Adventurous Toledo Couple Bikes 1,000 Miles in Trip Along Rhine River

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Last year, their adventure was hiking. This year, it was bicycling. 

Chuck and Sally Caley took on nearly 1,100 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail in 2014 and this year the Toledo couple biked 1,000 miles along the Rhine River in Europe. 

The retired teachers shared stories about the adventure they returned from in September at the Toledo Community Library Wednesday evening to a crowd of about 20 people.

The duo, who had previously been to Europe in 2009 but wanted to take their time and leave their schedule open with this trip, started planning about 18 months to two years ago. 

“We wanted to be a little bit more in Europe rather than just kind of standing on the outside looking in,” Chuck said.

The couple used the European bicycling route website www.eurovelo.org to find the best path for them. They chose EuroVelo 15 along the Rhine River.

Having hiked for 91 days on the PCT, the couple already knew how to pack light. However, other planning aspects, including figuring out how to get their bikes overseas and what sort of cellphone data they could get in Europe so they could use GPS, took a bit of time. 

The Caleys flew into Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris where a few days later their grown kids and their partners met them for just over a week. 

The group went to Versailles, Normandy, Notre Dame, among other places, and celebrated Bastille Day.

After that, they were ready to get riding. 

They traveled by high speed train to Oberalppass in Switzerland to begin the route near the source of the Rhine. 

From there, they traveled along the river through Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, France and the Netherlands. 

They stopped at many places along the way as they biked through mountains, farmlands and villages including Heidiland and the Rhine Falls both in Switzerland and the Zeppelin Museum in Friedrichshafen, Germany. 

The couple typically camped, but did spend some nights indoors at hotels, hostels or the homes of people they met along the way or on previous adventures, and were able to mostly stick to their $100 per day budget. 



While the ride was downhill, not everything went completely smoothly. 

One of their cellphone chargers got stolen at a campground, and on a rainy day, Sally ended up with nothing dry to wear.

Another day she sprained her ankle, so they gave her bike to a hostel and purchased an electric bike. 

They were riding against the wind nearly everyday and took a couple wrong turns, but most were quickly corrected. 

While there were bumps in the bike path, it was still enjoyable.

“It was a great trip; we did have an awesome time,” Chuck said.

Including rest days, the couple traveled an average of about 23 miles per day during the 42 day ride.

Generally the countries in Europe are pretty bike friendly, especially, the Netherlands. 

“Once you get to The Netherlands, bikes are king, absolute king,” Chuck said. “… When you get to an intersection all the cars stop and bikes have the right of way. It’s amazing. It’s the most fun place to ride.”

The bike trip ended at the North Sea and by fluke on the couple’s 38th wedding anniversary. They had arrived in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and waited out the rain for a day before taking on the last miles.

The next day after the rain stopped just happened to be their anniversary. 

“That was just one of those serendipitous things,” Chuck said.

For details about the Caleys’ trip, read Chuck’s blog at chucksnews.blogspot.com.