London to Salzburg on a bicycle - the road to Salzburgerland - the prologue
Getting to the start - 6th September 2013
You've cut it a bit fine! Not particularly what you want to hear from the gate man at High Wycombe Station. Had to pedal like fury to get to Platform 3 before the train departed, good job the underpass was not too busy so I didn't skittle too many latecomers - sorry. To travel with a bike into London you must get to Marylebone before 07:45 and my targeted departure was the last possible train to beat the 'curfew'.
My trip was all a bit last minute to be fair. My bike was only a week old, a Ridgeback Tour. My Garmin 800 was purchased at the same time. Bit of a steep learning curve to get my route input and planned and also gain some sort of understanding of how not to get lost when being told where to go by a bike gps.
The planned route was to be from Lille in Northern France to Bastogne in Belgium on the Picardie-Wallonie (RV6).
From Bastogne I would pick up a section of the Eurovelo 5 (London to Italy) which would take me South from Bastogne via Luxembourg, France and Germany to Basle in Switzerland.
From Basle I would head East to Lake Constance (Bodensee). A ferry across the Lake would get me to Friedrichshafen in Germany where I would go south on the cycle path to Lindau where I would pick up the Bodensee to Konigsee cycle route. This route would see me through to very near the Austrian border. Once across the the border I would find the Tauernradweg which would take me around some big mountains to the plain near Salzburg and down the Salzach River towards Schwarzach/Lend. I would then be on the familiar territory of the Gastein Radweg and Bad Hofgastein. Total distance would be about 1400km, it turned out to be 1600km.
I made the train - just. It stopped once en-route to pick up work-bound commuters. Luckily the doors opened on the same side as High Wycombe so I was able to retain the space I had claimed as I tumbled on-board. I chatted to a chap from the MOD about bikes and travel and he wished me well. He was heading for the Office to do a bit of spying or something. I was off along the Marylebone Road to St. Pancras and a Eurostar to Lille, or possibly Disneyland? I booked my train on-line not realising it was a Disneyland special. I found this out when I phoned up to reserve my bike space. Sorry mate, this train is going to Disneyland and the bike space is used for food. Huh, what kind of Mickey Mouse outfit are you! So my cross-channel would be without my bike but with a trainload of Munchkins. Not a problem really, my bike would be on the next train and, as it turned out, the kids were well behaved. A Disney rep. was on-board my second train of the day and he was arranging transfers and giving information. I heard the spiel several times so am now an expert. Just leave your bags at station with these tags attached and they will be transferred to to your hotel. On your last day just leave them at the hotel with these red tags attached and go off to the Park for the day and they will be at the station waiting for you. Oh, and there are three parades each day etc, etc. "What about me I asked?" You are on your own mate! I got off the train clutching my panniers and feeling a bit Goofy.
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| Eurostar - St. Pancras to Lille |
My trip was all a bit last minute to be fair. My bike was only a week old, a Ridgeback Tour. My Garmin 800 was purchased at the same time. Bit of a steep learning curve to get my route input and planned and also gain some sort of understanding of how not to get lost when being told where to go by a bike gps.
The planned route was to be from Lille in Northern France to Bastogne in Belgium on the Picardie-Wallonie (RV6).
From Bastogne I would pick up a section of the Eurovelo 5 (London to Italy) which would take me South from Bastogne via Luxembourg, France and Germany to Basle in Switzerland.
From Basle I would head East to Lake Constance (Bodensee). A ferry across the Lake would get me to Friedrichshafen in Germany where I would go south on the cycle path to Lindau where I would pick up the Bodensee to Konigsee cycle route. This route would see me through to very near the Austrian border. Once across the the border I would find the Tauernradweg which would take me around some big mountains to the plain near Salzburg and down the Salzach River towards Schwarzach/Lend. I would then be on the familiar territory of the Gastein Radweg and Bad Hofgastein. Total distance would be about 1400km, it turned out to be 1600km.
I made the train - just. It stopped once en-route to pick up work-bound commuters. Luckily the doors opened on the same side as High Wycombe so I was able to retain the space I had claimed as I tumbled on-board. I chatted to a chap from the MOD about bikes and travel and he wished me well. He was heading for the Office to do a bit of spying or something. I was off along the Marylebone Road to St. Pancras and a Eurostar to Lille, or possibly Disneyland? I booked my train on-line not realising it was a Disneyland special. I found this out when I phoned up to reserve my bike space. Sorry mate, this train is going to Disneyland and the bike space is used for food. Huh, what kind of Mickey Mouse outfit are you! So my cross-channel would be without my bike but with a trainload of Munchkins. Not a problem really, my bike would be on the next train and, as it turned out, the kids were well behaved. A Disney rep. was on-board my second train of the day and he was arranging transfers and giving information. I heard the spiel several times so am now an expert. Just leave your bags at station with these tags attached and they will be transferred to to your hotel. On your last day just leave them at the hotel with these red tags attached and go off to the Park for the day and they will be at the station waiting for you. Oh, and there are three parades each day etc, etc. "What about me I asked?" You are on your own mate! I got off the train clutching my panniers and feeling a bit Goofy.
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