We travel to compare our imagination with reality.
Schwerin Castle is a jewel amongst all castles of Germany.
But also the town of Schwerin is picturesque and stylish.
Dropping off my wife Ingrid at the Hamburg airport and carry on to the North Sea to Norddeich/Norden
Found a great camping site “Womopark Norddeich”
https://womopark-norddeich.de/
The towns at the German “Ostsee” are all quaint and posh and a pleasure to visit.
E.g., Wismar
Ferienpark Seehof north of Schwerin
https://www.ferienpark-seehof.de/
In Malchow we had a great breakfast at the lake and “watched ships rolling in”.
Kühlungsborn is a sea holiday resort with lots of history and tradition.
From inside the camping ground during a morning stroll.
The town of Waren at Müritz
Cycling around the Müritz took all day and delivered about 65 km.
We spent the morning also in Stralsund and extended the exploration with the bicycle.
Legendary “Gorch Fock” military training vessel.
In the afternoon we traveled to Waren an der Müritz and still put in a round of golf.
Golfclub Fleesensee https://fleesensee-golfclub.de/
Camping- und Wohnmobilpark Kamerun Neumann/Thomä GbR
https://www.campingpark-kamerun.de/
I believe we drove the motor home to a parking near the Nationalpark Jasmund and walked on foot to the beautiful chalk coast, to Sassnitz and back. What a delight to also climb down to the shore and stay underneath the huge chalk rocks.
Impressions of Sassnitz.
First glimpse of Stralsund.
Caranvanstellplatz “An der Rügenbrücke”
https://www.caravan-center-dahnke.de/
Sight seeing in Greifswald. A quaint place.
Crossing over to Rügen
Motor home parking average, but useful.
https://www.lohme.de/
First exploration with bicycle.
Leisurely strolling around charming Stettin.
Crossing over to Germany and heading for Heringsdorf / Ahlbeck
Relaxed cycling on one of Germany’s most beautiful nature reserves “Naturschutzgebiet Löcknitztal”
Nest stop in Stettin / Poland
Camping Marina in Stettin / Poland http://www.campingmarina.pl/
Luther’s Wittenberg
Wittenberg is the place where Martin Luther in 1517 proclaimed his 95 Theses onto the church portal.
From Wittenberg to Potsdam …
Palais de Sanssouci near Potsdam south of Berlin
Erfurt
Left Luther in Weimer, right Luther in Eisleben
Luther’s Wartburg
Schiller and Goethe in Weimar
Leaving our home town Haag and our home for a while.
Short rest in Donautal still in drizzle. Later in Bamberg in cleared up and we enjoyed the famous Townhouse on the river island.
Relaxing stroll around town. The river Main makes its mark.
Since I cycled up Sani Pass with three BMW colleagues in about 2005 but could not reach the top because of inaccurate time planning, I wanted to come back and finish the job. We did not know that the SA border post closes at 16:00 p.m. I was fetched by our back up vehicle. Although I was not as fit as my tow other friends who reached the top in time, I would have made it, had we started earlier in the morning. I believe in 2005 we started at the Premiere Resort Sani Pass, a fine hotel about 8 km from the SA border post. That makes then about 22 km to the top and about 1.400 m uphill.
This time I was not fit enough for this variant, so I decided to start at the border post only. 8 km and 900 m uphill.
19.11.2019, On the way to the hotel and pre-run late afternoon.
From the hotel to the South African border post there is basically one large construction site to upgrade to road with asphalt. Understandable, but ending a legend of a tough ride where 4 wheel drive vehicles were mandatory.
From the border post upwards it is still a little challenge.
20.11.2019, Driving with Volvo through construction site until border post.
Arriving at border post.
I had quite a few stops, partially because the bike became unstable and of course because I needed to catch some breath. One starts at about 1.900 m altitude to go to 2.873 m. Not only breath, but relax the muscles as well 🙂
While getting closer to the top the mild berg wind rose to almost gail force strength. That made it impossible for me to get onto the bike in the last steep sections without being blown off again. I tried numerous times but had to concede. The last 500m altitude I had to push the bike.
Just one beer in the highest pub of Africa and some nice conversation with locals. Soon I went back down. I was concentrating as much as possible but could not avoid a bad fall. Front wheel got stuck between two stones and I fell head over heals onto the hard road. Luckily not onto the rough rocky surface but just the hard clay. Needless to say it still was hurting a lot. But no injury. My guardian angels decided to let me fall, but protect me still 🙂
In 2018 I was already in Sicily, in the USA, at the Plitvice Lakes and Croatia. Now I had to ride around Upper Austria again.
But after 2015 and 2017 with the Racing Bike and light luggage, I took the Touring Bike and a tent.
27.07.2018, Haag – Elisabethsee
28.07.2018, Elisabethsee – Grundlsee
29.07.2018, Grundlsee – Wolfgangsee
30.07.2018, Wolfgangsee – Leitgeringer See
31.07.2018, Leitgeringer See – Passau
01.08.2018, Passau – Haag
2016 was a year of cycling. My total mileage was 5.600 km and 42.700 m uphill. It started in March with the Cape Town ARGUS Cycling Race which I had accomplished about 8 times before. Next came to substantiate a long standing dream end of 2015 to cycle to Rome. We trained hard for it and did it in June.
Cycling with a touring bike and a tent is most enjoyable and gives a great sense of freedom.
To cycle to the Lake of Neusiedlersee in Burgenland was the proof of the pudding in July.
In total I cycled about 550 km and 4.000 m altitude and the trip lasted 7 days.
Somewhere on the way back between Neusiedler See, Semmering and Maria Zell the idea was born also to cycle to the French Pyrenees to Saint Jean Pied de Port, the starting point of the Camino Francais.
2016 was a year of cycling. My total mileage was 5.600 km and 42.700 m uphill.
It started in March with the Cape Town ARGUS Cycling Race which I had accomplished about 8 times before.
Next came to substantiate a long standing dream end of 2015 to cycle to Rome. We trained hard for it and did it in June.
Cycling with a touring bike and a tent is most enjoyable and gives a great sense of freedom.
To cycle to the Lake of Neusiedlersee in the East of Austria was the proof of the pudding in July.
The cherry on the top the was one my greatest adventures so far.
To cycle from Haag in Austria to the French Pyrenees to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, the starting point of the Camino Francais.
Cycling: 1.500 km / 6.500 m uphill in 11 days
Walking: 850 km to Santiago de Compostella and Finesterre in 33 days.
The sad part of this story is that I did not reach Saint Jean Pied de Port because my Pinarello was stolen in Carcassone. Part of it was fun as I slept at the Police Station in a cell, because the place was 100% booked. So I carried on by train to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. I was left with my wallet and my iPhone. All my luggage and the Passport were gone. Much more to tell some other time…
From Carcassone I took the train to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port via Toulouse, Lourdes and Bayonne. All went smooth although I did not speak a word of French.
After I finished the Camino Francais I took a rental car to travel to Santander and Madrid. From there it was by train again to Barcelona, where I met Ingrid. By train we reached Carcassone to fetch my Pinarello, which the Police had found soon. Train to Toulouse and air travel with Brussels Airways to Vienna including the bike. It is all about Logistics…
After my retirement in Mai 2015 I could eventually get more often on one of my bicycles again. A long standing dream was to cycle to Rome on a racing bike with light luggage. Two good friends, Heinz and Bruno cought fire to accompany me and we started in June 2016.
The total distance was about 1.200 km and 5.500 m altitude.
We planned 8 days for the journey and managed it well.
Day 1,09.06.2016
The day offered a light drizzle in the morning. We decided to start with a little help from friends: Helga, Heinz’s wife, drove us a few kilometres to Spittal / Pyhrn. There the rain has subsided and we jumped onto the bikes.
Arrival in Radstadt
Day 2, 02.06.2016
Transfer from Bad Gastein to Mallnitz – Later Dinner in Sillian
Day 3, 03.06.2016
Break in Bozen, sleeping in Auer
Day 4, 04.06.2016
Break in Trento
Stage in Verona
Day 5, 05.06.2016
Break in Padua
Day 6, 06.06.2016
Stage in lovely Florence
Day 7, 07.06.2016
Stage in Lago di Bolsena
Day 8, 08.06.2016
Tired Bikes 🙂
Day 9, 09.06.2016
For sight seeing
Day 1, 10.06.2019, Haag – Passau
Day 2, 11.06.2019, Passau – Landshut
Day 3, 12.06.2019, Landshut РW̦rthsee
Day 4, 13.06.2019, Wörthsee – Öschlsee
Day 5, 14.06.2019, Öschlsee – Lindau
Day 6, 15.06.2019, Lindau – Meersburg
Day 7, 16.06.2019, Meersburg – Konstanz
Day 8, 17.06.2019, Konstanz – Bregenz
Day 9, 18.06.2019, Bregenz – Pettneu
Day 10, 19.06.2019, Pettneu – Innsbruck /by bike) – Haag (by train)
2015 was my first year of semi-retirement and provided lots of opportunities for sports. As a teenager I only once had the chance to ride a small motor bike to one of the lakes and sleep in a tent. I always dreamed about to repeat this some time using a bicycle instead of the moped. And here we are. I reached the main 14 lakes and was very pleased with that…
8 days with lots of fun.
Day 1, 21.08.2015, Haag to Ebensee
110 km, 1.200 m uphill
All set and ready to go in Haag.
First brake in Kremsmünster
From the lake of Traunsee I wanted to cross a hill to the 2 lakes of Langbathsee. It became on of the toughest stages I had to accomplish, because I lost my way and it was too late to turn around.
First nights rest in Bodensee at the lake of Traunsee
Day 2, 22.08.2015, Ebensee to Obertraun
40 km, 195 m uphill
Day 3, 23.08.2015, Obertraun to 3 lakes
78 km , 750 m uphill
Day 4, 24.08.2015, Obertraun – Mondsee
78 km, 786 m uphill
Day 5, 25.08.2015, Mondsee to 4 lakes
98 km, 825 m uphill
Day 6, 26.08.2015, Mondsee – Scharnstein
75 km, 643 m uphill
Day 7, 27.08.2015, Scharnstein to 3 lakes
55 km, 440 m uphill
Day 8, 28.08.2015, Scharnstein to Haag
78 km, 774 m uphill
Back home safely.
During my professional life at the BMW Group time for sports was rather scarce. But when I retired in May 2015 I was on the move. I looked up the route from the official website from the “Race around Upper Austria“. In order to navigate with Google Maps I had to simplify the one or the other stretch. I also avoided the full amount of uphill sections (Original 9.300 m).
I needed 3 1/2 days for about 570 km and 5.800 m uphill.
The 4 stages of the 3,5 days:
In August 2017 I set myself a new target to finish the round in 3 days, down half a day from 2015. Here is the result:
The 3 stages of the 3 days:
The pictures are the same of both events, and should give an impression of how beautiful my home province is.
Haag – Großraming – Unterlaussa – Unterlaussa Church
Hengstpass – Windischgarsten – Kirchdorf – Gmunden
Altmünster – Weissenbach – St. Gilgen – Fuschl
Hof – Seekirchen – Seeham – Ort/Innkreis
Osternacherhof – Schärding – Passau – Engelhartszell
Oberkappel – Ulrichsberg – Bad Leonfelden – Freistadt
Kefermarkt – Kefermarkter Altar – Ennsdorf – Haag
One could repeat the following statement again and again: every new National Park was the same impressive than the ones before. Although we thought every day, this must be the highlight of the tour.
I we travel to compare our imagination to reality, then the Antelope Canyon exceeded all our expectations. What a variety of forms, shapes and colors.
Very close was the “Horse Shoe Bend” of ht Colorado River and we were surprised how unprotected the area was and how many tourists went close to the edge.
As we were not sure, whether I could do the trip down to the Colorado River in one ore only in two days, we booked this third day. It was a relaxed viewing day.
As soon as it was decided to really visit the Grand Canyon I was determined to go down to the Colorado River and not only take a few pictures from the top and carry on to the next National Park.
I left at 05:30 a.m. for the 1.500 m down and 1.500 m up again. I came back at about 16:00 p.m.
Today brought a complete change of scenery from lush vegetation to the complete opposite of deserts and naked rocks. But the excitement was nonetheless.
BIG Surprise finding a canyon where military fighter planes train low altitude maneuvering guided by a pensioner couple.
Still on the way to the real Death Valley.
Finally at the lowest spot of Death Valley, not for the faint hearted.
Coloured soil in warm afternoon light was a delight.
At Dante’s Peak for sun set.
