On Saturday (late as usual, but there we go) I had a chance for a ride and for once didn't spend nearly as long planning the ride as actually riding. Instead I set off west, a direction I generally avoid on account of it having hills and a number of towns.
I don't like towns, which is probably why I found nothing worth photographing for most of the first hour, although I did make an exception when I got to the tram route currently being built. Here's "My bike in front of a half finished tram line":
Urban scenery followed through several suburbs of Stuttgart. This was because I was making a loop around a valley in an attempt to avoid climbing. I managed to stay on a fairly level route and and was feeling pretty smug, then promptly got stuck in a second valley with an even steeper climb out. Then, finally, forest.
Pause for generic "bike in German woodland" picture:
A few kilometres along the trail I found this interesting feature:
"Boundary of the training area of the US Forces. Entry at own risk"
Hmm...
The sign underneath says "No unauthorised entry". On the other hand, the map showed the cycleway going this way, and if the US military really wanted to stop people getting in, they could have had a fence across the cycleway. It was pretty obviously a well used path, so I carried on.
One of the things prohibited on the sign was taking pictures so I can't show you the wide gravel road and the signs warning of mines, or indeed the high fences with signs like "Grenade training area" on them.
On the other hand, I didn't get shot, blown up or suffer any of the other misfortunes the sign warned of.
After passing the military base itself, and then an rifle range, I came to this sign:
You may have the most powerful military in the world, but don't you even think of mucking up our forest with your nasty big tanks, or we'll... we'll send you a
sharply worded letter. In German.
After another discouraging sign (this time for the IBM Germany HQ) which tried to persuade us that there was no way to the cycleway that was clearly visible a few hundred metres away, I followed the railway line toward Dettenhausen, on the basis railway lines mean less hills.
How wrong I was. After taking a very wrong turning in Weil im Schonau I ended up at the bottom of a rather steep hill with no obvious way forward. A certain amount of swearing later I arrived back in the village and stopped; to take a picture. Not because I needed to wheeze a bit before getting on the bike again: not at all.
After a whole half a kilometre on a nasty bit of road I found there was a perfectly good cycleway perfectly good route along side. I know I'm spoiled, but what's the point of having a segregated cycleway (even a share use one that tractors can use) if you don't tell people it is there? Honestly.
Still, I made it to Dettenhausen:
Apparently Dettenhausen is where they got all the stone for Köln cathedral, although it seems the excitement has worn off considerably since then. This is one of the places in Germany where the railway is owned by the local towns, and since I last came they've been busy electrifying it, and even making some parts double track. Photos will turn up in the 'rail enthusiasts' thread in due course.
I knew there was a valley between Dettenhausen and the
Aichtal (Aich valley), which was the easiest way back to our village. It turns out it was all like this:
Ten kilometres of gentle descent and nice scenery. They even had a natural spring halfway down to fill water bottles.
Another Generic "Bike in forest" picture. I'm convinced my average speed has halved since I joined CC and started taking pictures to post on here...
Then there was another climb, some rolling hills and villages, a short delay dithering about the route, and then I decided that as I was riding the tourer I could go along the valley to the edge of our village.
It also meant I could finally get a photo of this sculpture, made by an acquaintance called "Swimming against the flow". (The Sculpture, not the Acquaintance. She's called Birgit
and you can see what she makes here).
Usually I rode past this on early mornings and the sun was directly behind it (and I was generally late and in a tearing hurry...) :
And finally the last bit up the Körsch valley, thankfully this is classed as an "agricultural road" otherwise it would be a rat run for drivers trying to avoid the towns on the way to Stuttgart.
After this comes the Evil Hill Of Doom to our village. There are never any photos of that because on the descent I'm holding onto the brakes with white knuckles, and on the ascent I'm too busy making sure I have enough oxygen...
Leaving town I had a moment when turning off towards Tre-wern - I shoulder-checked to be sure I'd got a gap, stuck my arm out clearly and the **** in a white BMW overtook anyway.
resulting in my rather lairy skid due to the wet road and just missing bouncing off their nearside wing. There must have been something in the water today as only a mile further on I found the police dealing with the aftermath of a car-on-car crash which looked like similar circumstances. I'll gloss over the driver who started an overtake only to swing right just as they got alongside. 
I decided to keep the clobber on but started to overheat in the sunshine so had to stop yet again.
