Introduction
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This is a report of a cycle trip made in September 2011 from London to Germany. The plan was to cycle as far as Athens but it was cut short by a road accident in Bad Urach, south of Stuttgart. With a fractured elbow I was unable to continue and flew home.
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Why the trip?
A reasonable question, and one I asked myself before and since.
I'm currently taking a break from employment and wanted to take a trip that couldn't normally be undertaken while working. Having spent much of my time off in my flat in front of a computer screen I wanted to stretch my legs a bit. The idea of the trip evolved out of an original idea to cycle the length of the Balkans, insprired by a much smaller pedal along the Croatian coast a few years ago. The concept of setting off from my own front door was appealing, and Athens became the end point when girlfriend Claire independently chose it as her holiday location.
Fundamentally though it was a holiday, not a race and not to raise money. The idea was to enjoy it, if that wasn't happening then to re-think.
Who?
Just me, my friends were too busy doing an honest day's work.
Accommodation plan
Aim was to camp at campsites at least for the first half of the trip. After crossing from Croatia to Bosnia campsites start to become a bit thin on the ground so it would have been case of finding private rooms, but events made this academic.
The route
Here's the route that I ended up taking.
View The Ride in a larger map
This is where I stopped each day.
| Day | Date | Town | Country | Dist (km) |
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| 1 | 11-09-11 | Littlebourne | England | 130 |
| 2 | 12-09-11 | Poperinge | Belgium | 85 |
| 3 | 13-09-11 | Tournai | Belgium | 85 |
| 4 | 14-09-11 | Maubeuge | France | 60 |
| 5 | 15-09-11 | Houyet | Belgium | 100 |
| 6 | 16-09-11 | Vianden | Luxembourg | 135 |
| 7 | 17-09-11 | Trier | Germany | 55 |
| 8 | 18-09-11 | Landstuhl | Germany | 115 |
| 9 | 19-09-11 | Bad Herranalb | Germany | 145 |
| 10 | 20-09-11 | Tubingen | Germany | 95 |
| 11 | 21-09-11 | Bad Urach | Germany | 40 |
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