Km on the clock: 450
I left the camp site quite annoyed the next day. It did not have to do anything with the camp site itself. Actually it is a very nice place and has a lot to offer for families with kids. However, of course I was lucky enough to camp right next to two couples who decided to start a fight in the middle of the night which made it impossible to get some sleep. Although several guests asked them to be quiet because of the kids they did not seem to care. Finally after a while they calmed down and I and everyone else got finally some sleep. Paying €20 for such a night seemed as such waste of money to me. I headed further up north in direction Nuremburg. It was a bit hard to motivate myself that day for cycling after a night of rather shitty sleep. At least I got a free beer out of it when I checked out at the reception. Nuremburg is a very cyclist friendly city. The bicycle lanes are broad and the signs lead you through the city easily. Arrived at the Hauptmarkt I sat down at the Schöner Brunnen for a picnic. The weather was good so I took my time to rest for a bit and also took some pictures. Full and rested I started to explore the historic city center. Only after a few minutes a guy in a suit and a briefcase appeared right next to me. Bernd was a local and was just curious about my story. He told me that he already saw me taking pictures at the Hauptmarkt. We started talking. I told him that I was cycling the length of entire Germany. He told me that he hiked the length of Germany just one year ago. This journey took him six weeks. I think that is pretty impressive achievement. Having something in common kept us talking. He offered me to show me a bit around and gratefully accepted this offer. We ended up at the Kaiserburg Nuremburg and afterwards he gave me the directions to Erlangen.
So I left Nuremburg again and headed further up north. I passed Erlangen and cycled alongside the Main-Donau-Canal in direction Forchheim. I heard that Erlangen is also a beautiful city. However, the view on the Erlangen skyline from the canal was not very impressive. Most of time I got 1970s housing blocks to see. It actually made a quite depressing impression to me.
It was already turning dark and I did not even find a place for the night yet. Due to my previous night experience I did not have any desire to stay on a camp site again. So I camped in the wilderness close to the canal path. I felt like an outlaw that night because Bernd from Nuremburg told me that wild camping is illegal in Bavaria. Anyways, I did not care. It was already too dark to keep pedaling and to find another place to stay that night and I was actually also too tired to keep moving. Besides that, it was just such a nice spot to camp. That moment when I finished setting up my tent it started to rain. I thought: Perfect timing! I crawled into my tent, had sandwiches and gummy bears for dinner and read one of the books which I brought with me. In Moods of Future Joys tells Alaistair Huphreys his epic 4 ½ years cycling journey around the world. It was quite weird to read a story about a guy who got thrown stones at in Ethiopia while every person I met so far was very friendly to me. The next day started great. My legs felt good for the first time on this trip. I was such a great feeling to cycle without any paint. Even the weather was very cycling friendly. I thought: Today I am gonna go far. I kept pedaling alongside the Main-Donau-Canal and successfully raced the ships cruising down the canal. There was a Blues and Jazz Festival when I arrived in Bamberg. Unfortunately I did not bring enough time to enjoy the live music acts. Instead I did some sightseeing in the historic city center and which was packed with tourists from all over the world. Especially Asian people seemed to occupy every single sight. I decided to get some food before I leave Bamberg again. I found this small Indian food/pizza place just a few steps from the Grüner Markt. Ravi, the owner of that place, made me a delicious prosciutto pizza and refilled my water bottles for the other half of the daily distance to cover.
After some time the drizzling rain turned into really heavy rain. It was pouring and I got wet all over. Not even my rain jacket and rain pants could not stand this massive amount of water. Even my boxers and the inside of my shoes got wet. My wet feet turned into wet and cold feet very soon and my hands turned wrinkly like I took a long and hot bath. Taking a hot bath was something I could only dream about in that moment.
I made it into the town Ebern in northern Bavaria and checked in into a Mexican guest house for the night. A great Mexican food smell came out of the kitchen and brought up some good memories of my backpacking trip in Central America five years earlier. I used all the space in my room to hang up all my wet clothes of the last two days and got some good sleep. The next morning started quite strange because there was no one around. Not a single person was in the guest house. So I packed my yet dry clothes and equipment together, dropped the key in the mailbox and kept moving. The weather was good for the first couple of hours. The sky was only cloudy but I could tell that it would rain again. I cycled about 30-35 kilometers in direction Thuringia. So far I simply enjoyed the views and kept pedaling when I was on my bike. Long distance cycling on your own is somehow meditative. At some point you do not even think anymore because every single thought is thought through and you simply pedal. However, that day I felt the need for some entertainment so I started to sing. I was really glad that nobody was around me because I know that I am an awful singer. But I had a blast. Before I even arrived in Thuringia it started to rain again but this time it was even worse than the day before. I thought: How is that even possible? I experienced the worst rain of my life already yesterday! I am not exaggerating if I say I felt like doomsday. The roads were also full of slugs and it was impossible to go around them all which means cycling through this armada of slugs turned into a massacre. I crossed the border between Bavaria and Thuringia and came into the village Milz and watched out for a place to get out of the rain for a bit. The first place that I could find was a butcher store. I walked in there and asked if I could stay there for a bit until the rain stops or gets at least less and if they probably would even have something hot to drink. To my surprise that store was even used as some kind of grocery store and café. So I sat down at the only table, took off my wet jacket and drank a mug of hot coffee. While I was sitting there I looked out of the window I realized that I did not see a single other cyclist over the last two days. But at the same time I was not even surprised cause of the incredible awful weather.
The rain stopped after some time so I paid for the coffee and a smoked sausage and kept moving. I realized that even my feet were already a little bit wet from all that rain so I organized some plastic bags and wrapped them around my shoes. My feet stood dry and even warm for a while.
This area of Thuringia was very hilly and all the hills were surrounded by heavy rain clouds. The hills seemed to steam from all the rain and some of the roads that I had to go had a rise of 10+ percent. I literally pedaled through no man’s land. I came through lots of small towns and villages. All of them were characterized by old fashioned Fachwerk architecture. All of these places seemed like ghost towns to me. There was not a single person was on the streets and literally all stores, restaurants and guest houses were closed. It felt strange going through those places. Finally, I made it to Meiningen. I was very cold and incredible wet. Of course, my self made plastic bag shoes did not stand the rain hence my feet were wet and cold again. It was that cold that day that I could not even feel my fingers anymore. They were just numb. It was almost impossible to open the packages for cereal bars or crackers. Due to the weather I checked in into a hotel for the night. As the night before I placed all my stuff all over the room to dry. If you enjoy reading this blog then please support my fundraising campaign for Doctors without Borders and make a small donation. Cheers!
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Km on the clock: 250
It was still raining when I woke up in the guest house in Durach. I felt well rested and was happy that I could catch up the missing sleep from the previous nights train ride. I took my time at the breakfast buffet hoping that the rain would stop anytime soon. However, it did not stop. So I started to pack all my stuff together, put on my rain jacket and rain pants and got ready to roll. After some time I passed the town where I have been already the evening before. I tried to follow the signs for the bicycle trails. It seemed like I was sometimes either blind to see the signs or there were just none. Hence I got lost a couple of times but gladly found right ways to go after short amount of times. The landscape started to change slowly. As the landscape was shaped by mountains on the first day of the trip meanwhile more and more corn fields characterized the countryside of the Allgäu area. Luckily it stopped to rain in the afternoon and the sun came out. At some point I passed the town Bad Wörishofen. This placed seemed to be occupied just by elderly people. I think it is a sanitarium. Generally I noticed that the people on the country side and in the small towns were very friendly. Literally everyone was saying hello, some even stopped for a short chat asking where I am going to. Flensburg! I always answered. There were usually only two kinds of reactions to my answer. It was either laughter or shaking the head. Usually they answered: That is crazy! but everyone wished me good and safe trip. While riding I decided through my last night’s experiences to watch out for a place to stay earlier than the day before. It is turning dark quite early in the south of Germany. You really should be settled around 8:30 pm otherwise it will be dark and finding a good night spot is way more challenging. In Flensburg it is still light at that time in summer. Even at 10 pm. That was definitely a new experience to me. However I found a great spot to wild camp on the country side approximately not too far from Königsbrunn. So I camped that night between a corn field and a small forest just 200 meters aside the road. I got great sleep that night thanks to my new sleeping pad. It is incredible comfy and makes me not to miss my bed at home too much.
The next mornings breakfast was rather Spartan compared to the one at the guest house the day before. I only had a handful of crackers with jam that I took from the guest houses breakfast buffet, some lunch meat and a half way mashed peach. It was time to restock my supplies again. So I stopped at a small store in the next town. After a few minutes browsing in that store the owner started to talk to me but I did not understand a single word cause of his thick Bavarian accent. I guess he realized that I did not understand him very well cause of my face expression. So we kept our conversation short. It is incredible that accents can make such a huge difference. Although we both spoke German it was very difficult to hold a conversation.
I made my way more up north, went through Königsbrunn and finally entered Augsburg. It felt like a first little milestone to make it to a bigger city. However, after a short period of time I felt already a little bit annoyed of this place. It did not have anything to do with Augsburg itself. The city is beautiful. Especially the historic city center where I spend a few hours is very beautiful. It is more about the fact that there are obviously lots of traffic lights in the cities. Thus you have to stop every few hundred meters and wait for the green lights. That means you do not really progress in sense of distance. I guess I rather cycle through the country sides and villages. Also, I realized that no one said hello anymore or stopped for a chat. I assume that is a general difference between cities and villages. In the villages everything is more personal because everybody knows everybody while life in the cities is more anonymous.
After browsing over the Stadtmarkt and having a delicious healthy lunch I left Augsburg after a few hours and pedaled further up north in direction Donauwörth. After some time I realized that my legs felt really tired. I thought: I really need to rest. I looked up the next camp site on my map and asked Google Maps for the shortest way to get there. That was such stupid idea. I should have stayed on the roads even if it was one kilometer more. So I ended up on some bumpy and rocky gravel roads which seemed like no one ever used it. Maybe a farmer with his tractor uses it once in a while. I had some serious doubts if this camp site even exists. Most of the time I had to push my bike. It was almost impossible to cycle it. I was really glad to see the camp site at the end of the road. I checked in and set up my tent right before it turned dark.
The next morning it was already incredible hot when I got up. I took a quick shower, had some breakfast and packed my stuff together. I was already sweating really badly after packing. I left the camp site and realized that there was a proper tarmac road if you enter it from the other side. I thought: I really should have stayed on the road yesterday. Then I would not have had to deal with that shitty gravel ‘road’. The first part of that day was really challenging. My legs felt still tired, it was incredible hot and I had to go through a very hilly area. Seriously, that is a really shitty combination of circumstances! However, I kept cycling. Slow, very slow. And I did lots of breaks…a lot. I passed Donauwörth and headed in direction Nuremburg. Up a hill and down a hill. Again and again. Very exhausting! At some point I stopped at a farm in a small town to ask if they would refill my water bottles. The very friendly farmer did not just refill my bottles he even gave me an additional one. Some people are just wonderful. I stood there to chat with him and his parents. He told me that the land would become flat in a few kilometers. I was relieved to hear that. After leaving him and his parents and cycling a few kilometers the land became flat and I finally made some progress in sense of covered distance. At this point it started to rain again. Of course! I did not really mind the rain because I was kind of distracted by the beautiful nature around me. I plugged in my IPod and cycled on a gravel trail through the woods alongside a creek. This area seemed like some kind of canyon. The rain got worse so I started to ask myself again where to stay that night. I thought it would be a good idea to stay at another camp site because there I would have the chance to dry my clothes over night. I gladly realized that there was one right on my way. So I headed there and checked in. If you enjoy reading this blog then please support my fundraising campaign for Doctors without Borders and make a small donation. Cheers!
Km on the clock: 55
Finally, I arrived in Oberstdorf after a 17 hours train ride around 10 am. Although the train was about 2 hours delayed in Hamburg I arrived on time. It seems like these ICE trains have lots of horse power. As soon as I left the train station I was surrounded by tons of hiking groups - mainly middle aged and elderly people. Everyone was getting ready to tackle the mountains. My first stop was the tourist information center to get some information and a free city map of this place. Equipped with a map I started to explore Oberstdorf. My first stop was the local farmers market. This rather small market smelled incredible good like cheese, smoked meats and fresh fruits. After browsing over the market it was time to get some breakfast. I had some sandwiches which I brought from home on a square right behind the farmers market. I had a really good view on the mountains. While eating my sandwiches I was thinking: From now it is more than 1.000 km that I have to pedal within the next two weeks. Now there is no return. That is kind of scary! I never cycled such a long distance in my whole life. While I was all alone just with my thoughts I watched people paragliding through the mountains. They seemed weightless and were flying like feathers in the wind. Note to myself: Learn how to fly. My next stop was the Nebelhornbahn. My plan was to take my bike on top of the Nebelhorn and then roll downhill – if possible all the way to Flensburg. Well, unfortunately the Nebelhornbahn does not transport bicycles and there was also a long line. So that plan died. The only alternative to experience the mountains is to push the bike uphill and that is what I also attempted to do. But to be honest, I gave up after some time. It is such a pain in the a** to push a heavily loaded bicycle up a mountain. I just stopped at some point and enjoyed the view for a while.
Going downhill was amazing but also a little bit scary. I had no idea that I possibly can go so fast with my bike. Back in the city center of Oberstdorf I restocked my supplies knowing that the next day is Sunday and every supermarket will be closed. Loaded with enough food for the next day it was time to leave this town and start Expedition 1000GER. From the Illerursprung I went direction north just alongside the river Iller. The more you go up north the fewer tourists are on the river trails. There were almost none after passing the town Sonthofen. I was told that the Iller trail goes all the way to the city Ulm.
I made my way more up north direction Kempten im Allgäu. I passed this town and started to watch out for a good spot for my night camp. While pedaling a really bad thunderstorm came up. It started to rain heavily from one second to another. Before I could even take my jacket out of one of my panniers I was incredible wet and the thunderstorm got worse. I started to think: Maybe it is not a good idea to camp tonight!? I should probably try to find a room for the night. I stopped at every single Hotel or guest house that I could find but they were all fully booked. I was about to get desperate I planned already to stay the night inside a bank. I already found a possible bank to stay in for the night right next to another guest house. I asked the guest house guy if he possibly had a free room. Of course, he did not. However, he made some phone calls and found me a room in another guest house. It’s just three kilometers from here, he said. Well, it was more than five and I had to go to another small town direction the way I just came from.
It was already pitch dark and I was the only person on the streets. Not even a single car. The moon was covered with heavy dark clouds. The only light came from my front light. The roads were misty through the rain volatilizing on the sun heated roads. The only thing I could hear were cowbells coming from the hills around me. Cycling on this country road to the town Durach reminded me on a scenery of an old Hitchcock movie. After this bike ride through the dark I finally arrived at the guest house – relieved to have a place to stay for this stormy night. If you enjoy reading this blog then please support my fundraising campaign for Doctors without Borders and make a small donation. Cheers!
The last couple of days I have been thinking a lot about what equipment I should take on Expedition1000GER. It is quite difficult to think through all the possible scenarios that could happen throughout this challenge. There are so many uncertainties, such as where am I going to go sleep every night or how is the weather going to be.
Since I planned to keep my travel budget on a minimum I definitely have to bring a tent, a sleeping pad and a sleeping bag. A tent is already quite heavy but at the same time it makes you way more independent because you never have to worry about to find a place to sleep at the end of the day. If you can't find a campsite alongside your route you can just camp somewhere hidden in the wilderness aside the trails. I find packing the right clothes for a bike trip is way more difficult than to decide to bring a tent or not. So you start asking yourself: How is the weather going to be throughout the whole trip? Right now it is summer so you should think you only have to bring another pair of shorts and a t-shirt besides the one you are already wearing. Maybe it is also a good idea to even bring a pair of sweatpants and a sweater if it is going to get chilly during the night!? However, if the weather is going to be like the current Flensburg summer then I definitely have to bring a rain jacket and rain pants. I also want to document this trip. I want to film, photograph and blog. That means I have bring some electronic devices such as camera and notebook as well as extra batteries and chargers. Damn…it seems like there are so many things that I have to bring on that trip. Oh well…nobody said it’s going to be easy. So I started to ask myself: What is it that I most likely cannot live without on this trip and that is necessary to document it properly? The result is this kit list:
All of that equipment is packed in 4 Ortlieb panniers (2 of them kindly provided by my friend Kevin), Ortlieb handlebar bag and two pack sacks. I think that is not much stuff but I still feel like I over packed. I am sure I could live two weeks without all these electronic devices but how else should I document Expedition1000GER? What is it that you cannot live with on a trip? If you enjoy reading this blog and it is somehow helpful for you then please support my fundraising campaign for Doctors without Borders and make a small donation. Thanks!
First of all, if you are expecting to find some kind of work out plan on how to prepare for a 1.000km bike ride on here, then, I must disappoint you because I don’t even have a clue how to prepare for such a trip.
Well, now you could say: How about cycling every day and then every day a little bit more? In that case, I guess that is the work out plan you probably were looking for. You’re welcome! However, I am going to do Expedition1000GER without any significant physical preparation as I do for most of my challenges. There are reasons why I do it that way. The first reason is that I want to learn about my physical and mental boundaries. I want to figure out what my body and mind are capable of handling. I know that if I want to accomplish this challenge within two weeks, I have to cycle a little bit more than 70km per day. That sounds pretty doable to me although I know through my previous cycling trip experiences that 70km can be quite far if your bike is packed with camping and survival equipment and you have to push all this extra weight for several hours every day. Especially pushing it uphill can be a pain in the a**. Thus, I already know that I must go on my current physical boundaries every day to accomplish this challenge. Now I am wondering if even my mind can handle that. Thinking about cycling 1.000km and going through that pain scares me but most importantly I am excited. Right now, my mind is set up for this challenge and I feel ready to go. The other reason why I don’t do any extra training for this trip is that it is also supposed to be a journey. It is not a race. According to the saying: The journey is the reward. During my cycling trip across Denmark last year, I met an elderly lady from Sweden on the island Ærø. At that point, I cycled about 250km within three days and was already quite exhausted. She was probably in her late sixties. I told her about my pain and also mentioned that I feel like the slowest cyclist on this planet. After I was done telling her about my little aches and pains she told me that she is cycling every summer for three months all over northern Europe but mainly in Scandinavia since she got retired. She is doing that without any training beforehand. I felt like a complete fool for acting like a baby. However, she gave me a different perspective on traveling by bicycle, saying: First of all, I am the slowest cyclist on this planet. Secondly, you will forget about the pain as soon as you made it on the top of a hill or a mountain and go downhill without pedaling for a while. It is such a rewarding feeling and it is worth all the pain. There was no reason to contradict her. I mean, how could I contradict a lady of her age. She is absolutely right. These are definitely some of the best moments on a cycling trip and definitely make you feel alive. However, all of that does not mean that I am a couch potato and that I never work out. Currently I am working a regular 40 work-hours job and spend most of that time in the office in front of a computer screen. Due to that, I am trying to work out as often as possible just to stay in shape and not to become fat. These workouts are usually one hour runs alongside the Flensburg Fjord, more or less regular workouts at the gym or occasional football sessions with friends or coworkers. On average about three to five workouts per week. I even try to go to work by bike as often as possible just to get some extra exercise. But to be honest, most of the time that doesn’t work out very well. Having said that, I am convinced that I can accomplish this challenge if I concentrate all my energy and stay positive throughout the whole trip. I am sure if an almost 70 years old lady can cycle every year for three months I can accomplish Expedition1000GER.
After cycling 210km from Hamburg to Flensburg alongside the west coast of Schleswig-Holstein and 320km across Denmark from Copenhagen also to Flensburg in 2016, I was seeking for another cycling milestone. Coming up with a new milestone was quite easy. 1.000km!
The question is: Where would I start such a trip? And where should it end? Through my previous cycling challenges, I experienced that it is most motivating if the final destination is home. There is no better place than home and is for sure everyone’s comfort zone. In my opinion it also provides the best answer if someone is asking you where you are going while tripping. I’m going home. Now I had to find a starting point that is 1.000km away from home. After a quick look on a map I had an idea. Why not just cycle the length of entire Germany? That is about 1.000km and there are so many places in my home country that I have never seen in my whole life. Born and raised in Flensburg, Germany in the very north of Germany, I have visited many places in the north but just a few in the southern part of my home country. So the idea was born. I am not a big planner when it comes to traveling. I prefer just to go to a place and figure everything out when I am there. That approach makes me feel more independent and alive in any sense. It is one hundred percent of uncertainty and pure adventure. Traveling on a shoestring budget means that I have to come out of my comfort zone. There are no expectations about the place itself or the hotel I want to stay in. Questions about the hotels comfort, location, food or if it is going to be clean are irrelevant because I will spend the night in my tent anyways. Maybe I will be lucky and someone will offer me his couch for a night. But anyways, what will be my starting point?
Maybe I will take a ride with the Nebelhornbahn in Oberstdorf to the top of the mountain Nebelhorn and then just use the push from up there and roll down the entire way to the flat lands in the north to Flensburg. That sounds pretty convenient and doable. Doesn’t it?
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