Michael Bauer has always been an active cyclist, but now, with the start of his retirement, he has started a project for which we all have great respect. The start and finish is the Old Town Hall, the headquarters of the VHS Völklingen – his employer for the last decades. His tour also took him to Hamburg. Stade -> Hamburg – Hamburg -> Glücksstadt.
He set off on June 4, with about 5,000 kilometers on his plan. He orients himself along the border line through all 10 German states of Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate, North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony (from here he made the detours to Bremen and Hamburg), Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Brandenburg, Saxony, Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg.
Basically, he prefers bike paths and quiet back roads and the plan is to be on the road between 60 and 100 kilometers a day. If the condition, the material, the weather or the great environment make it necessary, of course, sometimes a rest day is inserted. So you can expect 60 to 80 days of touring.
Moreover, this trip is for a good cause. The readers of the blog have the opportunity to support worldbicyclerelief.org. He cycles – the readers donate. The current status is as follows: Kilometers traveled: 3,980 km; Donation: 2.25 €/km = 8,955.00 € already over 65 bikes! That is so awesome!
From experience, each place has stories that are not really known and he wants to discover and tell. Take a look at his blog and cycle along with him.
How he experienced Hamburg, he describes so:
„The entrance to Hamburg is really fun, there are many beautiful houses on the Elbe to admire. Then the drive through the Elbchaussee leaves me speechless. Here are true palaces, if possible protected from unauthorized views. The wealth is distributed in Germany but obviously very unevenly. But no envy, the people who own such a thing, have certainly worked hard for it.
Now still to the Landungsbrücken, the Elbphilharmonie, the Speicherstadt, quasi Hamburg in fast forward on the wheel. I don’t have much time after starting so late. On the way to the hotel, light drizzle sets in again. Now again in the rain gear I do not want but, the few kilometers it will go so – I thought. Far from it, arrived at the hotel I leave a puddle in front of the reception. Good that I am accommodated today in a great hotel (Alsterkrug).“
Take a look and follow his journey at Grenzradeln.de
