Day 3. Hard yakka to Gunzburg

The first goal today was Ulm, 37kms away. The route zigzagged through farmland and what made it difficult was our maps were all on my iPad . Brilliant idea I thought except the damn thing went flat so no maps today !!

Ehingen fountain . Christine got 2 of her fixs in Ulm. A large German cake and a visit to the Ulm cathedral . The spire is the tallest in Europe at 165 metres .! ( she also lit the usual candles for friends and family ).  The old part of Ulm is stunning . The crooked house is in the  Guinness book of records as being the most bent house ever

A large part of the route after Ulm went through forest. Metal track but not bad. Broke another spoke though ! We lost the route a few times in this part and only made good  60kms though I swear we must have done 70.

  We've ended up in Gunzberg . A lovely old walled town with a Lego world as a tourist attraction. School holiday this week so voila , no accommodation !

 Thank god for our little tent. At least we can sleep SOMEWHERE. 

Day 2 . Ehingen

The best part of biking is all the great characters you meet. Yesterday it was Gary and Lisa on a tandem. They're from Sydney 

Then today we teamed up with Moshe from Israel. It was spectacular biking country and he kept saying " wow ! 2 months ago I was sitting in my office and now I'm free!"

Then there was the couple with a large dog in a trailer each

And then there was this Swissy who had built a trike that charged its own batteries. Trouble was it was so heavy it wouldn't go without the batteries and today they're flat so here he sits

EVERYONE pushed their bikes up this steepy at Dathausen and the lady by the fountain at the top was collecting names and countries off everyone

70 Kms today to Ehingen and this b n b

1st day on the Danau

We arrived in Zurich at 1.30pm so it was ideal for catching a train to Tuttlingen where we would start from. Easy except for lugging the bikes around Zurich Central . The train passed over the Rhine next to the spectacular Rhine falls

Good to be leaving Switzerland. That coke and water,$15 NZ 

An hour and a bit later ,we assemble the bikes on the Station and find a hotel for the night.

This is the town we finished at last year and this sign marks 35 Kms from the source . Surprisingly got an early start, 6am!

  9 Kms down the track and I changed down for the first time . BANG !!

  The derailier had been damaged in transit, also bent the back wheel and broke the carrier. Then we noticed Christine's bike had a couple of decent dings in the frame as well.!

   Oh well , shite happens. The locals were very helpful and got us onto the bus back to Tuttlingen where the bike shop got it all fixed in an hour.

Off again ! And speaking of shit happening ,this cowshed is right in the middle of a village and the cows are kept inside all year round with the crap emptied out daily. This could be an answer to the empty shop problem we have  in Katikati. ?

The Donau is just a stream still through here. We could go 10kms or more and not hear a car as the roads were not always in the valley. Some metal sections, but even this was a smooth lime surface. 

 Fabulous scenery!  Castles growing out of rocks, cows with bells ringing and the trail cutting through the middle of farmers homesteads .

Tonight we've reached Sigmaringen , 70kms travelled and have crashed in a cabin at the motor camp. Basic but only €30 so it'll do.

Gum trees and grand kids

We arrived in Sydney on Friday night,30th, to a city packed out for the vivid light show. It was spectacular with light shows on all the major downtown buildings including the opera house and the bridge . Could only find this hostel to stay in , could hardly swing a bike !

Susan and Michael had bought the girls down to Sydney to a netball tournament so we trained and biked to Liverpool to meet them. Auspicious start, I threw up in their brand new Santa Fe on the way home ! Christine caught it later in the week ! Bit of a worry!

  Anyway, had a great week with the kids and Susan dropped us back at Sydney airport this morning

I love travelling except for the boring bits like sleeping in airports and the long flights cooped up( had the misfortune of having a quantas flight to Dubai. They are the pits )

A little "&$@" at Sydney security confiscated my 6" crescent which TOTALLY pissed me off. Said it was a danger as I might hit somebody over the head with it.   ?? Until that moment I'd never considered it but after meeting him I can see how one could be tempted. 

  Back to sleep now and then only 6 more hours to Zurich. For my next long trip I think I'll sell a kidney and go business class.

Eurovelo 6 .The story so far

It was back in 2008 that we cycled the Loire valley from Briare to Nantes ,doing the first stage from Paris to Briare, then on to Tours with friends Ash and Lee.

   We crossed to the left bank at Briare over a magnificent viaduct designed by Eiffel ,and wandered along quiet back roads through beautiful little villages and passing the occasional Chateaux along the way

Accommodation was either a chambre dote ( B and B ) or a bungalow like this one at 50 euros for 4.

   We passed several nuclear power stations on the Loire, France has heaps of them. The girls took off and left us whenever we passed one !

We stayed with friends Bart and Annika at Usse and had a lovely evening of music and wine . The Chataeux D'Usse is plainly visible just up the road.

Ash and Lee returned to Paris from here while we carried on to Nantes . We stayed with good friends John and Myriam there and visited the Jules Verne theme park where we saw the giant elephant . What a place ! After we had ridden to the coast at st Nazaire , john dropped us at the Brest canal which we then followed north.

   So you see the first part of the Eurovelo 6  bike route , we did quite by accident,but it made us want to go back and do more. 

   So,  last year we did the next stage to the headwaters of the Danube, and this year we'll start at that point ,Immendingen, following the Danube (Donau )and see how far we can get ! At least Budapest I hope. The route goes from St Nazaire on the Atlantic to Constanta on the Black Sea .

Homeward

This was the first time we'd been up over the Takaka hill and probably the last. Takaka is a pretty village , and Collingwood also, but that hill !!

 

There was plenty of space on the ferry so lined up with dozens of other campers , all hire ones, and crossed back to Wellington .

We came home via Taranaki so we could drop in on family

This is Okaiawa where I grew up, ok , where I lived as a youngster. The tennis court is where I met Christine nearly 50 YEARS ago

   Got home Sunday 9th so christine could play inter club the next day !