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.