Life changes …

“Our culture is changing.”

I don’t know what to think about Werner’s statement. I wanted to stay in a B&B specifically to meet local people and talk to them. I feel like we are getting political pretty early in our acquaintaince .

”There’s an election coming up, about whether we stop the population at 10,000,000.”

Werner doesn’t really give away what he thinks. But our subsequent conversation, over a simple breakfast of house-made bread, conserves, juice and coffee for those who have it, ranges into issues that we experience in Australia: housing issues, political wrangles over immigration, cost of living. It seems that we are not alone in Australia wrestling with these hot political topics.

For the record, the poll on immigration caps in Switzerland is set for June 14th, and it looks like the keep it at 10,000,000 crew are going to lose. I will watch the results with interest.

We leave Werner and Nelly a short time later, with thanks for the hosted night, and admiration for Nelly’s artwork, which I only noticed as I was leaving our the room. Often B&Bs are hosted by people in their later years, and you have to dig a little to find out about their rich past lives and talents.

We take the wrong way out of town, which is longer, and involves more climbing. We have a long and possibly hard day ahead of us, with a few long climbs, so an extra climb is not welcome, but c’est la vie.

Our first 10km are easy, just on local roads and easy forest paths. Then my Garmin beeps with the ominous “Climb ahead” warning, and it is on. The first climb takes us up into a village where there is a slight reprieve, and then the second climb follows immediately, taking us up to a pass that has been visible for most of the ride so far. The second climb is relatively easy, and we are rewarded then with magnificent views and a steep downhill. Our touring bikes takes these downhills at a much more steady pace, and we are overtaken by cyclists on road bikes who zoom past, with no care in the world. I keep my hands firmly on the brakes all the way down.

We travel through a number of idllic traditional villages, though I have to say we do see the signs of creeping progress. In one village we ride along a road where one side is lined with traditional houses and the other with in-progress, unattractive mid-level concrete apartment buildings. We are only about 30km from Zurich. Perhaps these villages are set to become the next satellite suburbs of Zurich, somewhat like the Kalkallos and Wallans are satellites of Melbourne. Perhaps Werner, who is aged at least 76 and has lived in this village almost all of his life, has his reasons to fear an encroaching city and erosion of his way of life.

Our morniing tea break is not at a bakery in a cute café, but at tables set outside a service station on the outskirts of Eglisau. The modern world is chasing the traditional world.

With the two big hills behind us we make good time riding mostly either beside the Rhine, or on bike paths beside a major road that runs beside the Rhine. Either way, the river is in our sights most of the way into Melkon, a small village disrupted by major road works on the main street. We are about half way by this time, so decide to stop and have lunch. We find a bakery, order food, and sit down to eat.

Then the weather changes. Our sunny morning changes to a gray and wet afternoon. The heavens open and we decide to wait at the bakery a while longer, moving inside when it gets too wet. The Accuweather app says that it will rain for “at least” the next hour. They are covering their backsides with disclaimers. As far as I am concerned, it rains for the rest of the day, until we reach our destination of Bad Sackingen, some 36km later. At first the rain is a light nuisance, We can ride along OK, and don’t really get very wet. It just detracts from enjoyment of the ride, as the route passes through a number of very lovely but very quiet villages. Obviously the people are rain averse, or perhaps at work somewhere else, as the lovely little villages are like ghost towns.

The route varies from sealed minor roads, the odd major road, which means taking one’s life into one’s hands riding wet roads with traffic, and also gravel roads, which means mud flying. The beautiful little towns have lethal cobblestones – beautiful on a dry day, but the evil little cobbles reach out and grab your wheels on a wet day, so you have to be fully on while riding.

And then there’s the large metal square covers that are all over the roads – service covers? I don’t know. What I do know is that they are as slippery as, and you have to carefully dodge every single one of then for fear of crashing.

European roads in the wet. Just say no. It is part and parcel of touring here, but we have been so lucky in the past not to have to deal with much rain.

Somewhere along the way, actually at the town of Koblenz, we cross from Switzerland to Germany. This is our only border crossing for the day and possibly the second last time we will be in Switzerland until we arrive back in Zurich at the end of our trip.

The last 10km are the worst. The rain is heavier, the bike is heavier, the rain gets in under my glasses, filling my eyes, and I have to stop, wiping my eyes, and seeing Neil get further and further away. The only thing to do is watch the kilometres tick downwards, until we regroup and ride into Bad Sackingen, pulling up at our lovely, warm, dry, bike friendly Hotel Goldener Kopf, right on the banks of the Rhein, in Germany. This place is so bike friendly that we are able to wheel our wet, dripping bikes into the foyer and through to the ballroom/function room where they will dry off and spend a very nice night.

Our room is soon in disarray, with wet clothes draped everywhere. That’s until I find the heated towel rail, which I turn on, and we have our wet cycling gear hanging all over it while we head out for end of day beer and dinner. Our room is steaming hot when we get back. Those clothes are certainly drying!

We’ve stayed in a few places where church clocks have rung out all night. I’m not pleased when our hotel in Bad Sackingham is located right next to a church. Luckily this German town is progressive, and they turn off the clock chimes at night so I can get, hopefully, a good night’s sleep.

Stats for today:

• Distance: 76.57km
• Climb: 554m
• Average speed: 15.4km/h
• Average temperature: 19C
• Moving time: 4:57:46
• See our ride on Strava

The beer picture

At the end of a day’s ride, our tradition is to enjoy a beer, and to photograph it for posterity. Today’s beer picture was taken at the Italian restaurant where we had dinner. There was a heater. Whether it was generating heat or just warm vibes on a wet day, I don’t know. The pizza was pretty good too!

Along the way today:

Click on an image to scroll through the gallery at full size.