May 22, 2010 - Rest Day in Basel

Mileage: ZERO
Photo Album Link

I didn't intend to spend a rest day in Basel, but between the generosity of my host, and the opportunity to meet a guy named Remy who is at the beginning of a trip around the world, I had to stick around for another 24 hours.  Armed with a city map and all of the Rick Steves' approved touring gear you can imagine, I set out into Basel, Switzerland for a day of unadulterated tourism

I walked and walked and walked.  I got lost 3 times and once I literally did a spit-take when I looked up and saw a church that I had walked past an hour previously as I was trying to make my way down to the river.  The entire town is bisected and surrounded by the Rhine river, yet I had a difficult time finding it.

I did all of the inexpensive tourist things you can do, like take the St.Alban's ferry.  It's attached to a guy line, and uses the current of the river and it's rudder to move across from shore to shore.  Here's an action shot:

Check out the wire connecting the boat to the guy line. Hot Basel ferry action.

Anyway, Basel is an endlessly fascination town, with lots of history and old buildings.  For example, it has a lot of old history associated to the Basilisk, even though the town wasn't named after it.  The Basilisk is what occurs when a rooster lays and egg and it's incubated by a toad.  Apparently it has the head of a dragon, the feet of a rooster and the hair of Larry King.  Or something like that.  It can turn you to stone with it's eyes. Anyway, here it is, just before spitting drinking water into my mouth:

There's a whole story that I listened to at the history museum about Basel and the Basilisk that's too mundane for me to recount.  It involves a well, a Basilisk, and a mirrored bucket.  You can probably fill in the gaps

Anyway, I came home, did some photo and blogging stuff, then Remy, the French guy going around the world showed up.  I think I pestered him with too many questions about gear and his plans, but no matter.  He was a very cool guy, and shared with me the last of his French sausage, bread and cheese.  It was his first day out of France for the next two years, and the fact that he was willing to share the last vestiges of his yummy food meant a lot.  Here's Remy, looking as good as he'll probably look for two years:

God speed, Remy.  Here's his blog, if you can read French.

May 21, 2010 - Waldshut to Basel

Estimate mileage: 40 miles
Trip Route Link
Photo Album Link

This was a mostly forgettable stretch of riding, mostly due to the fact that much of the countryside leading up to the town of Basel is rather industrial.  There was one particularly nice stretch going through a protected forest before heading into the suburbs of Basel:

On the say-so of my German buddy I met the night previously, I stayed on the Swiss side of the border for most of the day, because the German side was populated with dams and factories.  Not that the Swiss side didn't have it's own set of factories.  It just had less.

Once in Basel, I met with Biff, my host for the evening, who proceeded to provide everything a bicycle tourist could ever want and more: A warm shower, a hot dinner, a comfortable bed, route and tour advice and a wonderful conversation after nearly of week of living within the confines of my own head.

That's Adrian, her neighbor, on the left.  Biff gave me some tips for what to see in Basel the next day, and I felt to sleep the instant my head hit the pillow.

A Quick Note on German City Names

It's well known that my sense of humor still hasn't progressed passed that of a 12 year old.  So it's difficult to ride through a ton named "Nusselwangen" without spending the whole day snickering to myself.  Same goes for "Huntenwangen".  And then there's this, which I provide without comment:

May 20, 2010 - Radolfzell to Waldhut

Estimated Mileage: 60 miles
Trip Route Link
Photo Album Link

This was my second 60 mile day, and did it just fine.  The ride was also particularly spectacular, which made it seem short.  From Radozfell, I meandered through a Nature Reserve for about 30 minutes, going slow and enjoying the scenery:

I wound up at Stein-am-Rhein again, where my journey started, just so that I could officially say that I've completely circumnavigated Lake Constance.  About 15 miles of the ride was a stretch that I did on May 15th.  But after I hit Rheinfall, it was all new, including the tiny town of Rheinau, little "island" town that lives on a pinched parcel of land in a loop of the Rhein river:




View Larger Map

Very cool spot.  Note the small island named Klosterinsel.  This is where the cloister is located:

The rest of the ride was along the Rhein or through large swaths of farmland.  There was a nice campground in Waldshut, where I stayed.  Again the tent campground was near deserted, except for one nice French couple who was also biking.  After a customary dinner of an embarassingly large schnitzel, fries and beer, I walked past the picnic area and noticed that they were cooking a vegetable stew, putting myself and all of the schnitzel-eaters to shame with their healthy living.
Had a nice conversation that night with a German fellow and slept just fine except I was woken up by what I think was a fox trying to get at my Wurst.  I peered through my small tent window and saw a bushy tailed fox-esque creature skulking around (and I know my raccoons, so before you write, no, it wasn't a raccoon).  When I woke up my shoes were moved about 10 feet away from the tent.  So I can say that a fox moved my shoes.

May 19, 2010 - Reichenau to Radolfzell

Estimated Mileage: 20 miles
Trip Route Link
Photo Album Link

Today was a rest day, with only 20 miles from beginning to end.  I needed desperately to update my blog, upload pictures, shower for longer than .50 Euros would allow (the campgrounds all have coin-operated showers) and do a small shopping (my wurst supplies were near critical).  I decided to stop in Radolfzell, a relatively large town just a small ways away.

Luckily for me, that it was market day when I got there!

I bought a roll of bread with a weiner in, as is my wont, and strolled around to observe a typical German outdoor market.  First impression: they sell a lot of cleaning supplies.  Brooms, brushes, solvents, mops, soaps, scrapers, unguents and salves.  It makes me wonder what came first: German anal retension or the German cleaning products industry?  A chicken and egg problem.  Here's a broom stand:

So I wandered through the town, bought some supplies, went back to the hotel and messed around on my first solid power and Internet connection in 4 days.  My room was very nice and affordable, except for the fact that the ceiling came down through the middle of it at a 45 degree angle, which meant I would scrape my shoulders every I stood up.

So I would crab-walk around the room to avoid further shoulder injuries.

I received an invite from an email companion to come to Basel for a night.  I hadn't planned on heading that way, but I was already a few days ahead of my rough itinerary.  So, after consulting a map, the Planning Committee (which consists of myself and a tiny plastic Koala) make tracks for Basel, a two day ride to the west, on the Rhine river.

May 18, 2010 - Friedrichshafen to Reichenau

Estimated Mileage: 60 miles (!!!)
Trip Route: http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=132337
Photo Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/benkrok/May182010FriedrichshafenToReichenau?feat=directlink

After a half day of bad attitude, I shaped up and finally hit my daily mileage goal of 60 miles.  And on top of that I had two major climbs during the day, one of which was actually unnecessary (let's just say I took an "unexpected detour" of 10 miles today).

I left the campground at 8 on the dot, ready to tackle the day.  Some of the most idyllic towns of the trips so far were part of this morning ride.  Here's Meersburg, where I will stay the next time I'm in this part of the world:

Here's my morning coffee, on a terrace looking over the Bodensee:

The riding was beautiful and tough, with two long climbs.  I'm getting stronger every day, fortunately, so I did it without a problem.

The day ended at an island named Reichenau, which is quite a fascinating place.  It's an island that's reachable via a land bridge from the mainland:





According to my guidebook, this island used to house illuminated books about botanical lore throughout the Dark Ages.  The secrets of agriculture and farming were housed here, and the modern day vestige of this history is seen in the amazingly tended farmland that is everywhere on this island:

I made it to the campground at the tip of the island and celebrated my first 60 mile day in the best way possible:

Ah....what a difference a day makes.

May 17, 2010 - Rheinspitz to Friedrichshafen

Estimated Mileage: 47 miles
Trip Route: http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=132330
Photo Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/benkrok/May172010RheinspitzToFriedrichshafen

Today I would describe as "the Best of Times, the Wurst of Times".  The first half of the day started with a Mile Zero milestone, trundling through some of most peaceful and idyllic roads I'd ever seen: in the Rhine Delta nature park.  I crossed into Austria via this crossing:

I guess if the Austrians don't like the looks of you, they can throw you into that fetid pool of marsh water to the right of the sign.  But, since there was nobody manning the border, I didn't have anything to worry about.

The Rhine delta was some of the most spectacular riding I've ever done.  Miles of well-maintained dirt roads, winding their ways through protected marshes, farmland and stands of forest:

And then I was in for a serious attitude adjustment.  I had forgotten to bring along a power adapter, so my plan was to stop in at Bregenz and buy one.  Easier said than done.  I was bounced around from Electronik Shop to a department store, back to a different Electronik shop where I ended up finally buying a 50 EUR laptop plug because there simply aren't any US-to-German power adapters in Bregenz, apparently.  Three hours of schlepping my unwieldy bike around an Austrian lakeside metropolis. Bregenz electronic suppliers = Thumbs Down!

Right after Bregenz, the German border looms:

The signage become a little less obvious in Germany, but still quite good.  Also, note that I'm entering the Free State of Bavaria.  Bavaria was pretty much it's own country until very recently (the late 1800's I believe).  Apparently, it's a very traditional and conservative region.  Also, many of the American attitudes and stereotypes (both positive and negative) stem from Bavaria due to the fact that the American Zone of occupation encompassed it.

I stopped in the town of Lindau, for a cup of coffee at the port:

The rest of the day's ride was very crowded and very annoying.  After spending 3 days riding through the most wonderfully marked trails through the Swiss and Austrian countryside, I spent the afternoon dodging swarms of tourists, riding on roads shared with cars and losing my way a few times.  Also, swarms of black flies plagued large parts of the route so that if you opened your mouth it was like someone threw a handful of chiclets at your teeth.  Unpleasant.  I arrived at a campground on the banks of Lake Constance and for the first time since my trip, little twinges of "exactly why am I doing this?!?!" started creeping into the back of my mind.

After a beer and a Wurst with some curry sauce pored on it, I told myself to cork it, and Do It.  Sleep came fast and easy...