Munich to Amsterdam 2016

Photograph with thanks to Alan Casey

Inspired by my friend who lives in Munich, we had talked for a while about doing a long distance bike tour somewhere off the beaten track. We decided on a route between the great cities of Munich and Amsterdam. Having done some preliminary research, we decided we weren’t going to use the most direct route, and instead devised a route along the German D cycle routes, and the rivers Main and Rhine to make our way on a generally flattish route north west. The winding nature of the Main and Rhine at least meant that the overall distance would be just over 1000 km, with an average of about 95 km per day. We pre-booked hotels, plotted the routes in advance using Google Maps, of which more anon, and uploaded the navigation files to our Garmins. It was to be an 11-day tour with our touring bikes, self-sufficient with panniers. Having done tours in Connemara, Cork/Kerry, North Wales, and the Loire Valley in the past, but only to a maximum of 5 days, I looked forward to the challenge of an 11-day odyssey through new territory for me.

The last week before departure consisted of deliberating over what to carry, dispensing with any unnecessary items, and packing my cardboard bike box for the flight to Munich. It was with some trepidation that I awaited my bike box at the arrivals hall in Munich, but the box came out intact, and after reassembling the bike, and loading my panniers, I was on my way into central Munich to meet the other lads – there were to be three of us. The weather was sweltering as my Garmin guided me along pristine bike lanes mainly separated from the main roads, and past the impressive Allianz Arena where the home team had just exited the Champions League the previous Tuesday. In the English Gardens I stopped to read the paper for a while and resisted the temptation to have a beer in one of the many beer gardens, before arriving at our hotel in south west Munich. I soon realised the importance of having a bell, which is mandatory under German law and which admittedly I had scoffed at before arriving in Germany. That night we attended the local beer festival, and imbibed generously, so much so that I was feeling decidedly groggy next morning. Nonetheless, spirits were high and the weather glorious as the three of us made our way into Marienplatz to mark the official start of our journey. A nice warm tailwind blew us out of central Munich past the offices of the European Patent Office, and out into the farmlands of southern Bavaria to Augsburg, our first port of call.

For the next few days we made progress north west through the low rolling hills of Bavaria roughly along the long distance Romantic D Route 9. It is said there are two types of Germans; those who live in Bavaria, or Bayern, and those who want to. The surfaces we travelled on included tarmac, gravel, forest tracks, and occasionally some grass paths deemed bike navigable by Google Maps, but the terrain was generally manageable, as we were running 28 or 32 mm width touring tires. We even had to walk across the high speed railway line after some roadworks diverted us.

Dinkelsbühl (Photograph with thanks to Alan Casey)

Day 2 from Augsburg to Dinkelsbühl included crossing the Danube, and was our longest scheduled stage at 107 km, so negotiating this gave us some confidence that we could handle the long distances with heavy loads. The end of Day 3 saw us arrive in the town of Lauda-Königshofen, in the middle of the Tauber valley wine region. There were a good few glasses of white wine drunk that night. On Day 4 we changed our plan to go into the historic city of Wurzburg in the morning and have a shorter than planned stage in the afternoon to our revised destination on the Main river.

Harsburg (Photograph with thanks to Alan Casey)

A lovely warm tailwind blew us along the winding Tauber river valley to join the Main at Wertheim-am-Main, the new plan going swimmingly so far. After leaving Wertheim heading for our destination Martheidenfeld, Google Maps brought us along the north bank of the Main. This was fine until the once dedicated tarmac bike path gradually degenerated into a gravel and then a grass path and into a dense forest. Not long after the going got so heavy we had to dismount and continue along the ‘path’ by the river shore we all thought would slowly improve. But instead the going got rougher and rougher and soon we were lifting our bikes over fallen tree trunks and wading through nettles. With the light fading, the realisation hit us that we had several options; turn back and retrace our steps through Wertheim, keep going and risk getting caught by the darkness, or calling for help. After not a lot of deliberation, we chose option 3, and about half an hour later, we were being rescued by the local fire brigade in a motor boat. In fairness, the fire brigade lads were most professional, as we sheepishly were ferried across the 300 metre width of the river to the proper bike path on the other side. By this stage it was about 9 o’clock and getting dark, so we needed our lights on to get us upriver 25 km to our hotel, legs stinging from all the nettle stings. The lesson learned was not to trust all the bike paths on Google Maps!

Rescued (Photograph with thanks to Alan Casey)

For the next few days we made our way west along the Main, past sleepy towns and numerous campsites preparing for the summer season, and through the financial city of Frankfurt. We noticed the mixture of pleasure boats and heavy tugs on the Main. The Main meets the Rhine at Mainz, and we stopped here for photographs before crossing the Rhine and stopping in Mainz for the night. By this point, the end of Day 5, we were realising the importance of consuming enough food/drink each day with all the calories we were burning and our bodies running low. Accordingly, our preparation for the following day would begin immediately after each day’s cycle, getting the electrolytes in, and eating more and more. From now on we would eat a full meal for lunch, and as always stopping every 25 km for a snack such as a banana, roll, energy bar or whatever. Although it was hardly the same, we could begin to appreciate the toughness of what a three-week Grand Tour entails and what the pros must endure. Cycle, eat, drink, recover, sleep became the pattern.

The Rhine (Photograph with thanks to Alan Casey)

The heat of Bavaria was becoming a distant memory as the weather now had turned distinctly colder. Over the next couple of days we battled a cool north wind up the left bank of the Rhine, as we donned the leg warmers and thermal vests. But the terrain was spectacular as we took in all the sights of the Rhine, including the variety of river traffic, precariously positioned castles on the steep banks of the valley, and the integrated transport links. Railway tracks run along both banks of the river, along with roads and separated bike paths. The Rhine is a real working river, utilised to its maximum potential, but as we cycled along, it didn’t feel as if the bike paths were being squeezed by the other modes of transport. Maybe it was because it was such a tough day, or because it was a Saturday, but we had a bit of a blow-out in Koblenz that night in the hotel bar where the Eurovision was being shown.

Cologne (Photograph with thanks to Alan Casey)

Cologne was the stop at the end of Day 9, and the approach along the Rhine brought us right into the middle of town with the spires of the iconic cathedral becoming ever more apparent. Other highlights included seamlessly cycling along bike paths through the cities of Bonn and Dusseldorf as we approached the Dutch border. The German-Dutch border is much like the border in Ireland – you hardly notice it’s there. However, once we crossed the border, we soon began to notice the quality of the Dutch bike paths and the appreciable increase in the number of bikes. We stopped for lunch in Zevenaar and observed the sheer quantity of bikes and people of all ages cycling. German bike paths are generally very good, but in Holland the bike paths are on a different level altogether. Smooth tarmac surfaces, with underpasses, overpasses, and junctions, Dutch cycling paths are amazing, and exist in harmony with the roads, and not as some hastily planned afterthought. The bike is king here and has priority at junctions, roundabouts and busy intersections. Cycling through the heavily urbanised Arnhem, Utrecht and into Amsterdam was such a pleasure.

Orwell in the Netherlands! (Photograph with thanks to Alan Casey)

After 11 days consecutive cycling with a total distance of as it turned out of just over 1000 km, we had made it to Amsterdam relatively unscathed with only a few mechanicals. Pretty much everyone we had met had been nice to us, and we could store our bikes securely in each hotel we stayed at. It was a relief to spend a few bike-free days in Amsterdam winding down and wandering about on foot, sampling the beers, before cycling out to Schipol Airport for the trip home.

Alan Casey