Author: Rob Ainsley

Salzburg, the city of Mozart, was a handy stopover for us rather than a destination for cycling. Or music. Or confectionery. (Mozartkugeln, ‘Mozart balls’, are the place’s famously kitsch celebration in spherical chocolate of the composer.) I’ve been through the city a few times before, so didn’t feel the need to linger in the old…

Freiburg, down at the bottom left corner of Germany, is often cited as one of its greenest, cyclingest cities. Certainly the central streets and roads are thick with riders, many of whose political colour you can easily guess. But as with Cambridge, another student city, you feel it’s more down to a self-sustaining cycling culture…

This morning we followed in the footsteps of the world’s first ever bike trip. Literally. Because, on 19 Apr 1943, research chemist Albert Hofmann rode 8km from his lab in central Basel to his house on the outskirts while high on a certain substance he’d just synthesised: LSD. It’s a very dull, yet also utterly…

This morning we followed in the footsteps of the world’s first ever bike ride. Literally. Because, on 12 Jun 1817, Carl von Drais rode-and-scooted 8km from central Mannheim to a coaching inn and back on what was soon called a draisienne, and what we’d now call a balance bike. It’s a very dull, yet also…

Münster, twinned with York. Certainly, both claim to be super-cycle-friendly cities, albeit debatably. But York doesn’t compare especially well. We didn’t have too much time to explore, given a tight schedule and terrible weather. At least the relentless drizzle was a little bit of York in western Germany. But we did get out in the…

The train ride from Copenhagen to Malmö is short – under forty minutes – but remarkable. It goes via tunnels, causeways, viaducts and bridges for around 12km over the Øresund’s choppy grey waters. (Bikes have to cross by train or bus.) So today we crossed over from Denmark to Sweden for a brief look at…

Two days riding round one of the cyclingest cities in the world, with no mermaids in sight. (Obviously she’d use a handcycle, which should present no problems on the Danish capital’s generously wide bike paths.) Despite our trains from Hamburg depositing us in Copenhagen two hours late, we still had time to explore the centre…

A day mostly on trains, which showed that Dutch and German services can be just as delayed as British ones. (Well, they’re the same owners, so maybe no surprise there.) There’s delay repay over here, but as we’re Interrailing, even if we got back what we paid that would be nothing. Anyway, we’re en route…

Baarle is a jigsaw puzzle of a town, with some pieces in Netherlands and some in Belgium. Various border disputes over the last century or two (resolved in the European High Court) have resulted in a fractal geography where there are lots of detached bits of one country in the other, some too small to…

I’m Interrailing with a folding bike for a few weeks with my pal Nigel. Thanks to a special offer earlier this year, I snapped up a two-month free pass for trains around Europe for 327 euros. That’s about £285, which is less than my average monthly energy bill these days. Sadly sleepers aren’t included, which…