Day 13: Three countries in three minutes!
Tuesday July 9 - Day 13 - 53miles - Total 537 miles
We went up to the McDonalds just up the road to get internet this morning - the only good thing about McDonalds in Europe - free internet! However it didn't open until 10am! Luckily they leave the wi-fi on - but limit you to one hour usage. When the manager showed up she turned on the music on the patio for us, which we appreciated. We posted yesterday's blog and confirmed direction to our host's house for this evening.
This will be our first time using the touring cycling reciprocal hosting website called "Warmshowers". Not thrilled with the name, but we get to stay with other touring cyclists who know what you need at the end of a long day on the road. More on this later.....
We did some more errands in Switzerland and found some white gas for the camp stove, as well as buying stamps and mailing our VAT refund back to the UK. All in all a pretty productive morning. We started packing up the campsite and said goodbye to our neighbors - Mr & Mrs Leopard print.
Aside: Why do we call them this, you ask? Well... when we arrived the day before, we were directed to set up camp in a fairly crowded area of the grounds reserved for tents. A few of the tents were larger with residents who obviously had been there a while. One such couple in their mid-late 60s or early 70s, were sitting in front of their mansion tent at a very nice little table with umbrella, smoking a cigarette, smiling in the afternoon heat, hanging all out there in their undies.... not only that but the man was in a pair of old black boxer-briefs and the lady was all decked out in her leopard print twin set with high rise panties! Thus they were named "Mr. BoxerBriefs and Mrs. Leopard Print Panties". It got even better, when a troop of about 20 teenagers set up camp right next to us, in the other reserved tent area, and Mr & Mrs Leopard print, not being able to handle the incompetence of teenagers, finished their cigarettes, got up, grabbed hammers and helped the kiddos set up their tents. We didn't know who was more horrified, us or the kids!
We hit the road and it was already about 12noon. Not a problem as this should have been a shorter day.
We starting cycling along the bike path that surrounds the lakeshore and it was really stunning. It is impressively signposted so that it is really easy to follow and parallels the lakeshore and a railway line (for the part that we were on) so it was mostly flat too. We stopped for a swim break and then also a lunch break, where the curried risotto and beer was just what we needed to keep us going for the afternoon. The path was a wee bit busy, but not too bad.
We passed through Rorschach (yup... like the test) and then we started heading up into the alpine scenery along the upper Rhine river. The path along the river was great. It was a hot day however so out on the flood plain with no shade was a tad tough going.
Flood plains are very fertile land, so we were heading through some very fertile agriculture for most of the day, but among the corn and wheat, there were some highlights of the farms of Switzerland. We passed an amazing little farm that was doing very well growing its incredible variety of crops. They had a hot house for tomatoes that was literally bursting with green tomatoes ready to ripen, but best of all we saw artichokes actually growing from the ground! They are so weird looking but we had never seen them before, so that was awesome. Earlier in the day, we passed a pasture of cows and actually saw... wait for it... cows with .... COW BELLS!!! IN Switzerland! That was pretty cool too... but not quite as cool as the artichokes...
We went through the Swiss towns of Au and Windnau, following a canal path again. Now, this is where Bruce miscalculated the distances a little.....it was a bit further up the Rhine river until we hit Liechtenstein than he thought. Thus we had about 10 miles extra to do today than we initially thought. We had favourable conditions though and managed to make great time along the Rhine path. We continued on the Swiss side of the river and started admiring the Alpine scenery as it got closer and closer. We could see tiny mountain villages way far up, bathed in the afternoon sunlight, as well as patches of snow still left over from winter! The mountains are huge as they rise up on either side of the river valley, with jagged peaks and ridges and bare rock faced cliffs. Andrea was in her geologist glory admiring the immense tectonic forces that made this region as awe inspiring as it is cycling up to it's base but not reaching its many summits... Stunning...
We FINALLY reached the point where we were meant to cross the river into Austria....for about 2 minutes. We literally cycled across the bridge, turned right onto the bike path on the far side, cycled in Austria for 2 minutes and then we crossed into Liechtenstein! 3 countries in 3 minutes! Pretty cool stuff....this merited a photo at the border markers which littered this area of the bike path.
After that it was a quick couple of miles to Vera and Thomas' house. We made it by 7:05 (a little late but they were cool with that.) What a wonderful couple. They let us in, we parked our bikes in their garage. They showed us around and then right into the shower for us. Their house is a beautiful old wooded structure house with tile floors and an adorably shy little cat. Vera made a delicious dinner of salads and cauliflower and a potato dish that we both just loved! (Did good my veggie heart!) After a wonderful few hours of wine and conversation, we were off to bed.
The World is Ours!
Tuesday July 9 - Day 13 - 53miles - Total 537 miles
We went up to the McDonalds just up the road to get internet this morning - the only good thing about McDonalds in Europe - free internet! However it didn't open until 10am! Luckily they leave the wi-fi on - but limit you to one hour usage. When the manager showed up she turned on the music on the patio for us, which we appreciated. We posted yesterday's blog and confirmed direction to our host's house for this evening.
This will be our first time using the touring cycling reciprocal hosting website called "Warmshowers". Not thrilled with the name, but we get to stay with other touring cyclists who know what you need at the end of a long day on the road. More on this later.....
We did some more errands in Switzerland and found some white gas for the camp stove, as well as buying stamps and mailing our VAT refund back to the UK. All in all a pretty productive morning. We started packing up the campsite and said goodbye to our neighbors - Mr & Mrs Leopard print.
Aside: Why do we call them this, you ask? Well... when we arrived the day before, we were directed to set up camp in a fairly crowded area of the grounds reserved for tents. A few of the tents were larger with residents who obviously had been there a while. One such couple in their mid-late 60s or early 70s, were sitting in front of their mansion tent at a very nice little table with umbrella, smoking a cigarette, smiling in the afternoon heat, hanging all out there in their undies.... not only that but the man was in a pair of old black boxer-briefs and the lady was all decked out in her leopard print twin set with high rise panties! Thus they were named "Mr. BoxerBriefs and Mrs. Leopard Print Panties". It got even better, when a troop of about 20 teenagers set up camp right next to us, in the other reserved tent area, and Mr & Mrs Leopard print, not being able to handle the incompetence of teenagers, finished their cigarettes, got up, grabbed hammers and helped the kiddos set up their tents. We didn't know who was more horrified, us or the kids!
We hit the road and it was already about 12noon. Not a problem as this should have been a shorter day.
We starting cycling along the bike path that surrounds the lakeshore and it was really stunning. It is impressively signposted so that it is really easy to follow and parallels the lakeshore and a railway line (for the part that we were on) so it was mostly flat too. We stopped for a swim break and then also a lunch break, where the curried risotto and beer was just what we needed to keep us going for the afternoon. The path was a wee bit busy, but not too bad.
We passed through Rorschach (yup... like the test) and then we started heading up into the alpine scenery along the upper Rhine river. The path along the river was great. It was a hot day however so out on the flood plain with no shade was a tad tough going.
Flood plains are very fertile land, so we were heading through some very fertile agriculture for most of the day, but among the corn and wheat, there were some highlights of the farms of Switzerland. We passed an amazing little farm that was doing very well growing its incredible variety of crops. They had a hot house for tomatoes that was literally bursting with green tomatoes ready to ripen, but best of all we saw artichokes actually growing from the ground! They are so weird looking but we had never seen them before, so that was awesome. Earlier in the day, we passed a pasture of cows and actually saw... wait for it... cows with .... COW BELLS!!! IN Switzerland! That was pretty cool too... but not quite as cool as the artichokes...
We went through the Swiss towns of Au and Windnau, following a canal path again. Now, this is where Bruce miscalculated the distances a little.....it was a bit further up the Rhine river until we hit Liechtenstein than he thought. Thus we had about 10 miles extra to do today than we initially thought. We had favourable conditions though and managed to make great time along the Rhine path. We continued on the Swiss side of the river and started admiring the Alpine scenery as it got closer and closer. We could see tiny mountain villages way far up, bathed in the afternoon sunlight, as well as patches of snow still left over from winter! The mountains are huge as they rise up on either side of the river valley, with jagged peaks and ridges and bare rock faced cliffs. Andrea was in her geologist glory admiring the immense tectonic forces that made this region as awe inspiring as it is cycling up to it's base but not reaching its many summits... Stunning...
We FINALLY reached the point where we were meant to cross the river into Austria....for about 2 minutes. We literally cycled across the bridge, turned right onto the bike path on the far side, cycled in Austria for 2 minutes and then we crossed into Liechtenstein! 3 countries in 3 minutes! Pretty cool stuff....this merited a photo at the border markers which littered this area of the bike path.
After that it was a quick couple of miles to Vera and Thomas' house. We made it by 7:05 (a little late but they were cool with that.) What a wonderful couple. They let us in, we parked our bikes in their garage. They showed us around and then right into the shower for us. Their house is a beautiful old wooded structure house with tile floors and an adorably shy little cat. Vera made a delicious dinner of salads and cauliflower and a potato dish that we both just loved! (Did good my veggie heart!) After a wonderful few hours of wine and conversation, we were off to bed.
The World is Ours!