The end but not the end. After resting, relaxing, shopping, laughing a lot and eating double our weight in food at my parents. It was sadly time to say goodbye to them and to our holiday.
Our journey home sounded pretty straightforward and easy in theory. Just get on the train, sit back relax and enjoy the sights from the train window. However, first we had to get to the train station. For this my dad hired a small bike trailer from a local garage. Compared to our Thule, the set up was very basic and somewhat inflexible and flimsy. I don't know how we would have tied the bikes to the trailer if we'd had more bikes with us because we used all of the 8 straps provided for our two bikes. It was also not possible to adjust the wheel holder to position the wheels correctly on the rack, it was a case of one wheel holder position fits all in the design. It was a balancing act but we did it and we're really grateful to my Dad for organising everything, albeit a little last minute ;-)
The TGV Poitier to Strasbourg
We caught the TGV from Poitier to Strasbourg, it's a 4.20 minute journey which is pretty fast and depending when you book also not too expensive, our return tickets cost us 100 euro each with the bikes.
The TGV however, has limited space for fully assembled bikes and you need to book a space for them well in advance if the train service offers them because not all services offer bike spaces and those spaces go fast. I booked the bike space in May, 4 months earlier, which was the earliest possibility to book, I used the SNCF app which sends a notification as soon as the tickets are available.
What we did not know was what the space would be like on the TGV, all we knew was that our seats were next to them. The space was very tight, and getting our bikes on was really stressful, firstly because it was not easy to see the carriage labels and we were not sure if we were in the right carriage. Having then climbed into the carriage, there was some bloke was blocking the way just inside the door with his drop down seat who was really reluctant to move out of the way, manoeuvring the bikes into the cabin was eventful because once we'd past the first obstacle, the unhelpful guy at the carriage entrance, we then had sliding doors to contend with and a two steps. It felt like the doors kept closing and clamping down on us every other second, it was not amusing.
In order to make room for the bikes we had to lift up the seats which needed a strong arm and then place the bikes so they did not obstruct the passage way, which they did but not too much. One thing to bare in mind, even though you have reserved seats, you can expect people to be sitting in them avoiding eye contact, but they move with a friendly smile.
The sliding door was really annoying however, during the journey we realised that there is a green button just above the door that if pressed will override the damn jaws of steel gnashing down on you.
In the picture you can see the sliding doors of steel, the steps, the unhelpful guy on his seat and the conductor. Because we had booked a place for two bikes, once the train had started the conductor came along to check that the bikes were there. He didn't check our tickets, just the bikes and gave us a thumbs up.
Once we had settled into our seats we could relax with our sandwiches and cold beer.
Strasbourg - Offenburg - Sankt Georgen
One of the possible problems we had anticipated about the train stations were steps between platforms. Most train stations have lifts that are big enough for bikes, but not in Poitiers! If you're disabled they can help you, but not if you have a bike or large luggage, these things you have to carry yourself.
In Strasbourg they have lifts and luckily our bikes fitted into them and we could go one by one down and up to the platform. Luckier still, on our journey we managed to catch an earlier train from Strasbourg to Offenburg. On our original booking from Strasbourg to Offenburg we had 7 minutes to change platforms, we'd worried about this and whether or not we'd make it if the train was delayed (which it was). But like I said we caught an earlier train and even more lucky, that train actually stopped at the right platform so there was no need to find the lift and wait in line to use it, giving us time to enjoy the rest of our sandwiches.
Taking bikes on trains in Germany is really easy, you just need to look for a carriage with a bike sign and get on. We'd booked bike tickets for all our journey, to be honest, I'm not really sure when it's necessary to book a bike ticket in Germany but better safe than sorry. I have to say, I've travelled a few times with my bike on the train in Germany and find it super easy and super friendly. In my experience, I feel there's a kind of bike community camaraderie when you travel with a bike, well at least in Baden-Württemberg, which makes it friendly and fun.
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