We left our bus stop early and went in search of a cafe in Frederichshafen for breakfast and internet access. We had coffee and pastries at a smart waterfront bakery that advertised wifi and failed to deliver.

So we set out on our ride around the Bodensee to Reichenau Waldsiedlung (85km), to visit Christa and Dieter, who we had met at Neustadt.

We have done part of this ride in 2012, but don’t mind repeating it, as it is such a stunning area. It hadn’t rained overnight, but it was raining lightly again as we set off. The rain set in after a while and we stopped at an internet cafe in Meersburg to wait it out and to email Christa. After a while it did ease up and we set out again.

We passed a couple of bizarre fountains – this one in Uberlingen

       

And this one a little further on.

There was a road detour near Ludwigshafen, which took us right off the road and up a steep hill, which was quite slippery with many tree roots. We had to even push our bikes part of the way. The view over the lake was stunning.

   

We stopped at the same country road shop that we had in 2012, to buy some cherry liqueur and cheesecake. As we were about to leave I noticed that my tire was completely flat. After pumping it up again, we made it a few more kilometres to Bodman, and it was flat again. So Kris had to change the tube. For some reason the tyre was very tight on the wheel, so it took some time to get it off.

We spent the evening in Bodman on our last trip, so visiting again brought back happy memories, including seeing the bed and breakfast where we had stayed was still going.

We found that we couldn’t continue our journey along the lake from Bodman, so had to cut across inland again, passing Radolfzell. There was a steady climb through farmlands, with many roadside stalls selling summer fruits, and then a downhill run until we reached a turnoff for Reichenau Waldsiedlung. This is a suburb about 6km away from the island of Reichenau. Most of our journey as on superb off-road cycling paths.

We had a generous reception from Krista and Dieter at their home, including coffee and home made cake on their garden veranda. Dieter made a traditional meal for us, including Spargel (fresh white asparagus), potatoes and salad. We enjoyed seeing the photos of their visit to New Zealand.