2014 - Zurich to Amsterdam by Bicycle

Forecast: 10-22 deg C, cloudy with some showers; Listed distance: 77km; Actual distance: 80km; Cumulative distance: 822km; Av speed: 16.1 km/h; Strasbourg: 14 deg C; Sarrebourg: 18 deg C; Wind: headwind 11-18 km/h; Start time: 7:55am; Stop time: 3:30pm; Ride time: 5h11m The hotel at Strasbourg was an absolute gem, with aircon (so you can close the window to keep the noise of the drunks (who don't have inside voices) and the soccer hoons out) lovely room, friendly and welcoming staff and a superb breakfast including scrambled eggs and little sausages.   Left just before 8am and it started raining soon after.   So, we stopped and donned the raincoats and shower caps (on the helmets), however the rain didn't last that long.   The headwind, however, did.   It didn't seem to matter what direction we were traveling, the wind changed direction just because it could!   It was also uphill all the way.   We usually plug along at about 20km/h, but today with the hea...

Forecast: 10-20 deg C, rain and thunderstorms; Listed distance: 73km; Actual distance: 73km; Cumulative distance: 742km; Av speed: 18.5 km/h; Colmar: 16 deg C; Strasbourg: 19 deg C; Start time: 7:55am; Stop time: 12:30pm; Ride time: 3h50m As we had a little over 70km to do today, we decided that we should get going as soon as we could. We didn't have breakfast as we were still full from the pasta we had last night. After checking-out and paying the bill, it was close to 8am by the time we left, so not quite as early as we would have liked.  We were on a canal path within 3km of leaving the hotel and that is where we stayed all day. The first canal, Colmar Canal is not navigable by boat on the section we rode and is now just used for recreational fishing and as an irrigation channel. The next canal, Rhine Rhone Canal takes boats on the 30 odd km approach to Strasbourg.  It wasn't a picturesque day for scenery by any means but it was peaceful, with the canary like birdsongs co...

Forecast: 15-27 deg C, a damaging afternoon thunderstorm!; Listed Distance: 44km; Actual distance: 61km; Cumulative distance: 669km; Av speed: 15.6 km/h; Mulhouse: 16 deg C; Colmar: 24 deg C; Start time: 7:55am; Stop time: 1:15pm; Ride time: 3h51m Despite leaving close on 0800, we still didn't get to the hotel until after 1300. We knew the distance was going to be more than 44km, however not 60km! There was a distinct lack of signage hence we took the mountain bikers route in some parts which saw us riding over very rough, cobbled, dirt roads. It was not a good day as we were constantly stopping to check Google Maps and occasionally backtrack. We thought there would be a plus to be riding through many little villages - we would get to see some lovely sights and find somewhere nice to have mornos. Just after 10am we were riding through a little village and decided it might be a good place to stop. We couldn't find a coffee shop for love nor money. Even the corner store didn...

Forecast: 14-27 deg C, mostly sunny; Listed Distance: 38km; Actual distance: 39km; Cumulative distance: 608km; Av speed: 15.7km/h; Basel: 16 deg C; Mulhouse: 30 deg C; Start time: 8am; Stop time: 11am; Ride time: 2h27m. Although we didn't have far to go, only 38km today,   Greg knew there would be quite a few road works happening so thought it would be best to leave earlier to beat the peak hour traffic.   So after probably our last self-cooked meal for a while, we were on the road by 0800.   A 2.7km ride saw us out of Switzerland (for good this trip) and into France via an unmanned border post.   This was also the last time we saw Germany, albeit from across the Rhine. We'll miss the German/Swiss efficiency but we won't miss the Swiss cost of living or the need to juggle two currencies.   Greg read somewhere that one in eight Swiss is a millionaire and we both reckon they need every franc to be able to afford to live in this country.    From here on...