Pan Europe Bike Path... Now Rothenburg to Paris

So. Home again. Laundry washed.
Thoughts...
So I met this couple - a male and a female cyclist from New Zealand.
They take six weeks vacation time to cycle Germany.
And they just had stoppped for a moment to savor the plums which grew along the way.

While eating some more of the juicy fruits, we discussed differences - weather patterns and insect population. These two wondered why they did not get bitten by mosquitos.
They also wondered if the borders of fields were overgrown with random weeds and other plants - on purpose.

I kind of helped them to find the next camp ground before we all set off our merry cycling ways.
One thought of course... No insects due to insect killer chemistry? No mosquitos - well along the Rhine (there I know that - somewhere else I don't) they spray stuff to kill larvae.
On the other hand... there are bugs in the air... On the route to Rothenburg I had a flying protein snack right into my throat. And was coughing my soul out for at least an hour later...

Probably we get a bad combination of all. Chemistry. Dry surroundings. More chemistry...
One reason to never touch my lavender while it is populated by bees and bumblebees.
And I will vinture into the Kirrlach forests to figure if there are still those nasty horseflies...

Another thought. Riding Europe. For my next step I just eyeballed the bike path to Prague.
No google maps for cycling there.
The Czech don't cycle? I cannot believe this.
I am very curious how other countries' maps will work... And other bike paths.

Then. Arriving in Crailsheim.
Nobody was answering the bell in my selected hotel, so I just used the phone.
The guy smelled like booze.
Complained a bit about his work hours when his boss wasn't there.
But... he had a job - and maybe this is a job for keeping him at work. I really don't know.
He had - in Germany non legal - I guess - work times from 6am to 10pm.
And in my room that stash of empty bottles.
Do I want to know the background here? Not really... just
maybe...
maybe I would.

Riding Europe by bike - and returning by train. That's a special thing to do. I was glad that bus driver let me in with my bike. With the replacement busses - people turn away from trains.
On the other hand - that one-day ticket is amazing. Any distance for little money.
Including the bike.
So if it works there is already a lot of incentive to use public transport.

But I do so much still miss the possibility to find a way from A to B on some map program - entering Train and Bike - combined.

Last thought. I am doing this alone. I talk to all kinds of people, listen to them, hope to learn. I do like doing this, collecting vibes, thinking some about those and about ideas others come up with. Maybe the Scottish couple and the Brexit. Maybe the French gentleman and the fountain. Maybe the elderly couple knowing about potability of their village's water. Maybe the monuments people put up to remind us all about our history and what may never repeat. Much too many of those.
La Tour - and how Sports gets people together. Pictures of beautiful landscapes and forests - forests which are threatened by dry weather.
Castles I pass - thinking about how people lived centuries ago. no luxury...
A lot of impressions. many pictures taken.

Next leg coming up.
soon (TM)

Schwaebisch Hall to Rothenburg... But wait. there's more...

 First things first. Breakfast in Schwaebisch Hall. They had muffin-ish thingies, like omelets and pached egs, including herbs and/or bacon.
And coffee, of course.
Carb loading.
I already had some good carbs the day before - in the shape of potatoes. Now the breadrolls.

When I had woken up I had noticed that my special contraption I had made for my watch to keep on my arm without the long end of the wristband sticking out - that this contraption had failed. Or... actually not the leather piece but the plastic it was holding.

I also had noticed that my charging cradle for the Garmin was at home so I had to deal with one full charge for two days and a bit. This in combination made me use a piece of string and mount the garmin on the stumps of the wristband around the handlebar.  It was still all functional
The garmin screen usually shows me a tiny  part of the map. Green where I should be, black where I am.
In this way I could see the screen on the handlebar, and it was good for navigation.

The Paneuropean goes from Schwaebisch Hall to Rothenburg ob der Tauber through a handful of smaller towns. Rothenburg being in Upper Franconia, not in the Federal State I live in anymore.
The beginning of the path went along the Kocher - a narrow river, very winding, but without too many elevations.
Then it connects to the bike path "Liebliches Taubertal" (lovely valley of the Tauber) - more water involved. And there are romantic fews - at least if the random cyclist is able to avert the eyes from the road.

Bridges galore. Always good for a pic with bike...  

Or without. 
A lot of Geranium about in each city.
As soon as I left the Kocher the hills restarted. They were not as nasty as the ones I had the previous day but they were hills.
And my legs let me know.

Beautiful weather - this time I had added an electrolyte tab into my water bottle.
Very wide landscape at some places.
And eventually I came close to Rothenburg. It was about 70km I rode that day, and I was thinking to take a hotel room here.
Turning into an icecream parlor (see a pattern here?) I was observing my surroundings, and defined I don't want to be tourist at a location where shopkeepers want tourists to buy something but not to require service.   
                                                              which meant for me ...

   

... off to Crailsheim. Back to Swabia. I rode past the fortification of Rothenburg, enjoyed the arghitecture, noticed they have a criminal history museum (meaning I need to get back there...)

 One maybe portal to be - When I ride I do not have my scanner open. But when I see an old cross like this, I am stopping and opening it. submitting a new portal if that's not there yet.
#thingsyouseeplayingingress I like to share these things.
I would not blog if I didn't like to share ...
Another vanilla-ice-coffee. Another sweet something (nut corner - Nussecke - lots of nuts and sugar and chocolate involved)
My Garmin's battery finally failed. I switched over to Endomondo, a tracking program I use for years already - even before I had a Garmin device.

Also on the way to Crailsheim I found some more hills.
A pair of road cyclists passing me.
Most cyclists say hello - especially when we are single on our merry tours.
I do like this in-between-sporting-people attitude.
It is similar like an between-smurfs attitude.
Similar interests, similar goals. Friendly attitude.

I found a hill with power stations, windmills essentially, old but trusted technics.
And I had a lot of wind on my way - most were headwinds. East wind.
Doesn't matter - nobody chases me - and I have gears.

I found the city of Crailsheim. Not very large, not ugly, not beautiful, two cinemas (which I noticed) and I found a hotel directly at the trainstation.
In the corner of my room I found a collection of empty (what a pity) beer bottles.
Shower, and off for food. Pizza with shrimps.
Cheese. Recarbohydrate. and rehydrate. Thinking about some sharp alcohol but... no. Ingress for the night? why not? Missions nearby? No. So I took good care of the local green, deleted some weeds, replaced by a small green field - and a bit larger one to one back to Schrozberg a town I had visited. And from where I had linked a narrow field to Schwaebisch Hall...
One more link and it would have been a triangle...
too bad.No key.
Crailsheim became blue. More or less.
Then I had to figure out how to get home.
From Rothenburg it would have been a 5+ hours ride with busses, trains, all of it. For Crailsheim it supposedly were three+

 But what a surprise , next morning, I found that also here train had been replaced by bus service. usually those don't take bikes. My more expensive alternative did not have space for a bike. So I decided to hope for a friendly bus driver and just ask. And if he says nom to ride back to Schwaebisch Hall by bike. Another one and a half hours.
But he said yes and so I ended up riding a bus, bike next to me. hacking away all the portals which speedlock let me, and getting out in Hessetal.

Hessetal to Bretten. Train. No problem, just that it was three steep steps up into the wagon again.
And they had a carpet.
Else it was like any other old train.
Bretten to Bruchsal...
Martin picked me up there, and we rode home he on his race bike me on my bee bike.

 This short tour. fewer km than the last. fewer days as well. Actyually too short for "getting into the cycling" but this had been the same at my first paneurope visit to Heilbronn.
And... not European, just inner-German - yet, you would find differences from my area (Baden) to Swabia. I also learned how huge the county of Schwaebisch Hall ist. I literally did not get our of there with a day of cycling.
I also figured I should get used to offline maps - on my way to Crailsheim I took a picture some place, but the map had exited and I could not get it to work. I went by feel for the next few km.
Still all was fun. I have now covered Rothenburg to Paris. Missing now: Rothenburg to Prague.
Gotta learn som Czech....

Now. some more little bricks to my fitness for my next Ironman race. It is coming. It will be coming.
Those long trail sessions really nail training for me. Additionally of course I need speed. But first condition to sit on the bike for all that time.

Heilbronn outbound

First step - Heilbronn to Schwaebisch Hall.

On the road again. Or... on the PanEuropean Bike Trail again.
A lot of this is not roads - this time I had pathways with gravel or even grass. prep for the Czech part, I guess...
Right now - I took a train to Heilbronn. This is pretty much where I ended the second leg. I had ridden from Kronau to Mosbach and from Mosbach to Heilbronn. Staying overnight in Heilbronn, the city with the Bundesgartenschau 2019 and the still largest HCL6 homogenuous field.
Very Swabian. And a good place to run in circles. Ingress taught me decent nav skills. Yet, I rode around Heilbronn about 8km before I found the right exit from the city. This had a few different reasons - for one - I had uploaded the wrong gpx file. But in cities I never rely on those - these usually only give a general direction. The other reason: Bundesgartenschau. The main gardening exhibition of the year 2019 in Germany.
Third...A very Swabian city. Saving money on the topic of putting up decent signage. *this attitude might also show at the railway station where they charge one Euro for a visit to the restroom)
So all three factors cost me an hour before my real start.

    

 So my route took me through Heilbronn hills which are hillier than Kraichgau hills. Steeper. more, longer inclines. but who cares - I am here to cycle. to train.
Of course also to eat. When I eventually saw a bakery - I had been hoping for an ice cream parlor - but when I saw that place, I went in, got some cake and the German variety of iced coffee (coffee, vanilla icecream, cream) And mercilessly deleted it.
This day kind of was tough. I had been cycling but maybe the weather, maybe being a bit tired (even after decent sleep) I did not feel really fit. On the other hand - most of these things happen in the mind. And I re-activated the "every hill a victory" mantra.
And I got rewarded by super beautiful sights along

my route.
Well, I knew the hills were just about to really start and the road took me up to Waldenburg.
That climb was really nasty. Up to about 13%, and a lot of traffic. I took a small break and almost did not find a place to remount my bike. As steep as it was getting on was tough anyways, and I usually swerve a bit in the beginning.
And this hill dragged ... on and on... but eventually there was a reward for the labor.

 A glorious view. I had the whole world on my feet - or so it looked like. Beautiful flowers all over the village.
Old castle remnants.
Even a portal.
So I took a break deleting more of the liquids I had brought along. Eating some dried fruit.
Looking forward to the descent.
And my, was I glad I had my brakes fixed after the tour to Paris.

 

 I followed the signs to Schwaebisch Hall - that was the place I had looked up for staying overnight.
Out in the coutryside signage was sufficient.
The same old oval with the European stars.
In the town I found a hotel, a space for my bke, some food (met a friend there, having dinner, chatting a bit, getting some coffee)
This was a very very exhausting day.
I only had planned two days - after a good night's sleep I got ready for the second.

Back in my hotel. First. take selfie. second wash clothing. third, shower. fourth out for food.

Aaand again...

Two more legs of the PanEurope Bike path.
I will not get to Prague or even Nuremberg but I want to get a bit farther East than Heilbronn.
Now my first planning tool was google maps - plus the attempt to find a GPS which fits with my Garmin system.
Again gpsies was the way to go...
Google maps because I have to take a trip home after two days and I do not want to sit in the train for five plus hours...
So I will ride a bit longer and find my way home in three hours...
Whatever works...
The weather is supposed to be warm and beautiful. I don't even have to learn a new language...
Over the Winter I shall have to learn some Czech.
So. Train to HN - check. Bike bags packed... almost.
Tomorrow the path gets me back again...

Also on foot...

This is the other project: the European long distance hike... It goes North South... As posted before - at the end I'd like to have hiked and/or biked all of Europe.
Why? Because connections best happen person to person. Face to face.
And because I want to... training for endurance. Maybe for a Megamarsch type event. Sightseeing at places which are not accessible otherwise. Whatever.

Of course walking won't cover the distance which is covered, so this is about the 8th or 9th leg and there are lots of them to go. Eventually I will have to get out of the "drive somewhere, and do an out-and-back along the course" -mode.
Which will happen soon.

I have covered Bretten to Gaiberg. Not a lot. More to come.

Trying powering electronics by solar panel. This is not yet a good experimental setting, though. 

Edible??? No clue. 

Edible!

And I even found dinosaurs

This one to follow... 

And back home

Four days, 515km.

A few times it crossed my mind that this project was crazy.

I had back issues, knee issues, now Achilles issues.
I fell from my bike once.
I have DNFed one half Iron race, how come I wanted to finish 500km?
This project is crazy and this project is not over.
Who am I to try pinpointing Europe, the European idea?
The next route goes to Prague. I have to learn basics in the next language.
Can I ride every single country in Europe? learn basics in each language? COnnect people, meet new people?
I sincerely want to.

After this tour I do know that 500km are not the limit.
Also I can consider Iron distance racing again, the bike part won't kill me.

Staying overnight on this 14th of July in Saverne, many a thought crossed my mind.
But I am busy with a few things which connect people.
I do cycling. I do sports.
I teach science.
I play Ingress.
I write.
Four realms of connecting. If I was an artist or a musician, there would be more.
Crisscrossing the landscape and connecting I am finding the differences and similarities of my neighbors.

Riding through France, all alone gave me a lot of quiet time to think.
Sitting alone at some table at some bistro place gave me the chance to observe, to talk, to connect.
I'll probably never see those people again, but they know that there is some weird German woman out there who likes to connect Europe. And I know that their ideas of an ideal world are quite similar to my ideas.
And where they are different we can talk.
Respect. Again.

As for a non political but for training perspective:
I have not really trained a lot for this. The longest rides this year have been about 50km.
No running.
Not too much swimming.
Hiking and rucking quite a bit.
So this trip lived off my regular fitness level.

I really had every excuse to stop the ride.
"I have not trained enough"
"my brakes are worn out"
"my luggage rack shifts"
"I crashed"
"My back, knee, achilles,calf, palm,... (input body part here) hurts"
"My tires are worn down"
"I like this country and want to come back soon"
"I am all alone"
"The distance to the next hotel is 30km more than I thought"
"I forgot my nutrition bars at home"
"It is hot"
"Overloaded bike"
"He offered a ride in case I don't get a hotel"
"something bad could happen"
"..."
"..."
"..."
No!

Yes.

I did have those excuses.
And I took every day as a single, new day. Every hill as a single new hill (a victory - once conquered).
Like an Ironman race - I first swim, then bike then run.
Looking forward to the next.
I did not need an excuse for a day of a 130km ride. I just did it.
Step by step by step. One down, next to go.

And being done felt really really good. Ready for the next etape.

So. This Monday morning I woke up in Beautiful Saverne, Hotel Europe. had my breakfast, packed my bags, strolled through town, bought a ticket to Strassbourg.
Hacked every single portal, found interesting places in my portal chase,  eventually picked up my bike and my bags, and went to the station.
Saverne.isbeing.blue
And.
#ThingsYouSeePlayingIngress; #Ingress
And.
Oh what a sore body.....Gotta walk around for a bit...

The ter train was easier to ride in. No heavy lifting of the bike involved.
Same procedure in Strassbourg. picking up Niantic's challenge to hack many many portals. So one coffee and one round of portal chase in Strassbourg.
The city where I did my first mosaic banner and got fielded - having to change the missions. A bit similar like the mosaic I did in Paris this time...

Who cares. What I do is what I chose to do.

Picking up my bike again, attaching the bags.
Now...

When I was a kid my family crossed borders now and then. Long lines. serious looking officials. We never got searched but it always was an option.

Monday I took my bike, my bags and crossed the border.
No bars to stop anyone. A bridge. Cross it and they speak German. And the LTE provider tells you you are back in Germany.

I shall continue this sports project.
I shall continue this Europe project.

until I rode every single European country.

Kehl station.  Hitting the train. Switch trains in Appenweier. What is really sweet is that I gan pay somewhat 16 Euro and public transport brings me anywhere in Baden Wuerttemberg.
One way. With my bee bike.

Switch trains in Karlsruhe and off to Kronau.
Home.
My European Adventure is over for now.
But as Arnie puts it...
I'll be back.
Not with the next blog post but on this Tour de Europe.

Good bye, Saverne. 

Bike or no bike...

Strassbourg

No issue crossing the border. just cross this bridge.