To cycle or not to cycle....in Brazil!

When telling friends and family about your holiday I often get asked 'Did you cycle?'

With that I assume either they think I had a Cycling Holiday or I just couldn't live without a bike and had to hire one to get my 'kick'. This time was no different.

About eighteen months ago we decided that we wanted to do a different kind of holiday and instead of going to South Africa where we go regularly, the choice became Brazil. Brazil because of the 2014 World Cup, the 2016 Olympics and a friend who lives there.

We never planned to cycle whilst on holiday in Brazil but we were on the lookout - as always- for any type of evidence that cycling was popular. And to be honest, I don't know! There are certainly lovely cycle paths along the beaches and you can even rent bikes, but the worst thing about Rio de Janeiro (where we spent most of the time) was the traffic. Absolutely horrendous. It is overwhelming and loud with a lot of older cars which I am sure will never pass an MOT and the drivers usually follow their own set of rules. I decided after a few days that it was organised chaos!

I couldn't for one moment imagine cycling in Rio apart from along the beach on the promenade.

There were some highlights though. We ventured to a distant beach one late afternoon which is close to a National Park. All long the road were markers on the road showing caution for cyclists. Also see the yellow traffic sign above reminding drivers to allow at least 1.5m passing distance between their car and the cyclist.

We did briefly see a group of cyclists one Sunday when we went out really early around 7.30am. They were just at the bottom of one of the longest hills in Rio about to start the climb.

One of the rental bike stations along the promenade

Bike lane along the Copacabana Promenade

A rental bike station at Copacabana Beach

More cycling fun along the promenade at Copacabana

TfL and valuable advice on cycling safety

Cycling in London isn't made for the faint hearted and you need to be vigilant at all times. I follow some golden rules when I am out and about on my Brompton in London.

Transport for London (TfL) recently published a very good video aiming to make the Capital's road safer for both cyclists and drivers. I am happy to share this as it is relevant to everyday cycling wherever you are.

Silly season for pedestrians?

The amount of times that I had to either ring my bike bell frantically or slam on the brakes to avoid pedestrian collisions are endless. I have definitely stopped counting.

The counting rocketed sky high when I started cycling in London but do also tick over when cycling closer to home. Mostly pedestrians do the safe thing and look left and right and then cross the road but I have find that a large percentage just cross without looking. Whatever happened to rules taught at a young age which say look left, then right and then left again before crossing? It is almost like those are made for the young generation and now that you are older - you are invincible. Searching for this via a search engine resulted in over 8,080,000 hits.

I recently admired a brand new electric car. As thoughts go, mine wandered from me being on my bike swerving to avoid a near collision with a non-looking pedestrian to wondering what will happen to these non-looking pedestrians when the electric car becomes more familiar on our busy roads, especially the city roads where it makes a lot of sense to drive (one of those)? I know there were talk about making the electric car more 'sounding like a car' because at the moment it is very quiet!

So if a pedestrian just walks off the pavement to cross the road, he or she might want to have a bicycle approaching them rather than an electric car as I think your chances of getting less hurt are better with a bike than with a noiseless electric car!

Solitude cycling

'UK hit by severe floods' greeted me this morning when I opened my newsreader app. It was with a sad feeling that I realised the lovely autumn cycling days were finally over. When we woke up yesterday morning, the first sight was houses with frosty white roofs. The road glittered in the early morning light and it didn't look particularly like a good cycling day. Winter days leaves me wary of skidding on the ice and the possibility of broken bones, so I usually play it safe and stay put unless the day brightens up. I don't mind the cold, but I do mind getting hurt.

We recently went for two weeks to South Africa. Needless to say that the weather was superb. We had on average 24C as the day temperature and the nights were lovely and warm. I didn't see many cyclists though.

The ones I did see created a stir. We found a group of cyclists on the N2 (national road from Cape Town going east) and it seemed that they were on a cycling tour. In South Africa, you are allowed to move into the emergency lane when you are the slower car to allow others to overtake safely, so I was very worried about this group who were cycling in the emergency lane on a national road.

The second interesting pair I saw was on our way back to Cape Town, when we stopped in Swellendam. A couple of touring cyclists was travelling through the town, packed to the hilt with kit and panniers. I've never seen touring cyclists in South Africa, not like the regulars you would find in Europe.

The third place where we saw quite a lot of cyclists was along the promenade in Strand. Strand is a very popular seaside town with high-rise condos and apartments. There were many cyclists. Some recreational and others on a fitness mission with road bikes.

Reflecting on my days when I was still living in SA, I cycled regularly as a child in the town where we lived; home to town and visiting friends. My cycling stopped abruptly when I went to university and only picked up again when we moved to the UK.

So winter is here. Last year Christmas I got a turbo trainer for Christmas which will now be used more frequently until we are back to brighter days.

Back to normal?

So what will cycling life after the Olympics be like in Britain? Will attitudes towards cyclists change?

I've read a number of articles over the last few weeks suggesting that the success of the GB team in cycling, will actually influence driver behaviour on the road. I'm maybe a cynic but I think that is unrealistic. There is still a massive amount of ignorance out there towards cyclists ad cycling. Taking today for instance. We had our regular Ladies ride and I lead the faster group. Cycling along an open straight road, a car came squeezing passed, nearly colliding with an oncoming car which in turn furiously started hooting at this ridiculous driver that couldn't wait until there was enough time to pass. No doubt that us cyclists will also get a tell off for just being on the road.

What does the Highway code say?

Rule 163 : give motorcyclists, cyclists and horse riders at least as much room as you  would when overtaking a car (see Rules 211-215)

Surely that means a car width!? There are very few drivers that actually apply this rule. Usually they squeeze passed you compromising the oncoming car as well as the cyclist they are overtaking.

Enough negatives. Casual riding is in full swing in my household. We have even discovered the odd early morning ride when you can drag yourself out of bed at 7am as well as lovely evening rides after work. Nights are drawing in and thoughts are dwelling on good lights and hi-viz clothing. Our regular Wednesday evening club ride is getting darker and darker. Whilst it is quite exhilarating to do some night riding, it is both scary and fun!

We are already planning the next bike adventure, cycling from Santander in Spain to St.Malo in France. Mainly because we want a sunny cycling holiday and secondly because it is so glorious cycling in France. We had so much fun along the Rhine and what an adventure it was. Our picture frame in the lounge has been loaded with all the holiday snaps and they bring back so much memories. Such good memories. Even though the weather didn't always play along, it was still overall fun and spectacular.

All our routes along the Rhine have been mapped with GPS so if anyone needs them, give me a shout and I will pass them on.

Happy cycling and enjoy the last of the summer days.

Day 13 Gorinchem to Rotterdam - last day of the Rhine tour

It was a brilliant day, no wind and no rain and that is such a fabulous thing to finish our unbelievable tour on such high note. We saw Rotterdam approaching in glorious sunshine, welcoming us to its folds.

Lovely cycle which took us through great countryside, took no less than 5 ferries to cross rivers! Could even have been the same river several times but I lost track. One ferry was so fast  with white water churning from its engines; felt like we were on a speedboat. Ferry crossings were good as gave us breathing space to look at the map and take stock of where we are. Saw some really intersting stuff, like once coming off a dyke there was two garden chairs, table and a bottle of water at the side of the road inviting travellers to refresh themselves.

We had a very early lunch in Papendrecht and several Dutch people stopped whilst we were eating to say 'smaaklike ete' which means enjoy your meal; everyone was so friendly.

We are in the Cubic houses near the middle of the city tonight. This afternoon we went to 2 huge bike stores which we passed on our bikes as we were coming into te city, and I bought a great big bell for my bike. A good reminder of our trip overtime when I ring the bell!
Tomorrow will be a lazy start to the day. We have a short lie in planned, breakfast is later as it is Saturday, then off into the city for a quick stroll and hop onto the bikes with the luggage to pedal the 27 miles to Europoort in a lazy fashion. Lots of time to stop and take photos and arrive in good time to get the ferry.
I will be hitting 700 miles when we cycle onto the boat! Not bad for a 14 day holiday ;-)

Day 12 Doorwerth to Gorinchem

This day was so bad that I tried to obliterate it out f my mind by delaying the blogging ! Hence why I am writing it 24 hrs later.
It started raining as we were having breakfast basically it didn't stop. The rainshowers were very heavy and almost torrential at times. There was not enough time to dry out between one when the next one would set in.
I saw some really interesting stuff along the way but if it was raining, the picture got lost :'(


Gorinchem is really lovely. We are in the old part which is almost like an island with walls around it. The place where we are staying is a lovely self catering unit with beds for 4, a small kitchen and a porch that faces onto the canal. Last night we watched some dragon boat racing. Boy can she beat those drums!!
Dinner was some beers, a lovely pasta and some choco marshmallows cakes that we all found in Aldi for €8·74. Cheap!
This morning will start with another ferry ride to Sleeuwijk before we get cycling. Then into Rotterdam and into the famous Cube Houses for our last night.
Ok, I have to get packing now so we can get the 9am ferry!

Out of your car, put off your lights and pull your handbrake up!

Lovely long quiet road on our way to Gorinchem

Our accomodation in Gorinchem

Day 11 Rees to Doorwerth

Crossing a national border on your bike is always a highlight so today was no exception. We pulled out maps last night to double check when the actual crossing will happen so it was rather disappointing today to find at Millingen an de Rhijn that the only indication of crossing the border is that the language changed from German to Dutch. I expected at least a signpost or something!

Leaving Rees this morning was fine, we got on the bikes at around 8.30, weaved our way out of the town and down to a people ferry (personen fähre) to cross to the other side of the river. Reading the board revealed that it only goes between 10am and 19pm on Wednesdays. Hmmm. A quick look at the map and we are off to take a detour, trying to beat the ferry. Note to self: this antics will come back to haunt you!

Pedalling like mad, the route went north then west, then north and then west (you get my drift?). Times when it went west my speed dropped to about 8 miles an hour due to the strong gusts. When the wind subsided it bounced back to 11, 12 miles per hour.

The cycle route changed as soon as we went over the border, and so did the amount of cyclists! Lots!! The signs started to display the 'knoop punt roetes' or knotted routes on the signs and I felt more at home. I was back in a country where the language is very familiar :-)

Coming to haunt us was the extra mileage did. As the route was planned, it provides you with some sort of idea of now many miles to expect and as we did a detour, we added miles this morning. Our expected 39 miles came and went and instead we got 46 miles! Not good for your frame of mind at the end of a challenging day.

We arrived near Arnhem where the Stayokay is (Doorwerth suburb) and have had showers, did the familiar washing of clothes and is now sitting with a beer relaxing. Tomorrow will be a very long day with 68 miles to do (usually that turns out mire like 73 miles), and adding to that the wind that is forecasted again. We have really been unlucky with this week's weather. Next time...

Duisburg to Rees for Day 10

Goodness, I could've slept 6 hours longer this morning. Fabulous bed, and a much needed rest. But up we had to go and pulling away the curtains revealed rain. I just couldn't believe it. I can actually not remember when it was just a sunny day here in Germany.
It was drizzling as we left the hostel. As usual the road out was difficult, especially when we were directed down steps with our bikes! The road that followed were atrocious, consisting mainly of tractor tracks full of mud and when it eventually turned into tar, it was all broken up. Nope, this part of the cycle way can really be repaired. Not good enough. A bridge became shelter again but we had to govern when the rain eased off.
We lost the route twice, found it twice and eventually settled in to battle a strong head wind. Lunch was bought in Rheinberg and ate near Xanten. Fun was getting on a people-only ferry with our bikes. As the ferry approached us, it battled with big waves on the river and it swerved from side to side. I was apprehensive about our crossing but it went well in the end.
We ventured into town to buy a bike lock as ours was accidentally left at the previous hostel. I also bought myself a cheap rain cape, hopefully it will keep the rain out of my eyes.
Tonight we are staying in a lovely bed and breakfast with very friendly owners. Another couple from Holland also arrived who is on their way to Prague and Vienna. Lots of great talk in 3 different languages during dinner :-)
Sleeping is now priority number one as we booked breakfast for 7.30am. Goodnight!

Ferry on our way into Rees

Day 8 Bonn to Dusseldorf

Wow ! Day 8 already!

Ok, got up, went to breakfast and left at about 8.30.
A bit of a disappointing day until 3pm. The first 15 miles was dry and the rest was super wet. Why does Germany have so much rain? I thought it will be sunny. Although I have to say, when it rains, it is still warm.

We went without stopping into Köln, or Cologne, and had a lovely hot chocolate at the old town bit. Cologne had a spectacular light (fireworks) display last night which saw on television in Bonn, but the aftermath was broken glass galore on pavements. Several times we heard crunching noises and it was just blessings that our tyres didn't go. With the result that we took much longer than anticipated to get out of the city.
As I said, we arrived at 3pm, got our room (fabulous by the way) in this very modern hostel. They even have underground parking facilities! There is a Fair on just on the other side of the road, this side of the bridge,  something we gave a skip.

The huge Fair at Dusseldorf

Walked over a spectacular bridge over the Rhine and off to the Rheinturm. Costs was €8 per person to go to the panorama deck which is 168m high. Gorgeous! See the photos below. After that we went along the promenade to the waterfront where we boarded a Rhine tour riverboat for an hour long trip. Great views and high time to do this as we've been alongside the river now since Basel but not yet ON it.

Our riverboat cruiser!

I want to say something about the German allotments tonight. We've seen a system here where it seems everyone as a small piece of land to plant stuff. Some plant obviously vegetables and some plant just gardens. Almost all of them have summer houses on them, fully equipped with satellite tv if you can judge by the dishes on the roofs. I saw one of the summer houses yesterday where they were just getting ready to host a big BBQ. YUM !

Even if you haven't got an allotment, and you have space at your house, you still grow vegetables. I think they are so self efficient here, it is a wonder that the supermarkets still sell 'gemüse' or vegetables.

The pictures below show the Rheinturn, the bridge we walked over and the Fair on the right hand side. Another show the boat we've been on.

The view from the Rheinturm

Drinking beer at high altitude!

Rhine view from our riverboat cruise

Walking along the Dusseldorf promenade with the Rhienturm in the background

Another riverboat and the big fair on the embankment

More views from the Rheinturm

Day 5 Mannheim to Mainz

Our bikes were still safe this morning, thank goodness for that! Although the youth hostel has opened their new building in February, they still haven't got their act together. Their was no bike store room last night and when we got to our room, we had no curtains. Hmmm.
Breakfast was early at 7am and we set off just before 8. All along the promenade until we got to the bridge or Rheinbrücke as they call it, where we had our first of the day disagreement. Stephen went off straight and was convinced that's the way although I had the route on my Garmin. I just stopped and waited for him to find his senses! I think I know why his Garmin doesn't want to display the route. It is complaining about too many tracks which means its memory's full. When I bought it for him, I also bought the Europe Navigator map with it. Four years ago, I got mine and that was the map I bought with it. The Garmin does come with a base map but it is really useless. You need a better map which you can insert via the SD card slot. Stephen's Europe Navigator map was a proper one whereas the one that I got 4 years ago, I suspect is a pirate copy (bought on Ebay). Mine just look like a normal SD card (2GB ) so it has Europe Navigator on it plus some spare capacity. Stephen's map is probably write protected so the only place for him to store his history and his routes is on the base unit. Obviously both takes up too much space, pity.
This has now resulted in only me being able to view the route whilst we are riding.
Breakfast is where the Germans get their chocolate kick! At each of the places where we had our breakfasts, there were chocolate spread and hot chocolate available. I struggled this morning to get black tea (normal ceylon, Assam, or English breakfast tea) at the youth hostel. There is coffee, but I don't drink that, and there are all sorts of herbal teas available. The Germans like their green and lemon teas. Then there are lovely fresh buns with a variety of cold meats ad cheeses available plus cereals and yoghurts.
Whilst we were in Strasbourg doing sightseeing, I saw that there were lots of memorabilia available about Storks. It seems that this is Stork country. I've seen several today, quite an imposing bird! I also saw a black squirrel.
We saw a few Ferries today but didn't go on them although we nearly changed our route and thought we will but didn't in the end. We cycled for a long time along vineyards and almost every town we went through had wine estates where you could buy some wine. Pity the bottles weigh so much! The rain eventually caught up with us but luckily there was a shelter along the way where a few other cyclists were hovering. This was the first time we had rain since leaving England!
There was along stretch today which was off road along tracks again today. Not really my cup of tea as my bike wheels are thin. Generally the German cycle paths are well marked but in a town they suddenly vanish and then you find yourself along a road with cars just to see the cycle path suddenly appearing alongside. Several times today we had to either make a u-turn or dash across the road to get on the path.
Mannheim to Mainz is 46.89 miles, I burned 2295 calories and we arrived at 2.15pm. Not too bad for time! We do try to get at least halfway by lunchtime.
My body is holding up although the nerve in my left hand that runs up from my wrist into my palm has gone dead. It has been stinging the last few days and since yesterday, it is totally numb.
Tomorrow we are off to Koblenz. A much longer day with 63 miles planned. Hope you enjoy the photos.

The cyclists are seeking shelter!

At Kornsand Ferry having lunch

The Mannheim Youth Hostel - still very much a building site

Our accommodation tonight

Miserable off road path along the Rhine!

Vineyards galore!

Only 14 kilometres to go!

Big river cruise boat going past

Lovely morning

Figs at our destination

Day 2 Breisach am Rhein to Strasbourg

Ok for those interested in stats: 55.10 miles, 2688 calories burned and 4hr 24 cycling time with an average speed of 13mi an hour. Not bad!
It was a brilliant cycling day. The predicted rain was gone and instead we had cloudcover - which we needed after yesterday's sunburn. It was hot and humid and spectacular.
The small French villages are very quaint. They all have German names e.g. Bindernheim, Witternheim, Schwobsheim but in reality they are very French! This stems probably from a time when this region went from Germany to France due to either border disputes or wars. We saw some really spectacular houses with lots and lots of flowerbaskets drooping over windowsills and beautifully painted houses, particularly 2 purple ones.
The pictures to the blog post will follow later as I have them separate on my phone. Marckolsheim was very special and it got 4 stars on the Villages Fleurie competition. After weaving our way through the villages, we turned onto the towpath along the Canal du Rhône du Rhin which took us straight into Strasbourg. Lovely tarmaced surface, the only problem here are some tree roots which made some surfaces a bit bumpy.
Lunch was from a supermarket in Boofzheim and were 4 Herta sausages, 4 doughnuts, 2 bananas and 2 Heinekens. Shared between 2! A good carbo cycling lunch.
We are in good accommodation tonight, our first hotel (Comfort Inn). The youth hostels were so far very kind to us as even though we were booked into female and male dorms, we've been sharing a bedroom at no extra cost.
Tomorrow is an even longer day with 63 miles planned. But having got to Strasbourg in such good time, gives us now the opportunity to go and do some sightseeing in Strasbourg.

Day 1 Basel to Breisach

After a fabulous night's sleep with an equally lovely breakfast it was time to go. The Garmin played up (why does this always happen on a big ride?) so I had to revert another way of getting the route displayed which is show on map instead of navigate.

A quick photo shoot on the bridge and we were off. The route was very mixed today, some major off road sections with difficult wet bits to navigate and fabulous French cycle ways alongside the main road. For a change we also had a tailwind for the last 10 miles so we made up with some fast riding.

Breisach is delightful with lots of holidaymakers, watersports and fabulous Rhine cruise boats. There was also an impressive lock system, but not as impressive as the water regulation we saw at Kembs which took about 200 years to build. It also has an impressive church on top of a hill in the town.

The day started with rain but it stopped before we left Lörrach and then the sun turned hot. I definitely have sunburn and so does Stephen. A bit of suntan lotion tomorrow will be needed.

47 miles done today and 51 miles waiting tomorrow.

Day 0

Bikes on top of each other

Leaving Hull

I don't know why but I couldn't really sleep last night. It might have been the fact that I ate too much at the buffet or the gentle swaying of the Ferry or even the narrow cabin bed but I didn't sleep very well. I woke up at 5.49am, got up and had a shower. Whilst in the shower, the announcement for breakfast came over the internal cabin speakers.
Talking about food, I am absolutely starving! Breakfast was the last time I ate. Some bad planning, mostly not having anything to drink either apart from the last water from my bike bottle that was left from a ride. The thing is, after breakfast we made our way to deck and drank in the industrial sites of Europoort. Huge ships came past which made us take lovely pictures. Getting off the boat was so easy, it was the Dutch way as bikes get priority so we whizzed down the ramp to passport control. In the meantime, I was scanning the area to see where our taxi was - and found him, just beyond passport control. This was a taxi which I mostly correspond with and arranged with, through Twitter. DE REYERTRAVEL!  Worth contacting them if you need transport (with bikes) from Europoort to Rotterdam.
We made it to the station in good time where I had to queue for about 30 minutes to buy bike tickets, yes bikes need to pay too here in Europe. The platform was overcrowded with people who missed an earlier train so ours was very full. Bikes were piled onto of each other to ensure thy are all onboard. The drama queen winked at us in Brussels when the train to Based bore down. We were on te train having made it to the right platform with fully laden bikes when the announcement came that the locomotive has failed to start. So back onto the platform, down the stairs to another platform for a train to Luxembourg which we knew was the way we were going to go.
Getting to Luxembourg was strange as on the platform next to ours (where we got in), stood a Based train, similar to the one that broke in Brussels AND it is 50 minutes delayed. Really odd. Anyway, got on stand we are now about 45 minutes from our destination.
No food or water for the last 12 hours is quite challenging, so I think we will find somewhere to get a drink or a bite to eat as soon as we get there as the hostel shuts at 10pm and I'm not sure if they are still serving food.
I was right, they wee not serving food at 9.45 but then who would? Luckily we stopped at a small supermarket between Basel and Lörrach and got two tubs of Pringles, a 1.5 litre Sprite, a pepperami in a breadstick and some cup a soup which we will not make.
I've just worked out, we've started our journey this morning in Holland, next stop was Belgium, the stop after that was Luxembourg. After Luxembourg we went south through France, stopped in Switzerland and then biked through the border to sleep in Germany!! No wonder I am tired! 6 countries in one day, phew !

Enjoying the sunshine on the Ferry

Long train ride from Luxembourg to Basel 

Coming into Europoort

De Reyertravel brought us safely to Rotterdam station with a lovely minibus