Day 17 Geisenheim to Koblenz 74kms

Another good day in spite of legs complaining about yesterday. Good weather and perfect cycle tracks.

This is probably the prettiest part of the German Rhine with castles and vineyards on both sides of the Rhine gorge. Lots of tourists boats plying up and down.
We started from Geisenheim fairly early after a reasonable night in the tent. Temperature down to acceptable levels. Crossed the rhine almost immediately to Bingen. Made good progress along the southern bank although as would be expected the wind was fresh up the valley and through the gorge.
Had lunch- a plain roll and coffee at a lovely village called Bacharach. Real classic old German village. Castles on every hill!!
Legs really started to complain as the day went on and got to Kablenz as planned. Good campsite with new fascilities but cold showers. Gill can handle that but took me a while to wash with lots of gasps and groans.
We are behind on schedule so may do some of the industrial central part of the Rhine by boat or train.

OK now the good and bad. Accommadation
The good- finding a nice campsite with a restaurant and good hot showers.
The bad- worrying all day if we can find somewhere to stay!

PS look on Gills timeline on Facebook. See Gill Ralphs

Day 6

Shorter day but some rough track to negotiate. Can be very slow and some walking up short hills. Far less riders today as I suspect most were doing the circuit of Lake Constance over the weekend so I went further along the Rhine and a little South. Full sun again so lots sunscreen put on this morning.
Last night campsite was good with excellent restaurant. Not so many noisy children.
Past through Schaffhausen which a very classic german looking city. Lots of japanese tourists wandering the streets with cameras in hand.
The Rhine falls was not a goer. They had screened off the views and were charging entrance fee. Was reluctant to leave the bikes and bags as there were so many people about. That when 2 travellers makes it easy. I did catch of glimpse of the falls but not worth a photo.
The bike and trailer are giving me no problems, touch wood but will oil the chain tonight as very dusty and dirty. Its a tough little bike alright.
Looking forward to a hotel tomorrow in Zurich when I catch up with Sue for phase 2w of the ride. Just a short distance but over some hills.
The restaurant shuts at 6 here tonight and no shops around so will need to eat early. Tent site well away from other campers so should be a quiet night.

Summary of Canal de Garonne trip

Here is a short video of the trip. This was  fantastic fun for our first self supported bike trip.   All the preparation was well worth it, with no problems with the pre-booked accommodation and travel arrangements.

The Bikes

Brompton M6-R in Racing Green for me

Brompton S6-R in Turkish Green for S.

   There were certainly some raised eyebrows when we suggested using Brompton foldabable bikes for our trip but I have no regrets. The ease of travel with bikes folded in their Folding Bike Case Rucksack , gave peace of mind with always having the option of catching a bus or train. We were travelling along the valley so there were train stations all along the route . Since we had never ridden these bikes prior to the trip they are remarkably easy to ride. The small wheels made them twitchy initially but once used to it the manoeuvrability was a bonus. The canal path along the Garonne canal is paved all the way so it was very smooth. Even on the slightly bumpy bits they seemed quite comfortable. Buying the bikes over the Internet from a bike shop in Dorchester, UK proved easy and everything worked without a hitch. 

Ergon GP3 Barends   The bar ends helped significantly with comfort. 

I did bring some Shimano M324 Clipless SPD/Flat Pedals to fit, but in the end couldn't get the fitted pedals off without thinking I was going to break something, so didn't use them till I got home. (they don't fold though)

The saddles we chose were Brooks B17 Specials. The worry was that you read that it takes 200kms to get used to. Initially S had some discomfort but this was resolved by angling it down a little. We had a maximum of 60 kms on one day and our rear ends survived without too much trouble. We look forward to wearing them in a little more.

The trailer and luggage

I bought the Cyclone 3 Trekking trailer for our luggage as we had quite a lot to carry with both of us having to attend formal conferences at the beginning and end of the trip. This is very capacious and I didn't notice it at all on the flat. It may be a bit more of a problem going up big hills. A better trailer for the Brompton is  the  Cyclone IV Chubby which has now become available as it is made for the Brompton. Luggage was for me the Brompton Touring bag, and for S the S-bag. They were half full most of the time with the trailer taking most of our stuff. I think in future, if we do this again, we will go for smaller front luggage for both. The bike handles really well with the trailer and could still do the first fold with the trailer still attached when stopped.

Although this trip was only 200kms over about 4 days, it was our first effort at touring. As we near retirement we look forward to many more of these trips in the future. 

At this stage it looks like Tasmania in September!!