Day 20 or 21 Im losing track - Bern

We leaft Bern and my legs were feeling a bit heavy from yesterdays effort. we chose a city 60Km away and booked a room. With the security of a room and known destination, we had a leisurely sunny morning exploring Bern.

As soon as we started riding, it started raining.

First lesson for the day - if the weathers good - ride!

It wasnt too bad though and we made fair progress. The wind came up, swirling around sometimes in our favour but mostly against us.  We rode towards the impressive rock faces of the Alps in the distance and they steadily got closer. We stopped for a late lunch at Solothurn. To our releif we turned and followed the ridges and Daniel's fresher helped my stiff calves along to Olten. We asked 3 groups of people for directions to Rothrist and got totally different answers 20 Km west, 11/2km through town and 6-7 Km North. We applied our trust meter to the faces and tones and decided to go with the latter (the guy with the cute girlfriend) We rode to our hotel with a thunder and lightening greeting. 

Stats 73Km, Top speed 48Km/hr, Average 21Km/hr Climb 335m

Day 22 Rothrist

We dropped off Hilary at the station and cruised off in overcast but fine conditions. After 40k in a moment of inspired genius I suggest ed we pull into the town's department store and buy some rain jackets. 'Why' asked Daniel; 'well, rain is predicted tomorrow and on sunday its all closed up'.

We bought the jackets and rode on and less then an hour later we were sheltered under a shop awning rugging up in our cold gear. The jackets were perfect and we rode on in the rain in (reletive) comfort. For the last 20k the intensity of the rain increased intensy. We rode on with purpose to Winterthur with thoughts of hot showers.

Stats 96Km, Top speed 52Km/hr, Average 19Km/hr Climb 550m

Day 23 Winterthur - Sunday

Rest, washed clothes, hung 'round town... how eloquent.

Stats 5m, Top speed 8Km/hr, Average 5Km/hr Climb 10m

Day 24 Winterthur - Monday

The rain wasnt going away and we had K's to do. So on with the wet-weather gear, and we rode to Konstanz! As we passed through the town we also went through a border check point. The border guard was busy with cars; he smiled and waved us through. We rode following signs to Meersburg but stopped at a supermarket to get rid of our last swiss franks. With 2 new salamis in tow we made our way to the ferry point, ready to travel across the bodensea. We tactically used our 15 min passsage to make good use of our new inventory.

After landing in Meersburg we rode through a clock arch into town; awestruck by the colour and beuty of the buildings. This was a very differnt style to what we had seen in Switzerland. After riding 20kms along the bodensea coast to Freidrichafen we turned north to Ravensburg. Ravensburg was also an old town with many nice features however we pressed on to Weingarten for the night.

Stats 98m, Top speed 42Km/hr, Average 18Km/hr Climb 680m.

Day 25 Weingarten - Tuesday

The Forecast said rain in the moring and sun in the afternoon. The news also showed rivers overrunning and roads being caught in a deluge of water. We started the day a bit late, at 10:30, with an immiditate climb. We took small roads and bike paths to Wolfegg, Bad Wurzach and at Billwangen stopped for lunch on a bench by a small stream. A flock of ducks swam past, inspecting these ruffians, moving on to give way for the flitting fish taking a gander.

The rain was very light and at 16 degrees we were quite comfortable. We rode through dense forest and open farmlands; doing a few small climbs along the way. The Last sharp climb through a forest had us emerge at the top of Mindelhiem. A cautious decent into town to find our hotel as both of our brakes were wearing thin and the roads were still wet. The 200 year old hotel, Gasthof Stern, had hand painted cuppords and a large cozy room.

Stats 86m, Top speed 52Km/hr, Average 18Km/hr Climb 860m



  Email John at John@CycleOdyssey.com.au
 

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