Romantic Rd - Germany

[borisface]

I'm trying to talk Mrs Borisface into a trip down the Romantic Rd in early July. She has several conditions that she will seek to enforce via tantrums, prolonged silences, general moaning and refusals 1) I carry all luggage 2) its flat 3) we go for no more than 5 days and average about 30-35 miles per day. I don't have a problem with 1 or 2 as 1 slows me down and 2 helps me because of 1. We've previously done a few days on the Mosel Radweg last year which she really enjoyed so much so that on her suggestion we went back this year. My questions are:

1) how flat is it?

2) If we go for 5 days cycling or say 150 miles which would be the best 150 continuous miles to do? Start at Wurzburg and simply head south or simply start further south?

We'd probably drive to the starting point from Calais and get the train back to the starting point at the end.

Any suggestions gratefully received.

[manybikes]

no problem with 1 and 3. Big problem with 2.(flat it ain't.
Instead of the train there is a dedicated coach service each way daily that takes bike, pick ups en route to get you back to your start point.

[jake]

This might be useful: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=1 ... =9289&v=5z

[PompeyJoe]

I can't be the only one. Can someone please tell me what the Romantic Road is please?

[foxyrider]

I can't be the only one. Can someone please tell me what the Romantic Road is please?

Its an old coaching route from Wurzburg on the Maine southwards via Rothenburg, Nordlingen, Augsburg and ending some good few metres higher at Fussen in the northern Alps.

http://www.guide-to-bavaria.com/UserFil ... /karte.jpg

I rode it back in 2004 - brilliant! There are flatter bits along the way - stick to the cycle route and the worst will be the climb out of Wurzburg although you do have plenty of steady climbing on the way - particularly south of Augsburg.

Rothenburg to the Danube at Donauworth is the prettiest bit, nice walled towns, impressive castles and wide choice of accomodation. Further south the towns are further apart and in places i found myself riding on grassy farm tracks although the lure of the mountains and castles at Fussen is strong.

Are you camping or B&B? I did a bit of both so if you want any tips that direction i'd be pleased to help

[borisface]

Thanks for all the responses - it looks a great route and one that I'd love to do. However, in the interests of domestic harmony, I think it may be a bit hilly for the OH.

Cheers

chris

[John Holiday]

Just back from two weeks cycling from Wurzburg to Fussen. Brilliant!
Flew with bike from Southampton to Frankfurt with Flybe then got train to Wurzburg.Flew back from Munich to Gatwick with Easyjet.
Not too hilly at all although noticed an awful lot of the older riders had Electric Assist!
Would suggest doing North to South as views of snow topped Alps for last couple of days are spectacular.
Plenty of opportunity to shorten journey either using train or the dedicated Coach Service which travels the full length with numerous pick up/set down points.
Stayed mostly in hostels with odd night in Gastof,where no hostel.
Most of the route is well paved,traffic free & well signed.
Even where the roads are used,the drivers,almost without exception,defer to cyclists.Lost count of number of times emerging motorist backed away from my path!
Imagine that sort of Utopia in UK!
Everyone in Germany seems to cycle,young & old,& it's not seen as some minority fringe activity.
Highly recommended.

[edwin]

Hi Chris,

the Romantik Road Cycle Path is not particularly popular among German cyclists. Have you ever heard of the Altmühlradweg? It is quite the same area as the northern part of the Romantik Road. This is the German path for "Cycle-Travel 101". Lot's of nice small Franconian and Bavarian towns. If you cycle it down, there are almost no climbs at all. I did it with my family a couple of years ago. My older son (7 years old then) rode his own cycle, I had my younger son on the backseat and had a heavy loaded trailer with all the stuff for the family. No problem.
You could even start in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, in that case you had to cycle over a small hill to reach the source of the Altmühl. There is also a nice cycle path at the Tauber river, so you could start at Wertheim at the Main river, cycle up the Tauber to the source, cross over to the Altmühl and cycle down to the Danube at Kehlheim.

If you are interested, feel free to contact me!

regs

Edwin

[Gearoidmuar]

I've done the Romantische Strasse twice, from Wurzburg to Fussen. Long train journey to Wurzburg from Munich Airport.

It's not flat and depending which version of it you do, it's fairly hilly in parts. It's also easy to get lost in places.

Ideal thing is to get a GPX file of the route and use a GPS.

A very nice route is the Lahn from near Coblenz. Lots of lovely towns like Nassau, Limburg, Weztlar (?), Marburg and so on.

[honesty]

Not cycled the route but Rothenburg has by far the nicest YHA I have ever stayed at, and it was dirt cheap.

[foxyrider]

A very nice route is the Lahn from near Coblenz.

You won't find that spelling of Koblenz on any modern map! The spelling was officially changed some time ago as part of a tidying up of place names, Cologne in German became Koeln at the same time, the C is pronounced softer than the hard K.