Wrap-up, Reflections and Lessons Learned

This bike tour was 87 days long. We were aware of the impending introduction of the 90 day in any 180 days visa for Europe, so wanted to keep the tour under 90 days to avoid any hassle should it be introduced while we were in Europe. As it turned out, we didn’t need to worry. While Greg could have continued to ride indefinitely, Wendy was about ready to come home.

We stayed at 36 hotels in 37 rooms. The hotels ranged from ungraded, and 2* to 5*. The majority were 4* hotels. For this trip, we pre-booked only our first and last hotels as we knew we were going to be in those cities on those dates. All the others were done during the ride and did take a lot of time to research before booking. Greg would have liked to just wing it and book something on the day in whatever place we decided to stop at, while Wendy was not as convinced that this would work as many smaller places do not provide aircon, not even a fan, and Europe can get hot. Some places are also tourist hotspots and are noisy at night. The ability to close the window and still be cool is a must.

We rode on six Euro Velo routes, through six countries for just under 2,500km. The routes we rode on are: #2 – Capitals Route; #3 – Pilgrim’s Route; #6 – Rivers Route; #7 – Sun Route; #13 – Iron Curtain Route; and #15 – Rhine Route.

We rode beside the following rivers: Danube, Vltava, Elbe, Havel, Ems, Ruhr, Rhine, Waal, Nederrijn, Oude Rijn (a branch of the Rhine Delta), and Meer of Buurwatering.

We spent most of our time in Germany (39 days); with 11 days in Hungary; 4 days in Slovakia; 11 days in Austria; 6 days in Czechia; and 12 days in the Netherlands.

E-bike thoughts

We both agreed that this trip (Greg’s 12th & Wendy’s 5th to Europe) would be a good test for e-bikes on tour. While Wendy really likes the concept Greg is not entirely convinced. His reasoning follows:

◦           He never felt comfortable leaving the e-bike locked outside when we stopped to have a look at something when riding from one overnight stay to another. He feared the bike/s would not be there when we came back.  

◦           He didn’t like using the e-bike to get around a city to visit the sights on a rest day for the same reason as above. He feels that thieves target places that cycling tourists like to visit.

◦           The batteries are quite heavy and while many hotels now have recharge points in their bike storage location, some don’t and therefore the batteries must be taken off the bike every day for charging in the hotel room.

◦           Even when they don’t need charging, we took the batteries out of the bikes to make them bike less attractive to thieves. Wendy had no problems in removing the batteries when required.

◦           While he enjoyed riding the e-bike, pressing the boost button when he got to a hill or battling into a headwind, he wonders whether overall it’s worth the extra time, worry and effort. Wendy definitely believes it is well worth it.

◦           He also wonders if he is being overly pessimistic/paranoid and after a while the novelty will wear off and he’ll become more relaxed about touring with an e-bike. We must admit that we haven’t really given insurance much thought. Although we’ve always had travel insurance, which did cover a bike Emirates destroyed once, we never checked about the e-bikes. I suspect you can insure anything if you cough up enough money

◦           As a big plus, Greg is certainly not as tired at the end of a day’s ride as he was in France two years ago when we rode the Loire on manual bikes. So that might indicate that it won’t be long before he won’t have a choice in what bike he rides if he wants to continue cycle-touring. This is something that Wendy observed, mostly quietly but did bring it up when Greg stated he didn’t want to do another e-bike tour. He will probably just keep riding till he drops off the perch one day happily riding along.

◦           Also, a positive, e-bikes are becoming increasingly popular in Europe, and a lot of people are using them for touring. So, one can imagine that it won’t be long before they will be in the majority. That may take the heat off them as targets for thieves. When we parked overnight at the hotels most of the other bikes in the storage room are e-bikes.

◦           The other option is to hire them but there are limits on that as we don’t know of any hire companies that allow multi country hire. If you want to do a completely organised tour, there’s plenty of options available in most countries in Europe. For multiple countries you could catch a train to the next country and pick up another bike.

Communications

Before we left we bought and downloaded two esims with unlimited data for 90 days. This was a cheaper alternative than purchasing a sim in each different country, and also less hassle as we didn’t have to remove our Aus sim card to instal the European one.

Bikes

While it works out to be more expensive to buy a bike in country, it is a lot more convenient in that you don’t have to pack it up here, get it on the aircraft and hope the bike makes it to your destination in a useable state. You also face the uncertainty of getting a decent price for it when you want to sell it. If you purchase an e-bike, you can always take it home with you, if you can get a suitable battery in Australia. But, then again, you have to pack it up, get it to the airport, etc, etc.

 
Communication devices
We both had our iPhones which were invaluable for communicating with each other and navigating. Wendy took her iPad for hotel research and booking, and blogging. For some reason, this new iPad was just not playing the game so Wendy believes a small, lightweight laptop may be the go for next tour.
 
Clothes
To save about 1kg, Greg ditched the long-sleeve cycling jersey for a long-sleeve lightweight shirt that he could also wear out to dinner. However, this shirt does not have three back pockets so he had to stow his hanky, lip balm, etc in his shorts which made them difficult to reach while riding. He will go back to a normal riding shirt for next tour and take a ‘dining-out’ shirt.
 
Health
We both had a few minor sniffles for no more than 24 hours, and Wendy had some blisters on her feet from all the walking at the start of the tour. Apart from that, we managed to avoid all nasty bugs for 12 weeks!
 
Other

We both took our insulated brew mugs with us, because as we found in France in 2023, there is not always a coffee shop along the way. We were able to make our brews before we left the hotel, pack it in the pannier, and have a lovely mornos wherever we stopped. Wendy’s mug is about the right size but does not have enough insulation to keep the brew hot, and Greg’s was insulated enough but a tad big. So, we will be looking for suitable alternatives for our next tour.