One world of cycle touring: Latest posts

The only day of climbing in the whole trip today: up to 500m or so, as I crossed the hilly country north of Würzburg. The prospect hadn’t exactly been keeping me awake, but I was aware of it, shall we say. What did keep me awake, though, was a man shouting, singing and arguing with...

Rothenburg ob der Tauber is not to be confused with Rotenburg an der Fulda, or Rotenburg an der Wümme. And note not just the ‘h’, but the ‘ob’: the picture-postcard Romantic town is ‘over’ the Tauber, whereas the h-less ones are ‘on’ their particular rivers. Rothenburg is high on a bluff above the Tauber, which...

A day of heavy rain, short distances, and my most expensive accomm of the trip: a guesthouse in the Old Town of half-timbered honeypot Rothenburg ob der Tauber. But it was worth it to have the place to myself in the evening after the tourist buses had gone, to have somewhere to dry my sodden...

It was your echt Romantic Road today: a super ride past authentic German sights such as colourful half-timbered town houses, sturdy medieval city walls, and heavy goods vehicles. A reminder that ‘Romantic’ is not always the same as ‘romantic’. Anyway, it was another fisty and moggy morning. But thanks to another early start and the...

A fine day of easy, flat, stress-free paths and gravel roads. After a chill and foggy start, that is, alongside the mirror-grey waters of the Lech from my campsite into Landsberg centre. But it earned me that great German start to a morning: Kaffee und Kuchen. The cafe clientele consisted of half-a-dozen smart-casual mature types...

I’m doing Germany End to End. South to north, Austrian border to Danish. Specifically, from Füssen, home of that Disneyland castle; to Sylt, the North Sea island where the country’s celebs hang out. I’m mainly following the D9 Route, along the Romantic Road and then the Weser. Beer and sausages may be involved. I spent...

After a splendid time at Reeth Show yesterday, I rode up hill and down dale to Skipton today: a leisurely forty-mile traverse of the Yorkshire Dales from top to bottom, involving Swaledale, Wensleydale, Coverdale, Wharfedale and Airedale. (There’s something like 30–50 dales in the Dales, so this only involved a fraction of them.) →See map...

Yorkshire’s annual country shows and fairs are a strong part of the county’s culture. They vary from the blockbuster ‘national’ Great Yorkshire Show each July to many dozens of smaller, field-sized village affairs. In the upper middle are grand events such as Reeth Show, up in Swaledale each August Bank Holiday Monday. Today was August...

Yorkshire has many places with very silly names. Rise, Jump, Settle. Idle. Wham. Giggleswick, Land of Nod, Netherthong. Robin Hood (yes, not ‘Robin Hood’s Bay’). And everyone’s favourite, Wetwang. Plus Booze, where I was this morning. The hamlet of under a dozen houses is up a steep, steep lane off Arkengarthdale, not far from Reeth...

I’ve overnighted while cycle-touring in all sorts of places. Docked ferries, (former) jails, military barracks, tractor sheds. Even a rare-breed tropical spider house in the Amazon – though it wasn’t called that, it was called a ‘holiday lodge’. But last night, in the Yorkshire Dales, I experienced a rather special first: staying overnight in a...