The Neckar Bike Trail

Monday 3 June

Still no wi-fi.

Here we are, tucked up in bed at Rottweil, having ridden, we estimate, about 45 kms or so from Donnaueschingen which is the source of the Danube and where we started our ride along the Danube two years ago to Passau (and where we joined the Rad & Riesen tour for the Passau-Budapest-Passau barge/cycle tour).

It was an exciting feeling to be back here again, but this time to cycle from the source of the Neckar River (which is a few more kms north from here near Villingen). We will join another Rad & Reisen barge/cycle tour later in the week on Saturday at Bad Wimpfen through to Koblenz.

We got away from Sélestat just after 8.30 a.m. as planned. The day was overcast - I have no idea what the forecast was all about that stated fine weather for the rest of the week; we cycled first of all to the station where we bought train tickets to get us to Donnaueschingen. This involved the train firstly to Strasbourg (where we dashed off on a 'wild goose chase' to find the (elusive) replacement camera charger for My Friend); an hour later we took a 2nd train to Offenburg.

We are now firmly back in Germany! The little train deposited us at Offenburg for a further hour but we used up some of this time massaging our heavy bikes into the lifts to avoid the stairs down and back up to another platform.

The last train - to Donaueschingen - was very picturesque (a bit like Switzerland: very green, cows grazing in the fields, chalets). The train climbed through mountains and passed through tunnels and arrived at Donaueschingen close to 1.30 p.m. 

After yet another fruitless visit to a camera shop, the helpful lad at the Tourist Office pointed us in the direction of another (which, as luck would have it, was on the road out of town for us) and finally, My Friend had success.

The lad at the Tourist Office had said there was no bike path to our first point of call, Villingen. In fact he was wrong. After the camera shop, there was a long climb with traffic and at the bottom of the subsequent descent, we found a bike path taking us all the way through to Villingen. 

It was still overcast and now pretty cold but the cycling was glorious: up and down, through bright yellow swathes of canola and the countryside green, green, green; creeks full to the brim; lovely wood groves; no traffic and we had the trail almost to ourselves - dedicated bike paths all the way.

Alas, it started to rain a couple of kms out.

We arrived a little wet in Villingen and had a late "lunch" of coffee (in nice big bowls) and shared a big piece of fig CAKE (Tracey: eat your heart out!). 

Such a pretty town - the buildings decorated with bright colours and interesting works of art). There was a Vaude shop opposite the bakery (note to Ali: Dad bought a Vaude "skull cap" to wear under his helmet to keep his newly-shorn head warm).

We cycled on, the rain still a steady drizzle. And it was FREEZING. I had seen 11 deg C on a temperature gauge somewhere during the day and I doubt it got any warmer than that; it certainly felt colder! I put on an extra wool layer plus wool gloves and My Friend was happy to have the new skull cap.

After Schwenningen, we passed the point of the source of the Neckar (called the Neckarquenelle) and officially the start of the Neckar bike path known as the Neckartalweg.

Passed Deißlingen and Lauffen: it was wet and very cold but still some very good riding alongside the Neckar:  through woods, fields of buttercups, under roads and up hills. The infrastructure for the bike path is very good and it is well-signposted although we still had some minor mishaps in navigation. The rule for tomorrow? "Stick with the arrows".

We eventually made it into Rottweil close to 7 p.m. Had a minor (almost major) melt-down just on the outskirts of town when My Friend used his GPS app to locate the hotel and it advised the hotel was 18 kms away. I thought: "I've finally done it; I've mad a boo-boo and booked us into another Rottweil somewhere else". 

Fortunately, we finally found someone who, whilst he did not know where the hotel was, spoke to another person who did, and he then translated her German instructions into English for us - which was lovely. In fact we weren't far way at all; I was so relieved!

A hot shower to thaw out my frozen toes and we found a delightful place for dinner - the Weinstube Grimm - where I had the most delicious spargel (asparagus) soup with a glass of sekt followed by a lovely plate of pasta and a glass of German red wine. Yum! My Friend had a beer (the lovely young waitress smiled when she asked him what size and he showed "large" with his hands...).

Rottweil is very pretty - the buildings are brightly coloured and richly decorated.

The Rottweiler dog is named after this town.

Tuesday 4 June

We have arrived in Horb am Neckar after an adventurous day losing our way (twice!) - "How can you follow a river & manage to get lost?" I hear you say. Well, WE can quite successfully. I think we did about 50-55 kms today; could it have been longer...?

But first things first: it was sunny today; a cold breeze at times but sunny nevertheless. We had some glorious riding through woods and crops of canola brilliant yellow against tall green grasses blowing like curtains in the wind.

What made me think the ride along the Neckar would be FLAT??? It is up and down, including a steep pinch out of Rottweil first up in the day, followed by a HUGE descent. At the bottom, there was lovely riding along the river amongst fields of flowers. The river is VERY FULL.

In fact, at breakfast we talked with 4 other riders who told us Passau was in flood. We checked this in the news later in the day when we got wi-fi:

"The Danube River, which is one of three that join in Passau, rose to a level of 12.8 meters (42 feet) late on Monday, leaving much of the city under water. This is considerably higher that the worst flood in living memory, when the Danube in Passau reached 12.2 meters in 1954, and the worst the city has experienced in more than 500 years, according to Germany's DPA news agency."

There is flooding in many parts of Europe and a state of emergency has been declared in many places. We had no idea ...

It is probably just dawning on us how lucky we are to be cycling the routes we have chosen, as many of the canals in Europe are closed and in fact, when we cycled the Saar, it was muddy in sections and water had clearly been over the track recently. And along the Neckar, we have noticed debris high up on branches of trees overhanging the river and grass beside the cycle path flattened.

Anyway, back to the day's events: we climbed a very long hill which I think was an Oberndorf circuit, probably our first mistake for the day (mine? no doubt!). There were lots of ‘WTF Are We's?’ and a bit else besides. 

Our second mistake was to bypass Sulz am Neckar: we turned away in the wrong direction passing through Vöhringen, Mülheim and Fischingen along the Sulzer radweg (bike path). The problem with the rule: "Stick with the arrows" is that there are arrows EVERYWHERE. Why? Because there are bike paths EVERYWHERE, criss-crossing the countryside.

We ended up a long way away from the Neckar, but 1. We found a bank & got some money. 2. There was some lovely riding 3. ??

We managed to (eventually) get our way back to the Neckartalweg, and then I heard murmurs of despair when I said I was going to do the detour to Glatt; I looked back and My Friend was nowhere to be seen. Hmmm, I thought: "He's really done a dummy-spit!". I descended steeply into Glatt reflecting: 1. I'm on my own with no maps; 2. Do I have much money?; 3. What if I get a puncture?; 4. WTF? Basically, all the important questions in life.

The Castle and moat were brilliant and as I settled in at the smart cafe for a drink (yes, I DID have some money!) I thought: "That'd be right - the best part of the day and My Friend is missing out!", when, perfect timing as always (when food & drink is available) he swings in across the cobblestones on his trusty steer, and I casually ask (as you do!): "Feel like a beer?".

So, appropriately refreshed, we travelled the remainder of the trail to Horb, arriving about 5 p.m. The GPS app sort of worked - it got us to the correct street but we had to walk back and forth to find the hotel - which I eventually recognized from a picture I had seen on the web when I booked.

Horb is regard as the Gateway to the Black Forest; it is where the Neckar and Grabenbach Rivers come together.

And we have wi-fi!

A hot shower and a walk through town, including up to the church that towers over it. We have a great meal at the hotel we are staying at: we both have venison goulash with dumplings with pear and peach and it is delicious. Sehr gut!

The rule for tomorrow? "Stick with the river!"

Wednesday 5 June

It is sunny today! Yay!

At breakfast early. We have 70 kms to do today.

.......

Big day.

We have arrived at Nürtingen about 5 p.m., had a shower, walked (up!) into town to the Rathaus - it doesn't feel like you have completed a visit to these German towns unless you get to the Rathaus (town hall) - usually the centre of town.

We have had a drink at a local cafe and are now back at our Hotel Pflum where we are having a nice meal of local specialties of veal and beef.

We left Horb about 8.30 a.m. this morning and rode first to Rottenburg where we enjoyed CAKE and coffee - it is a very pretty town.

The flood damage along the Neckar is much more in evidence today: the river is very swollen: the trail has dried mud in places and the debris caught up in trees and along the banks is astonishingly high.

We arrived in Tübingen - a university city - about midday. It is very big, busy and colourful. The central landmark is the Stiftskirche (Collegiate Church) which was one of the first to convert to Martin Luther's protestant church. 

There are tiny canals which are pretty and also a tunnel for cyclists and pedestrians which was a bit of a blast. 

The Markplatz was busy with a - market!

After our picnic lunch in the main park, we spent time looking around and then set off for the final 30 kms. We followed the river, had a nasty steep climb into Mittelstadt, then good flat riding passing by large lakes just before Neckartailfingen where there was a large cafe with a huge range of food and drinks on offer; there were tables and chairs set up both under cover and outside, either in the sun or in the shade.

It was now 27 deg C. Can you believe it? We are cycling in short sleeves! Has summer finally arrived????

After a very pleasant and much-needed break at the lake-side cafe (complete with people swimming and sunbaking - lots of girls in bikinis ...) we set off for the final 5-6 kms and encountered mud and water across the trail to Nürtingen. 

Found our hotel without too much trouble - GPS app worked today.

It has been a good day. The visits to Rottenburg and Tübingen very interesting. The cycling very good under some difficult conditions due to the recent floods but with great weather. 

My legs are pretty tired, probably after yesterday's climbs and we have more of the same tomorrow.

Thursday 6 June

Left Nürtingen at 8.30 a.m. and had a messy day's riding: stopping and starting, losing the way and generally a fair bit of mucking about.

Consequently, knees sore after getting on and off bike and some steepish hills in sections too. Cycled about 70 kms.

The bike path was closed at Esslingen due to flood damage ...

The Hundertwasser rain tower at Plochingen was a highlight - typical Hundertwasser style: brightly coloured and ‘way out’. Had a coffee and CAKE here; nice little town.

Cycled on towards Stuttgart which we mostly bypassed through to a suburb, Bad Cannstatt, where we stopped for the Mercedes-Benz Museum. I 'baby-sat' the bikes down by the river (gladly! to rest my now very weary knees) while MF did a very fast tour of 8 floors which he tells me was very interesting.

Mercedes-Benz is a big deal here with infrastructure over a vast area. Many, many Mercedes-Benz cars around - we even cycled along a road which was sign-posted "NO cars EXCEPT Mercedes-Benzs"!

We pressed on as I wanted to get to Ludwigsburg. It was quite hot. There was some nice riding including through a carpark where a graffiti artist had set up and with several cans of paint was adding his contribution to the already comprehensively painted carpark - even a poor old concrete statue had not been spared! We passed a large swimming pool complex: the weather being warm now, it was well-patronised. The palace at Ludwigsburg was truly amazing (although it necessitated a very big climb). 

It was very hot and we had our (now very late picnic lunch) sitting in the large courtyard.

After looking around, we cycled DOWN back to the Neckar and had a lovely ride into Marbach am Neckar. What a pretty town (and we have seen a few by now!) but this one is very small and cute.

We pushed our bikes up the steep cobble-stoned hill to the old town and to the Metzgerei (“butcher's shop") where we are staying the night; then 2 flights of very old stairs to our lovely room. The GPS app worked.

We had dinner down the street and Pat and Tracey joined us midway (they had arrived from Stuttgart after riding through Croatia and Slovenia). 

We had a great night ‘gas-bagging’ away about this and that.

Friday 7 June

We set off with Pat and Tracey about 8.30 a.m. after a lovely breakfast, beautifully presented with red glasses for orange juice, candle-lit table and home-made produce like jam, stewed berries, yoghurt and meats from the metzgerei.

Cycled to Cafe Hirsch at Besigheim, about 25 kms, for our morning tea meet-up with Erika and Knud who had ridden across from their barge via Baden-Baden.

MF had a flat tyre which had to be pumped up over last 10 kms or so. We had coffee and CAKE (now Tracey was with us to enjoy it too!) while MF changed the bike tube.

We cycled on at a fairly steady level (with Knud leading the way!) and reached the outskirts of Bad Wimpfen about midday in time for a frankfurt for some, our picnic lunch and beers and "radlers" (=shandies).

The boys went to a motor bike museum and then Pat and us girls high-tailed into Bad Wimpfen while the rest went to the Audi museum (which MF said was excellent and I sort of wish I had gone; but I also had the pleasure of a gorgeous room in our B&B to myself to have a shower and to get sorted - especially as the proprietor offered to do our washing! Bliss!).

Pat did a good job with his GPS to the B&B and we are now sitting (in the sun!) in the courtyard of our B&B having some beers and radlers. MF still to arrive from his Audi tour ...

.............

65 kms today. Glad to get off the bike!

Yummy dinner in the old town with Medieval celebrations taking place. Lots of fun. Walked around the remparts after. Very pretty.

Saturday 8 June

Went early for a walk through the town and along the river. Lovely day. Lovely light. 

Officially, today is when we start the next "leg" of our trip: the barge/cycle tour the remainder of the Neckar to Koblenz for a week so I will start a new "page".