Day 1
18 April 2011
Smoothly to Lille, intense chat with pleasant EU bureaucrat who now wants to study creative writing and bike to Istanbul too.
Day 2
April 19
Weather here is indescribably beautiful and will continue for at least a week. There is a riot of spring flowers everywhere, skies are blue, bums are sore, who would hope for more?
Day one there was a horrible click from bottom bracket (not mine, the bike's) and IPhone GPS guided me faultlessly to Europe's biggest and most high tech Atelier de cyclisme where they mounted it on a huge stand, tested transmission and fixed it for nothing. They provide free bike service plus parts to all cyclists - French socialism!
I have mastered the technology and iTunes/GPS is run by muscle power now. There has been a shortage of kilometres travelled so far and this lack will need remedying if Istanbul is to be attained. It still seems a little distant, but a start has been made and teething troubles overcome. It is all such fun. The French are treating me like Royalty, but I have politely explained several times my republican tendencies in relation to that wedding about to take place.
Day 3
Despite my insisting on quiet anonymity, the urge to communicate seems to come on after a long day in the saddle and a cold beer. We are now slicing through northern France from Flanders' plains to the rolling wooded hills of the Ardennes, along the long straight roads down which Hitler's tanks poured, lined with refugees, in 1940. It's quieter now, and very pretty, except for occasional gigantic opencast mines and, oh, nuclear power stations (very French -engineering chic!).
Occasionally I see the the hazy minarets of Istanbul on the horizon rising over the forests of towering electric pylons. Istanbul! Star of the east..
Onward fine steed! Oops! I gave myself a smack there.
Day 5
I just stepped up to play 'Isn't she lovely' on harmonica with a great male vocalist, open air in the Place Ducale main square of Charleville, to all the diners in the square which is vast!
Progress!
Day 8
I wild camped for second time night before last as I was short of destination by dusk. There was a ruin and barn next to a small river, and weir with a high wall and open gate. Inside a beautiful tree lined meadow. Dinner was black pudding and duck eggs & endive salad with local beer.
I slept well thro' the thunder storm and woke to the birds and sounds of rushing water.
Day 9
73 km today!
Made it to Metz in time to set up tent by the Moselle - it's huge here, it must be
enormous when it gets to the Rhine. Perfect weather continued but strong headwinds and monster hills nearly brought me to my knees, until suddenly with an adrenaline burst, we were descending madly, head down on the drops into Metz. Whew!
enormous when it gets to the Rhine. Perfect weather continued but strong headwinds and monster hills nearly brought me to my knees, until suddenly with an adrenaline burst, we were descending madly, head down on the drops into Metz. Whew!
This Odyssey is marvellous. My mood rose to 8/10 a few days ago and stayed there ever since.
The enormous hill before Metz persuaded me that I was carrying far too much unnecessary stuff. I culled my kit: threw away 700g and filled a box with 1.8kg and sent it home. The bags are much less full. I kept the N Face rainproof tho'. It might prove really useful on top of layers.
Having a splendid time chatting in French to tout le monde. Will be quite sad to leave France, but Baden-Baden is 220km, so an early start is required tomorrow.
The Moselle crosses my route east, but flows north to Koblenz, which is why it was a bit if a deviation to think of going there.
Metz is a beautiful university and cathedral town. I had a little walkabout late evening, took pics and had a drink in a student bar, where they all sport long 60's hair and played cards and board games. All very pleasant. The camp site was wonderful - staff overwhelmingly friendly and helpful, site great, location - stunning. I would like to come back with Miny maybe with the bikes on the train and cycle to Koblenz.
Wunderbar!
Day 10
The weather here has gone grey and tiny bit rainy.
I had a lovely stay on a farm last night due to leaving my tent by the road 30km upwind. This required entry into mediumlevel of the 'Emergency in French countryside' mode and digging out extra grammar and vocabulary packs to explain the problem in the Mairie of the next village, who rang round farms for accommodation. Chambre d'hote at lovely farmhouse and a bit of chatting and joking with hostess Nicola and we called it 'L'incident de la tente perdue' ( later to be known as „A la recherche des tentes perdues´“)
Mme announced she was driving by that spot to drop her daughter off at work. The whole family jumped in the car and drove round outskirts of Metz until we found the tent just where I had left it. Back home for pizza and vin rouge. In the car I had to explain about Psychiatry and cycle camping in detail in their language -great fun.
Nice dogs on the farm. As I was packing to go one seemed to befriend me and then stole and ate my lunch!
Day 11
Strasbourg - I will say goodbye to France tomorrow. A quiet site has just been invaded by the 'Scum Run' - 200 English mainly young men who drive customised cars worth <£500 on a charity run. Strasbourg was there secret destination. They are all getting pissed now, so no sleep tonight.
The run down here was great, came out of big Vosgian hills onto the Marne-au-Rhine canal; 60km along the tow path into centre of Strasbourg with no traffic and gorgeous countryside.
Day 13
A great moment arrived - I just crossed the Rhine into Germany by ferry, next stop Freiberg!
It's further south than planned as Baden-Baden would have lead to too many big hills. I chose the scenic unpaved route through the nature reserve and saw herons and loads of wild flowers. The distant sound of screaming was weird and I began to think I there were wild dogs or as it got louder, perhaps one of those really old fashioned insane asylums that Sebstian Faulkes wrote about (ref).
As I came out of the trees, the noise turned out to be human beings enjoying thrills at Europa Park. I had to stop an make a small video for anthropological reasons.
Unfortunately, I had to chicken out of the route into the Black Forest, as all routes lead to min 600m climbs. Impossible with this load! Scrambled down to Rhinefeld after getting lost in Basle, Switzerland (3rd country then).
Weather going back to glorious after a few days of cloud and rain.
Help! What is McDonald's policy on Internet access is in Germany? In France it was free. Here the phone asks for a German PIN, but staff find it hard to explain how to obtain it. Talk about sleeping with the enemy, in theory McD is best place to go online and charge phone at same time, but they seem to want to keep it all for their own nationals.
Day 14/15
Freiburg, Germany
The trip is really exceeding my expectations. One of the marvelous things about is that the very best aspect is being on the bike. I have had so many days sailing along in beautiful sunshine through gorgeous countryside.
Of course in France I am aided by speaking the language passably well and so in villages and shops and at random I enjoyed little conversations. The French were always charming especially bikers, who often spoke in passing and when they heard of my destination, I was met with wreathes of smiles and cries of 'bonne route' ringing in my ears.
Germany of course is bound to be different. This nation abounds with commercial confidence; this region is so opulent. Freiburg may not be typical as a civic centre and university town, but the infrastructure, shops, parks and amenities are so rich and glossy. The hills of the Black Forest come right down into town, and endless jogging, trekking and biking trails just lead off into wilderness from half a km out of the centre.
On a more technical point; the Dawes is superb, well balanced and robust. It handles unpaved tracks really well. The gears are very wide and the lowest gets you up most hills. The killer though is a headwind and just before Metz there is a very long incline with a wind and I just thought I would give up. It's difficult to know what that means entirely as on a long deserted road there are no quick or easy alternatives to having a rest, a drink and a large piece of chocolate and just getting back on!
Tech Stuff - skip if you like
The IPhone charger is a failure, and I have started an acrimonious correspondence with the customer relations Dept of 'Biologic'. basically it looks as though they have not squared it with Apple.
After two days of charging OK, the IPhone started showing error messages - 'unauthorised accessory'. It worked off and on for a few days, then the IPhone became resolute and rejected all approaches by the hated USB cable, like an unwilling heifer spurning the bull. On the other hand Igo the GPS bike software is very handy when you have a phone in charge.
Day 26
Friday 13th May
Donausworth, next stop Ingoldstadt, where a German biker friend has recommended a visit to the Audi factory.
Lovely, inexpensive traditional Gasthof to rest weary legs. I have done 1000Km now, and feel it a bit!
Best wishes,
Paddy Byrne
(after Paddy Leigh Fermour who walked a similar route in the '30s)
