My plans for Germany have started to settle a bit. I bought my airline tickets, finally, and I now have a pretty good idea of my itinerary:
9/30 - Leave SFO.
10/1 - Arrive Wengen, Switzerland.
10/1 to 10/4 - Hang out with family in Switzerland.
10/5 - Day 1 - Wengen, Switzerland to Bern, Switzerland (following the Aare)
10/6 - Day 2 - Bern, Switzerland to Solothurn, Switzerland (following the Aare)
10/7 - Day 3 - Solothurn, Switzerland to Waldshut, Germany (following the Aare)
10/8 - Day 4 - Waldshut, Germany to Basel, Switzerland (following the Rhine)
10/9 - Day 5 - Basel, Switzerland to Breisach, Germany (following the Rhine)
10/10 - Day 6 - Breisach, Germany to Breisach, Germany (side trip: Colmar, Selestat, Alsace Wine Route)
10/11 - Day 7 - Breisach, Germany to Kehl, Germany (following the Rhine)
10/12 - Day 8 - Kehl, Germany to Kehl, Germany (rest day in Strasbourg, France)
10/13 - Day 9 - Kehl, Germany to Speyer, Germany (following the Rhine)
10/14 - Day 10 - Speyer, Germany to Speyer, Germany (side trip: Heidelberg)
10/15 - Day 11 - Speyer, Germany to Mainz, Germany (following the Rhine)
10/16 - Day 12 - Mainz, Germany to Bacharach, Germany (following the Rhine)
10/17 - Day 13 - Bacharach, Germany to Koblenz, Germany (following the Rhine)
10/18 - Day 14 - Koblenz, Germany to Bonn, Germany (following the Rhine)
10/19 - Day 15 - Bonn, Germany to Koln (Cologne), Germany (following the Rhine)
10/20 - Day 16 - Koln, Germany to Dusseldorf, Germany (following the Rhine)
10/21 - Day 17 - Dusseldorf, Germany to Dusseldorf, Germany (rest day)
10/22 - Day 18 - Dusseldorf, Germany to Wesel, Germany (following the Rhine)
10/23 - Day 19 - Wesel, Germany to Nijmegen, Netherlands (following the Rhine/Waal)
10/24 - Day 20 - Nijmegen, Netherlands to Dordrecht, Netherlands (following the Waal)
10/25 - Day 21 - Dordrecht, Netherlands to Den Haag, Netherlands (following the Waal and the North Sea)
10/26 - Day 22 - Den Haag, Netherlands to Amsterdam, Netherlands (following the North Sea)
10/27 - Rest day in Amsterdam
10/28 - Return to SFO.
The next big purchase decision is the bike box for air travel. I will likely head down to New Mexico in early September and I'd like to try out the setup, so I need to get something figured out this week.
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hey Dave --
ReplyDelete1) how do you happen to be lucky enough to have family staying/living in Switzerland?
2) how do you get so much time off from work? (taking time off without pay? or are you between jobs?)
3) are you biking by yourself?
and
4) how did you figure out your itinerary?
Its a very impressively hilly, mountainous route, wow!!
cheers,
-toni
Hi Toni,
ReplyDelete1) Good karma, I guess. :-) My Mom and my step-Dad have a chalet in Wengen, Swizterland that they stay in close to half the year.
2) One of the advantages of staying with the same job for 9 years. :-) Well, that and not taking much vacation for the past few years. I think I'll actually still have a bit left, even after 4 weeks.
3) Yea, biking on my own. Playing it safe as much as I can (bike paths instead of roads, etc). Not really pushing myself too hard in terms of miles per day or elevation gain.
4) My original plan was to basically follow the water from Wengen down to the ocean. I pretty much stuck to that, but figuring out how to break it up was tough. Switzerland was easy and the main part of Germany (Mainz to Dusseldorf) was easy. I only just figured out that the best way to do the Basel to Mainz section was to intersperse days along the river with side trips out to Alsace or Heidelberg. Once the river gets into the Netherlands, it splits apart into lots of different channels. I picked a path that seemed right, though that is the one section I could imagine changing during the ride.
Except for the side trip up to Heidelberg, it is pretty much all down hill. Of course, I have no idea what the wind (or weather) is going to be like...
Talk to you soon!
- Dave
Great itinerary! Wished this old dog was in shape to go along. You now have to figure out how you document this once-in-a-life trip; video, stills, voice, written, etc. You probably should take notes daily--then at then end think about writing a book/pamplet. Hey I['m serious. You might be the first to do this trip!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to seeing you in a few weeks.
Vaughn
Hi Dave,
ReplyDeleteGot your blog site from Toni Deser. You are looking for a bike travel case. I have one I would sell you. Let me know if you are interested.
Bill Schmidt