It was a awsom bikepacking tour from my hometown Schlossrued in the wonderful RUEDERTAL (aka Paddle Valley ;-) - all the way up to the the bicycle capital of the world - AMSTERDAM.(#RU2AM).

From the satrting point in Switzerland, I first went to Germany, before crossing the French boarder. After 2 days I arrived in in Luxembourg. Shortly after I cycled on Belgian soil and then the Netherlands as final destination of the trip.

Click > HERE to see the zoomable route

Short recap of the adventure

Find below the daily logs and some impressions of the adventure.

Log DAY 1 - Schlossrued > Strasbourg

Took off shortly after 10am and made it to Strasbourg (200km) just with the dark. The headwind gave me lemons but the nice places I passed compensated everything. It is colder than expected so Ian happy I bought a warm sleeping bag a week ago. Lay back and enjoy the nice pictures.

Distance: ~ 200 km
Elevation: + 850 m

Log DAY 2 - Strasbourg - Saarbrücken - Luxembourg

The bad thing about a warm sleeping bag is, that it’s damn hard to get out of it when it’s cold. I had to kick myself hard but finally got it at 4:30 am. Crossed Strasbourg and share the city with lots of Party people on their way home - funny and strange. Nice sunrise but suddenly a drop to freezing temperatures froze my ass of. After serious navigation issues to find my my way out of Saarbrücken, it finally warmed up so I had a nice ride to the famous Saarschlaufe and then Luxemburg. Legs are fine and stomach back in shape. The hardest part ( at least on paper) will be tomorrow, nearly 3000 m elevation gain on 170km.

Live is beautiful!

Distance: ~ 240 km
Elevation: + 2000 m

Log DAY 3 - Luxembourg > Liége (Lüttich)

Luxembourg gave a unexpected surprise to say good bye (must watch attached movie). Rain started just when I took of and then kept fighting with the sun and strong winds till I arrived in Liege (aka Lüttich) well know for its classic road bike race. There were a lot of steep hills and some real mountain biking sections. With a high of only 8C and lots of leafs on the ground it felt like fall arrived.

Distance: ~ 180 km
Elevation: + 2400 m

Log DAY 4 - Liége (Lüttich) > Eindhoven > Rotterdam

After about 2 h sleep I woke up and checked the weather forecast. As they announced rain and heavy winds in the morning I left Liége at 2 a.m. The rain started just when I crossed the boarder to the Netherlands at 7 a.m and did not stop till 4 p.m. Arriving in Eindhoven for breakfast and as I was so good in time, I decided to add Rotterdam instead of of going straight to Amsterdam. 240 km is a poor distance for approx 14 hours riding but with the headwind and rain I’m happy it’s over for today. Tomorrow I will ride to and along the beach towards Amsterdam, the finale destination of my so far incredible journey.

Distance: ~ 230 km
Elevation: + 660 m

Log DAY 5 - Rotterdam > Delft > Den Haag > Amsterdam

Exactly 4 days after I left sweet home I heard the braking waves of the northern sea. I cycled along the beach, stopped to reflect all the things I experienced and enjoyed the moment. The rest of the day I strolled towards Amsterdam, eat fish salad and had a few well deserved beers, I therefore arrived a bit to late to find a room. So the adventure continues...

Distance: ~ 130 km
Elevation: + 250 m

Fish salad

Log DAY 6 - Amsterdam

The adventure of last night had nothing to do with cycling but rather to find a place to sleep. All hotels were either booked out, ridiculously expensive or asked me to leave my OSPA out on the streets of Amsterdam. No way - both or none was the obvious response. As a consequence I had to find a place, what turned out to be a real challenge but finely worked. Today I toured around and visited several bike shops to find new bike stuff/gear. For tonight I have aproper room/bed and tomorrow 6:30 am the train leaves to Switzerland.

Distance: ~ 25 km
Elevation: + 50 m