Euro Tour: Stuttgart to Bad Urach// Legs Day

Racing up the Neckar

I woke up and everything hurt. Ok so I have a secret shoulder injury that i’m ignoring. I spent most of yesterday one-handed cycling but I’m just making other things hurt more like the wrist that was doing all the work yesterday. 

I was going to head to Ulm but the man on reception recommended their branch in Bad Urach which is half way to Ulm but according to him; all uphill. Awesome.

The Neckar

I followed the Neckar which has wonderful cycle paths with lots of people making full use of them being a Sunday. Germany’s cycle network is so on point, you barely need maps it’s so well signposted. This is a river route that doesn’t get nearly enough press.

This is pretty high up right?

Then I went uphill. A lot.

I’d like to thank my thighs today for getting me up some serious hills, it felt like I had cycled into the sky because the views were out of this world. 

I'm glad I listened to that receptionist and didn't go all the way to Ulm because it was crazy hot and this amount of time cycling in the sun was enough.

 Houses in hills in Bad Urach

Bad Urach is BAD ASS. 

I asked the girl on the desk at the hostel if it was always this beautiful? She thought about it for so long that I thought that maybe my English was terrible and she didn’t understand. (I’ve not been talking very much recently you see). She eventually said in perfect English that she thought it was always beautiful and because I know she really thought about it, I believe her. 

This is the thing I love about cycling. You go through lots of amazing places that aren’t shouted about so often i’ve never heard of them. 

Check out those contour lines #MapPorn

You should all go to Bad Urach it’s literally in the mountains so is a great place for mountain biking and horse riding. Also, there are loads of leaflets everywhere with kids holding mushrooms. Make of that what you will.

Thighs Matters Euro Tour stages:

1 Brussels to Maastricht// Realising my hatred for Hall & Oats and seeing a really old wall

2 Maastricht to Bonn// Being glad there aren't bears in Germany anymore

3 Bonn to Sankt Goar// Hating wearing waterproof trousers with every fibre of my being.

4 Sankt Goar to Mannheim// Never trusting Google Maps and very nearly dying

5 Heidleberg to Stuttgart// Going into a tour-trance & being thankful for Pierce Brosnan

6 Stuttgart to Bad Urach// Legs Day

7 Bad Urach to Ulm// Bike dancing & holding my breath through tunnels

8 Ulm to Ingolstadt// Bonking and trying on dresses 
9 Ingolstadt to Regensburg// Bike drying my hair and putting bikes on boats
10 Regensburg to Wörth an der Donau: Pimping my ride and hunting down chocolate
11 Wörth an der Donau to Passau// My last day in Germany and probably the sunburniest 
12 The Austrian bit. Not the Australian bit as autocorrect likes to think
13 Vienna to Bratislava// Five things to do that are not 'go on a stag do'
14 Bratislava to Gyor // Not checking my feast days
15 Gyor to Esztergom// Being scared of dogs and referring to my bike and I as 'we'