Strasbourg to Freiburg

August 10, 2016

We crossed the Rhine River valley today. It was very flat riding until the long but easy climb into Freiburg for the last five miles. I biked almost this same route in 2010 when I rode from Frankfurt to Munich down the Rhine via Basel and Lucerne, although today's mapping altered the route a bit between the Rhine crossing and the climb into Freiburg. For the better, I might add.

Today's ride to Freiburg.

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We left Strasbourg on the bike trail along the Canal du Rhône au Rhin, riding along the east side for about the first three miles before crossing over to the west side for the next nine when we turned east, crossed the canal again, and headed for the Rhine River crossing.

That was where we got into our first bit of adventure. There is the main road, D426, which will take you straight across the river by way of an island, which is quite sizable. This island has a bit of a paved bike trail that connects to a road that crosses the island to the main channel of the river. So we explored. Of course, it dead-ends at the riverbank, but there was a grass trail on the east edge of the island that we explored that was more akin to some of the bike trails and muddy roads we had ridden previously on the trip. At first we thought it might reconnect to the main road, but it never did, just looping back to where we started.

The beginning of our small adventure. It sort of looked promising.

Making our way further into the quagmire!

And finally returning to the start . . . and the way out.

From there, it was back on D426 and into Germany.

The Rhine River . . . where is Das Rheingold?

And if you have ever ridden in Germany, it is all about the bike trails. They have the best network I have seen anywhere. And it's nationwide. It seems every major road has a parallel, paved trail. And the minor roads don't need them. Everybody drives respectfully. After all, the cyclist you see may be your mother. Everyone seems to ride a bike.

After crossing, we followed the Rhine via bike trail for about two miles and then descended from the trail on the dike and turned inland a bit. We were on bike trails and secondary roads for about another ten miles or so until we started turning more eastward to make for Freiburg. Pretty riding the whole way.

On the bike trail along the Rhine River . . . not paved but easy to ride.

And into Germany proper. We were already in Germany but saw no signs!

Quiet country roads that are almost like wide bike trails except for the occasional car.

And bike trails that look like roads. You can see the main highway far to the left in this picture.

We even passed some pretty lakes along the way.

And then you are on more bike lanes in what appears to be the middle of nowhere . . . which is a good thing!

I remember Freiburg being more up in the hills than it is. Maybe because on my last trip in 2010 I was dying to get out of the flatlands, which is what biking from Frankfort to Basel is all about! If you stay close to the river, that is. But Freiburg is off the river a ways and requires some climbing to get to. It is called the gateway to the Black Forest, and it would be fun to bike east from there. Another trip!

Freiburg has a university, and like all major German cities, excellent bike infrastructure. It wasn't as quaint as I recall, but maybe the novelty of traveling has worn off! Regardless, we followed a nice bike trail into town and made our way to the hotel before going out for drinks and dinner. Tomorrow will see more climbing as we head for Basel and Switzerland!

Freiburg has a lot of bike activity. This intersection has a separate signal phase for cyclists.

Nightlife in Freiburg. We had a drink here before dinner.

Oh, and dinner pics! This was a very nice meal . . .

And Mark got a shrimp dish with pesto pasta.

We always try to get something different from the other and then share a bit . . . all very good!

Today's ride: 53 miles (85 km)
Total: 452 miles (727 km)

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