Motorcycle, cycle, motorcycle. May 12th -24th 2025
Monday 12th May
5am, but it is a lovely morning and already getting light. I have been very organised night before and bike is ready. Not masses of kit but thinking of getting on a bicycle with some of it means different bags…
Off at 5.30am. Need to be at shuttle by 8.46am….very precise! Not been on shuttle for a while. Reach there with just 5 mins to spare. The usual up and down loop through carpark trying to get you to stop and buy. Very tedious. They now collect bikes together and put us together on board parked at an angle. Still not great as the bike sways around. Can’t really relax but do chat to biker nearest to me. One can only sit on the floor, or on your bike or stand..
Got the earliest shuttle I could manage to save time on this first day. I want to try and do well and get some miles done. Then I have one and ¾ days to get to where I pick up the bike. All in all about 1500kms. My progress is impeded by stops to take off warm clothing. I had dressed for 10c at 5.30am and now it was increasing slowly but surely to 28c !! 3 layers had to go and vents opened. Then I had a problem with my back aching because of efforts with a boat cover the day before AND a long biking day. Hands wrists tired as well. But reached Liege meaning I had done about 400 miles.
The hotel apartment I had booked about 1.5 hours before turned out to be up a very steep narrow winding staircase 4 floors up. In hot bike gear and boots carrying some luggage it was no fun. Then second trip with more luggage…still in bike gear…
The bike is outside,hope for the best. Took most stuff off and left empty tank bag and soft panniers as that would have required another trip up the stairs.
Tues May 13th
At the top of the awful stairs was a good apartment. Most restaurants I looked up were shut on Monday nights so in the end I had a glass of wine in the bar below and then bought a takeaway meal from a supermarket and brought it back to my apartment. I was so tired!
With one cup of tea I was on my way by 9am after carting everything back down those narrow stairs. Bike was there and all was well. Beautiful morning, not cold…about 14c. Did two hours on motorway and then told google map to “avoid motorway” . Immediately plunged onto a lovely country road and for the rest of the day had great traffic free roads. After a while managed to get a bit of breakfast sitting in the sunshine. Later bought a picnic and then picnicked with a forest backdrop.
Wonderful hard wood forests, beautiful green colours. Later more serious farmland, green fields with barley and wheat. Seems to me that there is a drought here too as crops not very tall. Realise I should have contacted Wilderich as much closer to where he lives than I had realised. I did phone and he is away but a tiny chance for my return journey to maybe have a quick meet…
Finally booked hotel at 4pm in Uffenheim. Reached there at 5.30pm. Sweet old town, nice hotel with proper restaurant. Had biked 500kms..300 miles.
Wed May 14th
Had opted for breakfast . Cheapest was 2 wurst German sausages. They were entirely by themselves and just a bit of bread and some mustard. Strange. But got a cup of tea which I am missing…had no room for tea making stuff.
Lovely morning. 15c and sun is shining. I have to do 4.5hrs riding time and be there by 4pm. Should be no problem and it was not. Rode through a hop growing area which was very impressive. We used to grow hops in Kent but think its all gone. Forests, open farmland all rolled by. Road was not busy at all. All junctions incredibly well marked and organised. No litter at all by the road. Why can’t we? All very neat and tidy. Not seen a single UK car or vehicle nor met any Brit.
On reaching Passau, google maps failed again on finding hotel . Nearly there but not quite. Search on foot ! But had time to drop off two bags and then head to Eurobike depot. That took a moment or two to find. Swap motorbike for cycle! My bike stays there under a roof but outdoors. No problem. Get two panniers but they are not big. Stupidly had not got trousers from my bags I dropped off at hotel and had to keep motorbike trousers on and cycled off in them !!
Was told where cycle path was and off I went. Not tricky as it was follow the river…the River Inn. Much playing around with panniers and packing and attaching phone and camera fittings to the cycle. Apparently we can put bags on a van each day. I had thought we carried all so will make use of that. Went off to recommended restaurant and had huge plate of food put in front of me. Dumplings and potatoes!
Thurs May 15th
Day 1 cycling. Scharding to Wesenufer. I first had breakfast which had some amazing dishes. Then got the cycle and headed off back to where I had left the motorbike. It had dawned on me that my passport was in my motorcycle jacket which was in an unlocked pannier. That added 11kms to my day. However with weather overcast but OK, I then headed to Passau. Bit of a rough path in places and a very short but steep hill. Had to push the cycle up. It was only then that I realised how heavy the bike was with its full panniers. Like an electric bike without the power. In Passau I had read about the world’s largest church organ being in the cathedral, so off I went there. Very impressive cathedral with amazing ceiling etc but the organ was under repair and either not there or under all the cloths that were in that area along with workmen. Big disappointment…shame.
So off along the river. Took to the German side at one point after crossing the river via a little ferry. Later crossed back over via a new bridge. Pretty tired with about 40 miles done. And it was not all flat!!
Fri May 16th
Weather forecast not so good. With any luck rain only in the afternoon. So the need to get there before then was on. I was getting into the flow so off I went at about 9am. Google said about 3.5 hours riding time. It was a very unspoilt track. It was not just a cycle path but a small road with I think allowance for motorbikes and old cars as well as cycles. It was really flat..after leaving the cycle path beside the main road. Plenty of cyclists. Bull frogs made much noise at times, cuckoos were calling, swans had their cygnets and birds were singing. Lovely wild flowers too. Caught a another ferry at one point. It used an overhead wire to get it across like I saw in Romania. Bit of engine at the end.
Arrived in Linz by 3pm. No rain on me but rained once I was there.!! Walked into town later…a mere 2 miles each way…but saw big main square, the plague statue and very large Mariendom church with amazing stained glass windows.
The Plague Statue.
Met up with 4 English cyclists also with Euro bikes. Can’t work out why not in same hotel each night…
Sat May 17th
Weather so so …should not rain but not that warm. Seems a large mileage to do again. Off I go. Cuckoos keep calling which is very nice to hear. By the river for a bit but then off into farmland. Wound my way into Enn as apparently there was an interesting museum. Enn is the site of a roman legion’s centre. Many roman remains etc at the museum. Took a while to find my way back out of town. Eventually got back on route….which quickly went away from the river again. But all was well.
The wind blew, either at me or behind!! I bumped into other cyclists on the route that I had seen the day before. I find it odd that we are not all staying in the same hotel over night. Some brits and an Italian couple. Nice hotel over the River from Grein. Busy and friendly.
I have had to run Google maps and the GPX file app at the same time . One would be right and the other confusing! Must remember to turn on “Map my walk “ app. Its good at recording….
Sun May 18th
33 miles achieved today so now fairly easy !. Weather not great so wore leggings and soon had to put on waterproofs. Not before bumping into another Brit all dressed up for rain including shoe coverings. Ralph who fund raised for Haven house. Reconnoitring for a huge fund raising cycle ride next year.
Got caught in a shower as I crossed some fields so no shelter. It even hailed. Then found a great cafe and had a long tea stop…tea was in a huge mug and very hot. Coming out I could see rain in the distance. Houses for a bit and then greenery; finally saw a bridge in the distance . Would I make it before the rain.? I did and picnicked under it. It poured…but I was dry sitting under the bridge on concrete.
Reached hotel pretty early, checked in , unloaded, and then cycled off to see Melk Abbey over the river. Rather uphill.. but got there! The interior of the abbey/church was spectacular. No photos…not allowed. After went downhill into the town and then uphill to get back to my hotel.
A group of English speakers had checked in on their bikes. It turns out they were Moroccans! We had a good chat…
Spectacular interior.
Spiral staircase
Mon May 19th
The Danube is now in a fairly tight valley. It’s flow has obviously increased and boats going up stream are not moving fast. On the steepish valley sides are now grape vines and fruit trees. I struggled up one hillside to look at ” The red gate “. Really steep, had to push the heavy bike up. Much huffing and puffing and getting too hot. Bit of a waste of time…
Hardly flat going today, much up and downs through the frequent villages. Villagers are out amongst their vines, tidying and grass cutting. They seem to have been pruned to within an inch of their lives. Very neat and tidy. So are the villages…no litter anywhere.
In the Wachau region.
Another 35 mile day. Wind was quite often kind and behind but rain did threaten. Reached my hotel to find it looking very shut. Tried the door but locked. As I walked away it opened. …old mother with no English. They had expected me. My bags were there!! BUT it is a night in a huge hotel all by myself! Breakfast has been arranged up the road and tonight I fend for myself!! Why not somewhere else?
I find a Turkish place to eat in. Book my train back from Vienna for myself and the bicycle for Wednesday. Its going to take at least 3 hours back to Passau. Then Scharding…
Tues May 20th
I have been following two maps..Google maps in cycling mode and gpx cycling files. There are also good signs on the ground. Things go wrong when trying to get from your hotel and back on route. Gpx files do not like that…unhelpful. So it’s Google maps and the route looked sensible as I turned down this tarmac road that went into a farm type track and then a skinny path and a fallen tree across it.! At exactly that point I meet a cyclist coming the other way. He asked if okay ahead for him. I said yes because it would be. He said yes for me. Goodness knows which way he had come because it wasn’t. ! My route eventually ended in a nettle bed…absolutely headed in the right direction and not far from my intended path by the Danube. So back to a cross roads that seemed quite main by a bridge. Map seemed to make sense so took this other route. Then with Danube bank in sight a man in a pick up stopped me.If I turned right….where I wanted to go , it would be no good. Had to turn left and follow the Danube on a horrible gravel path in the wrong direction. Could not get to join the correct path on top where all the other cyclists were as there was a little ditch in the way. The man had gestured that there would be a way. Eventually there was.! Then I spent at least 15 mins getting back to where I had seen the man.
After that the day went fine. It was sunny and really nice. Beautiful wild flowers, nice picnic by pile of logs watching the calm river and cyclists going each way. Got pink thighs from the sun.! Managed to map read my way to the hotel in Vienna. Google does okay in towns. Huge modern hotel.
Wed May 21st
Anxious about this cycle trip across Vienna to the train station with all my luggage.Cycle heavy at the back.! Google maps said 34 mins…I knew it would be longer…so left an hour to do it. Slowly made my way. Took one tumble…again…as gear change did not happen. 4 men to the rescue! Station very modern and easy to wheel around my cycle. But getting the cycle on the train was another matter. Three steps and heavy bike. Everyone had to help.
Mixed German family sitting opposite. Got offered a glass of Prosecco…that helped the train journey to go by.
Back on the bicycle. 22kms to go to the Eurobike depot. Google maps wanted me in Germany and I wanted Austria!! 6 mins quicker Austria side. I cycled madly and finally got to the depot about 3.15pm. First tightened chain on motorbike…then it was the great repack onto the motorbike. Change of clothes and off. Weather quite decent. Got onto motorway and managed nearly 200 miles. Ended in lovely Gasthof…busy!! In Wiesenbronn. So nice to be in a more family run hotel as opposed to a gaunt modern impersonal one.
Thurs May 22nd
Taking what I wrote above I have tonight ended up in one of those modern spots . Wellness centre, Jacuzzis massage etc is not want I want. A nice cozy noisy bar full of chatty people having a good time together or not even a bar, but a cozy busy dining room. All this modern stuff is wasted on me. I have managed to eat in a brasserie which was fairly normal!! I have ended up in an extraordinary village in Belgium. It is Durbuy. Famous for a King John for declaring it a city in the middle ages. Smallest city in the world. 2 hectares of village with tourists now. On a bend in a river. People can walk, cycle, canoe, etc
My day was mostly spent off motorway but did do bits. Weather was rain to start with and pretty cold through out. Bits of sun brought pleasure! Saw a large hop growing region .
I did near on 300 miles. Long day though. It means that I have booked a channel ferry crossing for tomorrow afternoon. Since I have some teabags with me, I thought I would try and hoodwink the coffee machine in this room to heat water. Emptied a coffee mini pot and cleaned it out. Then put it in machine. Then that made the machine go through the motions and put water minus coffee in the mug into which I put my teabag. ! Sorted.
Fri May 23rd
Booked the ferry last night. 3.5 hours on motorway. So more leisurely start to reach 3.20pm ferry. Weather not quite raining and did improve but was remarkably cold. Varied between 11c and 16c but the wind was bitter. Finally had 5 layers on. Once at Calais and through the ticket check and two passport checks and custom check I finally reached my lane with 4 other motorbikes. Two Swiss and two brits. We chat while waiting for a delayed ferry due to a security event in Dover!. Very modern ferry with food having to be chosen via machines…I had not had any food all day and was looking forward to something like a good breakfast. But not to be. Ended up with an Indian style salad !!
Nice break though, before 3.45 hours to Norfolk. Had 3 jams to filter through. But made it to home at 9pm to be greeted by Emma who has made a quick surprise visit from Australia for Gina and Frank’s marriage party to be held tomorrow. Really nice…