Bike Express Equivalent to Germany

[Martin109]

I'm starting to campaign to persuade Mrs109 to try a bit of leisurely riding on the tandem on the Rhine cycleway, and am wondering about possible ways of getting there with a tandem (probably next year, so plenty of time to plan carefully!).

I've never travelled with bike express, but the concept looks promising. Do they cater for tandems?  Is there an equivalent outfit serving Germany?  Googling hasn't come up with anything so far, so I thought I'd ask here.  We'd probably be staying at Youth Hostels, if this plan ever goes ahead.

[Regulator]

I'd suggest a combination of a DutchFlyer ticket and German railways - but they may not be convenient for you.  Certainly, you wouldn't really have a problem with a tandem on Dutch or German railways.

[Auntie Helen]

Yes, I agree with what Reg has said – Dutch  train tickets to the border (usually Venlo), then pre-booked German rail tickets (very cheap) to where you want to start. I just did this is very tour, starting at Bodensee. Tour was Konstanz to Koblenz, you can read about it on www.auntiehelen.co.uk. Dutch and German trains seem to take tandems and recumbents without too much bother, as long as you don't go on a busy weekend.

[Martin109]

Thank you, Reg and Auntie Helen - I was assuming that transporting a tandem by train was going to be a hassle, and therefore a no no.

[Wowbagger]

We did it, in the company of Auntie Helen, who took her recumbent. On one of the trains we found it difficult to fit our bikes in and they were creating quite an obstruction. The guard just stepped over it and didn't bother.

Auntie Helen has included a couple of photos on her blog http://www.auntiehelen.co.uk/3052010-mosel/ but I didn't think that was the worst of our obstructions. The weekend we were travelling out was the "Happy Mosel Day" in which something like 140km of roads were closed to motor traffic and people just got on their bikes. The trains were pretty busy!

http://www.bentrideronline.com/?p=1850 refers.

[Peter]

But Germany win on penalties.

[Auntie Helen]

If you take the train midweek (rather than weekend) it's much less busy. If you pre-buy tickets through Deutsche Bahn up to three months in advance you can get some major, major discounts (rock-up-and-pay tickets can be pricey as they are per km).

There is a Deutsche Bahn UK booking office where they speak English and take payment in pounds.

I now always travel midweek - I got a seven hour journey (from Düsseldorf to Konstanz on an IC (InterCity) train for 39€.

You have to buy a bicycle ticket in Germany for the train but it's less than 10€ for a full day.

[bryn]

You could get the European Bike Express to somewhere like Strasbourg, it's then a fairly short hop over the border into Germany and the excellent rail system.  Did this to Mulhouse (they don't stop there any longer) as the first leg of a CTC Danube tour a  few years ago.

You would have to check the EBE dates for 2014 as they keep changing their routes.

--
Bryn

[Mike r]

Most regional trains here in Niedersachsen have one or two carriages that take bikes no need to prebook, €3,90 for a day ticket in my local network.