From 17 to 22 October I will be part of the Swiss team at the World Sudoku and Puzzle Championship, which takes place in Krakow (Poland). Instead of the usual travel by plane or train, I will bike. My trip will start in Gernsheim (Germany), up to Mainz, then along the river Main, through Czech Republic and finally to Poland.
Why Gernsheim as starting point? For the WSPC 2019 in Kirchheim (Germany), I biked together with my wife from our home in Bern (Switzerland) along the Rhine. In Gernsheim we left the Rhine. Therefore it is a bit like continuing the tour from 2019 along the Rhine, although it will only be for about 40km.
All in all it will be at least 1724km. I will start at 1st October and have then 16 days, which means an average of 108km per day. It could be tough, but the rivers make a lot of turns where I could shorten the path.
From 1st October on I will post here daily a short report and some images of my trip.
The following map shows the full route I did. There were too many beautiful places to sightsee, so that I only managed it until Prague and took the train to Krakow.
- 2022-10-01: Day 01 Gernsheim – Mainz – Frankfurt (90km)Today is the start to my bike tour to Krakow 😎 . I traveled with the train from Bern directly to Mannheim. Because of some delay, I missed the train to Gernsheim. But I did not yet buy the ticket previously because I assumed the change time could be too short. I used the time… Read more: 2022-10-01: Day 01 Gernsheim – Mainz – Frankfurt (90km)
- 2022-10-02: Day 02 Frankfurt – Aschaffenburg (60km, total 150km)Rain, rain, rain. If we ignore the intonation, it rhymes to Main. Therefore I did not plan to go too far today. Maybe only to Aschaffenburg. In a Café I ate the breakfast. From Frankfurt I drove to Hanau, where I visited Schloss Philippsruhe. There were at least five weddings, or mainly taking nice wedding… Read more: 2022-10-02: Day 02 Frankfurt – Aschaffenburg (60km, total 150km)
- 2022-10-03: Day 03 Aschaffenburg – Lengfurt (102km, total 252km)After a good breakfast in the hotel, I visited the Pompejanum in Aschaffenburg. It was build by king Ludwig I. as a rebuild of a Roman house. I could imagine rather good how the Roman people lived. I grabbed my luggage and went to the museum of the Schloss Johannisberg, also in Aschaffenburg. It contains… Read more: 2022-10-03: Day 03 Aschaffenburg – Lengfurt (102km, total 252km)
- 2022-10-04: Day 04 Lengfurt – Würzburg (88km, total 340km)The night with the new tent and the new warmer bedroll was okay, of course less comfortable than a hotel. But waking up with the singing birds is not that bad as well 😉 . In the morning it was still rather fresh with 5° celsius and I wore a cap and gloves. Soon the… Read more: 2022-10-04: Day 04 Lengfurt – Würzburg (88km, total 340km)
- 2022-10-05: Day 05 Würzburg – Volkach (73km, total 413km)Somehow I couldn‘t sleep too good and was still very tired in the morning. Nevertheless I get up to visit the Residenz of Würzburg. It opened at 9 and I was almost alone in the rooms full of luxury. Some of the ceiling frescoes were painted by Titolo. A lot was destroyed in the second… Read more: 2022-10-05: Day 05 Würzburg – Volkach (73km, total 413km)
- 2022-10-06: Day 06 Volkach – Bamberg (89km, total 502km)Somehow I felt really good this morning. I slept already much better than the first night in the tent. Either it was because it was less cold or I wore a cap and didn‘t had a cold head. The instruction booklet of the world sudoku championship has been published meanwhile. In my tent I studied… Read more: 2022-10-06: Day 06 Volkach – Bamberg (89km, total 502km)
- 2022-10-07: Day 07 Bamberg – Kulmbach (88km, total 590km)In the morning I walked through the old town of Bamberg and up to the previous monastry Michaelsberg (now it is a hospital) and to the dome. The dome was kept simple inside. I also visited the church “Obere Pfarre“, which was decorated with luxuriously, especially the altar. Yesterday I saw the old town hall… Read more: 2022-10-07: Day 07 Bamberg – Kulmbach (88km, total 590km)
- 2022-10-08: Day 08 Kulmbach – Bischofsgrün (69km, total 659km)Today‘s plan was visiting the Plassenburg, then go to Bayreuth to see Schloss Eremitage, afterwards to Bad Berneck and then up the hill to Bischofsgrün, where the spring of the Weisser Main is. In Kulmbach I walked up to the Plassenburg. It is an impressive bastion with thick walls and multiple wall rings. The inner… Read more: 2022-10-08: Day 08 Kulmbach – Bischofsgrün (69km, total 659km)
- 2022-10-09: Day 09 Bischofsgrün – Cheb (73km, total 732km)In the morning I drove 1km to the Ochsenkopf Nord cable car, which I took to climb the hill in the lazy manner. At top I went first to the stones marked as Ochsenkopf, but I didn‘t see anything that looked similar to a head of an ox. Maybe the name comes from something else.… Read more: 2022-10-09: Day 09 Bischofsgrün – Cheb (73km, total 732km)
- 2022-10-10: Day 10 Cheb – Karlovy Vary (63km, total 795km)Although I started this morning more or less early, I only made 63km. The bike route was along the river Eger and was very beautiful. A few parts were on a shaky gravel path, what wasn‘t perfect for my bike with all the luggage. Therefore I couldn‘t drive fast on these sections. I stopped in… Read more: 2022-10-10: Day 10 Cheb – Karlovy Vary (63km, total 795km)
- 2022-10-11: Day 11 Karlovy Vary – Podboránky (72km, total 867km)The first 25km felt like I am on a mountain bike tour. The path conditions were rather bad. Especially with about 20-25kg luggage and a non-existing bike suspension. Most of the time I could only drive about 6km/h because it was so shaking. If I would have been driving faster, my bike probably wouldn‘t have… Read more: 2022-10-11: Day 11 Karlovy Vary – Podboránky (72km, total 867km)
- 2022-10-12: Day 12 Podboránky – Beroun (92km, total 959km)After yesterday’s mountain bike tour, I checked where if there are some alternative routes where it looks again like a rough path. First I anyway planned to take the street from my hotel (breakfast was very good as well) in Podboránky. Otherwise I would have needed to go back a few kilometers. In Jesenice I… Read more: 2022-10-12: Day 12 Podboránky – Beroun (92km, total 959km)
- 2022-10-13: Day 13 Beroun – Praha (51km, total 1010km)All good things come in threes. The third night in my tent was neither very good nor very bad. It could be a few degrees warmer during the night. Let’s say about 15 degrees warmer 😀 . It seems that the bedroll saves my body-heat until around 6 in the morning and then I get… Read more: 2022-10-13: Day 13 Beroun – Praha (51km, total 1010km)
- 2022-10-24: WSPC KrakowFrom Prague on I took a direct train to Krakow. The reservation for the bicycle worked perfectly. Arrived in Krakow, I took a path through some parks around the old town and then around a huge meadow, followed a small river (Rudawa) to the hotel. I asked to stay at the hotel of the championships,… Read more: 2022-10-24: WSPC Krakow