CIRCUM-LAKE-UTION – cycling round the Bodensee

Will we have as much fun as the people in the picture?

The Sydney Morning Herald recently published my article about our epic ride around Lake Constance on Europe’s most popular cycling route, so now I can release the full story on the blog…

I’m regularly reminded that my wife is smarter than I am. She doesn’t need to do the reminding personally; usually it’s only too obvious. On this trip she’s riding an electric bike.

GERMANY’S MOST PHOTOGRAPHED

You expect to share it with other photographers and mobile phone users.

If the Dutch Keukenhof is the most photographed place on the planet, Insel Mainau is the German equivalent.

Maybe what’s left of the Berlin Wall or Neuschwanstein Castle narrowly pip it as subjects for German holiday snaps, though even that is doubtful.

CYCLING LAKE CONSTANCE, DAY 5 – a wet finale in Konstanz

On a day like this, all colour is welcome.

Sometimes it’s better not to know what’s ahead until it’s behind you. On a cycling tour we check the weather forecast several times a day of course. The past two days have been perfect, but today: “Konstanz – rain, max 10 deg, headwind strength 3.” Not ideal cycling weather.

Thanks to my correspondent Ken for reminding me of an excellent story about Lake Constance that is vaguely relevant here. It’s worth a clumsy segue to tell it…

CYCLING LAKE CONSTANCE DAY 4 – Willkommen in Osterreich!

Water, greenery, snow, alps, sun and a car-free cycle path.

One of the pathetic little attractions of this circum-lake-ution for those who keep count of countries they’ve cycled in (yes, I’m afraid I really do) is the chance to cross lots of borders. We’ve managed three so far, will do another two tomorrow, and we’ll rack up ten by the time we’ve slipped into Liechtenstein and back, as we’re planning to do on Friday.

No passport is required, so no extra stamps are handed out, I’m afraid.

CYCLING LAKE CONSTANCE DAY 3 – sunshine on Meersburg

That white stuff is snow on the mountains. It probably fell yesterday.

What a difference a bit of sun makes! Nearly seventeen degrees today, so off came the Goretex jackets (though they were kept handy, just in case.)

It was a day for a leisurely 38km on the flat, with vineyards on one side and the Bodensee on the other. It was a day for a long lunch with a generous glass of local wine, without getting too schlossed. It was a day for browsing a couple of museums and a compulsory gloomy castle. And finally it was a day for sitting by the water with a Greek dinner (‘my cousin live in Brisbane’) with a Zeppelin buzzing lazily overhead.

CYCLING LAKE CONSTANCE, DAY 2 – Stein to Uberlingen

There were so many villages I lost track. Is this Mannern or Steckborn? Maybe somebody knows.

It was the coldest May day in 30 years, some other shivering cyclist told us. I doubt it got further than 8 degrees, with a vicious wind chill factor.

We were very lucky, however. The icy wind was at our backs for most of the 50 or so kilometres we rode and the rain didn’t set in till we could watch it sweeping across the lake from our hotel window.

It was a day for riding on the Swiss side of Lake Constance, between fields and farms, rolling on the cycleway beside the railway line (putting the bikes on the train was always an option if things turned nasty), and passing through half-timbered villages.