Retracing life’s steps

Last night’s rain is still lingering as we wake this morning, and the forecast, though not dire, is not appealing. We have another big, over 70km day. It looks like rain will dog us most of the way.

But we get lucky! We leave in a sunny moment, and that moment lasts all day. So much for Accuweather!

There’s a long covered bridge that takes us from Bad Säckingen across the Rhein and back to Switzerland again. Today we are covering old ground, but I have modified the EV15 route to avoid the less-than-pleasant gravel section we covered three years ago (albeit in the other direction).

Instead of bone-shaking gravel on a path above the Rhein, we travel first through idyllic farm areas, then stumble into an industrial area (not visible in my mapping while still back in Melbourne) which seems to be warehouse city for a number of businesses. Just before entering Rheinfelden we have a short stint on downhill gravel which is a little testing, but a lovely run through forest.

Three years ago we stumbled across Rheinfelden after crossing the river from the German version of the same town name. The German side is austere, modern (as in nothing is older than about 80 years), while the Swiss side is cute, traditional and a place you want to hang out in. So we do, enjoying cold drinks, ice cream, and conversation with a German couple we met yesterday when we arrived looking like drowned rats at our Bad Sāckingen hotel.

There is still some concern about rain, so we get back on the bikes and make quick-sticks to Basel where we stop for lunch at an overpriced, under-delivering restaurant along the Rhine where all the cool kids hang out. (For the record: the worst tomatoes of our whole trip!)

I will always love Basel. It was my first taste of Europe, and a place where I spent a few months working and living back in the late 80s. I wrote about Basel in a post from our 2023 Eurovelo 6 trip, and, sitting at our tourist restaurant looking over the river towards Altstadt (old rown), I still feel the same stirrings of nostalgia.

But one cannot live in the past. We have still more than 35km to go. Getting out of Basel is easier and much quieter, traffic-wise, than getting in, and before we know it we are riding along a quiet gravel path, in France, making great progress towards the end of the day. The path runs alongside a canal, that runs parallel to the main le Rhin (I’m switching now to the French name for the river). Three years ago, when travelling from Mulhouse to Basel, this path was a mess, strewn with fallen branches after a storm. Today it is pristine and makes for great riding.

We turn off the EV15 route and ride a really lovely bike track through a forest that takes us all the way to Ottmarsheim. Although the village has a long and varied history, today it is backgrounded by industry, largely extensions of the burgeoning chemical industry in Basel.

To be honest, we don’t see a lot of the village this evening. We ride straight to our hotel, enjoy a beer, clean up and head straight to the next-door restaurant for dinner. Back in France, Neil is in pig-heaven with food whereas I reacquaint myself with the struggle of being vegetarian in this progressive but food-wise backward country. Thank goodness for tomatoes and burrata! (And the tomatoes are so much better than the rubbish ones in Basel.)

After our eighth day on the road we’re both feeling strong and fit. We’ve settled well into cycle-touring life really well, which is good, because we have many more days to go!

Stats for today:

• Distance: 76.57km
• Climb: 554m
• Average speed: 15.5km/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 outside our hotel in Ottmarsheim. A well deserved brew after a great day in the saddle, and it came with a cute bowl of snacks.

Along the way today:

Click on an image to scroll through the gallery at full size. Less pictures, more riding today.