Flensburg to Füssen by bicycle

The F2F Tour was a great idea because – although if I am travelling a lot business-wise –    I only know a small piece of my own country.

Generally spoken, Germany is a beautiful country and I saw many different landscapes, met various kind of people with strange and interesting dialects, small lovely villages where I would like to live, but also regions which do not fit in my personal world view.

Also the motivation to not stay in hotels or guest houses was finally a good decision.  Ok, after 12 times building up the tent and all the necessary stuff was enough, especially when after thunderstorms and heavy rains everything was wet and felt uncomfortable. But camping is a kind of freedom where you meet special people who have to tell interesting and unusual stories – I will miss it !

With Andi and Ralf, the two guys who accompanied me each for one week, I felt really comfortable. We had good conversations, had a lot of fun and many beers together.

Thanks my friends that you shared this new experience with me and I had the feeling that you also enjoyed the common time.

Friday, means on our last day, Ralf said it is always disappointing when you finish a tour and arrive at the final destination. He had this experience from his walk along the way of St. James (Jakobsweg) and he is right. The one and only countermeasure to take is making a new plan !!

After some hours of cycling and reflecting we were in a good mood because we had a plan …

I attach some impressions in form of pictures to this blog. If you like to see more, please send an email to volker@werner4all.de and you will get a link to the F2F picture folder in my cloud.

At the end I would like to say thanks to all who supported and motivated me before and during my tour. \\Volker

Power Plant at the Camp-ground :

Trailer not only for luggage

Visit of friends

It is time to pack and rest.
Anna-Maria, many thanks for the warm welcome and that you picked me up in Füssen – bicycle and train is a nightmare

I made it !!!

After 1292 km , Altitude of 7207 meters and 73:17 hours on the bike I arrived at Füssen in Bavaria !

Sorry my friends, today I am too tired to write more – I will summarize the last day of the fantastic F2F tour tomorrow after I have recovered.

I would like to say thank you to my both company buddies Andi and Ralf for the time we shared together and the support which we gave to each other.

Relaxing mode :

It’s always a challenge to charge the mobile devices as a camper without motorhome or caravan. We used power sockets in restaurants, toilets or asked people on the camp-ground if we can refill the battery of our mobile phone, Garmin or iPad. Up to now somehow we managed this, because as a fallback I have a additional power pack with solar panel with me. But yesterday, close to our tents, we found a power distribution direct under a caravan ( where nobody stayed this time). This was the perfect opportunity to charge all electronic devices and batteries and so we are connected to the world.

We started the day very early and enjoyed a breakfast after 15km on the bike at EDEKA – good and cheap !

We found a nice place on a lake close to Augsburg to refill the carbohydrate storage. Ralf is calling this the second breakfast and its really necessary in order to have enough reserves for the day.

In the afternoon we arrived Landsberg am Lech – only 72km to Füssen, the final destination. Our company has a branch office in Landsberg and so I tried to reach my colleagues by phone. Within 30 minutes Gerhard came with his wife and son from his home to Landsberg.
Finally we got invited to a barbecue in the evening and we decided to stay in Landsberg on the camp ground.
The evening was really nice and Gerhard told me some secrets how to prepare the beef on a Weber grill with a delicious quality.
Petra, Gerhard – thank you for the hospitality and a unexpected surprise.

Tomorrow is the last day and we hope to arrive in a good condition in Füssen.

Good start into the new day with a perfect sunrise and powerful breakfast in the camp- ground restaurant. As a further improvement we washed our clothes and put them in an dryer in order to have pleasant smelling and real dry shirts and pants on… As I said a great day!

Uwe sent me the aerial view from the camping ground

Next great surprise was the meeting with my colleagues Björn, Jakob & Björn on the route to Augsburg. They are the best support and motivation team – many thanks guys !

In the late afternoon we arrived in Donauwörth, enjoyed big cups of ice cream and than my colleagues went back by train to Stuttgart, because they are responsible that the business is running and my job keeps safe.

Again thank you for the great day

Finally together with Ralf I found a Italian restaurant where we got a good pizza, a vino rosso de la casa and a TV where we watched football – it’s so easy to make a man happy !
Now I am relaxing in my Blogging tent under very bright full moon and try to win the fight against the Mosquitos!

Camping ground Würzburg -Kanu Club I can not recommend – no water close to the tents for coffee cooking, no tables or/and chairs for bikers, 1/2km to the showers and toilettes …and no breakfast – it’s deleted from our list.( Ralf I hope you agree)

Finally we found a EDEKA (grocery store)with bakery where we got a brilliant breakfast.
Today we enjoyed a very interesting route with frequent changing of up and downhill parts which costs a hell of power.

In the late afternoon my GARMIN showed 1000km as the total distance and we celebrated this milestone in the evening with red wine and Grappa.

After 122km we found a very nice camping place direct on a small lake.

What a terrible morning ! Trapped in my tent and can’t go to toilette, because it’s raining since two(2) hours.All the T-Shits, pants etc.. which hanging on the clothesline are wet… Not a good feeling.
However, after 15km on the bike we met the brother of Ralf and his family in a small village direct on our route. We got coffee, isotonic drinks and some medicine for my groggy hamstring-many thanks for the support!

Next milestone was the town Gemünden where the famous Bicycle trail on the Main river starts. After another 50km (Total 105 km today) we arrived in Würzburg and now our tent is built up direct on the Main river.
We met in Würzburg our former colleague Daniel and had a nice evening down town.

Now I have 910km on my tachometer and hope to survive on the next 350km – CU

The Internet connection here in Bavaria is really bad and I try to upload some comments and experiences of the day.
Yes it’s true, we reached Bavaria on the late evening after climbing the German mid size mountain in the beautiful Rhön.

Wasserkuppe and more

We , means that I got a new buddy after Andy went back to Stuttgart. I crossed a small village in East Hessen (Burghaun) and met my old colleague and friend Ralf. We had a good lunch together with his parents in a beer garden and 1 hour later we continued the F2F Tour together.

The Rhön is a very difficult territory for bikers ( without E-motor and ICE [Verbrennungsmotor]) and we made more than 1400Hm , 110km distance and arrived on a camping ground with a small lake at 7 pm close to Bad Bad Brückenau/Bavaria.

What a great and interesting day ! I slept 7 hours without interruption in my small tent on the 60cm wide air bed.
Message to my sister : thanks for all the hints which you gave me for my bicycle tour especially the idea with the trailer – But: your prognosis that I will hate the camping life after 3 days and will stay in a hotel-this was wrong- I enjoy the simple camping life and the interesting conversations with camping neighbors. First step for a conversation starts with the question: “Do you have a hammer that I can prepare my tent.

This morning Andy went back by train to Stuttgart from Göttingen main station. We had a great time together and enjoyed the first 600km from Flensburg to Göttingen(F2G) and learned that Germany is a great country, but we would not like to live a every region.

As expected the tour today was very hilly, but from the landscape point of view one of the most beautiful areas – I know this since 50+ years and got the confirmation today.
Also the people where very flexible when I asked for restaurants or shops: “Sorry no shops, no restaurants this is a small village, but you get get a something private from me ” – good guys !!
After 135km and approx. 1300HM I arrived in Rotenburg/Fulda on a camping-ground direct on the river.

Hoher Meißener

I had not ordered the cold beer which they served in front of the reception, but I said ” thank you for the nice arrangement ”

To Walter Pflüger : was nice to talk to you this evening by phone, and sorry that I forgot to inform you that I am close to your home and consequently I missed the Gyros which you promised ….

Ernst: sorry dass das mit dem Bier heute Abend nicht geklappt hat-ich war einfach zu schnell !
Rotenburg ist eine gute Ausgangsposition, denn ich kann morgen früh entspannt an der Fulda entlang radeln und brauche nicht gleich wieder die hessischen Mittelgebirge zu erklimmen. Danke für die guten Tipps und Ratschläge bezüglich der Tourenfúhrung- Sage bitte liebe Grüße an Ini

After a very nice and relaxed night I started the day with a good breakfast and tried to convince this dog to pull my trailer but he (or she?)was lazy and so I had no other chance to continue like the other days.

Today it was the hard day, because the landscape becomes hilly and I learned what does it mean to carry a trailer and language with >23kg up to the top of the German medium size mountains. I expect the same plaque during the next days, because I will cross the area where I have been grown up and I know these bloody upswings very good.
However, we (Andy and I) made 93km today and stopped really early at 5:30 pm at a small and somehow special camp ground in Northeim which is close (23km) to Göttingen.

Andy will take the train back to Stuttgart from Göttingen tomorrow at lunch time.
In total the Garmin Navigator showed 575km today and this is in theory the half of the F2F tour.(I expect some more km due to the navigation mistakes)
Next goal is to defeat the “Kassler Berge” (the above mentioned bloody..) and to find a camping ground around Kassel , hopefully direct on the river. My father gave me this evening by phone some hints about the route and where I can find camp grounds.
(Danke für die guten Tips Ernst, ich studiere jetzt noch einmal die Karte um zu entscheiden ob Werra oder Fulda- falls ich in der Nähe bin melde ich mich und eventuell kommst Du mit 1..2 Bier vorbei)
Ilka please continue to translate for my parents – many thanks (I’ve a great family)
We finished the evening with a brilliant and delicious “Special Curry Wurst”(the famous German spicy sausage) Weizen Beer and a Hardenberger Schnaps (Schweine-Sprudel) and I am looking forward to get a good day and hopefully with relaxed legs tomorrow – CU \\Volker

This morning a little girl said to her mother at the camp ground, in such little tents nobody can sleep and where is there car ?

Today we had perfect weather conditions, so we made 125km and arrived close to Hildesheim. The route to this destination was along one of the most beautiful landscapes I have ever seen. Especially the “Lüneburger Heide” without any car traffic I really like.