(Images attached below the text)
Over the past 4ish weeks I was touring Saale, Main, Rhein and Ruhr and wanted to share some impressions and images in case anyone else wants to do this route or parts of it. It was pretty nice with quite varied nature and landscapes, can recommend.
Rough sketch of the route: https://imgur.com/a/rn8czaM
Starting point was Berlin, I reached the Saale via Havel, Havel-Elbe-Kanal and Elbe.
I didn't finish the Saale completely but stopped in Saalfeld before the really hilly parts and went to the Main with a train. I did finish the Main completely going east to west switching to the Rhein in Mainz, going north until Duisburg, where I switched to the Ruhr and went east. Time was running out so I only made it to Hagen near Dortmund and went home via train from there.
Total distance was 1500km and I did 50-70km a day, usually on the lower end of that due to camping site spacing. I always stayed on camping sites or water sport clubs that also sometimes offer camping in a tent.
Cycle ways were usually good and occiasionally bad as it is common in everywhere Germany. Specifically doing hills near the Saale with very bad forest roads with random stones in them was annoying. Portions of Rhein also have a lot of "waves" in the cycle road so you can't go fast if you want to keep your spokes intact.
The weather was all over the place from 32°C for a week to rain and 50km/h winds for a week.
Overall it's a really enjoyable and varied route that I can recommend to anyone touring through Germany. It would also be pretty easy to make this a full loop back to Berlin using several other rivers or cycle paths near Ruhr.
by WhiskasTheCat
1 Comment
Thanks for including your stunning photos. It sounds like a great tour. Do you have a .gpx file or similar route info as I am unfamiliar with Germany?