Siebengebirge Archives

To say that 2020 was different from any year I have lived through, is probably an understatement.

Nevertheless, it was also a year like any other, if I look purely at my cycling activities.

Sure, a couple of events I had entered to participate in, didn’t happen.

And we didn’t get to fly to Tenerife, where Paula would have been able to lay in the sun and I would have cycled El Teide 26 times.

But, Paula being the incredible kind better half I do not deserve, allowed me to get my cycling “holiday” anyway, as she offered to travel – by car – to Italy instead.

So, I had my own “Giro d’Italia 2020” and once again smashed all previous grand tours.

And myself…

From September 11 to 18, we spent a week in the area just south of Cologne, known as the Siebengebirge or Seven Hills.

We rented a cottage in the rustic (and rural) town of Bruchhausen, from where I plotted my rides in the area.

As you can read on the Wiki page, there are actually fourty hills, none of which get any higher than 460 meters.

The seven the area is named after are:

Großer Ölberg (460 m)
Löwenburg (455 m)
Lohrberg (435 m)
Nonnenstromberg (335m)
Petersberg (331 m, Former name: Stromberg)
Wolkenburg (324 m)
Drachenfels (321 m)

We have previously passed / sped through the area many times on our way to Austria, Switzerland or Italy and it has always been in my mind as a possible target for a short trip, not requiring a lot of travel (time).

It’s only some three hours from our home, which is just an hour more than going to the hills in the south of my own country.