Day 32- Reutlingen to Stuttgart

Today we entered the second month of our journey and it is incredible to note that so far I have traveled 1661 kms and climbed 12662 metres before today’s ride.

This morning we were awake again at 5.30 am to the sound of thunder and rain. Fortunately it stopped by the time we were packed and ready to leave at 6.30 am. After picking up the bikes which were stored at another hotel we packed our bikes and had a short ride to the train station where there was a cafe for breakfast. Again it was cappuccino and croissants for breakfast to fuel up for the ride to Stuttgart.

The weather was almost perfect for riding as there was high cloud cover and mild temperatures about 18 degrees.

The ride today was again on country roads and cycling paths through farms with orchards and intense vegetable gardens. We were also travelling in river valleys and each town we passed through was on the top of the ridge overlooking the valley. As a consequence of this there was a fair bit of climbing and all up today I climbed 602 metres.

We had morning tea after travelling about 30 kms at a cafe/ bakery in Bernhausen

After this it was on to Stuttgart. The trail took us to a road tunnel under the main Stuttgart airport which was interesting but the bike path was very narrow!

After a few kms we had a discussion about the travel plans for the day which included going to Decathlon to get a couple things looked at on Steve and my bikes. We were also looking like we would be early into Stuttgart well ahead of the 2.00 pm check in time. We found a good spot in a local university cafe alongside the trail to work out our route into town via a Decathlon store. We found that doing this was most difficult as we had no wifi connections to the internet… finally the plan was hatched and we proceeded along the way. I was no good at navigating as my Garmin was unable to download the revised route. Steve and Chris were in charge fortunately!

The first part of the ride into Stuttgart included a 1.5 km climb with some parts of the climb registering 18% on my Garmin. I was happy with my climbing now and managed to not need to walk the bike… what a difference a few weeks of intense riding makes!

Once at the top we had a lovely decent into Stuttgart through a gory with walking and riding tracks. After emerging from the forest into the suburbs we had a bid decent which had 24% registering on my Garmin…. Thank goodness we were not climbing!

We traveled through the Stuttgart city to the train station near where the Decathlon store was located and Steve and I went in to see whether they could look at our bikes…. No was the answer…. Seems that the store did not have a bike repair and service facility. This is very rare and quite strange as all others we have seen do a have this capability. Anyway it seems we will need to get our bikes looked at ahead of Stuttgart!

Then it was on to our accommodation which is north of the main centre of Stuttgart. The hotel is quite comfy but unfortunately we only have 2 beds so it is my turn to sleep on the blow up bed!

The instructions on check in are interesting as we need to do it “on line” as there is no reception. Tomorrow the instructions are “ to throw the keys into the rear garden “ Not sure how this will be done!

I have always wanted to go to Stuttgart since meeting the office manager at Arthur Andersen & Co which was my first employer post graduation from university. Walter Billing was his name and he was from Stuttgart and he was always dressed in style and I wondered whether it was due to his early years here. I think it was as most business people I saw on the way through the business district were certainly well dressed. I always liked Walter and I ended up working on a few audit projects with him as my manager.

Today was a good day of riding and the photos are:

The route

A cold photos of the country we travelled through

Steve and Chris plotting the route ahead at the university cafe

The Porsche building… I think this is Porsche HQ

Our accommodation tonight…. Will the keys will be thrown in the back yard tomorrow???