride today to Villingen-Schweningen, escorted first by Guido and Claudia, then by just Claudia, then by Wolfram. The weather was very good in spite of the forecasted rain. It just didn’t happen. Wolfram took us to the official/tourist source of the Neckar, and then to the real source of the Neckar. He then took us on a quick tour of Villingen, which had a nice old town and very complete original town wall.

When we arrived at Wolfram’s home, his girlfriend , Karin, was there already. We got settled in, enjoyed a wonderful barbecue dinner and then drinks and visit in the living room. Brent and Wolfram bonded over Bicycle Fanatic stuff, with Brent taking test drives on at least two of Wolfram’s many bicycles.

I had problems again today with my left clip. We stopped a couple of times and Brent tweaked my shoe clip but it didn’t seem to solve the problem so he completely removed the clip from my left shoe. Wolfram has potentially fixed the left clip problem - we’ll see how I do with it tomorrow.


2023-05-24 : Camping Schwarzwaldhorn
Category Type Name Description Service Provider Cost Kms To Date Total
Activity Cycle To Simonswald
$0.00 54.00 167.00
I used cycle.travel to sketch a route over the Black Forest for today. We stayed at Wolfram’s last night, though, and he had a better idea about how to do the first part of our day. It added several kilometers to our total, but eliminated a large hill. We went south toward Donaueschingen, and then over to Wolterdingen to get into the Breg river valley. We followed the Breg to Vöhrenbach where Wolfram left us to finish the day without him. We are really happy to have been able to ride with him, and also to avoid the unnecessary climb… we needed our strength for the next stage of the ride!!

Wolfram’s fix for my clippies seems to have done the trick. I am no longer having problems clipping in and out. Yay!!
The journey from Furtwangen to Simonswald is not one that I would recommend. It’s marked as cycle routes but with a max grade of 24%, and no small dose of those high grades, it is too steep up, and too steep down, to enjoy. I ended up pushing for over 2km up, and on the way down I was riding my brakes so hard that they almost disintegrated. Even Brent pushed for a good part of the way up!!

As we went over the spine of the Black Forest, we encountered a group of French cyclists - they passed us on their way up, and then we saw them again on their way back. We didn’t see any of them pushing, even though I think the grade was about 24% for them when we saw them the second time. They are made of sterner stuff than me!!

When we got to Simonswald, the campingplatz was easy to find and very nice. The town is lovely and we walked back to have dinner. We like it here but would try to find a different way to get here next time!!


2023-05-25 : Arrive Freiburg
Category Type Name Description Service Provider Cost Kms To Date Total
Activity Cycle To Freiburg
$0.00 30.00 197.00
It’s a long weekend in Germany coming up. We’ve never had trouble finding camping on a long weekend before……

So we showed up at Camping Hirzberg today and they only have one pitch and only for two nights. Problem is, Laura is set to arrive here on Saturday so we need three nights, and for the last one, we need for an extra person and tent. Eek!

We set up at Hirzberg but they were closing down for midday so they said we could set up then but come back later to pay. That worked out well because we thought we might take two nights, but ended up booking just the one.

I googled all of the nearby campgrounds - there are a lot in the vicinity of Freiburg, and set about figuring out where we were going to go. I found one campground really near to Hirzberg, Campingplatz am Möslepark, and Brent and I walked over there. They have a zeltplatz, so right away we thought it would probably work out. We made a reservation for us for the next THREE nights (why take chances on a long weekend of being locked out of a place to stay on the Sunday), and for Laura for two nights.

On to the next problem. Laura was planning on staying at the campground at Mannheim Strand, buuuut… you guessed it. Long weekend. It is full. We are trying to sort out a solution as we speak. She flies out tomorrow!!
In between trying to sort out our camping SNAFU, we went into Freiburg Altstadt for a look around.

It is a very nice city, with a large and interesting Altstadt. We enjoyed learning the history of the two remaining towers (built in the 13th century). It is a very bicycle-friendly city as well. The only problem is…. Holy smokes the people!! Zillions of bicycles whooshing past. Pedestrians EVERYWHERE. And cars winding their way through it all. Maybe it’s not as bad when there isn’t a long weekend coming up but I think it’s probably pretty normal for the city to be really chaotic.


2023-05-26 : Freiburg campground move - Laura arrives
Category Type Name Description Service Provider Cost Kms To Date Total
Activity Cycle Around
Campground change, Kirchzarten, collect Laura $0.00 25.00 222.00
Laura changed her train so that she would come all the way to Freiburg today rather than overnighting in Mannheim. She arrives at 20:12.

So, Brent and I had a task to get her a campsite for tonight. Since the site we were on at Hirzberg was available for tonight, we stayed set up there and walked over to Möslepark to add a night to her reservation there, thinking that if we couldn’t get her in there, we could give her our spot there for tonight and stay at Hirzberg ourselves for a second night.

Mission accomplished - there was no problem adding tonight to her reservation but since she arrives so late, and the zeltplatz is so small, I have drawn a ‘footprint’ for her beside our tent with my panniers.

We will shop for breakfast groceries for tomorrow and then escort Laura from the train to the campingplatz this evening since she expects to o be very tired. She says she hardly slept on the plane. That’s ok. We’re here, now, until Monday. Lots of time for her to get her wheels under her.
Just for something to do this afternoon while we await Laura’s arrival, we rode about 7km east to Kirchzarten where we had lunch and beer, and picked up tomorrow’s breakfast at the grocery store.

At lunch time the biggest wasp we’ve ever seen came past and tried to get a drink of my beer. You can’t really tell from the photo but he was about 1.5” long!


2023-05-27 : Chore day in Freiburg
Category Type Name Description Service Provider Cost Kms To Date Total
Activity Cycle To and from the Altstadt
$0.00 7.00 229.00
Laura changed her trains to arrive in Freiburg last night because the campingplatz in Mannheim was full. She was due to arrive at 20:15.

Brent and I rode into town and found an Eis shop near the Hbf to wait for her. Brent had a banana split WITH bananas in it this time. Eight years ago, when we were in Germany, Brent had a banana split but they told him AFTER they brought it to him that they had no bananas. So… I guess it was just a split?

She arrived a little late due to train delays and was super tired. She’d hardly slept on her flight. So we escorted her to the campingplatz so she wouldn’t have to worry about navigating a strange city while sleep deprived.

We now have a couple days in Freiburg before we carry on our journey.
A little Bike maintenance for Laura’s bike - the derailleur hanger got bent during customs inspection. :(

Also added some flower stickers to my ugly camp shoes. Laura brought them from Canada to improve the shoes.
After chores we went into Freiburg. We walked around in the throngs of long-weekend visitors, visited the Münster Cathedral, watched children play with toy sailboats in the tiny canals, and had a Lange Rote Sausage.


2023-05-28 : Bad Krozingen - Whit Sunday (FR, DE)
Category Type Name Description Service Provider Cost Kms To Date Total
Activity Cycle Bad Krozingen side trip
$0.00 42.00 271.00
All tours have a beginning, a middle, and an end. At the start of our tour, Brent and I took a few days to adjust to the time change and get used to riding - loaded and unloaded.

Now that Laura is here, there is a second beginning as she goes through the adjustments that we did.

We did an unloaded practice ride, 42km, to Bad Krozingen. No crazy elevation. We saw some vineyards and some pleasant but unremarkable towns. Laura’s bike needed a little more tweaking but Laura seems to be doing great. I’m envious of her ability to adjust the o the time change.
Laura was wondering why her luggage was so heavy. Then she discovered she accidentally brought her enormous U-Lock along accidentally. Oops. Hahahahaha!!

After we had dinner we went for a walk to a small pond near the campingplatz. There is a frog protection area nearby and we saw a zillion tadpoles in the pond. In the photo, every black dot is a tadpole! How cool!!


2023-05-29 : Riegel - Whit Monday (FR, DE, CH, AT)
Category Type Name Description Service Provider Cost Kms To Date Total
Activity Cycle To Riegel
$0.00 34.00 305.00
Enroute today we stopped in Emmendingen for a look around. It’s a nice town, but chock full of so many holiday revelers.
We had a nice, uneventful ride to Müller-See today, and it was mostly downhill… but tempered by a strong headwind for the last part of the ride.

At the campingplatz, the man gave us a map showing where we were to go to pitch. Then, a woman came past and said she knew the way to the zeltplatz and we could just follow her, so, naturally, we did. After we got there and decided where on the awful gravelly zeltplatz we would pitch, one of my brain cells finally kicked in and said, I don’t think this is the place the guy highlighted on the map. I had a look at the map, and sure enough, there was a separate zelt area the other way that, in spite of being super windy, was much more appealing with nice soft grass to pitch on and some trees.

After we got set up, we went back to pay. The guy did not recognize us at all, and didn’t understand what we were there for. Finally I got him to understand that we were there to pay him. He charged us €30 for the three of us, no ID, no forms, and no receipt. We probably could have gotten away with just not paying at all. Unusual.

We walked back into town to have a look around. Riegel is a pleasant little town. I’m hoping that after the end of the holiday weekend things will calm down a little though.
We are camped at the end of Poseidonweg at the campingplatz, which seems kind of appropriate, since we’re still not entirely sure we’re supposed to be here.

Laura’s derailleur continues to give her trouble so Brent tweaked it again and his angry mechanic gave his stamp of approval. Hopefully she’ll stop having so many problems with it. Curse those customs inspector guys!!

There are some really cool trees here. We found out that they are sycamore trees. Sonofagun.

It has been crazy windy at the campingplatz. It was a little windy in town but out here… there’s been a gale force or two. It’s bad enough that Brent and I have had to modify how we open our vestibules. The forecast says the wind will die down and the wind for tomorrow should be a tailwind for us. Wouldn’t THAT be nice.


2023-05-30 : Hochstetten
Category Type Name Description Service Provider Cost Kms To Date Total
Activity Cycle To Hochstetten
$0.00 36.00 341.00
Today we rode through the Kaiserstuhl area, and visited a few villages. Our first stop was Endingen, which was recommended by cousin Bärbel. It was a very nice little village and we happily had coffee and treats from the local Bäckerei.
Moving on from Endingen, we had a lovely ride to Burkheim, including enjoying a stolen cherry along the way.

Burkheim was also recommended by cousin Bärbel, and it was our favorite place today. Its narrow roads clinging to the side of a steep hill make everything fascinating.
After Burkheim, we decided to visit one more village, even though it didn’t come with a Bärbel recommendation - Achkarren.

From a distance we could see a cute little town nestled up in a valley, but my GPS said we had reached Achkarren down below at what was little more than a train station. Brent noticed a sign pointing up to the town in the valley, so up we went to have a look. It was very small, and I thought that the coolest thing about it was that it was surrounded by vineyards.
Breisach am Rhein was our last stop before the campingplatz. We really only went into town to buy me a bicycle chain and to get some groceries but the town was lovely and we also had lunch.
Camping Münsterblick is right in the center of town in Hochstetten. Hochstetten is a tiny town, probably a bedroom community for Breisach. The zeltplatz is very nice and we pitched by the chicken carving. We went for a walk in town and enjoyed finding the old fridge converted to a tiny library of ‘cool books’.

At camp, Brent put a new chain on my bike. Yay!


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