DAY 4: Stetten - Möhlin

What do you get when you spend the whole day before going up and down hills? The same the next day obviously. In fact, we started off with a nice downhill slope to the river, to cross the bridge into Switzerland, and back up the hills we were as soon as we crossed the border. Continuing following the river (as you do when you cycle the Rhine) we started to notice changes in the rivers surroundings and characteristics. The river was definitely becoming wider and we found that more and more large industries were around us. Apart from becoming impressively large, the scenery wasn't all that amazing. This was probably mostly because of the heavy industry on the river side, but it just goes to show how important the river is for its economic value. Boring stuff I hear you say but not a lot to say for today, apart from a lunch in lovely Laufenburg, a town split right down the middle by the river, part Swiss and part German. Having crossed the border literally just for our meal, we debated what the consequences of moving house 200m away might be over lunch..

The rest of the afternoon was quite similar. We were however directed away from the river (too much industry I tell you) and we found a charming forest to cycle through 

before having to climb a MASSIVE hill. Thankfully, what is true, is if you go up a hill, you must go down, and we finished off the day with a descent in the sun we had missed the last few days. Time for a snooze before our biggest day yet tomorrow.

DAY 3: Konstanz - Stetten

Great day, but very long. We popped back into Switzerland early on and followed the Untersee, a follow-on of Lake Konstanz which narrows eventually into the Rhine. The scenery was amazing as were the lake-side villages. We arrived at our favourite village so far, Stein am Rhein, full of very old, intricate buildings. This is where we found out the there had been a time change. For the last two days, we had been working on an hour behind, which meant that when we thought it was 12 in Stein am Rhein, it was actually 1. This made us press on, but unfortunately it was the wrong day to do so. This part of the Rhine is full of hills, so we spent a large proportion of the day climbing. We found a great spot to settle for lunch in Schaffhausen, only a few kilometres before the Rheinfall, the Rhine's waterfall.

Shortly after lunch, we saw the falls, took our pictures, and hurried on (I say hurried, but in fact we both had painful knees so we actually took our time while saying to ourselves that we were in a rush). The rest of the day continued, up and down hills and along the widening river. There was much confusion as to which path we should take near the end, and finally, after our biggest hill yet, we reached Stetten, Germany, a whopping 8 hours after we began.

DAY 2: Lustenau - Konstanz

After a tiring first day, we decided (yep, you've guessed it) to do another late-starter, which happened to be even later than yesterday. With a heavy breakfast in us, we made for Lake Konstanz, which we would would be following all the way to our destination. It wasn't long until we reached the large lake, at 402m above sea level. Thankfully, the wind was weak today and didn't pose too much of a problem, however, there was still a light drizzle left over from yesterday. Not a problem though, as we rolled gently along the side of the lake, passing charming villages on the way. Determined to actually get passed halfway before having a lunch break, we pressed on until Romanshorn, where we tried to find a lake-side terrace cafe to have lunch.

We left Romanshorn and continued to follow the lake, my dad ranting on about how nice the houses on the lake-side were and how he was going to buy a plot of land there, when finally we reached the border between Switzerland and Germany. Having passed through border control (no biggie really, pretty relaxed around here) we entered Konstanz, my dad suddenly feeling at home in his native Germany, and we found our traditional hotel for the night not long after.

If you're feeling confused about the order of countries we've passed through, here's a summary: Starting in Chur, Switzerland, we went North up towards the border

with Liechtenstein, into which we entered. Continuing to travel North, we reached the border of Austria and crossed into it, finishing the rest of our day in Austria near the border with Switzerland, including spending the night. The next day, today, we passed back into Switzerland at the beginning of the day and spent the whole day in Switzerland, apart from the last few minutes, when we moved into Germany, to spend the night in Konstanz.

DAY 1: Chur - Lustenau

Having stayed up quite late to finish fixing up our bikes, we decided to take a late start. We left the Post Hotel at around 9.30, finding the Rhine 10 minutes later. We were very eager to take pictures right from the start, stopping frequently and registering our whereabouts using our GPS system. Passing under motorways and over train tracks, we got lost a couple of times, finding the Rhine again, 20km before Vaduz, in Liechtenstein. When we finally found the cycle path on the embankment again, we were very happy to see groups of cyclists whizzing past in the strong wind. Sun and a strong wind in your back? Perfect, right? Reaching speeds of 47km/h, we reached Vaduz, having crossed the border on a rickety bridge and sat in the sun to enjoy a light meal, tired and not even halfway..

We left Vaduz an hour and a half later (the waiter was INCREDIBLY slow) and we experienced the winds of change. Quite literally. Without any explanation to give, the wind flipped around completely, leaving us with full stomachs heading right into a strong wind. Suddenly, we went from 47km/h to about 13. To make matters worse, the sky was greying up and yes, the rain arrived. Rain and wind in your front? Not perfect at all. We toiled on, and started to tire big time, me more than my dad I must admit. We crossed the border into Austria and in the end, with big smiles on our faces and an injection of speed with the hotel in sight, we arrived in Lustenau, Austria.

Travel Day: London - Chur

We landed in Zurich last night and held our breaths to find out if our bikes had survived, and indeed, they did, escaping the flight with just a few light bumps and bruises. Having narrowly escaped a fine for carrying bikes on the train without tickets, we eventually reached Chur, where we prepared ourselves for our first day on our bikes..

The Rhine By Bicycle

As you may know by now, I am cycling the whole of the Rhine for charity during the Easter holidays from Saturday 28th March - Sunday 11th April. I have created this blog for the purpose of keeping you updated about my trip while I'm away. I will inform you of my whereabouts and I will also upload some photos as well. Hope you have donated!

http://www.justgiving.com/therhinebybicycle