Due to some initial hotel reservation challenges related not only to language, but also to new country practices and customs, our updated itinerary led us cycling for 7 straight days this segment. Although our cycling in Germany was more strenuous than in France, none of these days were worse than our average cycling day in New Zealand (2017).

2022.06.12 – Mulhouse ==> Rheinfelden (55 kms | Total: 2277 kms)

Upon leaving our last hotel in France, we rejoined the EV Route 6 along the Canal du Rhône au Rhin. The bicycle path was quite busy as it was Sunday. Upon arriving in the Switzerland border town of Basel, the canal merged into the impressive Rhine river. We were caught off guard by the number of cyclists on the path and as a result we lost the signage for our prescribed cycling route. After cycling for few kms on the Swiss side of the Rhine river, we crossed one of the many bridges which allowed us to enter into Germany later on. As we arrived at our hotel’s reception, we discovered that the hotel’s owner was a Chinese who had been living in Germany for over 40 years. Jenny’s mandarin proved again invaluable as she negotiated a good price to access the hotel’s clothes washing facilities. In the evening, we visited a Greek restaurant for our dinner. We noticed and appreciated that most restaurants in Germany opened at 5:30pm. We struggled somewhat with communication for ordering our food and learned that tap water was not readily offered in German restaurants. To our disappointment, our 1l bottled water ordered with our meal was 7€ – more than half the price of one of our evening meals. It seemed like we would need to learn to drink beer very shortly.

2022.06.13 – Rheinfelden ==> Tiengen (54 kms | Total: 2331 kms)

A week ago, when we started to make hotel reservations for Germany, we discovered that the hotel rooms were on average 20-30 € more expensive than in France, but their price included a (mandatory) breakfast offering. In essence, the price worked out to be very similar to France if we had subscribed to hotel breakfast offerings. This morning we were totally overwhelmed by our hotel’s breakfast buffet. Beyond the typical continental breakfast staples (croissant, coffee, yogurts, etc), they offered three different types of egg preparations (scramble, hard-boiled and fried), bacon, sausages and a healthy selection of vegetables and fruits. Upon retrieving our tandem from the locked storage, we were pleased to see that it had spent the night with a bunch of other bicycles (mostly e-bikes). The bicycles probably spent the night sharing travel stories! We greatly enjoyed our first entire cycling day in Germany which followed, most of the time, the Rhine river. We stopped frequently along the way to take pictures as the scenery kept captivating us for it was quite different from the view along the canals/rivers in France and England. Upon arriving to our hotel, we experienced first hand some German engineering as we wished to access our hotel room prior to the 4pm registration. Hence, we registered at a kiosk outside our hotel which issued us a magnetic card, in turn, it provided us access to the hotel and our room doors. Later, we visited our first grocery store in Germany for some snacks. In the evening, we opted for yet another Greek restaurant nearby for our dinner.

2022.06.14 – Tiengen ==> Gailingen (57 kms | Total: 2388 kms)

At breakfast this morning, we were again presented with an extended breakfast offering. It appeared this would be our traditional breakfast in Germany. We did not cycle much along the Rhine river today as our bicycle route turned inland. We climbed a fair number of hills while our cycle route brought us through a succession of entry and exit from Switzerland. The unexpected highlight of our day was a stop in the town of Schaffhausen (Switzerland) to witness the impressive Rhine falls – the most powerful waterfall in Europe. The site attracted many tourists – many of them were enjoying a 30 minute boat ride providing them with an up-close view of the falls and the Rhine river. In order to rejoin our cycling route on the other side of a multi lane train tracks, we struggled a bit taking our tandem down in an elevator to a tunnel under the train tracks. We were tired and relieved when we arrived at our hotel. Jenny took the lead to register us with the Chinese hotel owner. Later, we walked to a grocery store for some lunch snacks. We opted to enjoy our dinner with some Beijing food specialty from our hotel’s restaurant.

2022.06.15 – Gailingen ==> Singen (47 kms | Total: 2435 kms)

After a plentiful breakfast, we cycled out of town and rejoined our EV route 6 along the Rhine river. After 10 kms or so, our route turned inland for most of the day. Since our arrival in Germany, we had encountered many more hills than in France and today was no different. The bicycle paths were very busy today as we learned later that schools were on recess this week – while tomorrow was a holiday in many parts of the country. At mid-point of our journey, we bid farewell to the Rhine river as it turned southerly when we cycled north. After checking into our hotel at 1:30pm, we stepped out to purchase snacks and refreshments. With the sun shinning, the temperature reached 32C. We visited a Turkish restaurant for some pizza and salad for our evening meal.

2022.06.16 – Singen ==> Fridingen an der Donau (53 kms | Total: 2488 kms)

We were not overly impressed by our Holiday Inn Express breakfast offering, but nonetheless we filled up our stomachs for the road ahead. Our first 20kms made for some enjoyable cycling. Unfortunately the next 10kms were a lot more strenuous as we had a continuous climb over a hill with a 300+m elevation. We were relieved to coast down into the town of Tuttingen as we had run out of water along the way. Although most stores were closed due to the Corpus Christi holiday, we managed to buy some water at a Turkish restaurant. As we crossed a bridge in town, we had our first glimpse of the Danube river – although at this stage it looked more like a stream. We continued our route for another 16kms on a level cycling path up to our hotel. After checking into our room, we appreciated a good shower and some rest before our evening meal at our Guest House’s restaurant.

2022.06.17 – Fridingen an der Donau ==> Altheim (77 kms | Total: 2565 kms)

We showed up to the hotel restaurant for breakfast 30mins ahead of our usual time as we wanted to have an early start given the expected long cycling day. When we retrieved our tandem for the storage facility, it was in company of a dozen other bicycles. The first half day of our cycling journey was marked by up and down hills along a narrow valley where the Danube river flowed while most of time out of sight. The second half day of our cycling we rode on flat cycling path through small towns, but mostly across large farmland. Upon arriving at our target accommodation, we noticed there was a sign in German on the door. We could figure out that the restaurant was closed for the week and for existing room booking we needed to call a given phone number. After seeking some help from locals, we managed to reach the son of the owner who promptly checked us into our room. Unfortunately we counted on this only restaurant in town for our evening meal. We quickly moved to Plan B and visited a nearby grocery store to purchase some lunch snacks, evening meal and next morning breakfast staples. Although this was one of our longest cycling day, we were still in good spirit and did not mind staying in our room with plenty of food items.

2022.06.18 – Altheim ==> Ulm (67 kms | Total: 2632 kms)

We ate our first in-room breakfast since entering Germany. We promptly rejoined our cycling path. We continued riding through small villages, towns and farmland for most of the day. We stopped for some bakery and coffee after 40kms. Although the temperature reached 32C and the sun shinned brightly, the light breeze kept us going. Upon checking into our Ibis hotel, I was pleased to be handed a voucher for two Welcome drinks since I had recently reached the Silver member status – for booking 10 rooms from any of the qualifying Accor hotel chains. We picked some late lunch snacks at a nearby grocery store. In the evening, we intended to have dinner at a Mexican restaurant, but we were confronted to a locked door. Instead, we had some roast chicken on the side of a pedestrian road.