Among the many clubs for all kind of sports in Rheinbach (Sevenoaks German Twin Town) there is also a small but special one for bikers: the Rheinbach branch of the ADFC (Allgemeiner Deutscher Fahrrad Club), which is organizing the Mayor`s cycle tours into the Rheinbach twin towns since 2001. There were already many, but rather unofficial, other contacts between Rheinbach bikers and bikers from Villeneuve les Avignon and Deinze, Rheinbach´s first two twin towns, before.
Shortly after Mayor Stefan Raetz, who is very fond of all kind of sports activities, came into office for the first time in 1999, he had the idea, to visit all the twin towns along with a group of cyclists in the next years on appropriate occasions and celebrations. Along with coverage in the local press media he thought that this would give the twinning idea another positive impulse in the twinned towns and their people.
Meanwhile with Sevenoaks/Kent and Kamenicky Senov/CS the number of twin towns had increased to four and so the people from ADFC along with the Mayor´s office started to plan the Mayor´s cycling tours into the four twin towns.
The first tour was in 2002 the visit to Deinze/Belgium on the 20 years celebration of the twinning between Rheinbach and Deinze. The second tour was the one to Kamenicky Senov in 2006 on the occasion of the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the world´s oldest Glas Technical College and the third one again was a tour to Deinze in 2007 to celebrate 25 years of twinning. In 2009 they plan to go to Villeneuve les Avignon in southern France on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the twinning.
This year the team visited Sevenoaks on the weekend of the town fair. The team consisted of the Mayor and 7 other bikers. The team started on Sunday, 15th of June in Rheinbach and made the 560 km-trip to Sevenoaks in 6 parts. Overnight stops were made in Aachen (95 km), Sint-Truiden/BE (95 km), Grimbergen/BE (80 km), Aalter/BE (105 km) and Chilham/UK (100 km by bike; the Channel was crossed by ferry from Oostende to Ramsgate). After the last part of about 85 km they arrived at Sevenoaks in the afternoon of Friday 20th of June. Jon Copping a member of the Cycling Touring Club cycled with them on the last part from Chilham to Sevenoaks, so they could easily find their way to the Donnington Manor hotel.
The cyclists were entertained at Donnington Manor by the Friends of Rheinbach on the Friday evening. On the Saturday morning the team cycled into Bligh’s Meadow to coincide with the opening of the Sevenoaks Summer Festival Fair, where they were received by the Mayor of Sevenoaks, Mrs Pamela Walshe. Later in the day she entertained all of the team to afternoon tea. The cyclists presented the Mayor with a "Distance to Rheinbach" Sign to be displayed in Sevenoaks.
The oldest biker in the group was 74 years old Dr. Dieter Rodenkirchen, a retired ophthalmologist. The bikers used touring bikes and were accompanied by a VW bus with a trailer for the transportation of their luggage and for the drive back home.
The group added two days for sightseeing in and around Sevenoaks and London, guided by Chris Sutton Secretary of the Friends of Rheinbach committee and Siegfried Formanski, Chairman of the Friends of Sevenoaks. The group will left Sevenoaks on Tuesday 24th of June.
Arrival At the Fair
