One man, a tent and a bike: part 1

I have collected countless amounts of information, 150 pieces of equipment and I have laid down my route. It's finally time to ride.

One man, a tent and a bike. Now I am on my way to Portugal, but I am taking the long way. I have been planning this trip for a while now and I have collected countless amounts of information, 150 pieces of equipment and my route has been laid out. bike-components supported me in the best way possible with panniers and their new bc bike wear collection.

Finally, after roughly four months of preparation and anticipation it was time to straddle my saddle and get riding.

From Cologne to Hamburg

My apartment is empty...

...my bags are packed and I am ready to ride. I began along the river Rhine heading to Cologne, Germany where I will enjoy some “free” camping hidden in some bushes. I figured I needed to jump right into the “illegal” camping experience, especially since I would be doing it often. This was a chance to take away the anxiety involved when doing this and as long as you take your trash with you, I don’t see a problem with it.

The first day and night worked out great and I was feeling good about the 97 km I already had under my belt.

The Rhine near Cologne

The first campsite

The tour continued to Gießen through the Westerwald, a low mountainous region. It was a beautiful route, but my untested legs needed some time getting used to it. Occasionally, there was a little reward.

Very nice

The next stage, took me north to Hamburg. From Gießen, it is roughly 450 km and I needed almost 5 days to make it. Luckily, this year, September was warm and I was happy to cool down any chance I got.

Cruising along a river

I rode along the Lahn river near Marburg and I camped at a lake known as Edersee. Here I carried my things to the other bank, so I couldn’t be as easily reached from the road. In general, the people were friendly and waved hello.

The opposite bank

Ready to ride again

Cooling off in a stream near Hannover

Suddenly, I was in Hannover and I booked it through the city centre so I could quickly get back to the quiet rural roads. I took another chance to cool off north of city in a lake called Silbersee.

Hannover city

My bike on the Silbersee

And finally, after a long ride and with a relatively sore rear end, I made it to Hamburg. The ride here was fun and I learned a lot. Let’s hope the weather stays this way for a while longer.