Upping the pace, abandoning plans and choosing the high road - France to Italy

I've just reread my last post and can't believe how long it's been or how many miles we have covered. When we first set out it felt like it would take us 10 years to complete this round the world affair never mind our estimate of 1.5-2 years but our pace has improved dramatically, perhaps that's no surprise as we crossed the alps and all has been fairly flat since (apart from Slovenia but I'll get to that later).

We headed off from Strasbourg raring to go, partly because we'd had a rest but possibly because Fred was just so enthusiastic about our venture. Leaving Strasbourg (as leaving any city has proved to be) was somewhat stressful due to my navigational skills. Despite strapping my compass to my map holder I was still directionally clueless. Which left me arriving in Germany with a bit of a strop on. You will be pleased to hear though that over time I have become map woman and have progressed from 1:120,000 to ably getting us through countries on 1:535,000 scale maps. Initially James was looking at the detail and scale dismissing these as useless but as we have moved further east and road quality declines it's pretty safe to say that if that little road which would be favoured in western Europe is not featured its you wouldn't be able to ride on it anyway.

Germany like France proved to be a pleasure. As France had its fine wine and lovely food, so Germany had fantastically cheap yet high quality beers as well as cherry strudel that blew my mind (I think its fair to say I've been getting on and off the vegan wagon pretty regularly, a woman can only live on crisp sandwiches for so long). A note on bike lanes though - the German bike fraternity has developed an amazing network of cycle lanes all over Germany, so many that getting lost on them unless you have appropriate maps with accompanying guide books on places of interest along the way is fairly easy. As we were headed for the Black Forest i thought we should follow the Kinzig Valley cycle path (its fairly flat, goes in the right direction, seemed a good idea at the time). However although its flat and pretty much car free it wasn't particularly inspiring leading us through industrial estates and more pleasantly cherry orchards (scrumping skills duly employed). It didn't take too long before we got hacked off with going through mile after mile of detours round quiet streets and industrial boredom before we jacked in the cycle lanes and started following the little roads through the black forest proper which was the best move we had made. Finally we got to see the Black Forest we came for, deer on hillsides, traditional buildings (also on hillsides), stunning forest (hillsides) discovering the most amazing campsite (terraced upon the edge of hill) over looking one of the numerous valleys. The view was breathtaking, as was the schnapps which accompanied it. At night there was such a huge electrical storm I was able to photograph the lightning by just poking my camera out of the tent flap. Cycling up and down the hills was the most strenuous thing I think we have done yet (it made the alps seem easy by comparison) but we were always rewarded by amazing view, downhills, and stunning scenery throughout.

From there we headed a bit further south than intended to cycle along the northern shore of Lake Constance (Bodensee), again another beautiful spot which although a popular holiday destination is still lovely and we caught our first glimpse of the Alps. Whilst choosing local wine in a supermarket I was recommended one by Bernhard who ended up inviting us home to his family, feeding us and letting us camp on his lawn complete with a view of the lake and Alps.

After Bodensee I had planned to head over to Austria and cross the Alps into Slovenia but somehow the Alps just drew us in once we'd seen them and we crossed from Bavaria after joining the mass of American tourists visiting looped Ludwigs castle. We were greeted with mile after mile of the most amazing scenery to date, crystal clear lakes, spectacular mountains, beautiful free range cows with bells on (though why they need them I've no idea as they were all fenced in at some point, maybe they graze on the mountain tops at some point with Heidi in tow). There were also wildflower meadows we would labour over to create and maintain at home, traditional buildings new and old (solar panels and wind turbines as common optional extras) and curious hay stacking techniques which I have bizarrely taking to photographing (along with cows of the world). I can not recommend cycling in the Alps enough, if you have a bike and the will please do it, there are some amazing cycle paths and detailed maps (thanks again to the German bike fiends)which lead you beautifully into Italy and apart from the Fern and Reschen pass areas all are pretty free of cars and even here the cars expect you.

If there's one thing I have learned form this part of the journey its that the hilliest road is not always the easiest but is often the most rewarding.