This tour was borne out of a little more planning, and little less desire to be unconventional, than last year's trip of inland Sweden. The areas I went to are well-covered terrain for bike tourists - something that I saw to my surprise on some of the trails.

But the way I ended up stringing them together gave me a really diverse look at a wedge of Europe that straddles the German and French speaking world. I had flat lands, river valleys, and what transpired to be proper mountains. I went through areas so depopulated that wild camping was no hassle at all, stayed in medieval cities, and saw the heart of Germany's chemical industry. The land was laden with wine, then maize, wheat, endless pine trees, sprawling industry, and then wine again.

Perhaps some numbers will be a welcome relief after my dodgy prose:

Total miles ridden: 796 (1,281 km) including transport transfers
Touring miles ridden: 765 (1,231 km)
Days in the saddle: 12 (excluding rest day)
Mean miles per day: 64 (103 km)
Hours in the saddle: 82 hrs
Mean miles per hour: 9.3 mph
Mean hours/day: 6hr 50m

This was notably less than the Swedish tour (mean 122km/day), where the excess length of days was my biggest problem and almost lead me cycling myself into an obscure corner of the country - in all respects other than number of days. Here, I stuck remarkably closely to my aim of 100km days, though I did have at least two >120km days. Interestingly (well, to me) is that hours/day is almost identical, suggesting I went a bit slower. I'd suggest this has something to do with the mountainous terrain - except...

Meters climbed total: 10,029m
Meters climbed/day: 836m
Biggest continuous climb: 918m over 31km - "category 1" (Shauinsland)
Maximum gradient: 18.6%

The Swedish tour was not full of big climbs and high mountains. In the last two days I had an interesting rollercoaster cutting across he ranges between Sweden and Norway, but nothing that could compare to my Shauinsland adventure. However, somehow I racked up more meters per day. I suspect this is partly to do with any climbing being more spread out - after all, climbing 1000m is no big deal over a whole day - but it's also rather likely that faulty altitude traces over the Norwegian border are probably over-estimating the numbers for the Swedish tour there...

Beer consumed: 20 pints? I forget...
Calories eaten: Lots of hearty German baked produce
Calories burnt: No idea. But, again I lost quite a bit of weight
Max water drunk/day: 6 litres?
Body fails: Getting hungover, eyes drying out. Narrowly avoided dehydration.

It was all about the fluid intake on this trip. Many times the incessant heat meant I didn't even feel that hungry of an evening. There was, however, lots more eating at restaurants, and much more beer drank (drunk?).

Punctures: One - caused by operator error
Mechanical faults (that made me stop to repair): One serious, operator idiocy. Front rim bent following collision with kerb when reading map instead of looking where going. Held up until the end of the tour without further intervention.
Losses: One map - temporary
Gains: One sweet German hat. Why do people lose baseball caps by the side of roads?

I can't fault the Shift. It performed mechanically pretty much perfectly without any real intervention. Me colliding with a kerb is hardly normal wear and tear: I was surprised (and a bit disappointed) that it bent the front rim given the strength of all the the components of the wheels, but to be fair (i) none of the rest of the wheel showed any sign of damage whatsoever and (ii) the rim was only superficially bent, with the double walled section remaining strong for the rest of the tour.

Falling off: None! (came close when hitting roadworks at speed in the Black Forest)
Car trouble??: Germans were impeccable, despite their reputation for "heavy right feet". Once I got to Belgium, it was a different matter.
Bad roads: Amazing cycle infrastructure meant I could generally avoid. A couple of times I was forced onto fast roads in the Black Forest.
Navigation errors: A couple of egregious ones: not being able to find the Rhine near Karlsruhe, and not being able to find France near Dunkirque

The cycle infrastructure in Germany is second to none. The biggest problem I had was with cycleways that don't regard directness of route as a priority. But I could always take to the backroads and know the drivers were courteous.

Number of nights camped: 11
Cheapest campsite: 6 euro
Wild camps: 3
Maximum temperature: 39°C.
Rainy days: 1!

Campsites are so abundant and cheap, and wild camping comparably more difficult, that it isn't too surprising that there was more formal camping this time around. It would

Most useful item. Sleeping Mat - continues to provide me with better night's sleep than I've had in many beds, and refuses to be punctured
Least useful item. Mosquito coils. I actually ended up throwing them away to save weight.