Day 14 – Mon 23 Jun 14, Schaffhausen (Switzerland) to Bad Sackingen (Germany)

June 23, 2014

Forecast: 14-27 deg C; Listed Distance: 70km; Actual distance: 78km; Cumulative distance: 493km; Schaffhausen: 15 deg C; Bad Sackingen: 30 deg C; Wind: NE-E 3-6 km/h; Av speed: 15.5 km/h; Start time: 7:46am; Stop time: 2:30pm; Ride time: 5h

We awoke to another brilliant morning and the sound of ravens and pigeons on the roof of the nearby church. Quite a change from the Rainbow Lorikeets and Galahs, etc in our garden at home. Whilst the nearby bell tower sounded every 15 minutes during the day, they must have turned it off after 10pm as neither of us heard it during the night, despite having the window open for air. As we were able to have breakfast earlier this morning, we were able to get going earlier. Our first stop was at the Rhine Falls to have a look – Wendy thought it was a rather large rapid instead of a waterfall, but it was amazing anyway. We originally rode to the Swiss viewing platform from which the view was not that spectacular. So, we retraced our steps and made our way to the German side, where the views were excellent. We even found some information on the falls. We took some photos and moved on.

Things started to get interesting from then on. By that Wendy means she was building a lot of character as there were a few little climbs on the way today, as evidenced by the elevation profile. Wendy had to walk up a few, stopped and started on another, and made it up a few without stopping or walking! Even Greg struggled on a few, but not too many. We only took this route after Greg read his notes from the last time he did this leg and he went on the Swiss side mostly and it turned out to be 100km on really difficult paths (hilly and gravelly). Although some of the paths today were gravel, they were quite easy going. We also did a fair bit on the side of the highway complete with big trucks doing at least 100km/h. That was not very relaxing! We stopped in Waldshut for lunch where we found a supermarket with a bakery and bought some cokes and buns and had them with our rolls made at breakfast.

We crossed and re-crossed the Swiss and German borders a number of times during the day, with the most interesting one being the last for the day near Koblenz. There were major road works happening and it was a bit scary trying to navigate through the one lane construction areas with big trucks coming up behind you.

Anyway, we made it through alive and continued to follow the Rhine albeit at a distance. We eventually found a lovely bike path for the last 15km or so and arrived at the hotel at 2:30pm only to find check-in was not until 4pm! So, Wendy did a 'Tinkie' and rang the bell marked 'privacy' and the lady came and checked us in. After arriving in Bad Sackingen, we realised we were only 50km from where we started in Zurich. Talk about taking the scenic route!

We showered, relaxed and updated the blog and note, and then walked the 2.3 km into town for dinner as the hotel restaurant is closed on Mon nights. The first place we came to was Italian and as we were both very hungry and a little weary, we ate there. Wendy had spaghetti carbonara and Greg had risotto marinara, each with a 0.5l beer. Both meals were delicious and after the walk back to the hotel, dinner was well and truly settled.

The hotel (Hotel zum Hirsch) is right on the main road and the traffic is heavy and constant. None of these hotels seem to have aircon, only heaters, so you can't just close the windows as you would slowly suffocate. Fortunately, the temperature dropped a fair bit overnight, so we could half-close the windows and still sleep quite comfortably.