DAY 8: Karlsruhe - Mannheim

We left Karlsruhe with our new companion in full sunshine again. Having left France and its border for good, we were going to spend the next few days only in Germany. It was another lovely morning along the river and we finished a good morning’s cycling, 50km done and dusted, with a picnic in the shade next to a small lake. We got our daily dose of wildlife again, seeing frogs, stalks and a water snake (our lunch stops are getting very successful, maybe it’s the food we buy…).

A few kilometres away from where we stopped was Speyer, a town with an impressive cathedral (and a nice café) which we visited. A friendly south German cyclist approached us to ask us if we knew where we were going. As soon as we mentioned our destination, Altrip, where we would take the ferry over the river to Mannheim, he erupted into a long spiel, the very beginning about how to get there, and the rest completely irrelevant babble. There was no stopping him. Well, it was very hard. Although I make it sound negative, it tells us something about the southern Germans. As I have found out, they are very cheerful, outgoing and helpful, and these are the people I will be spending the next few days with.

We have past halfway! We are now four together tonight: my uncle arrived in Mannheim this afternoon to take over from my dad who has to return to London tomorrow. Moritz will cycle with us tomorrow but from then on, it’ll be my uncle and I until the end.

DAY 7: Kehl - Karlsruhe

  

We left Kehl almost escorted by all sorts of police, patrolling the area as the NATO summit took place There were crews of policemen on black zodiacs clad in black armour followed by jetskis racing down the Rhine as we quietly made our way upstream. We were convinced we saw Obama waving at us from one of the helicopters but we didn´t have time to stop for him so we pressed on. The Rhine´s surroundings have become more marshy at this stage, leaving us cycling through wetlands teeming with life. The sun was poking through the clouds and there was a light warmishbreeze in our favour, making the conditions near perfect.

We found a perfect place on the side of an embankment next to a canal to have our picnic, and swans, deer and a beaver all strolled past. After a quick power nap, we were off again in this deceptively perfect day. Something must have been wrong. Indeed, there was. We found a ferry to bring us over the river and over the border into Germany, and after going along the worst path to date an finding out it was a dead end, we retraced our steps through mud, knee-deep puddles and over cobbles and pebbles, finding our way back to the main route. And that was when I realised I had lost my jacket. In it: mobile, 30 euros and my passport. After splitting up (my dad offering to redo the terrible path)I found it again, honestly hung up on a branch, with all its contents in it. I had paid on the ferry ride and, in a rush to get off the 3 minute crossing, I forgot to put my jacket back properly, leaving it fall off further along. Apart from this, the day was fantastic and we met up with my godfather Moritz in Karlsruhe, who will join us for the next two days of cycling.

DAY 6: Breisach - Kehl

Finally, sustained sunshine. While it was cold outside, the sun was bright and this was more than enough to make us enthusiastic about the day ahead. One problem though. We managed to have an accident between ourselves the day before, leaving my bike with basically nothing (a reversible handle bar twist) but my dad's with a dodgy bent back wheel. Therefore his bike needed a visit to the repair shop. It took an hour to repair and when it finally came out the shop, I, noticing that my dad had newly pumped up wheels, decided to blow mine up slightly. And yes, the tubing broke (I maintain with my dad's defence that this was not my fault but the quality of the tubing and the very heavy weight I have been carrying on the back of my bike). But what luck, right in front of a bike shop. Another twenty minutes and twenty euros later, my bike came back with the newly pumped up tyre as I wanted it.

At last we could enjoy the sunshine but we encountered a head wind which slowed us down significantly. Having left at noon, we had to stop soon for lunch in a meadow, leaving a long part of the journey left 

for the afternoon. We continued into the strong wind until we reached the Rhone-Rhine canal, a perfect spot to cycle. We followed it, and continued to follow it, wondering if it ever ended, until bang. My dad's tyre popped open, but unfortunately this time it wasn't quite near a bike shop. He managed to fix it but his bike would need another visit to the doctor before tomorrow. So we rushed to make it to Strasbourg in time before the closure of the shops, and indeed we did.

I thought I would mention the coincidence of our attempted stay in Strasbourg an

d the NATO summit occuring tomorrow. With Barack Obama, Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel all present tomorrow, the city was being shut off by thousands of police. We were deemed not important enough to stay in the French city, hence why we had to cross the border into Kehl, just on the other side of the Rhine.

DAY 5: Möhlin - Breisach

Hello, this is yesterday's blog and it is posted by Broker Senior. We had a long day in front of us so it did not take too much convincing to get Paul out of the sack at a reasonably early time (7.30!) Mind you, our brave landlady in our village B&B was up 2 hours before us to fix breakfast, use the only bathroom before us and be off to work before we had even made it downstairs. This was going to be our last half-day in Switzerland and it had me thinking about what it is that makes the Swiss Swiss. Here I need to tell you that many people who first meet me think that I am Swiss and I have never been quite sure what to make of that, so here are a few thoughts gathered at 20 km/h on average (forgive me if I offend anyone): 1. The Swiss are proud- there is many a swiss flag floating above even the smallest garden patches, something which one understandably rarely sees in Germany, or in France for that matter. 2. They are relaxed and polite: they make eye-contact when you bike by, give you a brief smile, and have their pet german shepherds sit so that you don't end up with a piece of your calf missing 3. They are traditionalist, yet modern: cosy wooden houses sit comfortably next to glassed-up modern structures. 4. They are clean- that we knew 5. we had no encounters with bankers/lawyers or the like so we will leave that bit out 6. Finally and most importantly: do they have a sense of humour?? On my last evening in the local "Gaststube" I had a "Cordon Bleu", imagining the top creation by the establishment's Chef and so I did: pork filet mignon with breadcrumby crust and with melted cheese inside, as light as any dish one could ask for, perfect for cholesterol watchers... So next time someone labels me as Swiss, I will not deny but happily accept that this means I embody all these fabulous attributes. I wonder what Paul thinks of this...and now back to Germany!!

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.