Cycling on our escorted motorhome tours
One question we are often asked after customers have booked an escorted tour with us is whether or not it is worthwhile bringing bikes along on the tour. It is an understandable question, as carrying bikes will add significant weight to the motorhome. However as anyone who has travelled with us before already knows, one of the most important criteria for us when choosing a campsite is how easily you can get to the town or tourist attractions close by. When we select the campsites, we check that you can either walk, take public transport or cycle and as a consequence, we almost always recommend taking your bikes.
Some of our tours are particularly suitable for cycling. This is often the case when we stay close to a lake or a river, for example, on our “Majestic Rhine & Moselle Rivers” tour. Here there are many cycling paths along the banks of both rivers which are easy to cycle as they are almost always flat. You can use your bike not only as a means of transport to get from the campsite to any of the picturesque towns and villages along the rivers, but also use it for a day out and spend time cycling through the vineyards or watching the many boats on the river. There are also special cyclist buses which will take you and your bike to the start of a cyling path, for example the Maare Mosel cycle path which follows a former railway line, passing extinct volcanos, lakes, vineyards and traditional winemaking villages ending in the picturesque town of Bernkastel Kues, where we spend the night.
Our “Breathtaking Black Forest” tour is also great for cycling, especially when the campsites are not far from rivers or lakes. On past tours many of our guests have used their bikes to visit historic towns on the river Kinzig, have cycled around lake Titisee, and on one occasion, when staying at lake Constance a group of 10 cyclists (9 on E-bikes) spent a whole day cycling around the lake, using the ferries to cross with their bikes from one side of the lake to the other, stopping for a meal and drinks at some of the many pubs along the paths.
On our “Exciting Eastern Germany” tour there are great cycling paths around the lakes in Potsdam and along the river Elbe near Dresden, and on our “Impressive Italian Lakes & Cities” tour you can cycle along the lakes to the nearby towns and villages. During our “Spectacular Spanish Northern Coast” tour last year many of the group cycled along the bike path into the city centre of Burgos and when we stayed close to the Praia das Catedrais (Cathedral Beach) a group of 6 cycled along the coast to explore this impressive beach during low tide.
Of course, if you do not have bikes, or prefer not to use them, you can always walk or take public transport or stop on route with your motorhome.
We are also sometimes asked what the best way is to store bikes in or on your motorhome. If your motorhome has a garage, we can recommend the IDEA-Pedi-Packer (page only exists in German, but has many self-explanatory photos), which we have used for many years. You just need to slide the bikes into the garage and they stand upright on the garage floor. We have also bought folding pedals for our bikes, allowing us to store both bikes very close to each other without the pedals interfering. If you do not have a garage, there is a large selection of bike racks available from Fiamma or Thule, that can be attached to the back of the motorhome. Another option that some of our customers prefer is having a bike rack that can be attached to the tow bar. This is a very flexible solution, as it can be easily removed if you want to travel without your bikes. But they are relatively low and increase the length of the overhang behind the rear axle. This can cause problems on uneven ground or getting on and off some ferries.
If you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact us directly, we are always happy to answer your questions.
Safe travels!
Audrey & Michael