I’ve cycled this stretch of the Rhine (Basel to Schaffhausen along the German/Swiss border) twice already, once on a solo in 2008 West to East on my way to Budapest and back, and then on Daisy 2 with previous stoker from West to East 2011.

So it was very weird with Jutta today, heading West, not to recognise pretty much anything except the Rhine Falls at Schaffhausen.

On arriving for our Booking.com overnight in Rheinfelden all became clear – slavish adherence to the route suggested by our favourite cycling app Ride with GPS, concluding we wanted the shortest trip possible in time terms rather than meandering along the banks of the river, took us today over the hills from S-hausen

Red bits are the pretty Rhine segments we completely bypassed today.

Hey ho. See map. Though maps aside, since leaving bro/sis-in-law Juergen and Carola three days and some 310km to the East, we’ve had some seriously lovely moments.

There’s been lunch with a nephew in Konstanz (we have family and friends pretty much everywhere in Germany), an evening swim in the now crystal-clean Rhine, a sparkling campsite conversation (they often happen) with a trio of fellow long-distance cyclists from South Korea, a Rhineside breakfast, and, yes, some serious climbing where Daisy continues to excel.

Even if RWGPS took us in completely the wrong direction…

Tomorrow Saturday it’s Dornach, the global seat of the Rudolf Steiner movement where our daughter Katharine has spent much passionate time – and where the local anthroposophic hospital got her through 10 days of very nasty Covid a couple of years ago.

Before that though, and with warm appreciation to colleagues and friends who’ve told us how much they’re enjoying the blog, as ever a selection of images of our continuing tandem circumnavigation of Germany, feeling, since Wertach, that we are now on our way home.

I’ve posted the following more or less in chronological order, experimenting with a larger format to allow for readable captions.

Bavaria. Ah, Bavaria. Landscapes and beer….
Lake Constance with Zeppelin
Extraordinary view of the distant, evening Alps above Lake Constance
The Swiss were using these late 1930s bunkers till the mid-90s. Proud and pleased to have kept out of Europe’s 20th century wars.
Daisy in Stein am Rhein
Glorious house painting in Stein
Germany and Switzerland are keen to support cyclists, massively more so than the UK. Down to the cakes.
Rhineside camping at Schaffhausen
Our three new South Korean friends. Google Translate helped a LOT.
The Rhine Falls at Schaffhausen, Europe’s biggest waterfall, of which I’d never even heard before 2008.
Putin cannot win.

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