Konstanz to Rheinau
Just a spectacular day!
Konstanz is a great resting place, and, historically, a place to sort out the woes of the Catholic church. I never knew – even being raised a Catholic – that at one point in time there were three men who claimed to be the legitimate Pope. It happened at a time called the Great Western Schism when all went awry (maybe communications were quite so good in those days, or Papism went factional?) All the terribly important Catholic people rushed to Konstanz, and, over the course of four years they attempted to sort out not only the pope issue, but a reformation of the Church.
In the end one of the popes fled, two were sacked, and a completely new pope was elected.
Ah, the business of politics. And the business of men playing power games.
Apparently these three dudes are NOT the claimants to the Papal throne, but they make a good picture to go with the story 😃
We leave Konstanz refreshed and clean, ready to start our ride westward-ish, roughly covering ground we visited three years ago, although on slightly different routes.
Within minutes we have crossed from Germany into Switzerland and before long we are riding along the Untersee (lower lake Constance). We are bound by the lake on one side and foothills on the other; there’s just a narrow stretch of flat land for us to ride along.
We reach Stein am Rhein, and it is every bit as lovely as I remember from three years ago. The main street is cobbled and lined with medieval half-timbered houses with painted facades. It’s also overrun with tourists. Yep, including us!
Stein am Rhine is also where the Untersee narrows and becomes the Rhein again. This river is now with us until we hit the mouth in the Netherlands (with a couple of route exceptions we may take).
We take a break and enjoy some cake. I remember doing something similar three years ago. It’s a tradition now!
After we leave Stein am Rhein we take the right bank of the river. The right bank is the bank of the river that is on the right-hand side as the river flows downstream. When we were here three years ago we took the left bank upstream, so though we’re following a similar (but reverse) route, it is still different.
As we ride on to Shaffhausen, we’re playing Which Country are We Really In? Stein am Rhein is in Switzerland. We soon cross into Germany, back to Switzerland into Germany for a short stretch, and then back into Switzerland as we approach Schaffhausen and the Rhein Falls.
Imagine life without Schengen. We’d have to ride with our passports plastered to our foreheads to facilitate all those border crossings! And we’d have to write home for more passport pages to take all those stamps. (I do miss getting stamps in my passport now. My current passport is just a sea of empty useless pages.)
There’s a pretty easy way to figure out which country we’re in, and it isn’t by looking at car number plates or pulling out a map. When we’re in Switzerland, the land rises up and down. Germany is flat. Easy! You can see, when they were dividing up the land, the Germans just said, “Nein. Keep your bloody mountains to yourself.”
We pass quickly through Shaffhausen and get ourselves to the Rhein Falls. This is my third time here – Neil and I were here just three years ago, and I was here (I hate to say it) near on 40 years ago on a whistlestop tour around Western Europe. Rhein Falls are impressive, and Europe’s largest waterfall, and I need a new bike selfie of Joy with the falls.
We have only a short distance to ride on to Rheinau, where we are staying at a B&B overnight. We have, however, managed to get ourselves slightly off course and wander our way up a hill and back into Germany, before crossing the Rhein for a final time through a covered bridge into the gorgeous village of Rheinau.
We’re staying with Werner and Nelly, who host a humble B&B in their home. Their home is one of the delightful half-timbered houses of the area, and I’m pretty excited to be staying in one of these houses. Rheinau is quiet, with not a lot going on, but it is gorgeous. The views from the church near our place are stupendous – we can see the river curving around the town. While up there we get to talking with a local woman who has lived here for some 16 years. I have a feeling that she may have been part of a religious order. As the church bells start ringing (just before 6:30) she invites us to attend Holy Mass.
That’s a pass for us, but we enjoy the river views a while longer and wander around the cemetery in the church grounds checking out some of the unusual tombstones (I even find the one I want for my own grave, should I not be burned and scattered).
Our beer tonight is in the beer garden at Restaurant Augarten and we eat a superb dinner at the same place. The restaurant is run by a couple of young women who serve an innovative and fresh menu using ingredients from their own farm, and who also serve beer from their own brewery. They are one of the only two remaining restaurants in Rheinau, and we are lucky to be here on a day they are open (they are closed Mondays and Tuesdays). I’m also very lucky that they have some vegetarian items on their menu. It’s such a treat to be able to order a proper meal and not have to skirt around the damn meat that most restaurants insist on putting on everything in these parts!
Today has been a special day, full of scenic highlights, and with fresh legs after a rest, we’re both feeling pretty amazing.
Stats for today:
- Distance: 55.72
- Climb: 409m
- Average speed: 14.9km/h
- Average temperature: 21C
- Moving time: 3:44:02
- 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 in the beer garden of the brewery/restaurant we visited in Rheinau.
Along the way today:
Click on an image to scroll through the gallery at full size.
