Europe 2023

I headed back to the UK on Tuesday. I’d set Monday aside to get a box to pack my bike in, and to actually get the bike in the box. It was too hot to do much else. From reading online and asking friends who’d done similar, it’s supposed to be quite easy to get…

The second of my day trips from Ljubliana was to Lake Bled. The hostel owner had also recommended Vintgar Gorge, which is nearby. I got the bus to Bled, which took me through some lovely scenery: Bled is at the eastern end of the lake, and was the tourist honeypot I expected it to be.…

As the forecast was for rain, I went to Postojna caves. This was about an hour away on the bus. I’d paid for the combined vivarium and caves ticket, as I was curious to see the Olm, which is a weird cave dwelling amphibian. I did manage to spot a couple in their aquarium, but…

Still in progress… Caves and Bled posts to follow. The final train of the day, which picked us up just before the Hungarian border has no air conditioning and is running late. Too hot to write blog posts. At least the windows open

I had 4 nights planned for Slovenia, arriving Wednesday afternoon. I decided to spend all of them in Ljubljna and take a couple of day trips to Postojna caves and to Lake Bled. It was significantly cheaper and quicker to get to Ljubljana from Graz by Flixbus. This was actually OK, but I don’t think…

I’ve got a bit behind on the blogging, but am currently travelling Back to Budapest from Ljubljana, which is a 7.5 hour journey, so plenty of time to catch up.   I’m on what looks like a small suburban train, but have been assured it’s the right one.  No announcement, nothing on the display in the…

After a lovely few days in Budapest with friends I’ve decided to take a break from the bike for a bit. It’s been very hot the last few days, and this is forecast to continue. I’ve also been getting pain in my wrist from holding the handlebars all day, so a change will hopefully do…

A short 30km today (which felt surprisingly tiring) to take me to my friends in Budapest. I headed into Szentendre before taking down the tent to check out a couple of museums. First up was the Retro Design Museum. This was full of artefacts from the 70s and early 80s There was also a good…

105km today. From the campsite I crossed back over the river into Slovakia. The path was excellent to begin with. Passed some ruins from the 1500s Unfortunately, after a while, the path turned from smooth tarmac into this: And got somewhat worse. There must have been about 10km like it – was hard work, and…

Just over 100km today. Not the most exciting day today. Most of the riding was very dull. A long stretch of the river is essentially canalised, and rather samey. The landscape gradually became more interesting. These water towers(?) were everywhere and looked kinda futuristic Spotted a swallowtail butterfly on the path too Eventually I reached…

A day of sightseeing today. I’d had a good explore and wander around yesterday while hunting for a tent pole, so decided to see a couple of the less well known attractions. First stop today was the transport museum. This had a good selection of cars, trains and other vehicles. Most of the labels were…

A relatively short day today – ~60km. Vienna and Bratislava are apparently the two closest European capitals. Not much to say about the ride – most of it was pretty samey: The flood wall was completely straight for maybe 5 miles or so. Some nice flowers in the borders though, and lots of birdsong and…

A short ride today – 40km – got me to Vienna for lunchtime. Having been cycling with someone for the last two days, it was strange being on my own again, though I bumped into someone from last night’s campsite on the way, and we cycled together for a bit before our paths diverged. When…

110km today. I’m about 30km before Vienna. A damp start, which turned into rain shortly after setting off. A mixture of flatter and valley landscapes today, with plenty of nice churches and castles on the way Camping in Tulln tonight. They were setting up for a concert on the waterfront when we went past, so…

Another ~100km today (though the track stopped recording at one point, so I’m not quite sure how far). There was a little bit more of yesterday’s gorge before the landscape opened out again Went past a hydro power station shortly after setting off, and then reached another about 20km further on. There was a drop…

102km today.  Warm, but (fortunately) not quite as warm as it has been.   I set off from the small campsite and rejoined the river.  The start of the day was similar to yesterday – flat (presumably floodplain) farmland and flood protection banks. The path was soon following the river more closely giving nice views The…

105km today. This was a little more than I was planning, owing to some diversions on the Danube trail. Firstly, a nice view of Regensburg as I left this morning: It was a little fiddly leaving the city, but once I was out of it the river widened quite quickly To be blunt, a lot…

~90 km today. I woke up very early, given the traffic noise at the campsite, so was on the road by 07:30. The first part of today’s ride closely followed the motorway, so I didn’t get to avoid it even then. My path headed off east along the Altmuel after about 10km or so, where…

71km today. I started off quite late today, and began by following the Altmuehl, to Altmuehlsee. After this, I was following what I think is a water supply canal. At one point this disappears into a tunnel (built in the 1980s), and the path goes through the woods. Eventually I joined the Brombachsee – this…

85km today. A very early wake up call from the church in Laudenbach, which started ringing its bell at 6am. Was on the road by 8. A steady but rather long climb to start with; went on for at least a mile. Saw what was either a very large slow worm, or a silver snake…

~80km today, again rather unpleasantly hot, but nice scenery, and some hills. Last night’s campsite was part of a Canoe club, where they were holding a birthday party for (I assume) one of the members. So it was a bit noisy, but luckily I had ear plugs with me. They seemed to sing happy Birthday…

Quite a long day today – 101km. The weather was much cooler and I had a tail wind, which helped a lot. I was slightly dreading the navigation for this bit, as it was a bit off piste, and not following the River Main (essentially cutting the corner off and avoiding Frankfurt. I’m sure it’s…

I’d expected today to be fairly gentle, but it turned out to be quite tiring. It was about 65km, but the heat made it very difficult Then it was on to Mainz. I’m staying at a nice campsite just on the other side of the river. After setting up camp I took the bus into…

Lots more river riding today. I think it was about 70km, but something went wrong with the trip recording. The first major stop was Koblenz, where the Mosel joins the Rhein, at Deutsches Eck. After an indifferent Currywurst and Frites (insert joke about it being the worst), I headed out south along the river. There…

72km today. Headed south through the rather industrial north of Cologne (past a huge Ford plant), then along the riverfront through the centre. After the centre there was a more recently (re?)developed waterfront. All very nice, but somewhat soulless. Then it was on to Bonn. This was further than I was expecting. I was there…

A rest day in Köln today. I got the bus and train into town – it was about a 10 minute walk from the campsite. I’d planned to head into Bonn to do some sightseeing too, but realised I’d bought the wrong ticket, so will save that for when I pass through tomorrow. There was…

Just a short post today… cycled from Venlo to north of Cologne. Was about 85km in total. I encountered my first hill just outside Venlo, before the German border. For Bristol readers it was about 1/3 of a Park Street. There was some Sunday morning Greyhound racing in the park after the hill. Then it…

Cycled to just outside Venlo, via Eindhoven and Helmond, today. This was about 70km. I was curious to see Evoluon in Eindhoven; I’d been there as a child, but it was derelict at the time. Sadly I was there a bit early to see the exhibition on retro futures. It’s certainly a striking building. The…

I’m into my second country… Belgium. I’m not sure how many times I crossed the Belgium Dutch frontier today, but I suspect it’s in double figures. I did about 75km today , and am camping just west of Eindhoven. The campsite I was aiming for is currently hosting a (free) festival, which I may cycle…

I’d (optimistically) planned to cycle to Baarle-Nassau today.  I did about 55 miles, but the heat was getting too much.  I saw a sign to camping at Liesbos, a couple of miles away, and decided to call it a day. There were a lot of cyclists on the ferry, and I’d got talking to another…

Took the train down from Mums to Harwich yesterday evening, to catch the overnight ferry to Hook of Holland. I’d semi-planned to cycle from Wrabness, where Grayson Perry’s “House for Essex” is, but couldn’t get off the train there as the short platform meant the doors in the bike carriage didn’t open. The boat was…

Went for a test ride with all my stuff yesterday evening. Ended up going 40 miles. Went up to Pucklechurch then east until reaching the Fosseway, which I followed into Batheaston. From there it was through Bath and back home along the railway path