CYCLING THE ELBE AND DANUBE CYCLE WAYS.
Below
is the Elbe section of this site. I have not
yet successes in html coding so I had to use word for this. The Elbe cycle
route is first with the Danube cycle route
below it. Enjoy.
ELBE CYCLE WAY
Trains
to Harwich leave from London Liverpool Street Station; within the City of London and within walking
distance of all the other mainline stations. The service to Harwich is provided
by "one" railway, which also serves most of East Anglia;
http://www.onerailway.com/ The train for all four of
us cost about £50. And the journey from central London took about 2 hrs. If travelling from
other areas of the country Colchester that can
be reached by various lines, and then a train to Harwich from there. The train
we took had 'adequate' storage space for our bikes. there was enough, but be
aware if there are more than four people travelling its unlikely you will be
able to use the same train, also space is more valued for travellers with a
wheelchair and so bikes may have to be moved or removed from the train.
Harwich
is an odd place full of when we were there large concrete promenades, peeling
paintwork, idiots in cars and a surprising amount of elderly residents.
Accommodation in Harwich is limited at best. The only camping site near to the
town and its adjoining port was a 'holiday' camp down the beach. It seemed to
specialise in providing the lowest quality accommodation for visitors to
Harwich wishing to camp. Features of the site included:
*
A single page from an 'Adult' magazine present in the toilet
*
A half eaten bacon roll (could have been sausage, didn't look to closely)
present in the shower
*
A small area of grass for campers to pitch their tents onto
*
Notes commending the site "Tick 'ere if u luv dis site"(There were ticks, for some reason)
The owner informed us that he was planning to
renovate the facilities, but it seemed unlikely that it would happen. So only
go to it in dire (and I mean dire) circumstances; various other accommodation
is available in Harwich, mainly bed and breakfasts. Which we did not enter
into; but they couldn't be much worse than the local 'campsite'. Harwich
tourist board (+44) 01255 506139 should be able to help. If you’re feeling
lucky, or you have previously been to Harwich then you may want to stay out of
the town and get the train into the port.
Stena
who operate services across the North Sea run
several ships. they are:
*
the Stena HSS, the worlds largest and fastest craft
taking 3hrs40
*
A day super ferry which bikes are forbidden on, although using the HSS would be
a better idea anyway; taking around 7hrs
*
Night ferry, in which cabins are mandatory for cyclists. this
takes about 8hrs. of which weather permitting you
should be asleep for most of it.
Food
onboard the Stena HSS was stupidly expensive, so we recommend taking food on
with you (i.e. crisps, snacks etc). near to the port (about 1 mile away) is a
Morrison’s supermarket that will be way more cheap than the Stena HSS (they
wanted 1 Euro for a 33g bag of crisps), the 'discovery Burger' is simply the
discovery that you have been ripped of by £3 for a piece of dead cow fried and
served with limp lettuce, chemical 'enhanced' buns, fried potato and some form
of sauce.
Upon arrival in Holland and after having your passport
checked and you've sat in car fumes for anything up to an hour. You leave the
port straight onto a cycle track (admittedly there was one in Harwich, but it
wasn't so obvious). The campsite where we stayed is about 2km for the port, and
the tourist information office will be happy to direct you. The camping site is
reached fully by cycle track, through a small park/forest and along what looks
like a dyke, and probably is. Hook of Holland
(or Hook van Holland) has plenty of amenities including a beautiful bike shop.
The camping site; was good, costing us 23 euros, with a free drink (including a
beer or coffee), if you wish to youth hostel there is one in Den Hag.
Cycling the next day up the North Sea cost, heading on cycle paths up the costs marvelling
at the brilliance of the Dutch. The cycle paths were very good, and even
without a map we guided ourselves up the coast. We headed past Wassenarre, a campsite with a theme park on the side (or
the other way round) which would have cost us 50 euros to stay there; which
included entrance to the theme park. The cycle paths cater for everyone. In Britain you would have everyone sharing the same
path, meaning walkers being nearly mown down by insane cyclists (unlikely they
exist in Holland)
while they cycle over smooth lumps left on the path by the Horse Riding
community. Well not in Holland;
walkers, cyclists and Horse riders get their own paths to use, each perfect for
the application. that Day we cycled to Camping 'Vercom'
near Volencrup with a distance of 62km. the site cost
us 24.00 euros and supplied us with a shop, bar, pool (couldn’t find it though)
and a sort of butcher who fried everything he sold (might have been a snack
bar). It rained while we were there (this was to become a recurring theme to
our holiday).
Carrying
on up the coast riding though more and more polders and land that is almost to flat to comprehend It carried on raining but we headed to
Alkmar which was basically designed by someone who
only could use right angles and a ruler. this resulted
in a incredibility cycle friendly town, yet it was almost unbearable bland.
Cycle paths were again good, even in some instances actually given priority
over roads. Camping 'euroholdiays' was a bit sparse
on the ground. in terms of both staff and customers.
We were the only people who were camping there; it had a sort of once was big,
now only filled with caravans used for 2 months a year feel to it. Probably not
helped by the regions complete lack of tourist attractions (plenty of flat polders
though) and a receptionist who clocked of at 6.leaving four cycle tourists
without access to the showers (they required a card-key). The site set us back
a pricy sum that I forgot to record. The camping has a restaurant (which was
open) although there are supermarkets nearby in Alkmar.
Next
day we headed towards Enkhuizen, riding over more polders inhabited by more
cows and crossed by more murky canals. Passing through Hoorn, once a great
fishing town before the construction of the Zider Zee
that effectively wiped out the local fishing industry. from Hoorn
it's another polder ride, although with the 'Zee' on your side. It was odd to
look one way and see sea, and the other and see a
small house whose roof was about 2 meters below the level of the water. Once in
Enkhuizen we booked on the small ferry to Stavoren after seeing it leave a few
minutes earlier. Plenty to do in Enchahousen, threes
a museum charting the history of the Zider Zee, but
given the boats leave every 3hrs, its probably best not to get a ticket. Picked up food in Enchahousen, from a
local supermarket. The boat leaves promptly and food is forbidden
onboard unless it is purchased onboard (not if they don't catch you though);
the crossing cost 51 euros. once in Stavoren the camping is further down the
coast (by about 2km), unfortunately the office shuts just after the last boat
docks, so payment in the morning is likely; showers thankfully are non token
(although they look like they are). In Stavoren there is a small supermarket
(think small Welsh town). The distance for that day was 43km.
Next
day, it rained; only when we were on the bikes, and we learnt quite how
unpleasant polders are in the wet; they may be great for farming, but they are
not for trying to find shelter in the rain. We firstly headed to Balk, for
coffee, which basically turned out to be a canal with shops and houses either
side of it. After a mediocre coffee we headed to Sneek
a large shopping town (well it had a Hema). nice town
if your glasses aren't steamed up, trying to get out of Sneek
was a little difficult, as only small little villages are signposted, leaving
English cycle tourists desperately trying to find where on the map the winner
of the prestigious 'Most Insignificant place to have an entire signpost devoted
to it' award. So we recommend getting a map.(you
really should have one already). Grou campsite is
attached to the local yachting marina; it has a launderette, overpriced
bar/restaurant and small snack bar/shop sort of establishment. The showers are
50c a shot and last about 5 minutes, although cold water still flows if you are
caught with a head full of shampoo filled hair. Near to the site there are two
supermarkets, a choice between a Lydl and a 'normal'
supermarket, both together sharing a car park for some odd reason.
Leaving
the campsite via a small ‘ferry’ was a novel experience. The novelty wore off
after we had our third ferry; total price for all three was 2.80euro. They are
fairly pleasant (for once it wasn't raining, likely detracts from them). We
cycled towards Drachten on a path specifically marked
on our map. The map was fairly detailed with all cyclepaths and towns, along
with camping’s, it cost us about 9 euros from a tourist information centre near
Alkmar. We tried to stay away from Drachen as cycle friendly Holland is; large towns are not great. From
there we continued to Gronigen passing through
numerous perfectly tidy and quant villages leading into small towns. That night
we stayed a campsite in Gronigen; it was for a city
campsite surprisingly reasonable and nice. it cost us
17 euros and was clean and tidy; unlike other city campsites. facilities there
included a bar and restaurant, showers without a charge and internet access via
a computer, near to the campsite are supermarkets and other all sorted shops
(including a bike shop).camping has grass and had a few Italian tourists
(although they made it seem like most of Italy was camping beside us). that
days cycling (all 76km of it) was cyclepath about 1/3 of the way, but the majority
is on roads; mainly small farm tracks which traffic mainly consists of farmers
and people driving to the middle of no ware to, well I don't know what they
would do, sometimes you are cycling along local roads but the drivers almost
always give you the regulation entire lane space (unlike Britain where there
goal seems to be to see how close to their wing mirror your elbow can go.).
We
left Gronigen through the city viewing the
celebration of 500 old boats that had invaded the canals that were present in Gronigens cycle friendly centre. after passing through the
ever beautiful industrial estates of Gronigen we
headed towards Slochteren cycling alongside a large
canal with surprisingly few barges; we also had (and this is worthy of a
mention) the sun on our sides. From Slochteren we
headed to our camping at Winschoten it wasn't too far, but the next camping was
at Leer a good 70km away. at Winschoten we picked up
food; also gas canisters and continued towards Winschoten along small
residential roads. The camping was good; with 'free' showers, hot wear clean
toilets and washing machine facilities. The whole thing set us back 25 euros,
although there was some fairly noisy background noise. We used 3/4 cyclepaths
on varying surfaces including concrete slabs and tarmac alongside roads and out
in the country. 1/4 is on lightly used roads. The total distance for that day
was 49km.
From
Winschoten we headed towards Neusolens in the rain;
it rained until about 1100; and then onto Leer via the German border; the border
itself isn't too much to look at, just a sluggish river and a large sign
telling us we are in Deuchland and what the various traffic laws are. it was
cyclepaths about 1/2 of the way with the other half on roads, all with careful
drivers, rained again (about 1315) camping site is OK, although is quite
expensive for what you get; showers (Euro token) and a 'shop' which equated to
pretty much a room with crisps, beer and other assorted pigginess.
While we were in Leer we stumbled (quite literally) upon a large festival of
what we could deduce to be live bands and lots of food. Leer has pretty much
anything you could need. we didn't see a supermarket;
but it's unlikely there isn't one.
Leaving
Leer it was raining and after getting lost between the railways, ports and
derelict factories. We headed towards Stichausen past
more fields with cows in them and farmers waiting for the rain to stop (it did
eventually). At Stickheausen we stopped in the rain
and looked for somewhere for lunch .Luckily the local restaurant was open. Gave
huge servings and was owned by a women who seemed to
be like a slightly more excited version of my biology teacher. It was the best
meal we had all holiday, and even if it is sunny there, just go in and have
food (there’s also an outside seating area). Then we continued onto Bad Zwichenah an on towards Oldenburg. on our
map (the Michelin 541 regional 'Allemagne' map). There was a campsite present
at Oldenburg;
it was very difficult to find and we only discovered its location after looking
at an obscure town map. it is located to the north of
the city, just north of the local autobahn ring road. It was not well
signposted but we eventually found it. the campsite was nice enough attached to
the local pool; this was great if you wanted a dip (although it was raining at
the time), although quite bad if you arrived late (on Sundays this was about 6)
as the camping site is all locked up and keys are needed to reach the showers
and toilets. being Sunday and raining we doubted as if things could get
worse-they could, we had no food, all supermarkets (actually pretty much
anything as well) shuts on Sundays; so we were forced to go to the local petrol
stations and buy low quality, unhealthy and overpriced food and drinks.
The
next day we left Oldenburg
in pretty much the same weather as we had entered it; and so decided to have a
coffee in a local bakery/cafe. Upon entering the cafe we suddenly decided it
would be a much better idea to have our entire breakfast there, and so we did.
Plenty of food, not too good if you’re a vegetarian (sums up pretty much all
German food). Leaving Oldenburg we passed
through Moordorf, which lacked orks, trolls and just generally people; and on
towards Berne to cross the river Wesser. picked up food at a local Spar (better than
expected), from our minute 'cruise' over the dirty looking and 'interesting'
spelling river we continued to Osterholz Schambeck, turned out to just be another German village.
Immaculately clean and everything perfect. From there we were on a cycle track
to Tamstadt; that once was evidently great and now is
just grimy. it had two supermarkets, one 'Plus' or in
the fresh fruit isle it was more 'Minus'.. where you
couldn’t buy a fresh apple but you could easily pick up surplus computer
equipment and garden furniture. There was also an Edeka,
a slightly smaller version of Sainsbury’s. The camping itself was good; with a
(closed when we were there) restaurant, cleaning facilities and most
importantly a cat. That day we cycled 1/3 on roads (new and nice with the cars
diverted); and 2/3 on cyclepaths/ pavements. Slight hills but
nothing to mountainous. The camping cost us 24 euros and we cycled 80km.
We
left Tamstadt cycling along main road that was a
stark contrast to the newly surfaced empty road we cycled along the day before.
We headed to Zeven, nice name for a town but not much
there. From there we headed to Rade, where we
expected to camp that night. After all there was a camping site on the map.
upon arriving at Rade we found there was no campsite
on the left side of the road (Rade is basically a
road leading to a bigger road; with a couple of restaurants, a shop selling
trowels and a phone box. unfortunately on neither side is a campsite,
astonished that our until then trustworthy Michelin map was wrong we headed
towards Buchholz, then we would decide what to do then. upon an incredible
chance we spotted a sign for a camping site, and so followed it, and followed
it; then started to think "where is this camping?" as we followed more signs; it turned out it was
over a few rather large hills, well they were large at that time of day. upon
arriving at the bottom of one of the hills we followed some more signs,
thankful that someone had the thought to signpost the camping from about 8km
away. the camping itself was good, with clean toilets a little restaurant/bar
like establishment and a lake that people where swimming in (god knows why, it
was quite chilly). that days cycling came to 98km, there are shops in including an(other) Edeka
supermarket. We chose to stay two nights in order to view Hamburg.
From
Holm Seppenson we took the train into Hamburg, changing once
at Buchholz. upon arriving in Hamburg we were surprised by the fact it is
not a huge grimy port, but a clean and civilised city. it
has for some reason a lake in the middle of it, with boats going up and down. a main street that can easily rival London's Oxford Street. If you needed anything
(and I mean anything) you could probably pick it up in Hamburg;
we chose rather than a Praga handbag to pick up two
Esterbaurer cycle touring maps of the Elbe all the way to Prague. more
information on all of Esterbaurer maps is available at:
http://www.esterbauer.com/ and the flashy map showing all German cycle routes
is at http://www.esterbauer.com/buecher/uek/deutschland_uek.gif these are very
useful, although all information (excluding map legend) is solely in German
which means you can be prone to miss things. While in Hamburg we decided to have a tour of the
vast port district of the city; crammed with its container depots and chemical
plants. our 'captain' for this small voyage (It also
included the old warehouse are of the city) was an old German seadog who was
completely at home on the waves of Hamburg
harbour; even if his passengers were not. he would
stop just randomly and stand up, all it seemed was in order to make the boat
rock. the tour itself was good with a varied tour
through the old warehouse district of Hamburg and through the extensive and
busy container port. There are various museums in Hamburg; catering for most interests and
tastes.
Unfortunately
due to a lack of foresight and probably bad weather we forgot to record this
days travels; but from my memory (and Michelin maps), in this area of the Elbe there are plenty of campsites; all with varying
quality of services.
The
next day we headed along varied surfaces, ranging from a forest track to
cobbles (well more random stones) in the former East Germany, not recommended on
fast racing bikes. Although at some points investment is being pumped into the
local economy; a new cyclepath had been constructed by the Elbe
and looked like it was nearing completion. Some confusion regarding distances
on cyclepath vs. distances on road, and as many roads have cyclepaths along
them anyway, it’s often worth using the roads. camping is good with token hot
showers, water a small shop, plenty of pitches and a kitchen (cooker;8 hobs two
ovens and other equipment) so food such as frozen pizzas can be bought in the
town and cooked in three languages. I think we stayed at a small town called Garlow, I cannot remember but it was raining,
The
next day we started off in bright sunshine (yes, sunshine) towards Politz, the road was fairly empty and occasionally we had a
cyclepath. Interestingly using roads over cyclepaths cut down the distance, as
cyclepaths were longer than the roads (that had cyclepaths down them most of
the time anyway), the days cycling was on varying surfaces; from tarmac,
leading to concrete slabs, leading to cobles, and finally; possibly most
enjoyably semi-paving road plagued by large lorries; this made up about 15km of
the days cycling; and although it was broken up into small chunks by other
surfaces it still wasn’t very pleasant. From Werben
to Rabel it was the aforementioned cobbles; we had to
cross the river once, on a small engineless ferry across to Havelburg, costing
4 euros. Havelburg is an odd place, you get the feeling from it that it could
have been a great city, but just wasn’t, the river Harvel that is sits on
eventually flows through Berlin.
Just seems odd that Havelburg is just a small town on a big river, when Berlin is a big town on
a small river. We stayed at the local campsite; it is on the second island of Havelburg; as there are few signposts to
it. Havelburg has several supermarkets, but on the day we were there (a
Saturday night) all were closed; so we had to settle for the local petrol
station, just south of the town on the main road. Food was expensive and pretty
rubbish; but it was the only place open on a Saturday night in the former DDR.
The
next day being a Sunday we didn’t expect an awful lot to be open. And nothing
was. Except the petrol station we had gone to the day before. After drinking
machine coffee and buying artificial bread we set out down the B107, although
this wasn’t an actual cycle route, it was shorter than the other route; and
probably better quality. We cycled to Tangermunde,
very pretty town; with the slightly less attractive ring on industrial
facilities circling it. We had lunch in a former schoolhouse by the church.
That mixed old world charm with a fully computerised ordering system, seemed
somewhat out of place. From Tangermunde we continued
down the path passing towns that look like they are falling apart, mainly
because they are. We stayed a camping site between Grieben
and Bitthau. The camping was good; with token showers
(included in the price), restaurant, a very small
shop, kitchen featuring hot plates and washing facilities. Nice camping by
lake, the weather as usual was cold and semi wet.
We
had the sun with us all day as we headed out towards Magdeburg. Down the path,
passing a large lock system; and bridge to carry barges over the waters of the Elbe. With possibly the largest
locks in Europe. It was an odd feeling
looking down the river Elbe and having a huge
barge cruising along behind you. All was going well until we arrived in Magdeburg, unable to find
a campsite we had to decide either go for a cheap hotel and a tour of the
industrial estate or go for a camping site and a tour of the industrial estate.
We chose the later, and found that the camping site was to the north of Magdeburg; at Barble on
see. Basically a lake with a camping site attached. We headed of towards it
getting confused and lead poisoning. After crossing over a local railway line
as there wasn’t a level crossing we arrived at the site. If it hadn’t been
raining for the past few days it probably would be quite busy. There where no
shops nearby but enough little establishments selling food to stop any
starvation.
Headed
in towards Magdeburg along possibly its most unattractive road, through one of
the un-idyllic industrial estates that flank the city, Magdeburg seems a little
empty, especially the plaza near to the church; it was almost like the French
ones with café’s and people, except with neither, just a lot of cobbles. Except in the new ALICE
shopping centre. This is handy for getting some breakfast, even if it is
just fish from the Nordzee ‘restaurant’. We left
Magdeburg through a large park cycling on top of dykes being constantly
reminded of the flood of August 2001, when many of the towns we passed got
flooded, up to some of the buildings roof tops,. We cycled trough Dessau with its famed box
houses. And left Dessau
through a larger park, in the rain. And continued to Aken, a small town that I can not find on any map.
After finding the one shop with seats and coffee we got some food at a local
pizza emporium and headed off towards Wittenberg.
The campsite there is across the Elbe at what
seems to be an old stables, it was apparently **** (four star), but after some
searching we could find none of the standard **** fare. The site did however
have a giant chessboard, ‘free’ showers and a superb view of the town. It cost us 23 euros.
The
next day we headed into Wittenberg,
the birthplace of Martin Luther; and where he nailed his 99 ideas for what the
Catholic Church was doing wrong. The town itself is quite attractive with a big
square and two churches. After a light lunch we headed upriver towards Plesnisz, the path was normally good, although it could be
confusing; a little map skills is needed, the weather warmed up a little, but
not enough for the removal of fleeces. The camping was good with token showers
and a restaurant. There were no supermarkets for kilometres, so it’s probably
best to just go to the restaurant
We
headed upriver along tarmac paths, although initially it was a few kilometres
from the Elbe, going over some mild ‘bumps’ which made a nice change. And after
nearly being killed and navigating its large housing estate we stopped at Torgau, Torgau was were American
army forces coming from the west met with forces of the Soviet Union coming
from the east during the invasion of Germany on April 25, 1945. it also has a wonderful bike shop just off the main square.
From there we cycled to Steahlan, it is located at
the top of a hill but it had a pool (too cold to swim) and a thunderstorm. The
camping was reasonable as it was municipal attached to the local pool.
The
next day we headed up the Elbe, passing through Mießen (named Miessen in the UK) to Dresden,
scenery became a little more interesting, will hills, cliffs, vines and flood
meters. It rained (as was now pretty much traditional), there was a little bit
more on the cyclepaths, mainly with day trippers from Dresden. We cycled along roads near the Elbe, reminded seeming constantly by the catastrophic
August 2002 flood. The camping in Dresdean we could
find was about 15km past the city, after numerous yachting clubs and bridges,
the camping is good with cooking facilities and a ‘supermarket’ (another
‘plus’) located within about 2km. That day we cycled 80km.
The
next day we headed into Dresden,
it’s well worth a visit, even though pretty much all of it is post 1945 after
the Allies obliterated the city. It has been (and still is) being
reconstructed, and is well worth a visit. We cycled into the city, but if you
fancy a break there is a bus and tram route nearby.
The
next day we left Dresden
and headed towards Bad Shandeu with its famed rock
formations. The ride was pleasant, with slight inclines and hills bordering the
Elbe, unfortunately it was far to cloudy and foggy to even try and make out the rock
formations, but the pictures in the guide books and in shop windows looked very
attractive. We headed on towards the Czech
Republic. There was no passport required to cross the
border, or even a guard, which saved a lot of time, although was slightly
concerning. We almost immediately began to realise the differences between Germany and the Czech Republic,
the path became poor quality. And the first city we passed through, Dessin, was frankly horrible, it was really not a great
spearhead for 44 years of Soviet rule. On the up side however it did have a
Tescos. The camping was at a hotel, about 10km outside the city, without men’s
showers, although it did have a pool so if it was hot, washing could be done in
there.
From
the motel at Dessin we continued up the valley, it
was still beautiful, but looking at it was difficult as much of out energies
was spent trying to keep upright and not in the Elbe,
the surfaces where terrible mainly comprised of mud, stones and cobbles. We
stayed that night as Roudnice nad
habem, at a sports complex with a beautiful view of
the train station, some shocking photos of after the August 2002 flood and a
long climb to the nearest supermarket, (and even then it was a Lydl). There was a varied quality of cyclepaths, i.e. mud.
But at least most of the roads had good surfaces (nothing compared to Germany and Holland). That day we cycled 67km
The
next day we headed out towards Prague, with acceptable Eastern Block roads,
some very bad paths, with a low average speed (around 7km/h) we cycled
alongside the river; passing fields of hops and power stations. We left the Elbe at Melnik and headed down
the Vllava river, the paths
were varied, and included a work out for the upper body in the form of a large
pipeline turned bridge. Eventually we decided to use the roads. Upon arriving
in Prague we headed
to the centre to find the tourist information and where promptly sent out again
exactly were we headed from. There are numerous camping sites at Troja and Trojska, both are the
same place, just head along the main road and follow the signs. They are all
along a road. Within about a km of them there is a small shop, with various
foodstuffs. And about 500m there is a tram stop with two routes servicing it
(14 and 17) both accessing the centre of the city. You need tickets purchased
before hand from metro stations to ride the trams (legally), Prague is magnificent and you could easily
spend 5 days there. We decide 3 was enough (there is a limit the amount of time
one can spend in the Czech
Republic). So we went to the station and
booked out ticket out of Prague
from a ticket office upstairs from the main concourse, to the south of most of
the things in the station. The man was very helpful and we would recommend him
to anyone. We bought tickets on the Sunday night train leaving Prague at 19.00
and arriving at Köln (Cologne) at 7.00 the next morning, carriage of bicycles
was limited (about 8 for the entire journey) so if travelling in group other
travel arrangements may be needed.
After
a few days in Prague seeing the sites and the
dancing (some European dance festival was in Prague) we found ourselves on a sunny Sunday
morning, we headed into the city using taking random ‘action’ shots of each of
us cycling. Took a leisurely 3 hour rest in the Letenske Sady with its superb
view over the city and odd ornaments, we headed into the city centre around
13.00, had a little lunch and lazed around finishing off any monuments we had
previously neglected. There was secure bike ‘parking’ at the station, but it
seemed pointless to walk to the station and back again, so instead we locked
them in the centre of the city, under the idea that no-one in particular would
want several heavily laden bikes in the central Prague, especially if they had
been locked. Of the pitifully few supermarkets that are open on a Sunday in Prague there are a couple
near the station, but it is probably best if you are travelling on a Sunday to
buy your food the Saturday before. Upon arriving at the station we spent about
45mins trying to work out how to get to the trains, there are no ramps leading
to the actual station area of the station (much of it seems to be a 60s
addition to hide the overpass taking traffic above the station) to get to the
trains you have to go straight ahead from the station heading up two flights of
stairs (no lifts as far as we could make out) and then you’re in the old
station; at which point you realise that a beautiful facade once fronted this
building instead of the rail station meets space station design that fronts
it.
The
train trundled through the Czech
Republic at an
irritatingly low speed (it was actually at one point over taken by a 20 year
old Skoda). Once it got into Germany
it sped up a little. The train had clean toilets, and snacks were on sale
onboard the train. The next morning we arrived at Köln Hbf, bought an ADAC map
and decided it would have been better to have got off further up the line at
Düsseldorf and waited around for a train, but eventually decided to cycle the
distance instead, it was a relief to be back in a country where cyclepaths and
signs and surfaces that were good. We cycled mainly on cyclepaths and
encountered no hills (we were alongside the Rhine), we camped at Sturzelberg
the camping was expensive for what you got, just portalloos and showers with a
view of the Rhine. There was a supermarket and
a couple of shops in town.
We
headed of towards Duisburg, going though Düsseldorf and it’s assorted
industrial facilities, all along the Rhine there seems to be one industry or
another, whether it’s the production of piles of mysterious yellow stuff
(sulphur, I think) or off massive clouds of steam the river is littered by
these instillations. The camping that night was a little difficult to find; it
was located on the map as being in a large park near somewhere called Groben, it was in fact over a railway bridge and along a
road past the park. It was nice however to cycled through the park; the camping
had a nice restaurant with a slight Spanish meets German theme; unlimited
showers, I didn’t see to many supermarkets nearby but there was one on the
other side of the park.
We
continued to head up the river, cycling up rivers was getting a little dull now
cycling along rivers, wearing a water soaked fleece, we headed to Wessel as
that was the only place that had a camping within about 110km, Wessel had all
the shops you could want, the camping was quite far out from the centre, it was
an odd establishment, someone had spent a lot of money on it, from the
plentiful toilets (for about 50 people camping there) to the supermarket and even
an ATM. Somehow it all only cost us 15euors. Our distance for that day was
76km.
The
next day we stepped out into a blizzard without snow, and after about 30
seconds of decision we
decided to make our way back into Wessel and get a train into Holland, possible
to Hook of Holland; trains from Wessel don’t actually seem to go over the
border, they stop at Emmerich and leave you to cross
the border into Holland by yourself. Once over the border we headed to the
nearest station and got a train to Arnhem, then
another to Rotterdam and from there a final
train to Hook of Holland. We booked ourselves
onto the next ferry out of there (the HSS, needing you to check in at 6.00am)
and headed off to camping Hook of Holland
where we had stayed out first night.
After
our early rise and semi darkened trip to the port and 3hr40 ‘cruise’ across the
sea, we arrived at East England’s Premier Port, Harwich we promptly left it and
got our train to Liverpool street station. After 5 weeks cycling we were home.
Practicalities.
Getting
to Harwich is fairly easy, with services heading in from London
and from the north via Colchester and Bury St
Edmunds. Although if travelling from the North of England or Scotland you could get s ferry to Rotterdam from Hull.
Alternatively
if coming in from further a-field you could fly to Amsterdam and cycle from there. Amsterdam is served by
various budget airlines and the bigger lines. If you would rather go by train Amsterdam is served by fast rail services from Brussels, Cologne and Berlin. By Thalys from the South and ICE from the East. Rail Europe
(http://www.raileurope.com/us/index.htm) and Rail Netherlands should be able to
assist you. Alternatively you could go by coach, but at eleven hours from London Victoria to Amsterdam its probably
best avoided. If you wish to though Eurolines should be able
to give you information http://www.eurolines.com/.
Holland
is well serviced by rail, but the Zider Zee gets in
the way of cross country transport, the next large transport hub was Hamburg,
which would be a good place to start from if you’ve done Holland before or want
to get straight onto the Elbe. Hamburg
has an airport, http://www.ham.airport.de/index_en.phtml with a variety of
airlines servicing it and a variety of destinations being served from it. Hamburg is a major rail hub, with services from all over Germany and
beyond. It is served by regional rail and ICE, so if you are travelling from London a change at Cologne
is likely. Coaches also go to Hamburg
but at around 16 hours using the trains is probably better. Eurolines again
could easily be of assistance.
The
trip could easily include a detour to Berlin
and this was on our original plans but we dropped it after hearing that Berlin was not cycle
friendly, although there are cycle routes running to it. A trip from Berlin to Dresden or Prague could be feasible, with paths leading towards to
the Elbe running southwards. Berlin is well serviced by airports and air
routes taking travellers to pretty much anywhere in the world. From London to
Berlin it’s about 10 hours via Cologne and Brussels, but this may require more
than 3 changes and Rail Europe cannot cope with that. Alternatively Eurolines
may take your bike and yourself to and from Berlin; takes about 19 hours, which could be
better avoided.
Alternatively
one could travel from Dresden,
it also has an airport. http://www.dresden-airport.de/eng/home/ and is served
by DB, although the service to the UK would take around 20 hours it
could be worth a look. Eurolines run a service taking 21 hours to Dresden, a ride to Prague
could be a nice week away holiday idea.
The
next large transport hub is Prague,
with air travel all over the world with all matter of airlines willing to carry
you. Czech rail will carry you out of the country, we took the overnight train
to Cologne via Berlin, few trains appear to run north out of Prague (about 4 a
day) so its likely that wherever you want to go Northwards you will probably
need to se the night train. Alternatively you could travel by coach it takes
about 22 hours with a 2 hour wait at Brussels,
We chose to get the train to Cologne and cycle
back up the Rhine, so
I will now give travel information from these points.
The
Upper Rhine is littered with large towns that
merge into cities and back out again. So transport up the valley is easy, Its
not the most picturesque river valley in the world, although ti did have barges, the large towns of Düsseldorf, and
Duisburg are alongside the river and both have good rail links, we chose after
much rain to leave the Rhine valley at Wessel, however one could cycle to
Arnhem and then on or all the way to Hook van Holland.
The
choice is yours.
The
information provided within this guide is correct to October 2005,
I accept no responsibility for injury of any sort, getting lost or travel
problems.
Enjoy
your cycling.
DANUBE
CYCLE WAY
The
first question, Why?
Well
as a family we have cycled round France
and Holland,
and we wanted more of a challenge. The year before we had cycled
from Bordeaux to Montpellier and now we wanted to go for the
long shot.
I
have designed and written this site to give you the maximum amount of
information possible and to make it as good as possible, however things can
change, guide books can become out of date and Hungary might become more cycle
friendly so Enjoy:
This
site has been written for a British Audience, the information on getting there
and away applies to British airports and ports, please feel free to use this
information, but I accept no responsibility for any problems
What
to bring:
Books:
Firstly
you will need at least on phrase book (we took a Berlitz
German publication), guide books (Lonely Planet, Rough Guide etc), something to
read at the campsites, maps (Hungary, Slovenia) we would also advise you to get
hold of the maps that guide you down the path,
there are a few different publications, book stores should be able to
help. We strongly advise you get the bit of the Danube cycle path you
want to cycle in map form before you go, there are many sites selling the
guide, just type what you require into any search engine. Google UK, Yahoo! UK
and Msn search
Clothes:
Depending
on the season, we bought T-shirts, shorts, Fleeces, etc. its
obvious you will not be needing formal clothing.
Bike:
The
Danube cycle path is mainly Tarmac (or broken up Tarmac in Hungary) so it
could be done using a go faster racing bike, but a touring bike is probably
better.
The
rest:
Take
whatever else you need, anything you forget you will be able to pick up.
Camping
equipment:
We
camped, its probably the cheapest and most flexible way of cycle touring,
campsites are fairly good along the German and Austrian sections of the ride
(as anyone would expect), fall apart a bit in Hungary then are pieced back
together in Slovenia. You can pick up a new tent or pretty much anything you
need in most large towns (and if your not looking for
it in German supermarkets). You can get gas canisters in hardware shops and
larger supermarkets for a reasonable price.
Food:
In
Germany
you will be blessed, unless you are and vegetarian. Meat is king, and although
there are probably meat free dishes, we didn’t experience them. Sausages (Wurst) are high on the menu,
our particular favourite was currywurst Bratwurst
sausage sprinkled in curry powder and with curry sauce on the side. Austrian
food is similar to German with lots of meat, Hungarian
food is acceptable with good bread and tasteless cheese, with meat. Slovenian
food is edible. Italian is Italian. Although if you did not
wish to sample the local cuisine you could happily live on bread and cheese,
although it may get slightly repetitive.
Supermarkets:
Germany does not seem to
have caught on to hypermarkets like the French, and for most of the time you
will be shopping in small local supermarkets (think Spar crossed with Lydl.) you can buy a
computer but not a loaf of bread. the choices are
limited although you could probably piece together a decent meal. In Austria the
supermarkets are pretty much the same, equally small. In Hungary its varied, from tiny little local ABCs to supermarkets that
resemble and possibly rival French supermarkets in size, amount of products and
illogical layout. Slovene supermarkets are fairly good and give you what you
need, and don’t need. The only supermarket (excluding campsite –overpriced and
crowded) we visited in Italy
was good, it even sold ‘Ice Tea’ granules. However its
always worth visiting a local market just to try out your language and to give
money back to the local people rather than the supermarkets (and it normally
tastes nicer).
Language:
For
the moment I have removed the language section for translation, I hope to have
it back up again soon.
The
Route:
After
a long coach journey from the Medway Services near Chatham,
we arrived at Mulhouse (pronounced Moulouse) in Eastern France
near to the German boarder. or somewhere near
it, we walked into the centre watching the sun rise behind us, once into the
centre of this now concrete jungle. Still half asleep we found our way to the
train station and got ourselves a train to Bassel Bad
(in Switzerland) from where
we could then get a series of trains to Donaueschingen,
where the mighty Danube river
starts. After three hours of spectacular views, station platforms and on time
trains we emerged from Donaueschingen station,
unfortunately we had no maps other than a Europe wide Michelin maps as we where
expecting to be able to pick one up in Donaueschingen.
Unfortunately lack of shops and knowledge of the German language didn’t help us
and we spent the first few days of our holiday cycling confused down the Danube. Our fist night was spent in a ‘natural’ camping
site, near where the Danube disappears. The Danube disappears due to a (My ropy German and several
diagrams helped decipher this mystery) sinking in the water table that caused
the river to disappear underground for a short while and then emerge latter on.
It was possible to walk on the surface of the river without getting wet, and
view the river bed.
Our first major town we passed through was Tuttlingen
and then through where the Danube hits harder
rocks and carves a beautiful, the cycle path somehow managed to remain
relatively flat as it twisted and turned through this terrain. We camped near
where the hills ended at a small town called Sigmaringen
which has a imposing church like building, we continued through more German
countryside up (and down) some hills. we stopped at Rottenacker (also known as Rotten and knackered) after a
long search to find a campsite we found it near to a gravel pit (appealing?).
Later in the next day we arrived at Ulm a
Medieval meets post war building city on the banks of the Danube, where Albert
Einstein lived for a short while before he fled from the Nazis to America. We
cycled on through gravel pits turned lakes and swimming pools till we got to Günzburg with its campsite located on the top of a big
hill, however it had a very good restaurant with very good servings, (need I say
more). We cycled on through fields towns and more gravels pits, meeting English
speaking Germans and attempting conversations with them. The river got larger
as we cycled on, with more and more rivers joining its cause. The Danube is not
just left to flow as it wants, the illustrious and efficient Germans and
Austrians have built many dams over the Danube
and collect power form this mighty river.
We found ourselves crossing over many of these dams with the quite hum of
electricity deep below us. We stopped on day 5 at large town called Inglostadt, the campsite we stayed at was beside a small
lake, on day six we enjoyed a boat trip down the Danube because we could not be
bothered to cycle over the (very big) hills. The boat took us down to a town
called Kelheim, the point from where the Danube becomes a navigable waterway and a disappointingly
small amount of barges began appearing on the river. That night we camped at a
small farming campsite in the hamlet of Herrmsaal, we
continued down the river to the large town/city of Regensburg, this town was once one of the
seats of authority in the Holy Roam Empire until it was dissolved by Napoleon
in the seventeenth century. The river continued to grow, we passed through more
German countryside, as we approached Passau
on the German, Austrian border, the valley became
steeper and the scenery slightly more spectacular.
At Passau the Inn river
meets the Danube, the two rivers have distinctly different colours, the Danube
being a dark blue, whereas the Inn is a cloudy
light blue. the meeting of these two rivers produces a surreal mixing that
continues down stream for many kilometres, like milk when its added to a cup of
tea, from here the Danube takes on the colour it will have right down to
Budapest. From Passau,
the river becomes part of the Austrian/ German border, and starts to twist and
turn through harder rock. At the small town of Jochenstein, the Austrian Border crosses over
the Danube and we entered Austria.
That night we stopped in a tiny little hamlet called Inzel,
where the river is forced to perform a tight S bend as it hits harder rock. Te river continues to twist and turn till it hits the small
town of Aschach, where
it resumes its gentle flow, at the nearby town of Ottensheim the river hits more rock and as it
has done many times before carves its way through the hard rock, to the city of
Linz. Linz some problems trying to attract tourists. , it is
remembered as Adolf Hitler’s birthplace and the vast chemical plants, dockyards
and steel works on the banks of the Danube do
little to help its cause. After Linz,
we visited KZ Mauthausen concentration camp, a huge,
grim, grey complex of wooden huts and stonewalls where
during World War Two 100,000 Jews, Poles and Soviet POWs died.
We continued down the river as it went through more Austrian countryside, then
some Austrian mountains, then some more countryside, past Melk
with its incredible Benediktinerstift (Benedictine
Monastery). We continued through yet more hills, happy that we did not have to
go over them, the hills started to die out and we saw the suburbs of Vienna (Wien), we chose to stop in a suburban town called Klosterneuberg and travel into Vienna on fast, efficient, clean public
transport. In Vienna
we visited some museums with long complicated names and walked around the
former capital of the Austrian Hungarian empire. The
next day we went through Vienna,
became confused and went out the other side. Our next target was the Hungarian
capital, Budapest.
AS we cycled out of Vienna we went along possibly the straightest cycle path in
Europe, we where following a large embankment built as part of a system to stop
the Danube flooding, this continued on for eighteen kilometres till it turned
and we crossed over the river towards the Slovakian border. Before we went into
Slovakia
we camped in a small town called Petronell Carnutium, this place was littered in Roman ruins with and
entire town complete with two amphitheatres to the south. As we approached Slovakia through Austria we could see the capital of
Slovakia Bratislavia (formally Pressburg)
and its surrounding concrete jungle. We passed through Slovakia in half a day and entered Hungary through
a depressing border post. The place was a 1970s creation and obviously had not
been painted or the grass mown since then, this post was set in the middle of
fields, in the middle of no ware, with interestingly enough no sign of life
apart from the disgruntled border official who barked at us to give her our
passports for inspection. After she made sure we were who we said we were she
sent us on our way.
So, what joys lay before us in Hungary?, a very confusing language, confusing signs and confused
guide books. The poor person who was sent to research and write The Lonely
Planet’s guidebook to Hungary
obviously had either written it form a plush hotel room in central Budapest or stayed at
home. The first thing that struck us about Hungary was the lack in signposting,
a problem that was to eventually nearly drive mum, the navigator mad. We
continued through a flat landscape, past fields and woods and Punk rockers. Our
first campsite was in the village of Lipot, it was a
‘thermal camping’, all the hot water for the camping site cam from the nearby
thermal baths, this would have been fine if it was not for one thing, the
thermal baths where sulphur and had a distinct order about them, so much so
that when having a shower you could expect to emerge smelling worse then when
you entered.
Our first large Hungarian town was Györ a
predominantly industrial town, which most tourists avoid. We continued on
unfortunately leaving the Danube for a short while as along its banks no one lived,
although in many of the villages it seemed that ay too. Meaning we had to go
inland. Our campsite for the night was at Komáron
another soviet inspired concrete masterpiece. We met up with the river again
along a major trunk road riddled with deep potholes, and plagued by huge lorries on their way to Budapest. We eventually after braving the
road for far to long arrived at Esztergom where dad
and me experienced a Hungarian Tesco’s, which much to our surprise was actually
clean, with lots of choice, quite different from what we expected. From Esztergom we continued round the ‘Danube bend’ apparently
this is one of the most beautiful stretches of the Danube, however we felt that
it was not as good as the Austrian and German bits, also it was difficult to
view the scenery as your sole attention had to be on staying alive.
As we approached Budapest
the cycle path just vanished leaving us cycling down the main artery into the
city, but eventually we found our way into the camping site. We had originally
planned to stay in Budapest two nights and have
a look around, but by now We had started to dislike Hungary for
some bazaar reason so saw the capital as we cycled through it, I do not think
we missed much. Leaving Budapest was almost as
unpleasant as entering it, due to lack of cycle paths (the Danube cycle trail
stopped at Budapest),
lack of signposts and lack of roads. However, we eventually managed to get out
of the city without getting lost too much. Out of Budapest we cycled onto a small town, Erd, (a kind of Hungarian Croydon)
with a mainline railway station, from there we took the train to some small
town on lake Balaton, fares where cheap and timetables
confusing, especially as Erd had two stations, just
to be irrational. Once the train stops at h the station it’s a question of
lifting your fully laded bike up about three foot into the carriage, thankfully
the Hungarians are quite helpful and assisted us where they could.
The trains are fairly fast although safety doesn't appear to be great on the
priority list, with no automatic doors and windows that if you tried you could
climb out of. If you want to change on the train make sure you know the
station that you are to change at as all station announcements are made in
Hungarian and there's a fine line between the name of the station and any
announcements made due to the odd place names. Once off the train you
will be able to experience something bazaar. Both Hungarian and Slovenian main
rail stations have the curious habit of not using the first few lines close the
station, instead forcing you to hall or walk your bike over the lines to the
exit, it’s a bit odd but somewhere there's probably some reasoning behind it.
Once off the train it’s a question of getting to your destination, we took the
wrong train and ended up at the wrong side of Lake Balaton (and probably the
tracks) So we had to cross over the river by ferry, didn’t take to long and
gives you and opportunity to admire ’the largest fresh water lake in Europe
(excluding Scandinavia)’ once on the shore get yourself to a campsite,
preferably in a town with a railway station. From the shores of Lake Balaton we
took a train to Nagykansia from where it is possible
to get a train over the border to Croatia, as there are incredibly few cycle
friendly roads linking Hungary with Slovenia (cycle friendly being not
motorways) we got the train to the town of Cakovec
after having our passports stamped. From Cakovec it
was a case of cycling to the Slovene border and onto Ljutomer .
From Croatia into Slovenia there are some proper hills, with some even more
proper downhill’s, coupled with some stunning views of hills that we (luckily)
did not chose to climb. ( god bless trains) Upon
arriving at the Slovenian border we were greeted by a border official who
informed us that we had chosen the wrong border, we were using a closed border,
one reserved for the usage of locals only, even though the map said it was
open. after some gentle persuasion in various
languages. He let us through and we continued on to Ljutomer
which had a thermal bath, yet thankfully not sulphur. The cycling in Slovenia is
hilly although there not proper hills. The next day we cycled to Putj a provincial capital on the Ljubljana
to Budapest
main line, we stayed in another thermal bath complex
and visited the pools. there we experienced a truly
weird experience, outside thanks to the thermal pools the water was warm and so
where we, but the air was cold and raining,
Trains from Putj station run through the week
and on Sundays, although the Sunday service is limited
to the intercity train, this train can take bikes although it is limited to
about four, due to incredibility limited space. We took this train to the
Slovenian capital Ljubljana,
throughout the journey the train wound round, over and under huge mountains,
gorges and rivers. Till it arrived at Ljubljana, Ljubljana is derived from the
Slovene word for beloved, and its not difficult to see why, the city has some
beautiful architecture, lovely parks and incredible views, also it has yet to
become part of one of the great touristy European cities and was free from
irritating Americans. If you look to the west of the city you see a huge
mountain rising up looking over the city, Ljubljana
is well worth a visit. From Ljubljana we
caught another train to Drava near to the Škocjan caves, they are on the UNESCO list of cultural and
natural sites and it is not difficult to see why. They are a150m long cave
complex carved by the Reka River,
to visit get off the train at Diva?a
and follow the signposts, we stayed that night at a motel campsite at Kozina, the route is fairly flat.
From Kozina to the sea is a okay ride, but our tip is
get a map , not just for this part but for all of Slovenia , we cycled to Izola expecting to get on a ferry to Venice, no such luck,
ferry leaves after we where due to be on the Bike Express left. So we cycled
round to Portoroz and Piran,
booked ourselves on a ferry from there, the ferry was cancelled due to poor
weather. The ticket office in Piran (just off
the main square) should be bale to get you booked on a ferry to Venice.
After that little problem we engaged on our longest day, thinking we could get
a train we cycled to Koper, no train for a few hours.
So onto Trieste (big mistake, avoid Trieste at all costs).
Trieste is an odd place, it has been designed for the car, having no idea about
the layout of the city except for our rather vague Slovenian map we where soon
lost, if asked to describe Trieste the best way to describe it would be
motorway engineers training college, wherever possible needed or not a motorway
( particularly flyovers) are placed, coupled
with no signs except out of the town means that forever your on the lookout if
your on a dreaded motorway or not. Once we got to the station we hoped to get a
train to take us somewhere else, no train. Asking around gave us the location
of a local campsite, however the people we asked had no sense of distance or
like other Italian drivers didn’t know how fast they where driving. So we
cycled off in search of the illusive campsite along the local coast road, at
ten at night in the dark, with moody Italian drivers informing us with their
horns of the activity we where partaking in. eventually after a long period of
night cycling we arrived at Monfalcone which had a
camping site, we stayed there , pitching our tents in
the dark. From Monfalcone we took the train to San
Dona, the train we went on was comfortable enough and fairly fast. From San
Dona we cycled to our final camping site, where we would be picked up from,
Union Lido Campsite in Cavallino, near Venice, there is a great
variety of campsites coming with all the facilities you would and probably
wouldn’t expect.
Venice needs
little description but its amazing. So there you have
it, Southern Germany to Venice,
in four weeks five days.
Practicalities:
This
will document how to get to and from various cities on the route if you do not
want to do the complete route or would like to go a different way. Sites such
as: http://www.eurail.com/, www.raileurope.com, www.eurorailways.com give
information on how to get to and form the cities by train. And general travel
sites such as: http://www.travelocity.co.uk/ and www.expedia.co.uk give
information on how to fly to and from the cities.
Mulhouse: Mulhouse can be reached by the European Bike
Express www.bike-express.co.uk by train using a combination of SNCF
http://www.sncf.com/ and our own rail network www.nationalrail.co.uk
, via any of the channel ports. Mulhouse
has an airport somewhere on the outskirts and it would be possible to cycle
into Mulhouse
and to the rail station, http://www.euroairport.com gives more info
Donaueschingen: You could cycle
over the border but its fairly hilly and may not be an enjoyable start to your
holiday, we (or I) say take the trains, we took the train to Basel from
Mulhouse and then purchased out onwards tickets from there, space onboard the
trains is good and we had few problems getting our bikes on and off, although
it will take more than one person to lift your bikes on. Once at Donaueschingen station the cycle path begins there.
Passau: You could start
here or if you just want to go for the week or so finish. This is the point
where a fair proportion of people start as they cycle to Vienna or further. The path pasts
straight past the station, German railways should be able to help:
<<German railways>>.
Vienna: Start or finish
but defiantly worth a look, http://english.viennaairport.com/, Austrian
railways: http://www.oebb.at/en/index.html, gives information you do and don’t
need.
Bratislava: Capital of Slovakia, we
didn't actually go into the city properly as it didn’t look to appealing,
although apparently its quite nice. The airports site
is: http://www.airportbratislava.sk/flashContent/default3.html
Budapest: Could just not
cycle into Hungary at all,
but if you want to go the full way with the Danube
cycle path, here’s where it ends. Various airlines fly from Budapest
to the UK
and beyond. and the city is served by intercity rail
links
Zagreb: The capital of Croatia, not
actually on the route but could be cycled or you could go by rail
Ljubljana: served by
various airlines, and on intercity rail links.
Venice: Where we finished , a multitude of airlines serving the world,
intercity rail links and the European bike Express, the way back we took.
If
you wish to contact us for comments, suggestions or information please email us