EuropeNoRegrets PART II

Sadly, my ankle has not improved as much as we would have liked and riding on a loaded bike does not seem like the best idea for its continued recovery. SO, we have rented a car to enjoy our last days in Europe. German Road Trip!!!

Cycle Germany

Celia picked up some neckties

My first bike tour of my life took place in this wonderful country that we are now lazing about in. I rode from Berlin to Copenhagen, and I remember at the time thinking about how free I felt, and at the same time, feeling excited for the newness and strangeness of a foreign country. Following that trip, I more or less forgot about the exciting and invigorating new way to travel. I was still in college, so I suppose I can be forgiven for not being able to focus my interests.

Ever since my renewed interest, however, I have thought of that experience in Germany and Denmark as an ideal example of the fulfillment cycle touring brings. Not to mention that I have also kicked myself for so easily forgetting how much I liked travelling by bike. The particular feeling though, that I thought was produced by cycle touring in general, is actually the feeling of biking in Germany. It is great!

German cycle path tree tunnel

Germany falls perfectly in between the Netherlands and France in terms of cycle tour orienteering. France lacks anything remotely resembling a sign that contains instructions for a cyclist, while the Netherlands maintains a 3:1 bike signs to auto signs ratio. A single direction on a single street can contain as many as 5 separate pieces of information (cities, routes, train stations, other routes). We have concluded that the Netherlands has far too many bike paths for anyone but a local to enjoy. Furthermore, due to the enormous quantity of bikes and cyclists, bicycles are not special in the way that they can be in other places. Exhibit A is the fact that becuase there are so many cyclists on the road, you do not say hi to anyone, a practice which I enjoy in the States and elsewhere.

In between absence and superfluity of signage falls Germany, in which one can successfully follow a single series of signs between towns that are 10 to 20 km apart, and piece together a scenic and varied route that is not a single path, but a series of roads, paths, walkways, and bridges. It feels like a tour, not like a bike ride, and not like a maze. There is something extra special about riding on a road that is perfect for biking that is used infrequently by cars, and also infrequently by bikes (France certainly has plenty of these roads - nothing but love for France).

German dirt road (note the shirt designed to blend in with the road)

Germany has an excellent cycling infrastructure without an overwhelming cycling culture (we've heard similar things about Switzerland: both countries with reputations for doing things right the first time).

One last thing. Celia and I do not agree about everything related to touring, but we have been talking more and more about our appreciation for climbing and riding in mountains. Riding flat, I find, is boring, and also unmotivating. There are no goals to be met, other than the very intangible idea of distance traveled. We may get the chance to end our trip riding some small hills next to the Elbe river, on our way to Berlin. Celia's ankle is healing and we are taking another day in Bremen with our awesome host Torston, and his three oddball roommates.

Torston and Celia in the common hallway

Quote of the last few days:

Martin (Torston's roomie - thick German accent): Would... anyone... like some... tea?

Torston: How about we put some beer on instead? There should be some in the fridge.

Martin: Aha!

Runner up:

Celia and Jonathan arguing about what a mailman's vehicle is called: Postal mobile... mail truck... post car... mail van... post truck...

Martin, meanwhile (he happens to work part time as a mail man using a bike): ...monster truck... mail monster truck... ha ha... I vill ride over the houses (Godzilla gestures)... my job is much easier then... ha ha ha.... I look at the house - it explodes... everything explodes when you look at it......... I learn that from American movies...

Accident!

Ace bandage and discolored foot

It seems that there is always one big challenge per day on this trip. Sometimes it is following directions to someones home. Sometimes it is weather. One time it was food poisoning. Yesterday it was an accident.

I am not the most agile person on the bike. I have been biking for a long time now, but I still cant take both hands off the bike at one time, and I often walk my bike across busy streets. So yesterday, when I tried to hop up on a curb, I naturally fell off my bike. Celia Bedelia status here. I have fallen off my bike a few times before, but not with any injuries. However, this time it looks like I have sprained my ankle. Not ideal for a bike tour.

We are taking a day to rest at a warmshowers host in Bremen, Germany. His name is Torston and he is our age, living with 3 other housemates, finishing university-- much more remenicent of our lives in Oakland than any other hosts we have stayed with. Found an Oklahoma license plate in the bathroom which I thought was pretty random, but then found out that Torston studied abroad there during highschool!

I am doing RICE and I think it is working. But i think the R might stand for both Rest and Restlessness... we are planning on taking a train to Hamburg tomorrow and then biking down the Elbe River Valley to Berlin. Hopefully my ankle will be up for it.

July 13: Coldest Day on Record

Our host Paul helped us to gear up for the rain. He works for 6 months and then goes on tour for 6 months on old mountain bikes that he soups up a little bit. He made us a cyclists soup of pasta, bread, beef stock, peanuts, and vegetables. He said cooking was not his hobby, but I thought it tasted great!

Halfway through the day and the poncho is only ripped in a few places... not quite perfect for wind. We are like big balloons sailing down the paths.

Need for H2O!

No drinking fountains: must ask at bars for water...

Did she get any water...?

Success!!

Favorite Snacks

Coffee with cookies and cookies

Famous dutch panakuken (cheese eggs and bacon, and syrup)

"Steak le cheval" (everyone else was eating the hamburger meat raw)

Healthy sardines and Siracha

Planning without a Plan

(Good looking) bikes on a train in France

Our trip through Belgium was fast paced and probably the most intense part of tour. We were growing tired of lacking a plan, and we knew that we had Thea and Thomas up in the Southern lands of the Netherlands. We also knew that it was a veritable Bike Mecca (see previous post), and that we would be able to rest a bit with them and carry forward planning the rest of the trip.

We were in Reims, France staying with Pierre, who just turned 30 a few days before. He works for a region to the south, and helps to develop bike tourism in the area. He is somewhat an expert in the area of bike tourism, and is excited to tour more to develop with professional stature (lucky!). He recommended that we hop a quick morning train to Charleville and then follow the the "Green Road" to Givet. This Greenway represents 88 km of no cars, no hills, and beautiful river riding. It won Best Greenway in Europe in 2010, a fact that Pierre was quite proud of. (Celia already wrote about this, I just realized)

Jonathan and Pierre and wine and cheese

Pierre cooked us an excellent dinner, responded to my urgent request for a snack before dinner (to avoid a hangry state), and offered an excellent French beer. We declined wine, but following dinner he offered us cheese, and then said, famously, "I'm sorry, but I must have wine with my cheese". Then we ate about 1 kilo of cheese and drank wine.

We camped in Givet the next night, after the amazing Green Road, as the French translate literally. The next day we plunged into Belgium, aiming to arrive in the Netherlands the day after. This represented about 250 km of cycling, but we could handle it, we though, and we intended to split it into two days evenly, so hey, not so bad. This did mean skipping beer and waffles, but ultimately I think that I love the beers of the Pacific coast most, so no big deal. We did learn that the waffles are basically donuts in the shape of waffles (what?!).

So we left Givet and pedaled intensely through Belgium on the Ravel (a network of converted railways in the Walloonie/French half of the country). We were on the way North! The second Ravel path that we took headed directly North on a rail line, and we made good time over 40 km. Towards the end we began to realize that we had no plan for the night. There were no campgrounds and no warmshowers hosts. The path ended in Hoegaarden (of the beer fame), and less than 1 km from the end, and therefore 1 km from the end of our plan, we noticed a bike in front of us fall over. It was a woman with 3 little children, and the training wheel of her littlest son's bike had somehow fit in between her front wheel and fork, and was inextricably wedged. She waved us over and I used (dun dun na nuh) some tools I brought, including my LEATHERMAN, and my SMALL WRENCH, to successfully remove the training wheel, and ultimately, her mangled fender.

Action time for the toolkit!

She asked us where we were going, if she could make us dinner before we continued, and was shocked at our final 'destination' which was another 30 km away. We soon realized that we too should be shocked, and should instead accept her offer to stay at her house and have a dinner. It was just like warmshowers, but without need for the internet, a common interest in bike touring, and most importantly: planning. She said that we could not have met like that if we had had a plan - it was our lack of plan that allowed such serindipity to occur.

Celia with the fam (only 1/2 the children are present)

It was wonderful to talk with Catia (sp?) and her husband about things other than bikes: education, economy, food, fulfillment. We left the next morning to ride for 12 hrs, 150 km, 90 miles, to see Thea and Thomas in Rosmalen (thank you Thomas and Thea, and thank you for the wonderful slideshow!). We stopped just before leaving Belgium to visit a Fritterie and consume enormous plates of fries, hamburger, and a chicken meat sausage thing.

Now I will add photos to this post and others....

The Biking Mecca

We just crossed the border into Leer, Germany yesterday and our currently staying with a German buddhist monk that Jonathan met at Tassajara Zen Center 6 years ago.

We had a long day, starting with a 6am wakeup from our warmshowers host, Pier, who had to leave for work at 6:45. We left at the same time and got to our destination for the day, Groningen, by 12pm-- shows what an early start can do for you! So after a quick break in an internet cafe, we decided to continue on for 75km to cross the German border (total 140km for the day). The weather here has been rainy and windy, and Pier told us that July 13 was the record coldest day for that date in the Netherlands (sigh). Weather is a big part of biketouring that we never have to think about in California! And we all know how I feel about wind....! Despite our lack of luck with the weather, we have been very lucky to stay with the most generous and caring hosts. Pier gave me an old rain jacket and rainpants to wear yesterday, without which I probably wouldnt have been able to make it through the day. Jonathan had to tough it out.

So much water and not enough bridges

Ok enough about bad weather. In the past few days we have been able to visit and enjoy the Mecca of biking. The Netherlands has the most developed and intricate bikepath infrastructure that we have ever seen. Starting in the South when we crossed the border from Belgium, we immediately got on a two lane bike path that paralleled a freeway. It was just as direct as the freeway and completely safe. Then we passed through the first big city, Eindhoven, where there is a separate bikepath next to every street and bike signs lead you easily through the center of the city and back out. Usually we try to avoid cities because they are so stressful to bike through or it takes us 1 hr plus to bike through a city because we have to keep checking our map, but we didnt have either of these problems. Bikes are legally treated the same as cars, so cars yield to you in intersections. There are traffic lights for bikes as well.

A dutch rowing recumbant bicycle and our host Martene

We were also impressed by the number of people biking and their innovative ways of using their bikes in Netherlands. One of the most popular would be mothers with a wooden box big enough to fit up to four small children installed on an extra long bike. We also saw a woman biking to the train station with her rolly suitcase handle attached to the back of her bike so her suitcase was like a trailer. Grandparents biking toddlers on a bike seat with a windshield on the front. Commuters with front baskets, backpack holders, and panniers! Many Dutch said that their are more bikes than people in the country, and I definitely believe that after seeing the hundreds (or thousands?) of bikes locked up at train stations.

Train station in Eindhoven

It was an eye opening experience to see how functional biking can be if the infrastructure and culture is there.

Nederlands

We are in 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands! What a mouthful. I have never seen so many double aa and consonants in a row.

Long time since our last blogpost... let's see. We stayed in Reims, France with a Bike Greenway developer who suggested that we take a French Greenway that won the award for being best in Europe in 2010! Charlouville to Givet-- 88km of bikepath next to the Meuse River. It was beautiful!!! No maps necessary, no construction, no cars, no hills, what a treat.

Quickly thorugh Beligum (although a very eventful couple days-- stories to come). Now we are in Netherlands visiting friends we met last year on the Seattle to Oakland route- Thea and Thomas. They are treating us to the full Dutch experience with a trip into the Amsterdam and a casual bikeride today!

Road Kill

One of the less glamorous parts of biketouring is passing roadkill really slowly. Jonathan always has a moment where he freaks out because he thinks he might spaz and run into whatever has already been runover on the road, and I always look away.

Last year on Pacific Coast it was all about the skunks, all over the place, every which way. So far in Europe it has been mostly snakes, cats, porcupines, and birds.

Fourth of Juillet

By total coincidence we are staying with an American who is married to a French woman tonight. Happy fourth of July!! We celebrated the French way by having a 5 course dinner with our warmshowers hosts:
1. Cheese puffs and champagne
2. Melon and more champagne
3. Pasta with sausages and red wine
4. Regional frommage with Vin Jaune (yellow wine)
5. Gallete de Forest Orte (Regional Apple Pastry Cake) with tea/coffee/liquor
omg so full no kidding stuffed to the brim! Our hosts are recumbent bike enthusiasts and they invited their other recumbent bike enthusiasts over to dinner. Lots of bike talk fun! The other couple didnt speak English, which obviously made it even more fun.

A few days ago we had the windiest biking day of our lives when we biked from Ansois to Avignon. We only biked about 60 km but it was so windy that at times I thought I was going to fall off my bike qnd it took us about 9 hours. Bottomline, biking in wind = hell. SO we have made some changes to our incredibly flexible route plan and have taken a train from Avignon to Dijon. That was two days ago. Now we are 1 day south of Reims and two days south of Belgium. It is pretty different here: much cooler, lots of farmland and vineyards, very very small towns (so small i couldn't find coffee yesterday until about 5pm! minidilemma). Apparently the town Reims is pronouned Rans. We were pronouncing it Reems. Sigh, french pronunciation....