by Cassie, November 12th, 2009 | No Comments
Friday, September 25, 2009
We had a little more climbing to get over the mountains of the Black Forest, but we were refreshed from our rest day in Titisee. Then, the rest of the ride was downhill or flat going through a river valley. It was beautiful riding through the small towns and farms in the Black Forest. Some of the herds of cows have cow bells around their necks, and we would hear the clanging of all the bells as we rode by the pasture. Most of the ride was on good gravel roads or quiet paved roads through the countryside. One section of the bike route was marked on the map as a gravel road running parallel to the main road, but instead it was an overgrown old logging road. Someone had cleared the branches from the sides of the road, but they left them on the road. We had to ride through tall grass and over piles of dead branches. Fortunately, when the bikes are loaded down with weight, it is similar to driving a big truck, and we were able to plow through the overgrown road.
Riding through Black Forest
We had one more short climb after Wolterdingen before arriving in Donaueschingen and leaving the Black Forest. I was sad to leave the mountains behind, but I was excited to start our bike tour along the Danube River tomorrow!
View of Wolterdingen
by Cassie, November 11th, 2009 | No Comments
Thursday, September 24, 2009
We were originally planning to continue riding through the Black Forest, but we were enjoying being in the mountains so much that we decided to spend an extra day in Titisee and hike in the mountains. We hiked from Titisee to Hinterzarten, and it was beautiful hiking through the lush pine forests with moss and ferns everywhere. We stopped at a bakery in Hinterzarten for lunch, and I got the apple strudel. It was delicious! I made a pledge to eat lots of apple strudel while we were in Germany. 🙂
Hinterzarten
Since it did not take us very long to hike to Hinterzarten, we decided to hike to the Feldberg, the highest mountain in the Black Forest, at 1,493 meters. There was a cable car up to the top of the Feldberg, and on clear days, you are supposed to be able to see the Alps. We hiked by the pretty mountain lake, Feldsee.
Feldsee
When we arrived at the cable car up the mountain, a bunch of sheep was being herded through the fields under the cable car. The herding dogs were running around and gathering up all the stray sheep. It was really fun to watch.
Feldberg cable car and herd of sheep under it
We decided to get some ice cream before going on the cable car. However, as we were eating our ice cream, the cable car stopped! I looked at my watch, and it was 5:05pm. We couldn’t believe that the cable car stopped running at 5pm. Everything in Titisee was open until 6pm, so we figured we had another hour before it closed down. We checked the bus schedule for getting back to Titisee, and the last bus was at 5:30pm. We had hiked all the way to the Feldberg, and we were so close to getting to the top! We had to catch the bus in order to make it back to Titisee before dark, so we left without seeing the view from the top. It wasn’t a very clear day, so we probably wouldn’t have been able to see the Alps from the top anyway.
by Cassie, November 11th, 2009 | No Comments
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
This was our first rest day of the trip. We were exhausted from our climb over the mountains, so we spent the day relaxing in Titisee. Titisee is a cute little town on a pretty lake in the middle of the Black Forest. Titisee was packed with tourists. They had a big parking lot for the big bus tours, so there was a steady stream of tourists coming into town. However, at 5pm, all the busloads of tourists retreated to their fancy hotels in the big city, and the town became a ghost town. They had paddleboats, rowboats, and electric boats you could rent to go out on the lake. We were still worn out from yesterday’s ride, so we opted for an electric boat. 🙂 We had a nice relaxing boat ride around the lake.
Titisee Lake
Driving the electric boat on the lake
At this point, we had a bunch of stuff (mostly maps) we were carrying on our bikes that we no longer needed. We decided to mail it all home, so that we didn’t have to carry it around for the rest of the trip. We mailed almost 2kg of stuff back to the US, and our bags were much lighter afterwards!
by Cassie, November 11th, 2009 | No Comments
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
We rode out of Freiburg and into the mountains of the Black Forest! It was beautiful riding through the forest and into the mountains. The forest reminded of us the Northwest with its lush pine forests. We knew that the ride up the mountains was going to be tough when we looked at topo maps, but it was different to actually experience it. We were riding on good, gravel roads through the mountains with no traffic. However, the climb was really tough with all the weight on our bikes. We kept climbing and climbing, and I was completely exhausted when we finally reached the top of the mountain. We were rewarded for our climb by coasting down the mountain into Titisee. It was a long, hard day of riding. Although we did not cover many miles, it felt like we had biked a lot further. We arrived at the campground, and we had another climb to get up the hill to get to the campground! We made it to the campground, and we got to our campsite and collapsed.
Riding through the Black Forest
We're riding down the mountain at last!
Black Forest Mountains!
by Cassie, November 11th, 2009 | No Comments
Monday, September 21, 2009
Freiburg is a cool city on the edge of the Black Forest. I felt like I was walking around in a storybook. Grimms fairy tales, like Hansel and Gretel, were set in the Black Forest. Freiburg was completely destroyed by bombing in WWII. First, Germany accidentally bombed the city when they intended to bomb France. Then, the Allies finished it the job when they bombed the city later. Many of the buildings have two dates: the date it was originally built and the date it was rebuilt after the war. The city has been amazingly restored to look like it did before the war. It looked like medieval city, but the buildings lacked the signs of age.
Storybook street with vines hanging between buildings
While walking through the streets in the city center, you will hear the pleasant sound of running water. Freiburg has constantly flowing water in the street gutters called Bächle. The water is diverted from the Dreisam river. The water was used for fighting fires and for watering livestock. During the sumer, these Bächle naturally cool the air.
Running water on all the streets
Freiburg has a huge cathedral that was undergoing major renovation. There was a market set up outside the cathedral, and we knew we had arrived in Germany when we walked by an entire row of stands selling any type of bratwurst you would want.
Munster
Market by Munster
Freiburg was surrounded by the mountains of the Black Forest. It was a dramatic change for us after biking through the flat lowlands. We hiked up one of the hills next to the city, and we had great views of the city. Unfortunately, it was cloudy, so we were not be able see very far. They have an observation tower at the top of the hill, and it would have been an amazing view on a clear day.
Walking through Black Forest
Observation Tower
by Cassie, November 11th, 2009 | No Comments
Sunday, September 20, 2009
It was an adventure negotiating the trains with our bikes! In Mechelen, we had to haul our bikes up three flights of stairs to get to the train platform. Then, we had to get our loaded bikes on and off the train. We managed it, but it took a bit of effort. We changed trains twice: in Brussels and in Basel, Swizterland. The trains were packed with people. Fortunately, for our long stretch from Brussels to Basel, we boarded the train at the start of its route, so we were able to get good seats by the window. Tons of people got on and off the train. I have five different people sit next to me between Brussels and Basel. The train ride went smoothly until we got to Basel. We were confused by the train schedule since it had us get off at one station at Basel with “10 minuten interlopen”, and then board our next train at another station in Basel. We saw a women who was getting off when we got to Basel, so we asked her about the train schedule. She was really helpful, and we found out that we had to get off at the station in Basel, France to go through customs before entering the Basel, Switzerland station. We had assumed that Switzerland was a part of the EU, but it is not a member of the EU. Switzerland is in the middle of the Europe, but they are the only country that is not part of the EU. All the neighboring countries are part of the EU. We short layover in Basel, Switzerland station before boarding the train to Freiburg, but we couldn’t do anything while we were there. Everything was in Swiss francs, but we were not going to change our money to Swiss francs because we were only going to be in Switzerland for an hour. We couldn’t even go to the bathroom at the train station because you had to pay in Swiss francs to use the bathroom. It was so ridiculous! We boarded our final train, and it was a short ride to Freiburg, Germany. We arrived in Freiburg, but we had not figured out where to stay yet. I found a good hostel listed in the guidebook, but we didn’t know how to get there from the train station. Fortunately, they had an information kiosk next to the train station that had a computer with free Internet access, which was awesome! We were able to look up directions to the hostel. It was 11pm when we arrived in Freiburg, so it made more challenging to find the hostel late at night. We were within blocks of where the hostel was, but then we couldn’t find the street that it was on. We wandered around for a while, and then, we finally found the hostel. This was the first time we had stayed in a hostel, so we didn’t know what to expect. The hostel was really nice, and everyone was really friendly and helpful. The place had a carefree, hippie atmosphere, and the man who was working there said to us, “Make yourselves at home here.”
by Cassie, November 11th, 2009 | No Comments
Saturday, September 19, 2009
We made it Mechelen after only a few hours of biking. We were worn out from the long day of riding yesterday and the lack of sleep the night before, so we were ready to stop in Mechelen. The campground was very strange. We arrived at the place where the campground was marked on the map. It was in a big recreation area, but we couldn’t figure out where the campground was. They had a big gate around the recreation area, and we asked someone about camping. They said there was camping and let us through the gate to go to the reception inside the big building. We paid for camping, and they gave us the keys for the bathrooms. However, it was only 1:30pm, and they said we couldn’t set up our tent until 4pm. We got to the “camping” area, and it was really strange. They had three trekker huts, and they said we could set up our tent in front of the the huts. However, the “camping” area was in the middle of a park with benches and a paved walking path. It was a Saturday afternoon, so there were lots of people in the park. There was a beach where people were swimming, and there was a playground where kids were playing. Since they had a gate around the recreation area, they closed it down at night, so we decided to lock up our bikes behind one of the trekker huts and head into town. When we came back later, the place was empty, so we set up our tent in the middle of the park. Although the campground was very strange, it was blissfully quiet after the craziness of our campsite last night. We were the only ones camping there, and we were so happy that we did not need our earplugs at all. 🙂
Riding into Mechelen
Mechelen campsite
Our main task for the day was purchasing train tickets to Germany. Originally, we were planning to bike to Brussels. However, the bike book recommended taking the train from Mechelen to Brussels since there is no good bike route into the city. When we got bike maps, none of them showed the Brussels area. We didn’t want to deal with taking the train to Brussels and then fighting traffic to ride our bikes from the train station to the campground. Instead, we decided to skip Brussels and head straight to Germany instead. We weren’t sure how it was going to work to take our bikes on the train, but it ended up not being a problem at all. We just got an additional train ticket for our bikes, and we were set. However, we had a little bit of a problem when we bought our tickets. We said we wanted to go to Freiburg, but we did not realize that there was more than one Freiburg in Germany. The man who helped us was really great, and he thought he got the right Freiburg for us. He showed us the route, and Jonathan saw that it went through Basel, Switzerland. Jonathan remembered that Freiburg was near Basel, so we knew were going to the right Freiburg. We successfully got our train tickets for Freiburg, Germany leaving at 11am the next morning. We would arrive in Freiburg late on Sunday night.
With our important task completed, we were free to spend the rest of the day wandering around Mechelen. Continuing with our theme that there is a party going on everywhere we go, there was big festival going on in Mechelen. The streets were full of stands and lots of people walking around. Mechelen is a neat city with a grand square with a huge cathedral and fancy guild houses. Having finally made it to Mechelen, we were glad that we decided to continue on to Mechelen.
Mechelen Grote Markt
Mechelen Grote Markt
by Cassie, November 11th, 2009 | No Comments
Friday, September 18, 2009
We debated taking the train directly from Gent to Germany and skipping the last stretch of riding through Belgium. We were spoiled by the pleasure of riding in the Netherlands, and it was not as much fun to ride along busy roads in Belgium. However, we found a bike map that showed the route from Gent to Mechelen that avoided the busy roads, but it was longer since it followed the river. The ride was mostly along a bike path, so it was an enjoyable ride.
We had a couple issues with our bikes, but this was the first time we’d had any trouble since the first day with all the flat tires. Jonathan got his first flat tire in Gent, but he had patched up the tire with our glue-on patches. However, we had barely gotten out of Gent when his tire was flat again. We were both frustrated because our Kevlar tires were supposed to prevent flat tires. The tires were a huge pain to get on and off, but once they were on, we should have had smooth riding. Just as Jonathan was about to put the inner tube back on the tire after patching it, he checked the tire for sharp objects causing the puncture and discovered the nail still stuck in the tire that had caused both flat tires. He removed the nail, and we had no more flat tires.
I also had a problem with my bike cleats making my feet sore after riding with them for long periods of time. I finally figured out that the cleat on the bottom of the shoe was not adjusted properly. When I was pedaling, the cleat should have been placed where the pressure comes from the ball of my foot, but all the pressure was actually on the upper part of my foot and my toes. After adjusting the cleats, it was so much more comfortable to ride.
We tried to make it to Mechelen today, but it was too far. We were completely worn out, so we decided to stop for the day. Unfortunately, Belgium has very few campgrounds, so the next campground was in Mechelen. We stopped in the town of Puur, and it only had one hotel that was expensive. It was our only option for the night without more riding, so we asked for a room. However, we did not know that there was huge festival in Puur that weekend, and all the accommodations in the area were completely booked. The hotel owners told us that they did have camping at the festival, so we thought that it might not actually turn out so bad. Then, we arrived at the festival campground… It was a huge field, and they were packing as many tents as they could into it. There were tons of people there bringing in lots of beer, so there was going to be wild party at the campground that night. Since we didn’t have any other option, we decided to camp there for the night. We had to wait in a long line just to get into the campground. They searched everyone’s bags for banned items such as weapons, drugs, and glass. They were mostly concerned about glass, and they had a huge pile of glass containers that had been removed from people’s bags. Once we got into the field for camping, we had to wait in another line. They moved a piece of rope every few minutes to open up another section of the field for camping. When they did this, the next group of people rushed onto the field to claim a spot to set up the tent. It was total chaos. We managed to get a spot for our tent, and we were packed in by all the other tents. We set up our tent, and then, we left the campground to get a little peace and quiet before attempting to get some sleep. We were starving, so we stopped at a pizza place. After our long day of riding, the pizza tasted like a slice of heaven. We returned the campground later that night, and it was relatively quiet since most of the people were at the concert. I managed to fall asleep, and Jonathan was surprised that I slept through some really loud noises. At one point, the generator for the super bright light in the field ran out of fuel, and everyone started cheering loudly. Someone else threw a chair into the dumpster for fun, and that made an incredibly loud crashing noise. However, I was woken up when our drunken neighbors returned from the concert. They thought it was the funniest thing in the world to scream “Oooooouga” at the top of the lungs. Every time I had almost fallen back to sleep, another idiot would scream “Oooooouga” again, but I finally managed to get back to sleep. The campground was surprisingly noisy in the morning. I thought that everyone would be sleeping after staying up most of the night, but they were up before us. Our lovely neighbors were up and still randomly screaming “Oooooouga” in the morning. They also had a radio station broadcasting live from the campground, so they starting playing loud music at 9am. Jonathan and I did not stick around long. We packed up and headed out as soon as we could.
Festival camping at Puur
by Cassie, November 11th, 2009 | No Comments
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Gent is neat, old city that has the charm of Brugge without the hordes of tourists. Gent was founded in around 800, so it has a lot of neat, old buildings. The campground was on the outskirts of the city, so we had our first public transportation experience in Europe. The bus was really nice with comfortable seats. We got off the bus right by St. Micheal’s bridge, which has the best view of the city’s monuments. Most of the city center was a pedestrian zone, so it was a pleasure to walk along the streets without dealing with the crazy Belgian drivers. Gent was also a huge construction zone. There were cranes everywhere doing restoration work. It looked like they were doing a lot of work to make the city as big of a tourist attraction as Brugge.
View from St. Michaels Bridge
We toured the Castle of the Counts, a huge castle with a moat around part of it. We walked around the castle walls, and we had a great view of the city. The castle also had exhibition on medieval torture, and it was really gruesome. I would not have wanted to be accused of a crime in the Middle Ages.
Castle of the Counts
We climbed the Belfort tower for another great view of the city. It was much better than the Belfort tower in Brugge because you could walk around the tower outside for unobstructed views. There was an archaeological dig taking place directly below the Belfort, and it was really neat to see it from above.
Belfort
Archaeological dig
View from Belfort - St. Baaf Cathedral
View from Belfort
View from Belfort
Of course, we also had to stop and get some more Belgian chocolates! It is amazing how cheap the chocolates are in Belgium. It is the one thing that is cheaper in Europe. If we bought the same amount of chocolates at Chocolaterie Stam in Des Moines, it would have been much more expensive.
Gent is beautifully lit up at night, and it was neat to walk around the city at night. We decided to walk back to the campground instead of taking the bus, and it was a longer walk that we realized. It took us 1 hour and 10 minutes to walk back. We were so worn out from walking that we were looking forward to riding our bikes the next day. 🙂
St. Baaf Cathedral lit up at night
by Cassie, November 11th, 2009 | No Comments
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Belgium was not as bike-friendly as the Netherlands. There were very few bike paths, so we spent most of our time riding along roads. Unlike the drivers in the Netherlands, the Belgian drivers were not courteous to bikers at all. Almost everyone drove like maniacs, acting like they were race car drivers. They did not move over for bike riders at all. We pulled over to the side of the road when a car passed us. The drivers were even crazy on the quiet, country roads through the farms. We would be relaxed from riding along a quiet country lane when suddenly a car would come barreling down the road out of nowhere and refuse to slow down or move over for us. We had to quickly pull over to the side or get run over. In the Netherlands, most people would ride their bike to get around, so there were fewer cars on the roads. Belgium was designed more for car traffic, and we saw more big roads in Belgium than we did in all of the Netherlands.
We spent most of the day riding through cornfields, which was a little ridiculous considering that we came from Iowa. 🙂 We felt like we were on a European RAGBRAI.
Riding through cornfields in Belgium
We stopped for lunch along the only bike path of the day, and there were a bunch of goats and sheep grazing on the side of the bike path. Some of the goats would get up on their hind legs and balance themselves on the small, lower branches to eat the leaves of the trees. At one point, one goat was on its hinds legs eating from the tree, and two other goats put their front hooves on the back of the first goat so that they could also reach the leaves on the trees. It was hilarious to watch! It was like they were trying to do a cheerleading trick. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get my camera out in time to get a picture of it.
We spent most of the day following the canal that goes from Brugge to Gent, and we saw several big barges going along the canal.
Barge going down Brugge - Gent canal
The campground where we stayed in Gent was really nice. It was the first campground that had numbered campsites for tents. Every other campground was set up mostly for caravans, and they just had a field where you could put your tent anywhere. Our campsite was separated from the other campsites by a row of bushes, and we even had our own picnic table. The campground was in a hugh sports and recreation complex with indoor tennis courts, squash courts, indoor ski park, sports fields, and miniature golf. We arrived at the campsite early in the afternoon, so we had some fun and played a round of miniature golf. The miniature golf course was challenging. One of the holes had a little ramp, and you had to hit the ball across a little ravine. The holes used the same material that is used for outdoor tracks, so there was not much friction to stop the ball from rolling. This made the course even more challenging. There were several times where we barely hit the ball, and it bounced outside of the hole.
Campsite at Gent
