To Californians who are accustomed to having to drive hours to leave the state there’s a funny thrill to crossing country borders. Even the non-controlled sometimes unapparent borders of the EU.
Heading out of the Vallée Verte, France. And into a cool and wet weather pattern.First stop: Boulangerie. On to Switzerland.Even more fun when you ride a fantastic bikeway from France into Switzerland.
A map of our travels by bikes in Europe would look like the wanderings of a neighborhood cat, on a large scale. Between vacations when we worked and our post retirement bike tours we’ve crossed, criss crossed, meandered, train hopped, ferry hopped, head down and pedaled, woken up with no plan, gone with the tail wind, and any other description you can think of about our pedaling in Europe.
In Geneva enjoying our pastry break.Le Jet d’Eau in Lake Geneva.Where to now?The train station!
Our last bike tour, spring of 2024, started the same way, pedaling to Geneva, but we pedaled right through and out the Via Rhona. This time we hopped a train to Zurich, Switzerland, to get us to a new starting point.
Dueling train lunch decisions. Gazpacho for me, not Rich’s favorite.Smoked trout for Rich, not my favorite.We stopped outside the train station in Zürich to put on all of our rain gear and started the 10k ride to our hotel.Any dry spot in a storm is welcome.
After a good nights sleep, which was very welcome as the jet lag got us bad this time, we headed out towards Wil, Switzerland. Riding out of Zurich was like riding out of any city, getting through big box store areas, crossing highways and motorways, through large roundabouts, and finally seeing the wide open countryside. Well, almost any city. In the Netherlands of course, you can easily ride anywhere – including into and out of big cities. We still reminisce about our ride through Utrecht a few years back and how absolutely easy it was.
Ah. A bikeway into the countryside.Now we ride! Welcome to my world. And don’t feed me, said the sign on his fence.
One of our pastimes while traveling is building the perfect country, taking our favorite things from each place we visit and adding them to our fictional nation. We didn’t get very far on this ride before I was reminded of my favorite thing from Switzerland, Austria, and Germany. So many farm cats wandering the fields.
Usually the farm cats are too far away or too skittish for photos, but this one came over for a visit.And then started following Rich up the road.Covered bridge! This covered bridge had windows and ladders so you could admire the view.Some cow barns have automatic scratchers which start turning when the cow leans into the brush.I’m sure the locals and farmers laugh to see us snapping photos of their farmyard animals, but who can resist chickens wearing feathered footies?Smooth smooth asphalt on the bike paths.Apple season! There are so many apple trees. Well tended orchards and random trail side trees. We only pick apples from those which are not obviously part of someone’s orchard.Gardens are still blooming. Our lovely historic room in Wil. This is before we dumped the contents of our panniers everywhere.The view over Wil from our hotel. The clouds are so dramatic.
We’d been lucking out with the weather, grey skies and threatening clouds and we got to Wil before the rain and hail front moved through. The hail did catch us out without an umbrella and forced a dinner decision on us – the close burger place versus the Thai place which would have meant arriving drenched. And did we walk out of our hotel right past a big bucket of umbrellas to borrow? Yes. Lesson learned.
Heading out after our second and last night in Switzerland. It was a cold morning.What’s the first stop? A bakery. Always.No, this giant cookie did not come with us.Another covered bridge.Apple trees so loaded that their limbs are propped up.More apple trees. And threatening skies.The villages, all centered around a farm, are so charming.And welcoming. With benches and a fountain. A perfect place for a pastry break. And then the rain came down.And a very nice woman across the street invited us to shelter under her barn overhang. Climbing up, we’re almost out of Switzerland now, about to cross into Austria. My handle bar covers are still working well. Keeping my hands warm and dry.Beautiful Swiss cows wondering why we are leaving Switzerland. The signage makes you feel so welcome as a cyclist or hiker.Schloss Hagenwil. We went inside and had a look around. Mostly restaurant space but quite stunning.The chapel. Hagenwil is the only intact water castle remaining in Eastern Switzerland. Imagine what it took to build and maintain this castle.Lake Constance to the Swiss and Austrians or Bodensee to the Germans. Attention Cats! Or Danger Cats!?A train crossing. That’s an Austrian train. We’re so close!Wait! How did we get on this side of the border already? We’re in Austria after crossing a little bike pedestrian bridge.To refresh your Austrian geography, here is a map. The little left side tail which touches the lake is where we entered. That’s Lake Constance.Our one night in Austria would be in Hard, and we were both quite impressed with the space for bikes and pedestrians on this bridge into town. The engineer said “Now that’s how you build a bike lane on a bridge.” Yes, we’re looking at you West Span SF Oakland Bay Bridge.Another pristine hotel room. Before bag explosion. As a bonus, it started to hail just after we checked in. This early and cold storm, named Boris, will dump snow on the Alps and cause flooding in Czechia and Austria. We are fine though.Another cold and wet day. I’m clutching my tea thermos which is extra swaddled to keep it warm. And a bag of pastries.My favorite: quark tasha. Like a cheese danish. And a photo bombing Rich.
Riding through the countryside gives us a bucolic look at a place. It’s unique and refreshing to us, coming from the western USA, to be able to ride from town to town on safe connected pathways. We are used to some cities, including our own San Francisco, being quite bicycle friendly, but if you were to ride town to town, or city to town in the US, you would find almost no bicycle infrastructure. You would simply be sharing the road with large fast moving motor vehicles. That’s why crossing county borders by bike like we are still thrills us. It’s why we travel, to see what it’s like away from home. To get to do something we don’t do in the Western US.
And speaking of borders, hello Germany! Country four, day four.Bavaria. The southernmost state of Germany’s five states, and the largest by land mass.The happy travelers- some cold wet days have tested us, but we’re still standing.
After decades of living and working in wonderful San Francisco we gave it all up to travel the world. Not owning a car allowed us to save money and live hyper-locally. Now we’re living around the globe. Follow along to see where we are and what cats I manage to pet.
View all posts by cbink
Less Car, More Life 