What a racket

[Deleted account Cooperman]

After 8 years of touring Europe with Mrs C on the bike it looks as though this could a swan song tour as she's getting a convertible and next years tour looks likely to be on 4 wheels.

Our GSA tours looked like this.

We then moved onto the GTL which is perfect for 2 week loaded trips.

The tours have become more sociable over the years from the initial one night stops with loads of km’s to 2-3 night stop overs giving time for each destination.

The theme of this trip was to incorporate some exercise and so not only did we plan to cycle, we also packed our tennis rackets

Hull Rotterdam is the preferred crossing followed by a run through the Ardennes, dropping into the Mosel valley and then down to our first night in Baden Baden in the Black Forest.

We were staying centrally in the upper market place. Nice church bells

There's always something going on in Baden, even if its just walking your pet pig.

This time it was an 'Old Timer' classic car rally.

My old Capri not sure about the colour

So, time to get the rackets out. Our first tennis club on tour. We even had to water the court!

And when you've finished you have to sweep up.

We then settled down to watch the Wimbledon final

 

[2 wheel humvee]

Some great pics
Touring is evolving for you, I can see the appeal in covering ground I've covered in the past by a different means of transport, a convertible would do nicely not least because coffee stops would be easier and quicker than they are on a bike.

 

[Deleted account Cooperman]

Today we are going to see some old friends in Bavaria, Bad Oberdorf at the foot of the Oberjoch pass.

For breakfast the B500.

To avoid the congestion of Lake Constance I came out of the Black Forest early and took a lovely road south from Balingen (it must be good as the signs say no bikes on Sundays ).

This then drops you onto the rocky road from Tuttlingen to Sigmaringen.

The reason we go to Bad Oberdorf is we used to ski here, however our friend Manny has leased his hotel to the Royal Marines to become their Bavarian training base. He's happy to remind me that my taxes are paying for his new relaxed lifestyle

This also provided the quote of the holiday from Mrs C. We were walking past his hotel and some of the lads from the Marines were out on the balcony, topless and well toned. "Fuck looking at the mountains..."

Moving on time to bring her back down to earth with another game of tennis

Not a bad spot to play, other than the blood sucking flies

Our hotel had a nice view of the Oberjoch Pass (used to be called the Adolf Pass).

Next we are on our way to Lake Garda and exit via the Oberjoch Pass.

En-route it's time for Timmy - the Timmelsjoch pass.

If you have 10 mins of your life spare this is worth a watch, ascending from the Austrian side, going through the tunnels at the top and a bit of the more trickier descent on the Italian side.

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We hit 39 degrees rolling across Italy before getting to the hopefully cooler shores of Lake Garda. In the picture you can just see a lad jumping off the rail into the Lake. I was tempted

 

[Tengiz99]

I enjoyed that.
The noise out of that bike is stunning!

 

[Deleted account Cooperman]

We've spent a lot of time in Riva. Not much extra to report other than it was on the feckin hot side of warm

#3 tennis match.

We didn't quite last an hour - and it took a lot longer to recover. Mad dogs and Englishmen...

Next some cycling. A great run is the cliff side route up to Lake Ledro.

Mrs C cheated with an Ebike.

TBH this was great as otherwise I would have buggered off on my own. Although heavy these Ebikes are amazing. It had 4 power assist options and she only needed the bottom eco mode to help with the climbing

It didn't have a Go Pro fitting for the bike - so here's a bit of one-handed filming of part of the return descent

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[Deleted account Cooperman]

Today's destination the unique Dolomites and Cortina.

I've been advised to check out a bike designed for tossers

No autostrada - just pass after pass

There are 2 tennis clubs in Cortina. One is very posh and the other one is this

The club are a very social bunch with no excuse needed to break out the prosecco

Put it this way, in Baden Baden we paid €25 for an hour. Here we had 2 hours, plenty of bottles of water, 3 rounds of beers (we asked for 2 and they gave us another round for nowt ) all in for €20

The mountain biking options are plentiful. Mrs C again cheated with an Ebike

Views from the hotel.

 

[earthmover]

Liking this!
Mark

 

[Auwyn]

Some beautiful photos there.

 

[dave hendy]

Some beautiful photos there.

+1 Very nice

 

[Popell]

Do you like tennis......?


Cracking pictures

 

[Deleted account Cooperman]

The next leg is to Munich.

Calling in to see Mark Knopfler

10 minutes of a condensed run up from the south.

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All alone - in the bus lane

 

[Rocketman]

First vid timmel, guy at 2.27 jesus he had got a load on board .
Great ride report

 

[BRD]

Nice trip & write up, looks like you had better weather in the mountains than I did in the same area a few weeks back....

 

[Deleted account Cooperman]

Leaving Austria behind we moved into Germany heading towards Munich.

We had to cross the city and I had not bothered to look at route alternatives

This resulted in ending up in a tunnel in standing traffic with the temperature in the high 30's. The bike decided it needed a rest.

We pulled over and gave it 20 mins to cool down. We got to our hotel by a process of stop start with the engine as we endured the traffic.

Our hotel was the Laimer Hof near the Nymphenburg Palace.

Mine host is the garrulous Sebastien who can't help you enough. He sorted out out tennis and gave us a lift to the courts

Our 5th and last match was adjacent the main railway line into the city.

We then turned to the cycle friendly city armed with a couple of gratis hotel bikes and headed off to BMW World.

I guess we all know somebody who would suit this

The rest of our Munich stay was generally spent weight lifting with glass steins in various beer gardens

 

[Deleted account Cooperman]

To break up the return leg to Rotterdam we chose the medieval old town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber.

View from the hotel room.

Our 'last supper' was in the very pleasant garden of the hotel

And this seemed appropriate as our holiday drifted to an end.

We managed to fit in:

• 1,800 miles
• Black forest
• Timmelsjoch and Grossglockner
• Dolomites
• 5 games of tennis in unique locations
• 2 mountain bike rides
• A pilgrimage to the home of BMW

Not a bad way to conclude bike touring with Mrs C for now

 

[(RIP) andrewgsadv]

Most enjoyable Sunday morning read Mr Cooperman,lovely photos as usual and the bit where you say that this is the Mrs last great bike adventure,well funny you should say that as Julie has muted same for big euro trips.

 

[Deleted account Cooperman]

Most enjoyable Sunday morning read Mr Cooperman,lovely photos as usual and the bit where you say that this is the Mrs last great bike adventure,well funny you should say that as Julie has muted same for big euro trips.

Give it time (a year) - I think (hope) they will miss it