2021 from Stralsund to Cologne

04 - 10 July 2021: A beautiful tour in Germany
This year, almost everyone traveled relatively easily on July 03 to Stralsund; Corona-conditioned, we unfortunately could not enjoy the evening together in Stralsund, because there were not so great restaurants with outdoor catering. On Sunday morning we all started together towards the west, the stage was a long one and led us past the Bodden with a view to the Darß to Rostock and further to Wismar. The hotel was located at the harbor and we could enjoy the harbor and the old town of the Hanseatic city. Towards the south we continued in light rain along the Schwerin Lake to the state capital, we could admire the castle there as well as the not so "cleaned" in Ludwigslust on the further way to Perleberg. There we had apartments at the swimming pond, a wonderful place to wash and dry the dirty clothes. On the third stage to Königslutter, we had to cross the Elbe on an adventurous bridge, could stop in Gardelegen, but drove largely on relatively empty roads, in towns partly with cobblestones... We continued through such beautiful places as Wolfenbüttel or Goslar and then on a very nice bike path in the valley of the Innerste via Lautenthal and Wildemann and then in a fast downhill to Osterode and on to our destination for the day Northeim.

Through the Solling we continued to the Weser and crossed it on a small ferry, a nice change. In the Bever valley we continued west, behind Wildebadessen we went up the steepest climb of our tour in the Eggegebirge, 2 km long with 10 - 12% gradient. Unfortunately, just after the climb the rain started again for most, which then accompanied us to the hotel at Paderborn airport. Also the next morning we went again in light rain on the tour, but then it subsided and at the Möhne dam we were already almost dry again. We continued in the valley of the Möhne, which flows into the Ruhr near Neheim. We did not leave the Ruhr valley until shortly before our hotel in Witten. The last stage led us over different cycle tracks to Vohwinkel (station of the suspension railroad) and there on the "corkscrew cycle track" to Solingen, down into the valley of the Wupper and past the Müngsten bridge. For some a "Gravel-Einlage" followed, some came with the suspension ferry over the Wupper, for all it went then from Unterburg over castle Burg up to Hünger, our last meeting. From there it went on the "Balkan route" almost without power down to Opladen, still briefly through Leverkusen past the BayArena to the Mülheimer bridge. There everyone met to ride in a block over the bridge and then along the Rhine to the cathedral. At shortly after 16:00 o'clock there were about 900 km behind us, everyone arrived happy and healthy.
The ridden routes can be viewed and downloaded here.