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It was already hot when we set off this morning at around 9.30am – a sign of things to come.

We started out returning to Belfort to have a look at the citadel, which we missed yesterday. It was well worth it, the battlements are huge and there are panoramic views of the town and countryside from up on high.

      

     

We also rode around them a little with our bicycles, before exiting through the old town.

From here we made our way back onto the bike path alongside the Montbelliard river until Sevenanas, where we turned off onto a different bike route that went through Bourogne, to rejoin Eurovelo 6 along the canal.

We rediscovered the spot where we first found the Eurovelo 6 in 2012.

However we didn’t follow the Eurovelo 6 route, instead we enjoyed passing through the small towns of Brebotte, Grosne, Vellescot, Suarce, Lepuix-Neuf. Then we joined the D463, which is marked on our map as a green (scenic) route, all the way to Basel. There were quite a few trees, which was a relief as it became hotter and hotter. We stopped at a water trough in a small town and threw water over each other. The countryside also became flatter and we had some nice long (cooling) downhill runs around 15km out from the city.

I was feeling quite ill from the heat when we reached the Swiss border, just after St Louis (around 3pm). It was at least 38 degrees Celsius (from outdoor thermometer). We decided to head back to Germany to find accommodation. We reached the Rhine, and there was a place where several people were swimming – so we also stopped and jumped in – to the bemusement of nearby swans. It was a relief from the heat. It didn’t take long for our clothes to dry again.

From here we crossed the river and the border into Germany and made our way to the satellite town of Weil and the tourist office. They helped us find our accommodation and also provided information on cycle routes north along the Rhine.

Our accommodation was good, and included a fridge so we could chill our wine! It only began to cool down after 10 pm.

The first part of our journey from FesseVillers was wonderfully easy, with long downhill runs. In particular we had a run of around 8km snaking through the mountains down to Saint-Hippolyte.

We found this Roman Amphitheatre on our way into Montbeliard, just outside Mathay.

We had visited Montbeliard before, on our 2012 bike tour – heading in a different direction that time. This time our experience was not good, as the tourist info was unhelpful. They had no information on bike routes to the north, only on the Eurovelo 6 west-east path. We bought a detailed map from a book shop. We continued onto Belfort, the next town to the north. Despite the lack of advise from the tourist info, there was an excellent bike path going north along the canal.

Not long after we left town, we started having problems with my bike. The front bearings started giving in. We made it to Belfort, and to their tourist information. It was very hot at this stage. The contrast with our last tourist info experience was startling. They were incredibly helpful in Belfort. Luckily there was a Decathlon (the store we bought our bikes from) about 5km out of town. We were given detailed instructions on how to get there and they even phoned the store. We also got information on accommodation near the store and on bike routes.

Decathlon replaced the front wheel and then the back wheel started making a clacking noise, not related to the bearings. The Decathlon mechanic partially fixed the clacking noise by adjusting the back cassette sprocket, but we were not convinced that this was a permanent fix. Kris’s bike has a rear wheel that is somewhat buckled from an incident when he went through a hole in the road – so we are not sure how much longer the two bikes will last.

We found accommodation in the town near the store. This is a private room in an old farmhouse. It sounded romantic but turned out crummy with a slightly mad landlady who kept on asking questions we couldn’t understand in French. We should have gone to the hotel this time (usually we prefer the private rooms).

Today we did a big ascent over the mountains to get back into France, after much debate about which route we should take. But first breakfast at the lake….

Here is the route in detail as described by navigator Kris:

We cycled from Neuenburg / Neuchatel and started the ascent on Montagne du Droit using the existing road infrastructure with the intention to join the velo route at Boudevilliers. It was a steady steep climb with the cycling road markings on the side of the road appearing and disappearing. From time to time we had good views of the Alps.

Valangin is a cute village with a castle and the cycling infrastructure improved from there on.

At Boudevilliers we followed the main road and the cycling arrows, and we soon found ourselves en route to Cernier. I assumed that I was still on the main velo ascent route. It gradually became clear that the velo route numbers can change course and sometimes even circle back. Anyway it seemed like a good route as it was taking us to the north of Chaux-de-Fonds.

The route had beautiful views over the valley of St Limier with the Alps as a backdrop. Unfortunately we were losing height at times and I suspected the velo route may take us to the Bieler See. So we took an ascent route around St-Martin. It was a quiet road with long up-hills, shaded by a tall pine forest.

           

When we reached the top we had a bit of downhill and it became clear we will be negotiating a number of ridges. The countryside was beautiful with crisp clear colours and farming infrastructures clearly adopted for mountainous terrain. We saw a number of old farm walls built from rock.

We also saw saw two foxes along the way. From here onwards, interaction with locals was with few French words and hand waving.

At this stage we were cycling along roads that were not on my tourist map. We went down a ridge and began our ascent on the next ridge through a narrow road carved through mountain rock. After we reached the top of the hill, it became clear that we were opposite Renan (Renan was on the tourist map). Renan was at the bottom of the main plateau, along the French border and we were separated from it by a valley. We started making our way down the valley and there were lots of interesting small roads that included a big bear statue and cattle crossings. The roads to Renan was getting worse, so we went sideways to Sonvillier. From here we had a gentle ascent to St-Imier where we bought pastry from the local supermarket bakery to keep our energy up. We thought we had a short ascent to the plateau from here. We followed the main road up the mountain that was sign-posted to Saignelegier.

This turned into a long and boring ascent with road traffic that eventually delivered us between Le Breuleux and Tramelan (we peaked at 1227 meters above sea level).

From here we went up and down hills until we landed in Saignelegier. We started the descent to the French border with a refreshing 6km downhill run. From time to time we had beautiful glimpses of the border town Goumois at the bottom of the valley.

French border at Goumois:

View from climb on the other side:

From the sleepy village we began our trip to find the usual reasonably-priced French accommodation. After a 7km uphill ride we found accommodation in a Gite in Fessevillers at around 4pm. It was amazingly cheap (cheaper than camping) and we stayed. We would have rode on if our legs were still willing, as it had no Wifi or access to wine or beer. The accommodation turned out to be very peaceful and spacious.

So the lack of proper maps and improvisation made the route interesting. We did 76km, and a lot of those kilometres were ascents, it was also a long and physically challenging day.

Today Esther joined us for our ride out to Lake Neuchatel. We left Bern around 9.30am after another excellent breakfast prepared by Esther. It was great having a local guide to take us out of town and onto the cycle route 9. The route went mostly through farmland and we admired the steep pitched roofs of the farmhouses typical of the area. The wheat fields are getting ripe and are now a yellow colour. There was also corn, and lots of vegetables near the lake. Esther explained that the small village of Rosshausen means “horse house” – however there were no horses in sight.

      

The first village of notable size was Laupen – after a good little downhill run. We stopped for water from the central village fountain. Most of the village fountains in Switzerland have water that is good enough to drink.

27km into our ride we stopped to celebrate our 3000’th kilometre of the trip so far.

We had another fantastic downhill run and huge view coming into Murten, complete with lake and castle.

         

We passed along the east side of the Murtensee and then a little way along a highway. Esther suggested a left turn, which took us onto quieter roads and across a little bridge over a river. There were many people out on the river on boats. We rode alongside this river for a while, on the flats between the two lakes.

The Marin-Epagnier campground where we stayed is only about six kilometres from the Neuchatel town. We stopped to check it out and decided that we would stay there for the night, so we set the tent up.

There was a beach on the lake by the campground, full of families and children paddling in the shallow water. It was very beautiful – the lake is large and surrounded by mountains in the far distance. The water is very clear. Neuchatel is the largest Swiss lake that is entirely surrounded by Switzerland (The Bodensee is much bigger, but is partly in Germany).

We ate some nectarines and also had a paddle in the lake, the water was warm and refreshing. Then we cycled into Neuchatel to find the station, as Esther had to return to Bern by train. We did some shopping at a small supermarket near the station. Most shops are closed on Sunday’s in Switzerland, except some near petrol stations or train stations. There was a nice looking cafe nearby, with outdoor seating so we had some beers and a rice dish.

After seeing Esther off, Kris and I returned to the camp-ground to do our washing. We had our late on a bench by the lake, complete with some red wine.

Today we were treated to a relaxing day exploring Bern with Esther. We had a relaxing late start and breakfast and then walked into the city from Esther’s flat. This is the view as you cross the bridge into the city.

We had a look at the Saturday morning markets and the Parliament buildings. Then we climbed to the top of the Bern Minster (Cathedral) tower for a magic panoramic view of the city.

         

 

      

Bern has a beautiful location, with the bright green-blue river Aare snaking around it. It is ringed by mountains, including some snow covered Alps in the distance. We could see people playing Saturday morning football, and a number of groups on rubber rafts, going down the river.

There is some quirky art in the city. This modern sculpture.

And this “child eater” fountain from the 16th century.

 

           

Next we went to the Bern “home mountain” – Gurten. This involved first catching a tram, and then a cable car. There is a park, with a fun children’s playground, miniature railway and lots of families having picnics on top of the mountain.

    

We walked around and enjoyed the view. We also climbed to the top of an observation tower to enjoy views of the entire surrounding countryside. We could see the Alps 30km away and look far in each direction and it felt like we were observing a fantasy world.

      

That evening Esther treated us to a meal in the city centre, at one of many restaurants with outdoor seating. We enjoyed a beautiful French meal, with wine, while watching the world go by.

We set out planning to take a bike route to Bern mainly following the Aare river (route 8). However we did not connect to the Aare river route on our way out of Aarburg as we were camping on the opposite side of the river. Instead we picked up signs for a more direct route to Bern (route 4), so we decided to follow them. This made the day shorter than we expected at 74km.

The signs were excellent and directed us at each intersection from about 40km out of the city. Here is an example.

The ride was through easy countryside, including dairy cows with bells around their necks and many small villages.

     

We crossed the river Aare again before we entered the city. It was a brilliant blue/green colour.

We rode around the city a bit, first finding the tourist information to get maps, and then a supermarket. We bought some wine before making our way to Esther’s apartment. 

I was impressed with this bicycle parking facility near the station. The attendant told us that it was full – it costs 1 Swiss Franc a day to park.

It was great to see Esther again. Her apartment is lovely, with a veranda and garden view, where we enjoyed some local beers.

This beer is from a brewery near Esther’s home town (I liked the label a lot!).

There is a day care centre below the apartment and there was a party on for the parents and children. This was the view of some families enjoying the park below.

In the evening we enjoyed a delicious home cooked meal, with red wine and good conversation.

We had an early start. The route had an easy gradient, though the Swiss cycling roads seem to have short steep diversions every now and then (just going off the river, up and then down again).

We crossed border into Switzerland again very soon at the start of our journey. Right-away we saw the Aare river joining the Rhine. The Aare river is of a similar size to the early Rhine at this point.

The rest of the route today followed the Aare river, with many stretches alongside it.

A very bossy woman out jogging stopped and gave Kris instructions on the route to Aarburg. Having sent us along the “correct” cycle route, she popped up again on the road alongside us as she was obviously on a direct route and her instructions sent us on a short detour. She then waved her arms and shouted that we should carry on straight ahead.

We made a quick detour to look at the old town of Brugg.

      

The next beautiful town was Olten.

After Olten part of the path was actually overhanging the water – more of a walking and jogging path than a cycling path.

Here is a picture showing Swiss cycling infrastructure in Olten.

Aarburg is a pretty town as well, with a castle up on the hill above it. 

    

The campsite is just out of town. We were camping as all the accommodation we investigated in Switzerland is very expensive. The campsite was clean and the people were friendly, however the facilities are not as good as in New Zealand. For instance we couldn’t get hot water to make coffee. We were relieved that our tent worked well (this is the first time we put it up). Our very basic camping equipment did not make for a comfortable sleep.

We had a good breakfast at the gastehaus and more conversation with Andreas and Silvia, before we got packed and said our goodbyes. We hope to see them again in New Zealand one day!

It was not long into our journey when we crossed the Swiss border, this time with border posts. There are checks on Swiss people bringing goods back into the country as they have are restricted on the amount of goods they may bring in with them.

This part of the journey alongside the Rhine was very lovely.

                   

We stopped at Shafthausen, a large town with beautiful buildings, only about ten kilometres away and headed for the Swiss tourist info office. They provided us with basic maps showing cycling routes and camping sites. We also drew some Swiss Franks from the bank machine.

                 

We then rode onto Rhinefall along the river. The river is full and fast flowing – there were many impressive rapids along the way. We followed some walking tracks alongside the river before eventually getting back onto the cycling path.

     

Kris had a flat tyre and he changed the tube at the side of the road.

We crossed the river back into Germany just after Neunkirch and started meandering along with the bike paths.

          

We saw a bike path sign taking us into the woods off a busy road and followed it. The path was not sealed and got worse and worse. Eventually we were pushing our bikes up a forestry path through mud and deep ruts – we decided to backtrack and after a while Kris found a pleasant cycle route through the woods.

We did some steady climbing through green hills dotted with villages. Near the end of our ride we reached a high point and had a lovely big downhill. We decided to stop at Tiengen, at the Hotel Europa. The hotel was on the outskirts of town, and seems to cater for travelling working men (and women). It was comfortable with a huge bathroom and good wifi, though the room smelled of smoke. There was also a dodgy bar at the back of the hotel, where we had a beer later.

We had a late start, at about 11.30am, as we had to wait for Kris’s bike to be ready from the bike shop. However, our route from Reicheuau to Gailingen was manageable at only 55km. We first rode through Randolfzen, and then along the north side of the Bodensee, this part is a bit more up and down than elsewhere along the lake, past hidden castles in the hills.

We stopped at the stunning tourist town of Stein an Rein, which we had visited previously in 2012. All the buildings have different scenes painted on them and the main street is full of tourists taking photos.

We ate some sandwiches, very thoughtfully provided by Christa, on the town river front.

We were intrigued by this sign.

  

Stein an Rein is in Switzerland and we continued to cross the border in and out of Switzerland while following the Rhine to Gailigen (which is in Germany). This is a very scenic ride, with the path a little elevated from the river, passing through forests some of the time. The Rhine is very beautiful here, with clear water.

We found the Gastehaus Anita Nowak through a tourist info noticeboard and map at Gailigen town centre. It is at the top of a hill with a panoramic view of the town, including church steeple, farmland beyond and snow covered Alps in the far distance. All the rooms have full length glass doors that open onto the garden and you can sit outside your room enjoying the view.

Another couple had arrived by bicycle just before us and we got chatting – they are Andreas and Silvia from Hamburg. They both grew up in East Germany and are thinking about visiting New Zealand. Andreas and Silvia are doing a tour along the bottom of the Alps (Königsee Radweg) for a couple of weeks. They kindly provided some red wine which we had after dinner on the terrace. We had a wonderful evening chatting about many topics in a mixture of English and German.

                

 Today was a very full day sightseeing with Christa and Dieter our enthusiastic local guides.

The morning was sunny, and we cycled together about 6km to the Reichenau island. You enter the island through a long causeway across the lake and a short bridge. There is a statue of bishop Permin who founded the monastery on the island in 724, as you enter.

    

We were surprised by the number of greenhouses and vegetable farms across the island. There are also many beautiful homes, some with rooms for tourists to rent, all with bright flower gardens.

Christa took us through the Reichenau abbey church, there has been a church and monastery here for over 1000 years. Part of the church is Romanesque architecture and part Gothic. There are many treasures, including old reliquaries, a relic from St Mark, and old chalices.

              

We made a stop at a large garden centre where Krista bought some plants and then to a lakeside cafe. We sampled some local fish, and also fresh salad grown on the island.

Kris’s bicycle began to make clicking noises as we rode around and he thought his bearings were going. So Kris and Dieter took it to the local bicycle shop and they confirmed that they needed to replace the bearings on the crank shaft and the back wheel – luckily they could do it by 11am the next morning.

As Kris was now without transport, Christa and Dieter took us to have a look at Konstance by car. It is a very beautiful city with a great vibe, especially around the waterfront where there are lots of places to promenade along the lakeside.

             

             

            

That evening Christa made some traditional cheese noodles for us as a treat. I watched her make them made with special flour, egg, salt and water – she beats them very hard, and then puts the soft dough through a sieve into boiling water (there is obviously a knack to this, I don’t think I could make them). The noodles are then drained in cold water and can be kept for a day before serving. They are served fried with cheese and with fried onions on top and are very yummy.