Thursday, June 5, 2014

Day 27: to Hornstaad, Germany (79km; 1552)

Completely the opposite of yesterday: today has been plain sailing under a sunny sky, and I've felt totally blessed.

After a stormy night it's been sunny and breezy, the paths well-marked, the natives friendly, and I have successfully muddled through in German where required. Oh and it's been seriously beautiful country. Lots of hills though, as the path has deviated a lot from the Rhine itself. In fact looking at a map I have now officially said goodbye to the Rhine. She has treated me well!

As I left the campsite this morning someone mentioned some waterfalls so I had a look on the map and made sure to go that way. Well the Rheinfalls at Neuhasen were just amazing! 'Europe's largest waterfall' -perhaps in volume rather than height, it was a bit like Niagra but somewhat less commercial and in somewhat better taste. Being a weekday it was not heaving and was a lovely, unexpected treat.

The way out however was a 15% climb. Just sayin'...

The Swiss-German border round here is ridiculous, I must have crossed it ten times today. It concerned me only in that I still don't have any Swiss francs, so needed to know which side I'm on before buying anything! Usually I could tell by the registration plates of parked cars, and by the flags in people's gardens (some use for this weird habit!). The Germany-to-Switzerland customs controls are heavily patronised because, as Uschi explained to me, the Swiss get tax back on German purchases at the border.

Tonight I am on Lake Constance, or the Bodensee as the Germans call it. In fact I'm on a sub-lake, but it still seems to count. This is big holiday territory and the campsite is large and commercial (though I have a whole tent section to myself). Staying on it gives you access to a private 'beach', which is mostly park, but has also provided a super calzone dinner with a view. Following Ed's lead I decided to swim instead of shower and it was really quite pleasant, temperature-wise (17 deg according to a notice). It is shallow for a long way out though so I was probably in toastier-than-that water as a result.

Over the 1500k mark, I am about half way to Budapest now. I hesitate to write this, fearing bike breakage or other major disaster: but I feel like I am in a good rhythm. I am really enjoying both the moving on and, surprisingly, the peace and privacy that camping gives. 





No comments:

Post a Comment