Wednesday July 10th - Warm to hot and sunny all day, 20°C to 27ºC
Good bye GoalSports Motel
Cool path through forest
Switzerland - uphills have started
Hazy heat over mountains
Yes, I only have one cycling shirt
Water buffalo, best spot on hot day
Blue skies over the Aare River
Hmm, wonder if his GPS is right
Lunch by the Aare River
Hidden cycle path
Water temp in Aare River is 15ºC
Deck chairs for non-cyclists
Ear plugs on bedside tabel - not a good sign
Sausage, frittes and salad in local beer garten with Swiss armyplatoon
We're now in Switzerland and immediately the countryside changes. Today we travelled 74k from Waldshutt to Koblenz, just a few k across the Swiss border, through Aaru and Olten and to the small village Kappel just 2k off the bike route. Our 74k is the same all day - a mixture of flat bike paths beside the Aare River and up and down hills getting over and around bends in the river. The highlights were the beautiful Swiss scenery and the old wooden bridge at Olten.
A peaceful night compared to the noisy trains of the night before. Breakfast is already out in the small glass hut across the path. It's simple but nice. There's no rush - a 70k or so day and the weather is fine. Our host has stored a water bottle in the fridge overnight to keep our lunch-bag cool - it's got a few leftovers of cheese, dried ham and lettuce from Aldi yesterday.
It's only 2k down the road to the turn off to Koblenz on the Swiss side. There's remnants of the old border guard on the Rhine bridge as we pass from Germany into Switzerland. Koblenz is at the junction of the Aare and Rhine, so we're no sooner over the Rhine bridge and we're on the Aare river and Immediately there's Swiss red and white bike signs showing the number 8 - this is our Aare route and we begin to follow it.
The countryside becomes more hilly with mountains in the hazy distance. It's already warm at 10am. There's a few Swiss factories - very clinical - no big heavy machinery site, pharmaceutical and technology companies line the outskirts of towns. We pass a farm of water buffalo - one is laying in the water. We stop to make sure he's not dead or drowning. But he's just smarter than us - he's found the best spot to loll on a hot day. After 2hrs, we have a leisurely coffee, where a woman turns up with her dog and a blow up floatie and walks over to the River to float down to Brugg. I chase after her for a photo, but she's already gone. We continue to follow the No 8 Cycle signs.
By 1pm, time for lunch. There's any number of park benches, we pick one with a nice view of the Aare. But there's no place to dangle our feet until we cycle a further 3k. The water is much colder at about 15ºC than the Rhine at 19ºC, being closer the the snow melt in the mountains. But there's still people swimming and deck chairs set out to make it easy for the non-cyclists who can't cycle up the path, to dangle their feet and sip a cool drink. There's castles and churches overlooking the River Aare, and Switzerland already has a decidedly different feel than Germany.
By mid afternoon, we turn off the Route 8 bike track and cycle the 2k to Kappel to our home for the night - the Landhofgast Hotel Kappel. It's in a quiet village but on a very busy cross roads. When we walk into the room, there's earplugs on the bedside table - not a good sign. But Ian orders a two beers from the downstairs bar and we're in our room time to watch the end of the time trial of the Tour de France. Christopher Froome is way ahead in the GC and Cadel Evans is in 14th.
The restaurant downstairs is closed for renovations, and we've only some frizzled up lettuce, melted cheese and squashed tomatoes for dinner. We wander down town to a nearby beer garten where there's a BAR B Q burning. There's a platoon of Swiss army guys drinking and eating so we go in and order a red sausage, a white sausage, chips and salad with a white wine and beer. It's been a hot day and the night is still warm so it's lovely sitting in the garten. Not far to waddle home for a piece of soft chocolate from the kitty.
I've now had time to do some sums. We've cycled 1679k over 21 cycling days (not counting train travelling days) at an average of 80k per day - some days at 100k, others at 70k.