Riding the rails - Salzburg to Treutchlingen - A Grand 3 Month European Tour on an E-Tandem

July 5, 2018

Riding the rails - Salzburg to Treutchlingen

Today is a bittersweet day. We are starting the final phase of our tour and will be riding the train over two days to return to where we began: our friends' farm in Hessen. We look forward to spending time with them before our return to Canada - so that is the good part.

Salzburg has been a pleasant surprise as we both felt when we arrived that we might not have the energy to do it justice. But staying in a central location and relying on our bike for touring around the city made it very enjoyable. Despite the crowds in some of the key areas of the city, we lov exploring on our bike and feeling the freedom that this gives us.

Hotel Altstadt Hofwirt has been a great base for us in Salzburg. Comfortable, safe storage for our bike and very well run.

All of the staff at the hotel were excellent. The woman in the photograph spoke at least five languages and the fellow’s infectious smile made us feel very welcome.

As we were loading Seavo to head to the train station, we met this German couple and they were just beginning their tour. After riding for almost 3 months, we are always struck by how clean and put together people look at the beginning of their tour. We wish them well on their journey.

We were excited at the train station as the elevator was large enough for our tandem. These fellows took their jobs very seriously and worked quickly so that we could load our bike on the elevator and seemed very curious about our bike.

Well, it is official...we are on our way. Today we will ride two trains, first to Munich and then to Treuchtlingen.

We really like the easy access some of these regional trains offer us and our oversized bike.

Deutsche Bahn has an extensive network of train routes throughout the country and they are well used. It is an excellent system. With our bike we can only ride the Regional trains which have many stops. We look for the Bike Icon on the car which identifies where we should board.

After two train rides which were on time and not very busy, we were happy to disembark in Treuchtlingen, late in the afternoon and find our hotel.

This community building for children has been decorated with handmade shutters, some of which are knitted.

The very popular cycle route, Altmuhltal Radweg goes through Treuchtlingen and there were many travelling cyclists passing through and staying here. The stickers on the pole are markers for other cycle routes here as well.

We know that we are in Germany, and that pretzels are popular, but we don’t understand the decorative, fashion side of pretzels.

Last year when we had to travel back to Bonn from Poland with Seavo and his defunct battery, we also had a stopover in Treutchlingen. We discovered last year this great Italian pizza restaurant, now run by the third generation, and we are glad to return here. The pizza is excellent as is their homemade ice cream. A touch of Italy in Germany. 🇮🇹 ❤️🇩🇪

Ice cream and coffee for dessert. San Marco gives us an authentic Italian experience in Germany.

Marco runs things from behind his meticulous bar. The decor and ambience reminds us of our great times in Italy.

Treutchlingen has added this e-bike charging station since last year.

Treutchlingen is doing a lot of work to beautify the core - new brick roads and sidewalks, plus this decorative touch for bikes.

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Steve Miller/GrampiesHey Bartletts, I see you have updated some older posts, but where are you now. What happened in the past 23 days??
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6 years ago

Barry BartlettHi Steve
Well, bad health happened. Despite taking antibiotics in Europe and seeing a doctor, I didn’t recover well from pneumonia. When I got home I basically “crashed” and had no energy, ears were messed up and a rough cough returned. I had that strange kind of exhaustion that I know from having had pneumonia previously. A series of visits to my doctor, more meds, an upcoming Pulmonary Function Test at Jubilee and I am finally surfacing again. A belated thanks to you and Dodie emailing me while travelling. I love the cycling community of travellers at large that we share.
We had an incredible trip and I am now sitting down to finish our journal. How is Dodie doing? Having a pair of wonky knees, I can relate.
Stay tuned for updates.
Mary Ellen
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6 years ago