Like last year we flew in and out of Frankfurt and stored the bike boxes at the Sheraton Airport Hotel. We found this worked very well at both the beginning and end of the trip. We arrived in the early afternoon so we had lots of time to assemble the bikes, have dinner and a relatively relaxing evening before heading out the next morning. At the end of our trip we enjoyed the final day riding 30 km back to the Frankfurt airport from Darmstadt. We had lots of time to box the bikes in the late afternoon and go for great dinner at a restaurant recommended by the hotel concierge. The concierge in fact escorted us to the restaurant. The staff at the Sheraton were excellent and remembered us from last year. The Frankfurt airport is very large and we have more or less figured it out but you can get disoriented quite easily.

Our initial plan was to bike from Frankfurt to Budapest and then make our way to Italy however we eventually realized this was too ambitious for the 2 month time period we had. Italy will have to wait just like the Danube had to wait last year.

Over the 44 days we actually rode we averaged 61 km per day for a total of 2724 kilometres. Non riding days included stops at Bamberg, Nuremberg, Vienna, Vienna to Passau by train, Salzburg, Innsbruck(2), Lindau and Heidelberg.

We utilized a combination of Bikeline, Kompass and BVA Eurovelo maps for the Main, Danube, Rhein and Altmuhltal radwegs. In addition I made extensive use of 2 offline apps on my iPhone. The first one is the Bayernnetz fur Radler app (www.bayerninfo.de/ rad) which covers all the bike routes in the State of Bavaria area where we spent a good portion of our trip. The state of Bavaria is located in the south east part of Germany and covers about 1/5 of the total area of Germany. We picked up the free Bayernetz map from a tourist information office and then simply downloaded the free app. The second app I used was Galileo. Both of these apps operate offline. Pretty hard to lose your way when you have a printed bike route map and either one of these two apps. I have my iPhone mounted in a bracket on my bike. Running these apps more or less full time quickly runs down the iPhone battery. So a battery pack for the iPhone is necessary. I plugged the phone into the battery pack at the start of the day and was good for the entire day. I carried a second battery just in case but never had to use it. I found the Galileo app an excellent navigation tool giving the user the ability to switch over from a vector map to OpenCycleMaps offline. The feature I really find useful is the record function which shows your track as you move along. If, or should I say when, you happen to miss a turn you don’t go very far before you realize you have missed the turn. With OpenCycleMaps I placed bookmarks on the bike route I intended to use for that day. For example, from Darmstadt to the Frankfurt airport there are several bike routes one could use to get to your destination. So prior to the ride I placed a series of bookmarks on the custom route I intended to use and from there it was clear sailing to our destination. With these apps I could navigate without a hard copy map. However Kathleen was more comfortable when she has a hard copy map to follow our progress.

The following screen shots show our track (the red line) through the forests leading into the Frankfurt Airport using OpenCycle Maps on Galileo. The blue dots are bookmarks I placed on the intended route that I planned to take to the airport. The dark blue lines, the light blue lines and the dotted lines are other bike routes in the area.

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We did not bring camping equipment. I guess we fall into the category of credit card bike tourers. This year I booked accommodation usually the night before using Trivago on my iPhone when we were certain of our destination for the next day. Trivago directs you to various booking sites such as Booking.com, Priceline, etc. This worked pretty well for us. The filter I used was price and location relative to the city centre. For those days when we didn’t know exactly where we might end our day, we simply started to look for accommodation in the later part of the afternoon often checking in with the local tourist information office. No bridges were slept under … one of our primary goals. I took care of booking the accommodation and navigation while blog postings were completed by Kathleen on an iPad. Without the blog details of our trip would become a blur after two months.

The two of us had discussions regarding the merits of bike touring in Europe in the fall versus the spring. Maybe we are just lucky but we had very little rain this year as was the case last year and really no headwinds to speak of. My theory is that in this part of the world there is less rain in the fall versus the spring although I have done absolutely no research to statistically verify this. I should look carefully at those high water marks to prove my point (or not). We got really wet only once late in the day riding into Bad Tolz. We enjoyed traveling in the fall avoiding the busy summer tourist season and enjoying the harvest season and fall colours. The disadvantage of course is the days get progressively shorter unlike the spring when they get progressively longer. It was cooler this year compared to last year but we found it is still very comfortable to ride even in late October. With the exception of the last week I was riding in bike shorts. Being a positive thinker (or maybe not very bright) I did not bring rain pants and as it turned out didn’t need them.

Once we left the Danube we saw very few bike tourers doing what we are doing. Lots of hikers but very few bike tourers. Maybe everyone knows something we don’t know. In the last 2 weeks we saw maybe a dozen bike tourers going in the opposite direction. And I don’t imagine there were too many more going in our direction.

This year we both managed to shed a few pounds. This wasn’t done consciously. Cycling the hills in Austria and staying away from some of the pastries helped. I found this year that many of the bakeries were a bit of a disappointment with most providing essentially the same line of products, likely industrially produced. Maybe there is an app for locating good bakeries - must check into that. I did manage to find some good apple strudel though. Cinnamon buns are almost non existent in this part of the world. I did however find some in Heidelberg. Hopefully a lighter me will help as I get back into the hockey routine. Unfortunately weight loss doesn’t translate into a better golf swing.

In terms of our route this year we enjoyed it all. The Main and Danube section was essentially flat with only a few minor positive inclines now and then. We enjoyed the Main and the Funf Flusse radwegs. We had high expectations for the Danube section between Passau and Vienna, which is apparently the most popular bike route in Europe. I think for both of us it fell a little short of our expectations. The Austrian section we rode from Salzburg to Innsbruck (via Zell am See) was the highlight of the ride for me. Four days of clear skies with fantastic scenery was certainly a big factor.

For those who might be interested the cost of our bike trip over the 54 days averaged about 124 Euros per day translating to $177 per day Canadian at todays exchange rate. Hotels averaged 86 Euros per day (range 59 to 150) representing 69.5% of our expenses. Our accommodations were typically 3 star plus a couple 4 star and almost all included breakfast.

We met some great people through our travels always willing to provide assistance or directions if we asked. One particular bike shop employee who comes to mind is Herbert in Salzburg. He gave us his recommendation on the route we should consider going from Salzburg to Innsbruck. We followed his recommendation and it was fantastic. But before we left the shop he pulled out his GPS and offered it to us and suggested we just mail it back to him when we got to Innsbruck. What a great guy!

Highlights of our trip included a great visit with our friends Gerhard and Yvonne in Rheinfelden and two great visits with our friends Wolfgang and Anna from Berlin including a visit with their daughter Kathi and three grandchildren in Freiburg.

Again we are very fortunate on many accounts to be able to bike tour. We have found that it is a great way to travel at this stage of our lives. Thanks to those who sent messages and contacted us during our bike tour. We always look forward to hearing from anyone who may be reading the blog. Hopefully our blog is of some assistance for those who may be considering a similar bike tour. Now it is time to get down to some serious planning for 3.0.

And finally - thanks to Neil Gunton, the founder, owner and developer of this website… the original Crazy Guy on a Bike. His amazing website is free and supported by donations. I know it's time for us to provide support. If you value this site consider a contribution.