2023-11-23 08:14:22
She drove alone on a motorcycle halfway around the world to the Pamir Highway and with a Russian Lada to Nanga Parbat: Margot Flugel-Anhalt, now 70, loves adventure – and writes about it. Her most recent tour took her on an e-bike from the source of the Danube in Germany to the Black Sea for her new book.
WELT: You write in your book: “Smells, noises, weather conditions… we leave all of this behind us when we close the door in the evening. Those who stay outside, the homeless, the travelers, the wild animals, live in a different world.” In which country along the Danube are travelers doing well, where are the people particularly helpful?
Margot Flugel-Anhalt: Helpfulness and hospitality can be found everywhere. It depends on how openly you approach people, whether you need and accept help.
WELT: Did you often need help?
Wing stop: More towards the end of the tour, when the tires on my e-bike were already badly worn out and a tube burst five times within three days. Luckily I was already in Romania. The Romanian roads are hell for cyclists and there is no Danube cycle path worthy of the name. But the Romanians with their great willingness to help make up for it. It never took me longer than an hour to find someone who could help me with the bike.
By the time she got the fifth flat hose, Margot Flugel-Anhalt was already practicing
Source: streetsfilm and Margot Flugel-Anhalt
WELT: And everything went smoothly with the battery?
Wing stop: It worked as I expected it to. However, as a precautionary measure, I replaced the 400 KW battery with a 500 KW battery before my tour.
WELT: You could have used a 2000 KW battery.
Wing stop: I have an e-bike from a discount store, not an expensive brand-name bike. And since the battery has to fit the motor on the bike, I couldn’t use every larger one. But my 500 KW battery was completely sufficient; it covered around 80 kilometers on one charge; provided there was no headwind and no inclines.
WELT: Slopes? Isn’t the Danube cycle path mainly a path that runs close to the river and is therefore flat?
Wing stop: I thought that too until the first climbs came. On the route from Tuttlingen to Sigmaringen alone, i.e. in the first 60 kilometers, I had to climb 349 meters in altitude. Unfortunately, the cycle path is not always within sight of the river. Where that was the case and the route was relatively flat, I drove with assistance level 1, which means almost exclusively with muscle power. However, I would not have been able to complete many of the climbs without support level 5.
WELT: Did you have a lot of luggage with you?
Wing stop: All in all, my equipment weighed 25 kilograms; my plan was to spend the night in a tent. However, the weather wasn’t good at the beginning, even though I only started in mid-May. I had planned two and a half months for the almost 3,000 kilometer route. Because I wanted to make the return journey by ship and my place on the Danube steamer was firmly booked, I couldn’t get out of the time constraint.
But who would have thought that it would still be so cold in May? Looking back, it was a good thing that I often stayed in hotels and guesthouses because the battery could charge there overnight. Something like this has to be connected to the network for at least six to seven hours to be completely full again. This limits the fun of riding an e-bike somewhat.
Shelter from the rain: Margot Flugel-Anhalt in the house at a bus stop
Source: streetsfilm and Margot Flugel-Anhalt
WELT: What do you mean?
Wing stop: Bernard, a long-distance biker from France who I met along the way, was doing around 100 kilometers a day. Because of the gradients, I had planned a maximum of 60 to 70 kilometers, and on some days I only managed that with difficulty, because the heavy bike is a monster with an empty battery. But even if I had found a place to charge on the way, the effect would have been small; An hour of charging adds at most ten kilometers more that I could then drive. That’s why I often sat for hours in the evening to plan my day’s journey according to the battery.
WELT: Sounds complicated.
Wing stop: Yes, that was it, especially on the section behind Belgrade. As far as Budapest, the cycle path is identical to Eurovelo 6 and is quite well signposted. Not always paved, but mostly passable. When the weather is good and the ground is dry, the Hungarian causeways built close to the river are the best thing you can find on the Danube cycle path. There, cycling is meditation in motion.
However, if the ground is slippery, as I often experienced on my tour, all you have left is the roads, even if they are busy. Behind Belgrade, the traffic is lighter, but the Danube cycle path is no longer consistently signposted. In some places you even have to go far into the hinterland because rocks or wetlands right next to the river prevent you from continuing your journey.
A labyrinth of cycle paths in Austria: Sometimes the signs are more confusing than helpful
Source: streetsfilm and Margot Flugel-Anhalt
WELT: Aren’t there dams on the Danube in Romania too?
Wing stop: Yes, but the dirt roads on the Danube dam are completely unsuitable for cycling, especially after rain. There is no suitable cycle path along the river in Romania. And for the final stage to the Danube Delta, you have no choice but to somehow follow the river to the Black Sea, armed with a simple road map.
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WELT: Speaking of road traffic – new distance rules have been in effect for two years, drivers must maintain a distance of at least 1.50 meters from cyclists in urban areas and two meters outside of urban areas. Does this work?
Wing stop: In Germany most people stick to it. Drivers in other countries also tried to keep as much distance as possible. It was still dangerous, especially on narrow streets and in tunnels, which are largely completely unlit in Serbia and Romania.
WELT: What would you do differently on another Danube cycle trip, which sections of the route would you avoid?
Wing stop: I wouldn’t avoid anything on a tour like this. If I decide to drive from the source to the mouth, then I’ll do it.
WELT: Hikers traveling in Germany now have to stock up well because there are no more bars or shops in many villages. Have you experienced that too?
Wing stop: In Germany, yes, it’s actually good to have water and a snack in your saddlebag; In all the other countries I drove through, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia and Romania, there were small bars in every town where you could buy drinks and snacks.
WELT: How much money did you need per day for food and accommodation?
Wing stop: An average of 40 euros for accommodation, meals and repairs. A cycling holiday outside of Germany and Austria is quite cheap, and from Hungary the accommodation costs also drop significantly. I stayed and ate very well and, above all, cheaply in Romania.
Destination reached: the e-bike at Lake Razim, which is located directly on the Black Sea
Source: streetsfilm and Margot Flugel-Anhalt
WELT: When I think of Romania, I think of street dogs, which are a big problem there.
Wing stop: Yes, they also exist in Serbia. In my experience, most animals are not malicious or dangerous; suspicious is more accurate. Because the dogs are often driven away violently. Maybe that’s why these poor creatures come in packs, barking wildly and running back and forth threateningly.
It is not always easy to appear calm and at least outwardly free of fear. I sometimes picked up a stone with a threatening gesture, which was enough of a defensive reaction. But the mosquitoes were definitely worse than the dogs.
More tips for bike tours:
WELT: Really? People who live near the river or even in the Danube Delta do not have this ultimate mosquito repellent?
Wing stop: It would be nice, but all the mosquito repellents I tried along the way turned out to be useless. Due to the humid weather, there were billions of mosquitoes in the Danube area, which was also the reason that I rarely camped. The mosquitoes bite through clothing, come into the tent and use mosquito repellent as a starter.
WELT: Aside from dogs and bloodsuckers, were there any other threatening situations?
Wing stop: As with every trip, there were situations in which something didn’t go so well: flat hoses, rain and cold, unable to find accommodation, bad internet, no dinner. But people, if that’s what you mean, were never the ones who made me feel bad.
On the contrary, the people of Eastern Europe are extremely hospitable and helpful. Added to this is the beguilingly beautiful nature along the Danube and in the delta on the Black Sea; They are fascinating landscapes like those at the beginning of time.
WELT: Could you imagine living there? Romania is currently experiencing a real hype among Germans willing to emigrate.
Wing stop: I can confirm that. I met a number of Germans in Romania who were looking around because they wanted to buy old farmhouses and settle there. Those wishing to emigrate are met with open arms there; I had the impression that the local villagers supported new settlers as best they could.
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However, the infrastructure sometimes takes some getting used to, there are not sewage systems everywhere and the fresh water sometimes comes from the well behind the house. You have to learn Romanian, only the younger ones speak English, and you may have to travel to the nearest big city to see a doctor. For me, none of this is up for debate; I feel comfortable in my small northern Hesse village and I’m still mainly thinking about traveling.
Margot Flugel-Anhalt is a trained social and theater teacher. Until her retirement at the beginning of 2018, she worked in youth, girls and senior work. The now 70-year-old has two sons and a grandchild and lives in northern Hesse, from where she frequently sets off on longer trips. In 2018 she drove a 125 through Eastern Europe to the Pamir Highway in Central Asia; the book “About Borders” became a bestseller, as did two other travel books published in 2021 and 2022, in which she describes extensive trips to Asia with an old Benz and a Lada.
Margot Flugel-Anhalt’s new book “Under Electricity: My crazy Danube adventure with a discount e-bike and a senior steamer” has been published by Polyglott Verlag, has 240 pages and costs 19.95 euros.
Source: Polyglott Verlag
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