: From rainy Belgium into rainy Germany

: A big group of bikers arrived with us into Monschau

: Monschau was old german town

: Looking forward to a hot meal after the rainy morning

: Kölsch is a type of beer only brewed in Cologne

: ” Dear Diary ”

: We had a great time staying with Siegfried and Heidi, they were very generous hosts.

: Our first sambo from a German lidl.

: Our first taste of the very comprehensive german cycle network

: I don’t know if frogs migrate but we came across one on our way into Cologne. It was hard cycling on the path there were so many frogs we were afraid we’d crush them

: Passed a huge pumpkin farm

: Poor Tenzin

: The beginning of our shop in globetrotter

: Choosing merino wool garments is serious bussiness

: Okay not that serious

: They had replacement parts for every Ortlieb piece you could imagine

: We had no idea turkey was so mountainous until coming across this map

: Or Iran for that matter

: Globetrotter was a four story outdoor store with a lake for testing the canoes on the ground floor.

: The camping coffee section was great fun

: As if Ortlieb was great enough already

: A titanium shot glass for the weight conscious drinker

: It really had everything

: A better selection of bike stuff than most bike shops in Ireland

: Canonball!!!

: We spent hours there

: The cathedral

: The same cathederal

: Still the same cathedral it was great

: Getting a better look

: Pretty impressive

: Up the top is Adam and Eve and it continues to the death of Jesus at the bottom

: The inside

: So this is the bishop at the time giving the cathedral to the people of Cologne

: I don’t know if this is an actual tomb

: A fine tabernacle

: Not the tablet the church is used to

: A nice painting

: A wooden carving

: This guy reminds us of how we feel on the bike

: You could pay money to ring the bell, there was no warning and it caught both of us off guard when we were right beside it

: The bell again

: Hgh street in Munich

: Tuckered out after our day in Cologne

: Choices choices

: Ralf was a great host who also had loads of info about Turkey

: A sign for the camino

: Bad omen?

: Lunch makes everything better

: We spent our entire lunch watching wasp transport what looked like bees into holes in the ground ?? if anyone know what was happening please let us know.

: A tree with the dates of important local events on the corresponding rings

: Park leaving Bonn

: All the way along the Rhine there were great signs

: This space shuttle simulator would have been great fun if it was open

: What used to be a bridge across the Rhine

: The other side of the bridge

: The filter working away

: The first use of the filter, a very proud moment for us both

: Hugo’s t-shirt rides up the same way every day leaving him this great tan

: My first taut line hitch

: Setting up the staged sleeping photo under the tarp took quite some time

: Hey there

: Tarp after it’s first night

: Breakfast on the Rhine

: The filter playing a stormer

: In our never ending search for the most calorie dense meal, we cavalierly spread coconut oil on top of peanut butter. While tasty it turned out to be an unsustainably heavy combination

: This picture pretty much sums up the Rhine, a barge a castle and a vineyard

: Nice flat riverside riding we enjoyed most of the days up the Rhine

: A castle, a barge and a Hugo

: More Rhine

: This meander took us on a huge detour

: The bikes having a rest

: “Fatties fit fine”, fat tires tires ofcourse

: A fine repair job

: Quick access to camp shoes is essential after a long day on the bike

: Another castle

: “Can we camp in there?”

: A town along the Rhine

: Hugo putting up the tarp while i sit down and take pictures of him, a job almost as important as actually putting up the tarp

: So important i took two

: looks like i actually took three

: Everyday its a challenge to see how much PB you can fit on a single day of bread

: Thre day after we spent all night up getting sick.

: Our hostel room to recover in.

: After staying a night in a hoste to recoverl we were greeted with a lovely ride the following day

: Not without it’s setback

: Riding through vineyards is great fun, there were this miniature tractors that could fit down the rows of vines.

: Even riding through towns was easy as every turn was signposted

: The industrial side of the Rhine

: Wonder where they got the idea for that?

: Whenever you’re on the bike you think there’s a strong headwind turns out today there was!!

: Just have to go around

: Really was windy

: This one was a fair bit harder to get around

: We found a camping spot near and industrial centre, at breakfast we could hear the deep thump of base coming from one of the warehouses. Techno at 8 am in industrial parks is yo be expected I suppose

: Our metrhod for crossing towns is to cycle to the tallest building and then keep going out the other side. Works pretty well.

: Crazy cathederals become pretty regular in Germany

: Town Centre of Speyer

: Main street of Speyer

: Another huge cathedral

: Stopping for a coffee and McFlurry on our 180km day to Strasbourg

: Flying into Strasbourg

: The city centre is a world heritage site and has some pretty cool buildings

: A bridge to the old town

: Traditions building

: Strasbourg is home to yet another very impressive cathederal

: Flora very kindly hosted us in Strasbourg, walking into her house was like walking onto the set of Amelie it was great

: Having started up the rhine at 700km we left it at 293km

: Crossing the bridge back into Germany

: What I can honestly call the most impressive private collection of garden gnomes I’ve ever seen

: Definitely steeper than the Rhine

: Sneaking onto a new road we had the whole thing to ourselves.

: We had the whole thing to ourselves, until we bumped into some workers who were pretty confused with our presence.

: Don’t really remember anything about this photo

: A great evening descent before climbing out of the village watching the sunset and camping beside an orchard

: We ended up on this strange private road it was huge and completely free from cars

: This kid knows what’s up

: Astronomical clock

: My stupid broken wheel strapped to the back of my bike

: Kristoff guided us the whole way into Munich while entertaining us with his crazy travels. He’s built a trailer which allows him to cycle his four meter long canoe around

: Bavaria has portion aimed at bike tourers

: remind anyone of when mary and pippin leave the shire. https://youtu.be/bmFnv-TZzRs

: Munich markets

: Daniel was a great host and gave us a lot of inspiration for future trips

: I’m back in Tübigen to fix my broken wheel

: Tübigen in the evening

: The riverside

: Very uncharacteristically German the train service was late meaning I had to stay in the youth hostel and get my wheel fixed in the morning

: Me and my wheel sharing a room

: Bike touring may be fun but carrying a bike wheel around Germany is also a nice way to travel

: On the train back I pass Ulm again with the highest church steeple in the world

: It was so hot on the train they were handing out free water

: Sunset after we left Munich

: Last bitta flat before we get to Austria

: The German regional roads were nice and smooth and usually very quite

: Just a nice candid frisbee shot

: Which way now?

: As we cycled across the south of Germany the alps loomed just in sight

: One of the nicer maypoles we saw

: Maypole, Munich and Muggins

: They’re getting closer

: A small shrine at the road side these have been pretty common so far through Belgium and Germany

: Most german roads had separated bike paths

: View from out camping spot at lake

: Well I suppose we’ll just have to go over them

Dublin to Nepal, Finnian's Galleries, Germany, On Tour

Germany

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