Author: Rob Ainsley

Germany rivers well. (In German you can verb anything.) I’ve done some of the big-ticket waterway routes – Danube, Mosel, Elbe – so it was nice to explore some of the smaller ones. The Neckar ambles down from the Black Forest hills to join the Rhine at Mannheim, a place I now feel familiar with;…

What was it like to cycle in Ancient Rome? To find out, we cycled the classic intact-Roman-Road stretch of the Appian Way, the Empire’s A1, which ran 365 miles from the capital down to the Brindisi. As the Via Appia Antica, it’s a popular hire-bike jaunt with visitors, going from the Baths of Caracalla in…

Ah, yes. Venice. La Serenissima, whose elegant centre has been car-free since the 1600s. Bike-free too, sadly: having emerged from the train station of Santa Lucia to the abrupt, astounding canalfront facades of the old town, you are informed by signs forbidding all bikes in the historic centre, even pushed. Nigel could have hidden his…

Slovenia’s capital has two wonderful things for cyclists. First, its enormous car-free old town, a joyful sprawl of pavement cafes, bars and restaurants, alive with the gentle hubbub of pedestrians, a few bikes, and no combustion engines. Second, dumplings. After our very scenic train journey from Salzburg, with fine valley and mountain views, we enjoyed…

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…