June 2nd Rheinfelden to Schaffhausen 92 kms
The first (and probably only) whole day’s riding in
Switzerland and I have to admit that it was a little disappointing. Various business including WATU
correspondence took up more time than I intended in the morning and I postponed
riding the missed 24 kms of yesterday. I decided to make up time by using the
main road alongside the Rhine as much as possible but the density of traffic was
heavy and I had to resort to the recommended cycle routes. Unfortunately, these
are not nearly as well signposted as in France (at least the Eurovelo route in
France) and on the section between Stein and Laufenburg I became so completely
lost in a no man’s land between autoroute and railway line that a kind lady
took pity on me and cycled a good five kilometres with me to put me right.
There are some good sections of cyclable piste alongside the main road in
places but often these run out unexpectedly too. I also missed the omnipresence
of the water that had been with me since Chateaulin in Brittany. The Rhine is a
majestic, rapid river,especially above Koblenz, but along this section it is
rare to get intimate with it as one does the Loire or even more so the Doubs. There is also a lot of industry and naked
concrete to circumnavigate which detracts from the otherwise pristine
surroundings. I suppose it is simply the relative isolation of so much of the
route so far that I was missing.
At Kaiserstuhl I dipped down into the remarkably intact
village, crossed the river and took a higher cross country route to
Schaffhausen which kept dipping in and out of Germany. Suddenly there was far
less traffic, the views were open and I
seemed to be in tune with things more and made much better progress. By mid
afternoon we were sitting by the spectacular Rhein Falls, thinking that this
was a fitting end to the first part of the ride, a ride that had taken me along
so many rivers. The Danube was only a hop, skip and a jump
away and will be waiting for us in a few weeks when I continue to the Black Sea. The west east watershed reached; mission, so
far, accomplished
92 kms Distance from
Galway 1889 kms.
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