REROUTING

Tomorrow is the first day of June but one would not say on this 3 degree Celsius day. So I take the locals' advice: don't follow the Danube through the higher, and thus even colder, parts of the Black Forest but take the Rhine path to Basel instead.

Without a map (or guidebook or internet) for the unexpected detour, I am at the mercy of the train station employee's sightseeing advice. He says Freiburg is nice and not too far from the Rhine route. So Freiburg it is! After a one and half hour train ride I am there, just long enough to dry out my shoes on the train's heater. In the rain I find my way to the Black Forest hostel. A former odometer factory now houses one heck of a cool hostel. There are huge spaces to hang out (and to set up a tent that needs drying out), little design vignettes throughout, shrines in hidden corners, fresh flowers, and an uplifting brightness because of both the design and the daylight pouring in through the glass roofs. The hostel's neighbor is a vineyard, right there in the city center. All my clothes are wet and smelly so I choose a new outfit from the H&M sales rack and then the sun breaks out, right when I am ready for the evening. Summary of my Freiburg detour? In the very unlikely event that I will ever move to Germany, Freiburg will be the place!

The next day, when I bike through wine country towards Basel (after a night of bar hopping, tarte flambee, hazelnut cake and live French music) I can see this area makes a perfect weekend trip from Holland: stay in Freiburg, hike in the Black Forest one day and go wine tasting the other day.

The ride along the Rhine is easy, beautiful and rain-free. Biffy from New Zealand is awaiting me in her Basel apartment. Not only is she offering me her guestroom through warmshowers.org, she even cooks dinner and takes me on a bicycle sightseeing tour. This morning, after buying maps for the next 3 weeks of my trip and drooling over Swiss design in the bookstore, my umbrella disintegrates. I give up on any further exploring in this crappy weather and instead I wait in the cafe next to the station for the train to leave. I will be visiting Nicole for the weekend!

PS. Switzerland is not for the budget traveler: my bill just arrived and the cappuccino is 6 US dollars.

OH HAPPY (YESTER)DAY!

How glorious is the warm and golden sunshine after rain, rain, rain. One and a half day of sunny paradise makes me forget last week's misery. How lucky to ride one of the very best stretches of my trip on this beautiful day. I am biking where the river carved a path through the vertical white rocks, through the lush forests, picknick tables under the big oak trees. Paved bike-only roads snake through the rolling hills with peekaboo views of castles and palaces. Villages with half-timbered houses and beergartens serving big plates of schnitzel and apfelstrudel. I sleep in my tent in places that come straight out of a fairytale book.

That was yesterday. Today I am sitting in the station at Tuttlingen, wearing muddy rain pants and a drippy raincoat, plastic bags sandwiched between 2 pairs of socks. My bike is heavy with the soaking wet tent and mud clinging to every bicycle part. I am here reconsidering my route to Basel as the planned route has no rain in the forecast but ... snow!

(The pictures below are not half showing the beauty of this part of the Eurovelo 6 route.)

SIGHTSEEING

The rain forced me out of the tent for 2 nights and I unexpectedly ended up spending the night in two great cities. With my newly purchased umbrella I went sightseeing in Regensburg (what's in a name) and Ulm. Regensburg was a true surprise. What an awesome labyrinth of a town center. I was told it has the highest density of bars in Germany. Between the many fun drinking holes are patisseries and chocolatiers, Bavarian clothing shops (I am tempted to get a true Heidi outfit!), and art galleries. The rain continues so I get on the train to Ulm. Less hopping than Regensburg but still a very pleasant place, Ulm has the highest church steeple in the entire world at 161 meters. Climbing some 800 steps takes you to the very top. Whoa! The horizontal rain becomes horizontal snow and the steeple is very narrow once I am all the way up. It is truly exhilarating!

PS. No need to search for a Google street view as Germany's privacy laws don't allow those. Also WiFi is almost absent (I am writing this offline for later publishing) although I did get access for 20 minutes once, after filling out a lengthy form in the pension I was staying.

BRRRRVARIA

I am sure Bavaria looks great in the sunshine. I can picture the beer gardens full of happy people. Dudes in lederhosen driving tractors through the grassy hills. The outstanding farmers markets busy with shoppers. The birds chirping. The cuckoos cuckooing. I can even picture this on a cloudy day. Or perhaps in a drizzle. But in the non-stop heavy rain, Bavaria is every bit as dreary and miserable as any place. Especially when the thermometer simultaneously drops to 5 degrees Celcius. This is the unfortunate reality of one of Europe's springs in human memory: spring 2013.

The camping enthusiasm has plummeted after setting up and breaking down a wet tent several days in a row so I splurge on a hotel room. After a hot shower I finally can feel my toes again and it is only 6pm as I lay down on the very fluffiest bedding. It is a done deal, I am not leaving this room tonight. Some scrambling through my bags produces 2 granola bars and an orange. That will do for dinner. The next day is just as miserable so I check into a youth hostel. Roommate and fellow bicyclist Ulli also splurged on a too expensive hotel room the night before,   watching TV in bed and eating potato chips for dinner.  "Eine ganze Tute!"

Germany has a great network of unpaved bike paths. You don't need to be a chemist to understand what the combination of sand and rain does to these trails. And together with the paths, my bike, my luggage, my clothing, just everything becomes a big muddy mess. I have met many cyclists who started weeks ago and can count the dry days on one hand. Some are abandoning all further travel plans to take the first train back home. I count myself lucky to have started in sunny Southeast Europe. And to stay optimistic I just don't look at the weather forecast.

VIENNA-PASSAU

Quite a few people warned me for the Vienna-Passau stretch: "It is the old folks biking highway". "Only tour groups do that stretch". "Too easy!", "Yawn...".

Okay, what does this really mean? I am picturing nice, smooth, well-signed bike trails, beautiful scenery, plenty of places to stop for a drink or a snack, sleeping options galore. Oh boy, was I right! Believe me, after a month of more adventurous riding, 4 days of smooth sailing is no problem for me. I thought it might be a bit boring in return for the convenience but no no no. The UNESCO protected Wachau area has this status for a reason. Holy moly, how sweet this area is. Ganz süß. Pedaling along the Danube, up and down rolling lanes through baroque villages, vineyards on the surrounding slopes, a stop at one of the many Heurige (wine gartens where the wine farmers/producers sell wine and snacks). The Heurige is open when a branch of pine branches is "ausg'steckt".

But even better than the Wachau I liked the Danube Loop, the river makes a sort of loop as huge granite walls forced the Danube to change direction 180 degrees.

There's more. Beautiful city Linz and learning about Most, a pear cider that is very specific to this area and, you might have guessed it, no shortage of Most heurige in wooden log shacks right along the bicycle path.

With the exception of some stretches in Hungary I have mostly biked on shared roads. I feel spoiled now I have finally arrived in bike path world. As Vienna-Passau is likely the best known bike path in Europe, it is sure a bit touristy. But there are hours I don't see anyone at all, especially in the morning or after 4pm. I suppose the senior bicyclists' schedule is in the 11am to 4pm range including a big lunch stop and no more riding after 'kaffee und kuchen'. Secretly I am a little jealous...

FLOWER POWER

Austria in springtime means oceans of wildflowers. Every morning I choose a mini bouquet for my bike and attach it to the map holder on my handle bars, celebrating that I am now past the midway point of my trip.

(PS. Besides the wildflowers I love the Austrian good manners, cultural identity, open faced sandwiches, lederhosen, wine culture, quality bio food, and retro phone booths, among others)