This year's road bike tour from Munich to Siegburg was once again a highlight, especially the landscape and the wonderful wine villages. On selected side roads, over the Allgäu, along Lake Constance, over the Black Forest, on the Alsace Wine Route and the German Wine Route with challenging climbs and wonderful views.

However, the start was "bumpy", the kick-off meeting took place an hour later, you can't rely on Deutsche Bahn. An evening together in the beer garden brought the participants closer together again.

You can't do without a group photo before the start on the first morning. Together we rode to the Bavaria, an appealing backdrop. Afterwards, the participants split into small groups and cycled towards Andechs Monastery, the first meeting point. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough time to visit the monastery and have a drink. Instead, there was a detour via Raisting and the cathedral in Dießen (an alternative to the Wieskirche). In Rott, our next planned meeting point, some cyclists were able to watch the parade, which then met up in large beer tents. This was a disadvantage for our second meeting point, which had to be moved far beyond Rott.

The Bavarian towns have a special flair, which we were able to enjoy in Schongau with ice cream and coffee. At the third meeting point, some participants decided to take the route via the Wieskirche, which was certainly another highlight. The first overnight stay was in Marktoberdorf.

The next morning it was cloudy and looked like rain. The rain jacket was used shortly afterwards, so we saw Kempten in the rain and it gradually stopped in Isny. But even the beautiful Alpine panorama was only visible in a haze, which was actually a reward for the tough climbs. After the second meeting point, the participants had the choice of going down to Lake Constance via Lindau without any further climbs or via Wangen with further climbs. In Lindau, the sun was waiting for us after all. The destination for everyone was the ferry in Meersburg to Constance, our second overnight stop.

On Tuesday, we first cycled flat via Singen, but then came the first steeper sections in the Black Forest, but the routes were almost traffic-free. From the middle of this stage came the long, but less steep and therefore easily rideable climbs, followed by a very nice descent towards Freiburg to our next hotel.

The next day's route began with a view of the Kaiserstuhl and then went via Breisach and the Rhine to Neuf-Brisach in France and on to Colmar, a tourist hotspot. Here you could choose between the flat route along the canal or through the beautiful villages along the Alsace Wine Route. First Kaysersberg, Riquwihr, Ribeauville to Obernai to Strasbourg, the next stage destination. Strasbourg wasn't quite rain-free after all. Our overnight stay was in the district of Vendenheim.

On Thursday, finally a shorter stage, via Wissembourg through the German Wine Gate to Bad Bergzabern and along the Palatinate vineyards with a view of Hambach Castle to Neustadt an der Weinstraße. The hotel in the middle of the town made it possible to explore the town at length.

This really was the tour of the wine villages. On Friday, the stage took us through the famous Rheinhessen wine villages - Bad Dürkheim, along the salt works, to Deidesheim, Grünstadt, Alzey, Wörrstadt and then to Bingen on the Rhine. In the Middle Rhine Valley, we passed the Loreley to Boppard, our last overnight stop.

The last day of the stage brought us plenty of sunshine. We continued along the Rhine Valley in Koblenz, past the castle and photo shoot at the Deutsches Eck. Unfortunately, the poor condition of the cycle path near Bad Breisig was the undoing of one participant, who had a fall and the tour ended prematurely for him. The ferry took us from Rolandseck to Bad Honnef, and in Oberkassel we made the penultimate climb to Vinxel. A last meeting point at Niederpleis Castle, then we rode in a large group to Michaelsberg in Siegburg. There we were welcomed by many friends and relatives with applause for our approx. 940 km in seven days and were able to round off the tour together in peace and quiet at Anno17.