nbjtours

Day Two

Triesen, Liechtenstein

98 miles 2474ft climbed

The first thing to say before launching into todays blog is that no cyclists were seriously damaged in the pursuance of this trip. NBJ Tours is proud not to have had any accidents in 15 years and over 20,000 miles of cycling but today we had two within ten miles.

Firstly in coming off the main road to join a cycle path Nick failed to see that the kerb was raised a bit higher than it should have been and taking it too obliquely lost his front wheel and ended up on the deck. He banged his knee and elbow but dusted himself down and we went on our way.

Then just ten miles later as we were negotiating round Zurich a bit off piste where there were big concrete posts holding up a building Chris glanced down at his Garmin then glanced off a post and ended up on the pavement. Luckily he too suffered nothing more than a grazed elbow to match Nick’s earlier effort. No serious damage had occurred and our Dr was not summoned nor was worried about the injuries.

Knowing the day was a long one we were up and out after our porage by 7.25 with most of the rest of the campers still shuttered up. It was less than a mile before we crossed the Rhine and left Germany to go back into Switzerland We immediately ended up running on a bike path next to a lake and despite the early time saw a good number of twichers with their binoculars out looking for avian life. We even stopped to climb a large lookout a remarked how this made Bough Beech and its twichers seem second division.

Running mostly along the Limmat valley into Zurich navigation was good although the town of Brugg provided a challenge as we were caught out by two underpasses. one I took by mistake and another we struggled to find and spend an extra ten minutes or so before we got back on track. A couple of short climbs then led us onto the mostly gravel path beside the river. It was turning onto here that Nick chose to lie on the pavement!

It was still quite early and the river paths were full of joggers and cyclists out for their morning exercise Coming into Zurich we made a bit of a detour to cross the river on an old railway bridge and seeking this was where Chris had his argument with a post.

Dusted down we passed a section of river/canal that had been converted for swimming and was busy with people enjoying the warm weather. Sweeping through Zurich we coffee’d in a park on the outskirts overlooking Lake Zurich as trying to organise a rendezvous in the city was too complicated.

The next section of the day was running alongside the lake on a cycle path and was probably the least enjoyable riding of the day. At least it was mostly flat and we saw countless fancy cars going the other way including some nice 1960’s US and English examples.

Lunch with Nigel and Monica was at the far end of the lake after around 25 miles with still over 40 to go. Having set up in a great spot Nigel gave short shrift to the lady who told him he couldn’t camp there After all he was only airing the tents and setting up for our lunch.

The end of the lake was not much further and we then had a link section across farmland to the next lake Walensee. The landscape was by now becoming more alpine too.

Interestingly it appeared locals would get on anything that floats and then let the very rapid current take you down from one lake to the next needing no effort to whizz along Just requiring a lift back

Swiss railways are legendary and we ran alongside them often today. Two points to note were that big security fences are not required( we could have walked onto the tracks where ever we wanted and the trains are so quiet. You could not even hear them clatter over the rail joints. Quality engineering.

We had decided on a quick tea stop at Walensee just before a couple of road tunnels. The last 25 miles were then probably the most surprising and fun of the day.

Here a cycle path ran next to both a road and railway sometimes one side sometimes the other and occasionally in between. Now the most surprising section of all was a cycle tunnel which we entered as the road entered its tunnel we started out below the road with the road on the right and ended up above the road with it on our left!

Just after this we had a nasty surprise of a short 28% gradient as not all our cycle path had been tunnelled!

Just after this we rejoined the road and we’re immediately overtaken by a lady on an electric mountain bike. Nick as we know does not like being passed and we then proceeded to chase her down and overtake her. Nigel captured this above and it has to be said she was very pleased with her efforts and encouraged us off as we sped along.

The last bit of the route saw us cross another flat valley bottom having a quick stop for a Karen flapjack before the final push along the Rhine ( yes it’s back ) then crossing it again to move from Switzerland to Liechtenstein. The day top and tailed by crossing the Rhine to move from one country to another. The campsite was then a short climb away to finish a satisfying and long day at around 5pm.

The site is good and expensive. Apparently the GDP here is one of the highest in the world, but the Population is only 38,000.

Nigel barbequed Swiss sausages with Monica’s coleslaw and new potatoes in butter for the menu this evening After such a good day everyone was too tired for cards and went to bed.

The cycling infrastructure in Switzerland has been amazing and that has been reflected with the number of people we have seen cycling in families and groups along these paths. A few. Lycra clad warriors but mainly those out for a gentle cycle with friends along the smooth and flat valley paths. Most have had electric bikes too. The converse issue to this wonderful resource has meant it has been quiet hard planning a rendezvous with Nigel and the camper where our routes coincided. However if you fancy a surprising cycling holiday try the flat traffic free cycle paths in the flat valleys of Switzerland

Tomorrow sees the biggest climbing day of the tour as we enter Austria