Bike Rack

Uniquely in Germany, the city of Stuttgart is in a deep valley; one result of this is the Zahnradbahn or rack railway running 2,2 km or 1.3 miles from Marienplatz in the inner suburbs up to Degerloch, 204m or 670 feet higher.

As can be seen it also carries bicycles which came in useful last month when due to my usual lack of organisation I managed to arrive in Stuttgart with the touring bike, right at the start of the rush hour when bikes are otherwise banned from the tram network. Even better they’ve recently introduced new trams and much longer bike trailers, so I could be fairly sure of getting a space for the bike.

This used to be my regular commute from college, but at the time the older trams pushed a much smaller wagon and it was always full in the afternoon, so I’d leave my commuter bike locked to a lamp post at the top of the valley. From there it was a mere five minutes ride to the forest that surrounds the city and thence to my home village.

The bike was never disturbed; it was such a posh neighbourhood I was more worried about it being removed as a vanguard of a peasant uprising than being stolen…

Parliament

Brompton outside the state parliament in Stuttgart, on one of our regular trips back and forth between family and work.

As can be seen, local weather hasn’t yet got the memo about Spring.

Travelling

Brompton waiting for the bus at a thoroughly uncivilised hour in the morning.

The reason for this strange behaviour will become clear soon.

Twin Town

I was trundling through Emmendingen, our county town and found this in the ground. Apparently it’s twinned with Newark, the one on Nottinghamshire, not the one in New York.

Honestly, you’d think that living car free in a bike friendly region of the world and working in a bike workshop, I’d have something to write about, but apparently not. To be fair, I can only write about repairing bikes for so many times before it gets a bit stale for all concerned.

Later this week I’m going to Tübingen, and I’ll be taking a bike with me and having a look around the city.

I’ll take pictures, I promise.

Wheelie

Riding to work; actually technically at work, having already picked up an order for the in house cafe from the butcher in my village. This saves my work colleague from making a detour. It also means I’m getting paid for this, sort of.

The weather has improved, the river has gone down, the first of the storks has arrived, and commutes are now taking place in daylight.

Oh, and I’ve decided that the cheap ‘stop gap’ wheel on the touring bike is probably due for replacement after about five years and 8,000km of riding, so I brought the new one to work ready for fitting.

Cold…

Delivering the café’s order from the butcher in the next village. Kandel mountain (1240m/4068 ft) in the distance.

General Busyness…

Oh, dear I’ve gone and done it again; almost a whole month and no posts.

In my defence, life tends to get a bit busy at Christmas.

Amongst other things, we went to the Christmas market in Stuttgart, which involved a big wheel…

Which Tinybug immediately wanted to ride on, because of course she did.

We did a lot of ‘normal activities as well, like going on bike rides…

Unfortunately the time soon came to return…

Where it turns out Winter has arrived…

…and there’s a backlog of bikes to repair…

The Scenic Route

One odd thing about this part of Germany, is that the indirect route to visit the family is quite a bit further than the ‘direct’ way over the Black Forest, but being along the straight, flat, Rhine Valley it is a lot quicker. However, last week I had more time than usual so I decided to take the scenic route.

Typically I chose the snowiest day this winter

Here the Brompton can be seen getting used to snow in Villingen, where I had about 40 minutes to spare before the next local train took me over the hill to Rottweil.

It turns out that Bromptons tiny wheels don’t get on with snow very well. However, I made it to the next train intact and still arrived at the apartment just before the rest of the family.

Will have to go back and investigate again, preferably in warmer weather.

Going to Town

The overstressed wrist (and because I can’t do things halfway, also elbow) have improved sufficiently to get back to work, but also require the occasional visit to specialists. Fortunately the local area is relatively well set up for those of us who insist on cycling everywhere with plenty of car-free routes. Above is a junction of a couple of cycleways, with an alternative route to the centre for people using bicycle trailers, with a less steep way to cross the railway line.

Personally I prefer the route taken by the cyclist in the background: it’s more direct, quieter, and includes a bike/pedestrian bridge with a spiral ramp, which always delights my inner ten year old…

More river

The river expanded again…

And rather inconsiderately flooded several cycleways.

It also brought several tonnes of the Black Forest with it, which it has since dumped it on the banks.

The forecast this week is for heavy rain, lots of heavy rain…