Germany (all)

This is the website and travelogue of The Project VELAIA. 22 year old velosopher, environmentalist and often minimalistic outdoor adventurer Daniel N. Lang has decided to go around the world by recumbent and upright bicycle after finishing an epic journey of more than 17.000km from Paris to Beijing as a rider of the Beijing to Paris 2007 Carfree Rallye, following coastlines for hundreds of kilometers, crossing deserts during mid summer in the Middle East, Central Asia and China and climbing some of the highest passes of the world under extreme conditions in the starting Tibetan winter.

After Eurasia he cycled Australia, New Zealand and the United States and is now on a tour through the South American Andes, starting in Caracas, Venezuela and cycling his way down to Chile at the time of writing this (beginning of September 2008).

This November, Simon Evans and Fearghal O'Nuallain will begin the first Irish circumnavigation of the globe by bicycle. Their unsupported expedition will cover over 30,000km, passing through 30 countries and some of the highest, lowest, driest, coldest, warmest and loneliest places on earth. In doing so, they will be promoting the positive contribution that cycling can make to mental health and the environment, raising 100,000 euro for Aware and highlighting climate change.

This was our first tour of the season and we have new bikes. In the Internet we saw a site describing a new bike route connecting Prag and Paris and decided to follow the French section. After cycling from here to the Rhine, we rode through Alsace-Lorraine, the Champagne Region and enter Paris along the Canal de l'Ourcq. We followed river valleys and canals, but still were in for a lot of climbs before we reached our goal.

Eine Radreise, die uns von München nach Augsburg, Stuttgart, Karlsruhe, Nancy, Bar le-Duc, und schließlich nach Paris führte. (1050 km).

We decided to make our honeymoon in Southern Germany at the border to Switzerland, riding our bikes from the Lake Constance (Bodensee) to the Lake Königsee. We did a one-week-tour in August 2007. The cycle route between the lakes sets out from Lindau toward the Allgäu hills. Tiny villages dot the landscape between forests and meadows. Offering a view over the Allgäu Alps, the route goes on to Füssen with its lovely houses. Passing the gorgeous Neuschwanstein Castle, Bad Tölz on the Isar, the route continues through the Upper Bavarian picture-book scenery to Lake Tegernsee and on to Lake Schliersee. The tour?s final destination is right in the heart of the Alpine countryside of the Berchtesgaden National Park: Lake Königssee is truly a crowning finale to a princely cycle tour.

Il lago di Costanza (Bodensee) è un percorso ideale per i ciclisti grazie alla bellezza del paesaggio e all'abbondanza di strutture appositamente pensate per loro: dalle piste ciclabili agli enti turistici e alberghi che offrono una particolare accoglienza con tanto di depositi custoditi, assistenza tecnica e materiale informativo a disposizione.

Il periplo completo del lago attraversa tre stati (Svizzera, Germania e Austria) e misura circa 260 km, considerando anche la propaggine occidentale formata dai bacini dello Zeller See e dell'Untersee; non ci sono praticamente rilievi; è possibile abbreviare il percorso sfruttando una delle numerose rotte che collegano le due sponde del lago (Bodensee-Schiffbetriebe). Lungo il tragitto si incontrano villaggi con le abitazioni dalla tipica architettura del Baden-Württenberg e alcune splendide isole e penisole collegate alla costa da ponti e quindi facilmente accessibili anche alle biciclette: Mainau, Reichenau e Lindau, su cui sorge il nucleo dell'omonimo villaggio. In tutta la regione si trovano numerosi centri balneari e termali oltre a un'infinità di spiagge che ben si prestano a un intermezzo rilassante fra una tappa e l'altra.

Cycle tour report from Bassano (70 km from Venice) to Munich.
This time I include a google map with the GPS tracks :-)

This is the exciting journal of my cycling adventures in the wild lands of Europe. Will my knees hold up? Will I simply be too lazy and return after a week? Will I make it to Istanbul in time to host a WILD party? Read on......

Erst hatte ich vor, die Tour-de-France-Strecke (einmal rund um Frankreich) abzufahren. Aber für dieses Vorhaben konnte ich keinen begeistern. Als zu strapaziös wurde mein Plan bezeichnet. Ich war mir mittlerweile selbst nicht mehr sicher gewesen, ob eine komplette Runde nicht zu viel für mich ist. Ich plante also um. Es entstand die Idee, zum Tour-de France-Finale nach Paris zu fahren. Stilecht sollte die Fahrt von unserer Haustür [in Jena] starten. [...]

Wir hatten nun acht Tage Zeit, bis nach Paris zu kommen um Zabel, Ullrich, Armstrong ... zu sehen. Mehr als 1000 Kilometer lagen vor uns. Die gnadenlose Sommerhitze forderte ihren materiellen und körperlichen Tribut.

I'm at one of those grave intellectual impasses that have been known to bring even greater minds than my own to a standstill. I have an orphan sock. Trivia, you say. Ha! I think not.

The cause of this problem is surely the work of that Slovakian KGB Agent, foolishly disguised as a laundress in Svolen. She stole it, I'm sure. Probably for a DNA sample to impress her superiors in Bratislava. They've been following my every move since the kustoms agent in Warsaw asked me the purpose of my visit to Poland. When I answered ``vacation'' the disbelief on his face gave him away. What, doesn't anyone go to Poland on vacation?

But back to the real problem, the orphan sock. The purists among cycle tourists would say, ``Throw it away, it's excess baggage. And while you're at it, cut three inches off that over-long toothbrush handle.'' But the Calvinist in me says, ``Save it. It's a good sock, nearly new.'' I've already reduced the weight of my baggage by losing its mate. Maybe I'll lose another and be back to even and lighter still.

Hi everybody, we are 8 students of Udine's University and we will across Europe with a bikecycle. We will start on 08 of August from Nordkapp and after 24 days we will arrive in Lignano Sabbiadoro. We will link the north pole with the Adriatic Sea. Our project is with the Sponsorship of our University. We will meet a lot of students about the University that we will find along our tour. So for more information you can ask at info [at] noborderbiking [dot] com and visit our website www.noborderbiking.com .
[Email address obscured to fool spam trawlers. Ed.]

This is our second big trip with bicycle. It just started 1998 from Germany over Africa up to Asia with the destination South Korea (2000). Now, again on the road, we are travelling by bicycle in South America. We are since 06/2005 again on the road.

Dies ist nun schon unsere zweite grosse Radtour. Es begann 1998 in Deutschland mit dem Weg nach Suedkorea und einem Abstecher in Afrika. Nun, seit 06/2005, sind wir mit unseren Raedern in Suedamerika unterwegs.

La bellissima escursione ciclistica si snoda lungo un percorso di 1000 chilometri attraverso Germania, Svezia e Danimarca. Rispetto alla tradizionale ciclabile che si sviluppa longitudinalmente lungo la verticale Berlino-Rostock-Copenhagen, questa variante permette di visitare anche l;affascinante penisola di Zingst, l'isola di Hiddensee, nota ai tedeschi per il suo fantastico patrimonio naturalistico, la penisola di Rugen ed infine la ventosa isoletta danese di Bornholm, paradiso dei ciclisti. Un traghetto per il sud della Svezia porta a raggiungere e conoscere le bellezze del breve tratto scandinavo. L’itinerario, si sviluppa in una ventina di giorni comprendendo anche un soggiorno a Berlino e nella mitica Copenhagen.

We are addicted. Our bike seats are still warm from our previous and first tour, three months of cycling from Stockholm to Rome, and already we are thinking of another tour. You would have thought we had enough, but no we don't want those seats to get cold. The only question was where?

Our first tour had been North to South so how about East to West. We had loved the two days that we had cycled along the Danube and wished we would have had more time following the river. Now we would make up for that.

We would start in Munich and follow the Isar River to the Danube. There we would join the super highway of bike touring, the Donauradweg, and follow it to Budapest. The return trip would be by train arriving back in Munich in time to enjoy Oktoberfest.

Il ciclismo è sofferenza. Il premio è la cima di una montagna o una città a 2000km da casa. Se questo premio vi sembra adeguato allora la domanda ``ma chi te lo fa fare'' ha già una risposta. Se non vi sembra abbastanza, semplicemente non potete capire chi pedala.

Cycling is suffering. The prize is the top of a mountain or a city 2000km far from home. If this prize seems you enough, then the question ``why do you do that'' already has an answer. If you don't find it enough, you just simply cannot understand cyclists.

A world tour on a rather odd bicycle.

In theory this was second stage of a three part trip that was supposed to cover Europe from Nordkapp (the North Cape) to Sicily. The plan being to pick-up from where last year's trip left off in Copenhagen and head south to Freiberg in Germany and then onwards to Venice via the Alps.

The bike was damaged on the flight over, leaving me with a limited selection of gears and the tour happened to coincide with a heat wave the like of which no-one could recall. Most of the trip took place in temperatures close to or over 40 degrees celsius (104 fahrenheit)!

Things got worse at the half way point (just south of Frankfurt) when the loss of my mobile phone, money and credit cards forced me to abandon the trip a day later at Strasbourg. It was only a total stranger's act of kindness that allowed me to get that far.

This blog (still ongoing) describes our experiences, both good and bad, of cycle touring around Europe. It was a long planned trip - about 15 years before coming to fruition - and we decided that as we were between jobs and countries (from Dubai on the way back to NZ) we would explore some of the places we had always wanted to visit and get a culture fix too!

This is my tour along the German Donau, from Ulm to Passau, a continuation of my previous tour in 2006.

Viaggio lungo la valle dell'Inn. I primi itinerari sono stati percorsi nell'estate del 2001.

Siamo partiti dal passo del Maloja e abbiamo raggiunto dapprima Innsbruck e poi Kufstein.

Nel lugio 2007 abbiamo riscritto gli itinerari, aggiungendo nuove fotografie e rivisitato il percorso, che è stato modificato nel suo primo tratto in Engadina.

Read about my adventures by bicycle around the world,taking in Europe, the Near East, India, South East Asia, Australasia, and the USA on Route 66.

For something a little less ambitious, I have prepared details of a three-week tour of the beautiful landscapes of central Portugal.

Or if you prefer a central base and some day rides, read about my routes on the Spanish island of Mallorca - a cyclist's paradise, with warm weather, flat hinterland, stunning mountain climbs, and huge ice-creams!

Journey from south UK to northern Poland on a bike and a recumbent trike. We stayed in Poland for a few weeks and then travelled home via Denmark.

We left our jobs and sold our house to go on this trip - part of the reason for going was to explore whether we'd like to live in another country. The other reason was to satisfy my craving for long distance touring.

Read about the difficulties/triumphs of a first-time touring cyclist. I traveled through Austria, Germany, and Czech Republic for 16 days. Although I was credit card touring, I encountered obstacles throughout my trip. I had no plans or routes for this trip... I went wherever I felt like. I have had many people (family, friends, & co-workers) question why I am riding my bike alone across Central Europe... my answer has been: change. I needed to experience the unknown... hence the lack of planning of where to visit and stay.

Cycling from Venice to Amsterdam in 8 days.
Got a loooooooot of rain !!!
Photos of nice landscapes, houses and not DNA-manipulated cows !!! :-)

As a rider of the Beijing to Paris 2007 Carfree rallye to celebrate better, carfree mobility (see www.beijingtoparis.com), I am riding in the opposite direction from Paris to Beijing.

I try to get in contact with local cycling culture as much as I can and to spread peace over the world!

The bike I am undertaking this tour with is a recumbent touring bike equipped with high quality components. So far (end of July 07) I haven't had a single technical defect!

We are performing a 2 years (theoretically) trip around Eurasia. During the trip, we are performing a photo documentation for ICOMOS, an expert organization of UNESCO about cultural heritage. The database created will be available on the website.

We wish with this project to perform some challenging cycling, linking with useful actions.

Our website relates our diary and we are putting plenty of photos and comments (and lots of other fields are going to come, such as advices, technical data...).

Welcome to the Wish Tour!

Below you will find the photos and journal from a two-year, 20,000-mile bicycle journey around the world.

Starting in July 2005, this journal will take readers across the United States, Europe, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Kyrgystan, China, Tibet, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Borneo, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand.

The journey began more than 20 years ago, as the seeds of a dream to circumnavigate the globe were cultivated from a deeply personal and painful experience.

[Absolutely stunning pictures.]

Our new neighbors in the European Union and musings over the history and downfall of the Habsburg Empire led us to plan a trip through the countries involved: Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegowina, Romania, Montenegro, Poland, Ukraine, Italy and Serbia. Here you can read about the trip as planned and how far we got.

In May, 2007, my wife Carol and I joined three other couples for a cycle trip in Germany and Austria (with a weekend visit to Prague). This was my 21st cycle trip in Europe and Carol's 19th but only our fourth outside of France. I wrote this ``blog'' each day as we made our way from Frankfurt to Vienna so my verb tenses may slip from past to present and back because my proof reading skills are not dependable.

The clock was ticking, I was one hour off C-Day with everything packed. I had gone through my checklist time & time again fully knowing that as always with my memory I was bound to have forgotten something.

[...]

3 days in, the sun had come out and I was settling down into my monotonous click, click of turning peddles, I was just dwelling on trying to figure out how many revolutions I'll need to turn these things to get me to my final destination, when In front of me not 30m away was a police car blocking the tow-path. On closer inspection its inhabitants were, as I first thought just having a crafty fag break down on the River embankment. But what was he trying to cover up with that white blanket? Like a puzzle it all clicked in, he was covering up a dead body & as it looked (why did I look) a pretty decomposed one at that!

Retching was not a clever idea when you're in a strong head wind & speeding at 25km. But the sight of that body will stick with me for the rest of my life.

Was this the way it was supposed to be? I was planning a pleasant cycle trip along the Rhine to chill out and clear my muddled head of all my earthly problems! But this was turning into a Hollywood horror movie & I was the sucker, who you always knew, was first up to get mutilated.

Well did I survive to tell the tale, did I find the inner me that I was looking for? Read on & find out!

Tagebuch einer dreitägigen Frühlingsfahrt mit dem Rad von München über Bad Tölz und Achensee nach Innsbruck

At moment Raoul (who has left on 12 May from Civitanova Marche, Italy) on his bicycle is along the road to Kaamanen (Finland) where he is going to stay overnight. In the next two days he will reach Nordkapp!!!!! ;-))

Eine kurze Frühlingsreise von Nürnberg nach Rothenburg ob der Tauber, durch das Altmühltal nach Neuburg an der Donau, und weiter nach München. Gesamtstrecke: 330 km.

A one month cycle tour from Lund Sweden, to Switzerland via the Rhine and Moselle Rivers during the summer of 2005. Total distance 1600km together, plus 1000km solo back to Sweden. We left with a road map book of Europe, a guide book of the Rhine, but without a German phrasebook (we speak English and French). Some hiking in the Alps as a side trip.

Eine Radtour quer durch Süddeutschland über 667 Kilometer. Die Tagesetappen betragen zwischen 105 und 156 Kilometer. Die Tour beginnt und endet in München. Durch das oberbayerische Voralpenland geht es nach Füssen. Nach der Fahrt durch das Allgäu erreichen wir den Bodensee. Mit dem Rheinfall bei Schaffhausen ist der westlichste Punkt der Rundfahrt erreicht. Nur 30 Kilometer weiter nördlich fließt die Donau, der wir ostwärts bis kurz vor Ulm folgen. Ab Laupheim geht es schnurstracks nach Osten bis München.

During the summer of 2006, I traveled with only a bicycle from Lviv, Ukraine down to Napoli, Italy, then north to Calais, France. From Calais I ferried to Dover, then rode to London to complete the voyage. I visited eleven countries and saw a variety of landscapes and weather. I had encounters with many people and most of these were positive. I also used this experience to draw attention to a little orphanage in eastern Ukraine, the Makiivka HIV / AIDS orphanage.

A weeklong trip through Germany from Frankfurt Airport to Munich via the Romantic Road, and Dachau.

We're Andrew & Friedel Grant - two Canadians who, after living in the UK for 6 years, have set off to travel the world by bicycle. We had no previous bike touring experience when we began, having really only gotten into cycling at the start of 2006, and when we say we ``got into cycling'' that means short commutes to work along flat cycle paths and the odd day trip, that usually ended up at the pub. We're still not quite certain how that translated into the situation where Friedel said ``hey, let's bike around the world'' and Andrew said ``sure, why not''. The first leg of our tour was in Canada, then through Europe to Morocco. We will keep cycling around the world; hopefully next towards eastern Europe and the Middle East.