Monday, June 2, 2014

Day 24: to Basel, Switzerland (73k; 1400)

spent the night piling on more clothes and the early morning taking them off again as the sun heated up my tent.

Monday morning is market morning in Neuf-Brisach. I had a croissant and baguette from the campsite, but headed into town afterwards for a coffee and a look round. Very impressive place.

I spoke to two cyclists who had come up from Basel yesterday, they confirmed the Rhine-side path is more of the high, unpaved, exposed kind. Instead I opted for the French route across farmland and little villages. Mid morning there was a long stretch through an old forest. I was tempted to stop by the sign for a 'remarkable tree!' - well, it was just a tree and not remarkable at all. (Reminded of cycling instructions from Estonia - 'turn right; after 30km there is a large rock..').

I hit the canal du Rhone au Rhin again, this time larger and navigable again. I stopped for lunch at a picnic spot by the canal, at which point it started spitting. After sitting it out for a while I realised it wasn't getting any worse, and it was pretty much stationary, whereas I was going to cycle ahead of it. Confirmed when half an hour later some fishermen saw my waterproofs and asked me where the rain was!

I came into the 'petit carmargue de Alsace' - a bit of nice wetland with bird hides and other inexplicable things including a to-scale model of the solar system spread along several km of bike path.

The final stage into Basel was a bit of a nightmare. I was totally lost in the Novartis site (funnily enough this has happened to me before, but usually with a suit on..). Realised I was cycling straight through a customs point. Then back through another one. Crossed a huge intersection with a police car just behind me and no idea what the cycle signs mean. Then the cycle lane turned into a tram track, with a tyre-width trough in the middle of it. Nil points, Switzerland, nil points.

Eventually made it into the old town, realised I had only two Swiss francs, not enough for a coffee. So instead headed straight out towards my ex-Psychiatry friend Uschi's house in Therwil, a southern suburb, this time along more officially designated cycle routes.

Uschi's husband works for Roche and they moved out here a year ago and are enjoying the Swiss life. Specifically they have a gorgeous house on a hillside and I write to you from a very sunny terrace... I hadn't seen her for maybe 6 years so lovely to reconnect with an old friend. That's what this year is all about!







1 comment: