August 20, 2018 to August 21, 2018
The Hunt for Bikes
We feel that we are back in the real world. On Sunday morning we had to begin to think for ourselves, I was wondering if we ever could. A taxi to a station in Budapest and we were hurtling our way to Vienna, it is certainly much easier to travel on a train without bikes. The reason for stopping in Vienna is that the car that the heir to the throne of Austria was assassinated in thus starting WW1 is in the Military Museum there and Ken was particularly keen to see it. They have a wonderful spine chilling and very informative exhibition
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It was a day of trains yesterday the Ibis Hotel we were staying was right in the station so it made catching the train at 6.50am easy. A change at Wurzburg and eventually we arrived in Hamburg Hbf at 5.15pm. We had hurtled across Austria and Germany at speeds up to 250km/h.
Arriving at our hotel I thought I had made rather a blue. It was on the 'wrong' side of the station, the receptionist seemed to be fluent only in Turkish, he said after consulting someone else we may not be able to store bikes (I had warned them in advance), the carpet was stained but the worst thing was that our room was on the third floor up steep spiral stairs. Luckily it is not so hot in Hamburg as there is no Air Conditioning. We went to bed a bit despondent.
What a difference a day makes. We both had a good sleep. The breakfast was delicious and there was another man on reception who couldn't have been more helpful. Off we set with a great load of things to mail home - boat clothes and other things. There was a PO in the station so we were relieved by 4.5kg which should make a difference.
A taxi whisked us out to the bike shop in Altona. Benedict couldnt have been more helpful. I tried out a number of ebikes and eventually settled for a Winona with a Bosch Active Motor and a 400Wh battery - would really have preferred a 500WH. There are 4 power levels and a walking function. It has disc brakes, a cafe lock and 7 chain gears which was our preference. I like it because it is a good looking white bike not one of the usual boring black ones. Ken was similarly fitted out with a regular bike and said it rides well. We then had to fit ourselves out for touring, I need new panniers, we had brought our front bags so they needed fitting and Ken had to upgrade his tyres to Swabbe Marathon Plus. Coming to pay for it all we were very pleased with the generous discount we were given. It was then however we found we weren't in the shop we had intended to be in we were in the next door one! However I would recommend B.O.C to anyone - it all took about two and a half hours and the bikes are now set up perfectly for us.
Now the moment of truth riding about 7km across Hamburg. It was a joy, there are cycle ways everywhere. Benedict had complained about them saying surfaces change all the time and that the city fathers need to spend more on cycleways. We loved them. Our confidence is renewed and we are looking forward to getting going tomorrow
Today's ride: 7 km (4 miles)
Total: 7 km (4 miles)
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Enjoy your bicycle rides.
Michel
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