Europe 13, Switserland and Austria

Sunday 9 August,

Leaving Chur, it is easy to find the river Rhine and biking out of town, the beginning of the trail is fine gravel and being so close to suburbia, many people are walking their dogs along it. After about 5 km it is tar sealed and the pace increases somewhat. There are quite a few gravel and sand operations along the banks and the trail stops and the trail becomes open road or gravel businesses loading yards.

I follow the small cast metal signs specially for bicycles that indicate the many bike routes through Switserland. They are well positioned and easy to follow. Sometimes they take one away from the river into a village, although there is an obvious continuation of the trail. I obey the signs a few times, to be lead around the village and back again to almost the same spot as where I left it. The next time it happened I ignored the sign and carried on. After a km or so the track became quite rough, narrower and was more like a mountain bike trail until it ran out all together under an almost vertical cliff. Back I went waisting about 6 km and risking breaking the bike ! Lesson learned, don't ignore the signs. 

The ride is mainly on top a stop bank or dijk as we would call them in Holland, they are flat and exposed to the wind, usually against. It works the same way here. There are quite a few people out on their bikes along the trail, just their Sunday bike ride as well as quite a few tourers with loaded bikes. The ride changes river sides from time to time and I pass through Mastrils, Rosenbergli, Trubbach, Buchs, Haag Rheintall, Buchel, Diepoldsau, arriving at Lustenau which being on the East side of the river is in Austria. This is quite an advantage as they are part of the Euro and are a lot cheaper than Switserland, with their strong Franc against the weak Euro. Todays effort was a mere 90 km with only climbing 84m, and an altitude loss of 166m, with max temperature of 34C.

Monday 10 August.

Back over the river, back into Switserland, customs are busy checking trucks but don't worry about cyclists and cars anymore. I don't know about not worry, it appears that the whole Swiss population, at least the ones I meet on the road have a worry complex. Very few people smile, the hardly acknowledge a waive, or a greeting. At road works a digger driver would stop and let one through and stares with a mask like face, to a thank you there is no response, just a stare, very odd. Oncoming bikers might give a stiff nod, when one passes other bikers, hardly ever any response, again the stare. One to one with people in shops or the hotels, they are helpful and friendly enough but there is definitely something missing. The baker this morning selling me my morning tea, said " have a wonderful day" when I left, without eye contact and in a monotone. Almost robot like. 

I did not see a trail sign initially, so again I followed the river to the point where it enters the Boden See. Happily following the waters edge along many marinas and into a nature reserve. Again the
tracks become smaller and are really just walking trails. Talking to some other bikers who are trying
to work out where we are exactly, I realise there is no through road and I have to turn due South to Sankt Margrethen, again biking some extra miles by ignoring the signs ! Back on the road I find the trail signs, but the ride is boring at best as it follows the railway lines, back yards of houses and factories, the odd orchard or farm and occasional glimpses of the lake. 

Passing through Rheineck, Rorschach, Arbon, and Munsterlingen I arrive in Kreuzlingen, next to Constance. Here is another oddity of Europe's borders. Kreuzlingen and Constance are one city, but the border of Germany and Switserland which is the river Rhine, for some reason runs through the middle of the city. So this little blip of land on the Swiss side of the Rhine, effectively half the city, belongs to Germany! I should have stayed in Constance to save some money, but  did not realise it was German until afterwards. 

They tell me the hotels, restaurants and shops in Kreuzlinger are suffering because everyone shops over the border. Interesting the streets and intersections at the borders are chained off, pedestrians and bicycles cross anywhere freely but vehicles are restricted to certain roads only.

My effort today was only 69 km, climbing 144m, in 36C heat. Gaining altitude of 15m today.

Tuesday 11 August

There were some heavy thunderstorms overnight, and today's ride shows the evidence. It is a much more interesting ride as the contour changes dramatically as do the amount of bikers on the road. It is like a pilgrimage to Schaffhausen and the Rhine Falls.

  The trail varies from some open roads, small country roads, unpaved hilly trails through forests which have some big washouts from last night
storm and through some charming villages along the way.

   The Rhine is a lot bigger now and some interesting covered bridges make it very special.  The old city of Schaffhausen is particularly charming with its murals on the buildings in the marktplatz.

  

The actual Falls are past Schaffhausen at Neuhausen, I must admit I did not see them, the area is blocked off completely, car and bike parking a long walk away, long queue to buy a ticket, even longer queues to get through the single turnstile.

  

I parked my bike illegally for a bit just to upset the system and carried on along a much quieter trail from then on.

I passed through from Kreuzlinger, Gottlieben, Steckborn, Rheinklingel and Paradies before coming into Schaffhausen, followed by Neuhausen, and the falls, Ellikon am Rhein, Rumikon, Bad Zurlach and arriving in Koblenz Switserland, not to be confused with Koblenz Germany, yet another border City, about 60 km East of Basel.

Riding 113 km, climbing 535 m, in 37c temperature.