THE RHINE CYCLE ROUTE About the Author Mike Has Been a Keen Long Distance Cyclist for Over 25 Years
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THE RHINE CYCLE ROUTE About the Author Mike has been a keen long distance cyclist for over 25 years. After com- pleting various UK Sustrans routes, such as Lôn Las Cymru in Wales and THE RHINE CYCLE ROUTE the C2C route across northern England, he then moved on to cycling long- distance routes in continental Europe and beyond. These include cycling FROM SOURCE TO SEA THROUGH SWITZERLAND, both the Camino and Ruta de la Plata to Santiago de la Compostela, a traverse of Cuba from end to end, a circumnavigation of Iceland and a trip GERMANY AND THE NETHERLANDS across Lapland to the North Cape. While working for a travel company he made frequent visits to vari- by Mike Wells ous parts of the Rhine Valley and saw the cycle-friendly infrastructure all along the river. This inspired him to cycle the route for the first time with his partner Christine. In researching the first edition of this book, Mike cycled the length of the river three more times, following cycle routes along both banks and exploring other alternatives. Other Cicerone guides by the author The Adlerweg The Moselle Cycle Route The Danube Cycleway Volume 1 The Danube Cycleway Volume 2 The River Rhone Cycle Route The Loire Cycle Route JUNIPER HOUSE, MURLEY MOSS, Cycling from London to Paris OXENHOLME ROAD, KENDAL, CUMBRIA LA9 7RL www.cicerone.co.uk © Mike Wells 2018 CONTENTS Third edition 2018 ISBN: 978 1 85284 899 6 Map key ...................................................... 6 Second edition 2015 Overview map ................................................. 7 First edition 2013 Preface ....................................................... 9 Printed in China on behalf of Latitude Press Ltd INTRODUCTION ............................................. 11 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Background .................................................. 13 All photographs are by the author unless otherwise stated. The route .................................................... 17 Natural environment ........................................... 20 Route mapping by Lovell Johns www.lovelljohns.com Preparation ................................................... 22 Contains OpenStreetMap.org data © OpenStreetMap Getting there and back .......................................... 23 contributors, CC-BY-SA. NASA relief data courtesy of ESRI Navigation ................................................... 26 Accommodation ............................................... 30 Food and drink ................................................ 32 Amenities and services .......................................... 35 Updates to this guide What to take .................................................. 37 While every effort is made by our authors to ensure the accuracy of guide- Safety and emergencies ......................................... 38 books as they go to print, changes can occur during the lifetime of an edi- About this guide ............................................... 41 tion. Any updates that we know of for this guide will be on the Cicerone THE ROUTE .................................................. 43 website (www.cicerone.co.uk/899/updates), so please check before plan- ning your trip. We also advise that you check information about such Alpenrhein (Alpine Rhine) things as transport, accommodation and shops locally. Even rights of way Stage 1 Oberalppass to Ilanz ................................... 44 can be altered over time. Stage 2 Ilanz to Chur ......................................... 53 The route maps in this guide are derived from publicly available data, Stage 3 Chur to Buchs ........................................ 60 databases and crowd-sourced data. As such they have not been through Stage 4 Buchs to Bregenz ..................................... 69 the detailed checking procedures that would generally be applied to a pub- Hochrhein (High Rhine) lished map from an official mapping agency, although naturally we have Stage 5 Bregenz to Konstanz ................................... 77 reviewed them closely in the light of local knowledge as part of the prepa- Stage 6 Konstanz to Schaffhausen ............................... 92 ration of this guide. Stage 7 Schaffhausen to Waldshut .............................. 101 We are always grateful for information about any discrepancies Stage 8 Waldshut to Basel .................................... 112 between a guidebook and the facts on the ground, sent by email to [email protected] or by post to Cicerone, Juniper House, Murley Oberrhein (Upper Rhine) Moss, Oxenholme Road, Kendal, LA9 7RL. Stage 9 Basel to Neuf-Brisach ................................. 124 Register your book: To sign up to receive free updates, special offers Stage 10 Neuf-Brisach to Strasbourg ............................. 133 and GPX files where available, register your book at www.cicerone.co.uk. Stage 11 Strasbourg to Drusenheim .............................. 143 Stage 12 Drusenheim to Karlsruhe ............................... 148 Stage 13 Karlsruhe to Speyer ................................... 158 Stage 14 Speyer to Worms ..................................... 166 Stage 15 Worms to Mainz ..................................... 176 Front cover: The Rhine Cycle Route follows the river past Remagen (Stage 18) THE RHINE CYCLE ROUTE OVERVIEW MAP Mittelrhein (Middle Rhine) Stage 16 Mainz to Bacharach .................................. 185 North Sea Rhine Cycle Route Stage 17 Bacharach to Koblenz ................................. 193 Rotterdam Arnhem (1372km) Stage 18 Koblenz to Remagen .................................. 202 Source to Sea 27 26 25 24 Stage 19 Remagen to Köln ..................................... 210 23 NETHERLANDS Niederrhein (Lower Rhine) 22 Stage 20 Köln to Düsseldorf .................................... 222 Duisburg 21 Stage 21 Düsseldorf to Duisburg ................................ 230 Düsseldorf Stage 22 Duisburg to Xanten ................................... 237 20 Stage 23 Xanten to Arnhem .................................... 244 Köln GERMANY 19 Delta Rijn (Rhine Delta) Bonn BELGIUM Stage 24 Arnhem to Wijk bij Duurstede ........................... 254 Eifel 18 Stage 25 Wijk bij Duurstede to Schoonhoven ...................... 262 Koblenz Taunus Stage 26 Schoonhoven to Rotterdam ............................. 268 17 Stage 27 Rotterdam to Hoek van Holland ......................... 275 Hunsrück 16 Frankfurt Mainz Appendix A Route summary table .............................. 283 LUXEMBOURG 15 Appendix B Facilities summary table ............................ 285 Appendix C Tourist offices .................................... 297 14 Mannheim Appendix D Youth hostels .................................... 303 Appendix E Useful contacts ................................... 306 13 Appendix F Language glossary ................................ 307 Karlsruhe Symbols used on route maps 12 FRANCE 11 route building Strasbourg alternative route cathedral or church 10 route direction abbey, monastery or priory Black start point castle or château Vosges Forest start/finish point tourist oce N 9 6 Bodensee finish point youth hostel 7 5 woodland battlefield Basel 8 Bregenz urban areas ferry 0 100 km 4 international border airport Zürich Jura station/railway viewpoint 3 peak lock SWITZERLAND 2 1 Chur pass bo Dutch knooppunten (nodal waypoints) Lai da Tuma GPX files point of interest Alps GPX files for all routes can be downloaded for free at www.cicerone.co.uk/899/GPX 6 7 THE RHINE CYCLE ROUTE PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION This edition has been substantially revised to incorporate new maps and a num- ber of re-routings, mostly to make use of cycle tracks along recently opened stretches of flood dyke, particularly from Sennwald to Au (Stage 4), Hamm to Oppenheim (Stage 15) and Orsoy to Ossenberg (Stage 22). Other changes reflect recognition by the European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF) of the Rhine Cycle Route as EuroVèlo route EV15 and re-signposting through France to accommodate this. The opening of a TGV (high-speed) rail line between Dijon and Mulhouse has made Switzerland accessible from Paris in just three hours. This has improved access from the UK by making it possible to reach Andermatt in the Swiss Alps in one day by train from London. The list of tourist information offices has been extended to include all offices encountered including those with seasonal open- ing periods and limited hours. Popularity of the route continues to grow, with an increasing number of cyclists following the whole route from source to sea. Shorter rides are increas- ing in popularity too, particularly around Bodensee and through the Rhine gorge between Mainz and Koblenz. The author would like to thank all those readers who have cycled the route using previous editions and sent in comments about route alterations and changes to facilities. Where relevant these have been incor- porated into the text. Bodensee radweg in Meersburg, with Altes Burg castle behind (Stage 5) 8 9 THE RHINE CYCLE ROUTE INTRODUCTION Werdenberg, the smallest town in Switzerland (Stage 4) The great attraction of following a All the countries it passes through river from source to sea is that it is are highly cycle-friendly, and motor- downhill all the way (well, almost ists will generally give you plenty of all the way – our route does occa- room. This route is suitable both for sionally climb a little for spectacular experienced long-distance cyclists views down into the valley). From the and those who have done only a lit- summit of Oberalppass (which can be tle cycle