Recipient: Nepalhilfe Beilngries e.V.
Bank: Volksbank Bayern Mitte eG/Germany
IBAN: DE05 7216 0818 0004 6227 07
BIC/SWIFT-Code: GENODEF1INP
Intended purpose: Gerlinde and Ralf School

Having reached the destination, the mouth of the Rhine

My summit was the end of the pier. Where a red tower with beacon signals to the ships on the North Sea that they have reached the mouth of the Rhine and that the port of Rotterdam is near. I reached this point with my folding bike today at 3.30 p.m., the twelfth day after my departure at the Oberalp Pass in Switzerland, near the source of the Rhine. 1,494 kilometers lie behind me, on average I cycled about 125 kilometers per day. The last meters on the pier felt great. All hardships were forgotten. I simply enjoyed to move slowly towards the goal of my donation bike tour “School up! River down!”.

Small expedition

The evidence: 1,494 kilometers

For me it was a real adventure, almost a small expedition. The result was quite uncertain. Would my folding bike – this model is actually intended for commuters on short distances – survive the permanent burden? Would my body stand the exertions, even though I had not specifically prepared it to sit on the saddle nine hours a day and to pedal continously? Would my commitment be sufficient, would I, if necessary, be able to torment myself through difficult situations? Would the weather cooperate? Was it realistic under all these conditions to tackle a route of about 1,500 kilometers in twelve days?

Several times on the limit

Somewhere between Dordrecht and Rotterdam

I can now answer all these questions – with a broad grin on my face – with yes. The euphoria of having actually achieved my desired goal, replaces the fact that my body and mind were several times on the limit and now urgently need a recovery phase. Like after an expedition in the mountains, it will certainly take a while before I have processed all the impressions. My relationship to the Rhine, where I spent my whole life, will be a new one, after I have ridden and experienced it from the source to the mouth.

Taken the wrong ferry

The mills of Kinderdijk

The final stage, about 75 kilometers from Dordrecht via Rotterdam to Hoek van Holland, went by wihout incidents. I admired the famous 19 mills of Kinderdijk, which stand like tin soldiers in a row on the canal. That I had to drive slalom through several groups of hectically photographing Japanese, I answered with a smile. Arriving in the village, I reached the ferry as the last passenger. However, I had to realize on the water that it did not cross over to Ridderkerk, as I had thought, but to Krimpen aan de Lek. I had to put together an alternative route to finally get back to the main Rhine route in the center of Rotterdam. The lively city with its huge harbor made me nervous. I was happy when, 20 km before Hoek van Holland, it became calmer and lonely again.

For the children of Thulosirubari

In Rotterdam

I have thought of the children of Thulosirubari not only today, but also during these twelve days on the Rhine. For them, I actually made the trip. I hope I have entertained you well and I would be delighted if I had encouraged as many of you as possible to support with your donation the further construction of the school in the small Nepalese mountain village, some 70 kilometers east of Kathmandu. If you have decided to sponsor me with e.g. a cent per kilometer that I drove, it would make a total of 14.94 euros for the project “School up!”, two cents make 29.88 euros, five cents 74.70 euros, ten cents 149.40 euros … You can also transfer any other amount, I am happy about every euro.

Please send your donations directly to the account of “School up!” of the Nepalhilfe Beilngries. Here is once again the bank account:

Recipient: Nepalhilfe Beilngries e.V.
Bank: Volksbank Bayern Mitte eG/Germany
IBAN: DE05 7216 0818 0004 6227 07
BIC/SWIFT-Code: GENODEF1INP
Intended purpose: Gerlinde and Ralf School

With the folding bike to the North Sea

Thank you for your support, also for the many encouraging comments during my tour. I would also like to thank the bikers who accompanied me on the route for the nice talks. In addition, all those who kindly showed me the way when I was once again unconcentrated and missed a sign. And last but not least I want to thank my dear and faithful folding bike, which has carried me so far without any breakdown. Both of us, by the way, were much quicker than the water which has started its trip from the source to the mouth of the Rhine on Monday last week. It takes the water about 31 days, the journey through Lake Constance alone takes three weeks.

Near Wijk the river is still called “Nederrijn”

I’m just driving down the Rhine. No way! The closer you get to the mouth of the river into the North Sea, the more complicated it becomes. Everywhere are river arms and somehow they all have to do with the Rhine, but they are no longer called so. But Waal, Maas, Merwede or Linge. With additions such as “Oude” (Old), “Nieuwe” (New), “Beneden” (Lower) or “Boven” (Upper). And then there are also canals, such as the Amsterdam-Rijn-Kanaal, which I crossed today at Rijswijk. So you can easily lose orientation. The time has passed when I was cycling along the Rhine and only had to decide which side of the river I used.

Overland, with plenty of water

Chicken uprising

Without the excellent cards, which were fixed to my handlebar bag, and the signs of the bike paths, I had hopelessly lost my way. So, however, I passed through the water labyrinth, and in fact managed to reach my destination of today, Dordrecht, without any considerable detours. In this part, the Rhine bike route hardly deserves its name because it leads through many rural areas, often along canals or small lakes.

With the ferry

Water taxi to Sleeuswijk

But suddenly you reach again one of the Rhine arms and have to cross the river with a ferry or a water taxi. The system works really perfectly. There are no long waiting times. The crossing costs for a cyclist between 80 cents and 1,50 euros. And such a ferry transfer can be quite communicative. On the way to Kop van’t Land near Dordrecht I got into conversation with another “Fietser”.

Pat on the shoulder

Ferry to Kop van’t Land

The 60-year-old asked me how many kilometers I had traveled today, where I came from and where I wanted to go. “Years ago, I cycled some passages of the tour that you have done by myself,” the man recalled. “I liked particularly the area around Rüdesheim.” Means the Rhine Gorge between Bingen and Koblenz. He gave me a tip for an alternative route to Dordrecht. “But yours is also very beautiful,” he said, gave me for farewell a pat on the shoulder and cycled away in breakneck speed.

Calves damage

Today, there were many fair weather cyclists en route. Since the morning, the sun was shining, the wind was not worth mentioning, ideal cycling weather. If there would not have been this pulling in my calves. They are crying for recovery. They still have to persist one day. Then we – my calves and I as well as my dear faithful folding bike – will hopefully stand in Hoek van Holland on the beach and look together to the mouth of the Rhine.

Still 70 are left

Signs in a garden near Leerdam

This eleventh day of my donation bike tour “School up! River down!” for the reconstruction of the school in the Nepalese village of Thulosirubari lasted nine and a half hours. I rode 124 kilometers from Wageningen to Dordrecht. In earlier times the Rhine trade ended there, what brought the city wealth. Today, Rotterdam has outdone Dordrecht as trade metropolis. I will ride to Rotterdam tomorrow and then continue to the sea. Still some 70 kilometers are missing.

P.S.: When I will have arrived at the beach, I will – if I’ll have an internet connecition – inform you via Twitter and Facebook. The detailed summary of the last day will be available after my return to Cologne.

P.P.S.: Do not be surprised if some pictures are blurry at the edges. The setting dial of the camera had accidentally slipped into the “creative mode”.

Bikers in Arnheim

It was like someone had flipped a switch. As soon as I had crossed the German-Dutch border behind Emmerich on the right side of the Rhine, I felt like I was in a different bicycle world. It all started with the fact that many more people were cycling. Seniors with e-bikes, housewives, with their market purchases on the luggage carrier, opposing the wind, large groups of bycyle racers, parents and their children, all with bikes. After my departure in the morning in Rheinberg-Ossenberg north of Duisburg, I had hardly met any cyclists on the bike paths on the dykes. This time the weather was not an excuse. It was misty until noon, but dry. And the wind blew only moderately.

Climbing wall instead of cooling tower

Leasure park in Kalkar

In Xanten I had to change the brake pads at the back wheel of my folding bike. The pads were completely down. After half an hour enforced break I was able to continue the journey. I passed the “fast breeder” of Kalkar, who never brooded. After strong protests the nuclear power station, which had been completed in 1985, was never connected to the grid and is considered one of the most expensive industrial ruins in Germany. Today, the facility is used as a leisure park, the cooling tower became a climbing wall.

Cyclists are taken seriously

On the border

I crossed the Rhine bridge from Emmerich to the right side of river. So I avoided an overpass with the ferry in the Dutch town of Millingen, which drove only every hour. I only realized that I crossed the border on the dyke because the name of the road on the signs changed. And the quality of the bike paths increased enormously. In the Netherlands you really feel like being taken seriously as a cyclist.

Car only a guest

Cyclists first

No matter where you want to go, whether the road is wide or small, there is always a bike path. Almost always without the road holes or other damage to the covering which you find on many cycle paths in Germany. Also the signposting of the routes is first class. And the car drivers are reminded that they should take care of the cyclists. “Auto te Gast”, the car is the guest, is written on a sign, which marks a „Fietsstraat“, a bike road. The priorities are simply shifted.

Still around 200 kilometers

On the ferry to Huissen

It was a giant fun to enqueue with my little folding bike in the convoy of Dutch “fietsen”. I was rolling quite comfortably. After ten days of my donation ride “School up! River down!” my body is no more able to ride faster. But even so I come forward. Today I stopped after more than nine hours and a distance of 120 kilometers in Wageningen, 25 kilometers behind Arnhem. So I far I have managed to ride 1,292 kilometers since the start at the Oberalp Pass in Switzerland on Monday last week. The mouth of the Rhine near Hoek van Holland is only about 200 kilometers away. Slowly I start to believe that I could reach my goal in the given time window until Friday. Keep your fingers crossed!

Still relatively fit behind Leverkusen

I had to think of Marcel Wüst today. “Do you really believe that after a difficult mountain stage of the Tour de France, we could be back on the next day as if nothing had happened?”, asked me the former German road bicycle racer at the end of the 1990s. “Actually, we urgently need a rest day. But we do not get that. So we have to help ourselves, according to the motto: Permitted is what is not on the doping list.” Today I felt like after a mountain stage. Yesterday’s ride with 186 kilometers was still working hard in me. My legs were heavy, I tortured myself with my folding bike further down the Rhine.

Little headwind

Port entrance in Duisburg

During the first ten kilometers – according to my experience, they are the most difficult of the day, because the body has to come to life – my wife accompanied me. This distracted me and I was not listening to my body talk. Behind Leverkusen, however, I cycled alone, on the left side of the Rhine. It was cool, but dry. I felt very quickly that I would never and ever on this ninth day of my donation bike ride “School up! River down!” get into the same “flow”, which had carried me the day before from Bingen to Cologne. The low point came somewhere between the towns of Neuss and Duisburg. The wind was rather a breeze compared to what I had experienced last week in the south-west of Germany, but it came just from the front and slowed me down. I had little reserves to keep it.

Coffee and grain

Power station behind Duisburg

So I was almost happy to reach the industrial plants of Krefeld and later Duisburg, which blocked the wind. In Alt-Homberg, a suburb of Duisburg, I decided to strengthen myself in a bakery with a cup of coffee. Caffeine is no longer on the doping list. While the machine was brewing the coffee, the saleswoman told me about a bicycle tour she had made with her Dutch bike from Frankfurt to Duisburg many years ago. “In the Taunus I ruined my knee,” she said. “It took almost half a year before I was free of pain again. I would have better taken the route along the Rhine.” I didn’t tell her that after nine days of cycling along the Rhine my legs felt like a soft currant bun. Instead, I bought two grain bars.

Not finished room

Sheep herd shortly ahead of Ossenberg

Was it the coffee or were it the bars or the combination of both? Howsoever, the last section of this bike day was a little easier. However, this time I had some difficulties finding a bed for the night. “The next trade fair in Düsseldorf is just around the corner, we are fully booked with business people” explained a hotel employee in Rheinberg, some 20 kilometers behind Duisburg. On the next call I got a refusal too, on the same grounds. However, only first. A few minutes later the hotelier from Rheinberg-Ossenberg called me back. He had a room which was just being renovated but not yet finished, he said: “A bed is there, a sofa and the bathroom is functional. Do you want this room at a special price?” What a question! Of course, after 117 hard kilometers from Cologne to Ossenberg. Afterwards, I allowed myself what is also not on the doping list: a „Robber Spit“ with 300 grams of meat, a huge portion of fried potatoes and a beer.

Between Bingen and Koblenz

Is there a better flow than one that you experience at a river? After this day I can hardly imagine it. Everything fitted together. The weather remained dry until the late afternoon, the cycle paths from Bingen via Koblenz into the direction of Cologne were in good condition, and my little folding bike almost wheeled by itself. On top of that I had an ideal travel companion with Kai from Cologne, who I first met shortly after Bingen.

Short distance

The Lorelei

We drove about the same speed and had a lot of conversation topics. Like that hours were flying and almost as if by itself we made kilometers. I can warmly put to your heart especially the Rhine Gorge between Bingen and Koblenz if you ever want to do a cycling trip. There is a reason that this section with all its castles and the Lorelei belongs to the UNESCO World Heritage.

Length of a stage of the Tour de France

Thunderstorm behind Bonn

In Remagen Kai’s and my way separated. From there on I cycled all by myself. And still I felt quite fresh. At 5 p.m., after 135 kilometers, I reached Bonn. Now the ambition grabbed me. The prospect of meeting my family and sleeping in my own bed freed the last powers. In this last section, however, I had to deal with a lot of water coming from above. Almost in the dark I passed the cathedral of Cologne, 20 minutes later I stood in front of my own door. Out of breath, but happy. The day’s summary: almost twelve hours on the road, 186 kilometers. Some of the stages of the Tour de France aren’t longer than that.

Everything for the children of Thulosirubari

Cologne at nightfall

And I definitely feel that now. After the calorie stores are replenished, I only want to go to bed. On the eighth day of “School up! River down!” I also cracked the 1000-kilometer-mark. As a reminder, every kilometer I drive brings money to the “School up!” fund, with which we finance the reconstruction of the school destroyed by the earthquake in 2015 in the small Nepalese mountain village of Thulosirubari. More than 500 children from the mountain region are already looking forward to finally being able to get out of their provisional corrugated-sheet classrooms. If the flow leaves me, I simply think of these children. And keep rolling.

P.S. If you want to support my donation trip and don’t know exactly how it works, just click here.

Via the vineyard

The temptation was waiting at kilometer 90, just behind the village of Nierstein near the town of Mainz. Once again I was on a diversion (this time, for a change, exemplary signposted) and had driven for a while through vineyards. In the villages I had seen a lot of people sitting comfortably in “Strausses”  drinking new wine and eating onion tart. The sun was shining and I thought: If I would not try to ride as many kilometers as possible for “School up! River down!”, I would now for sure take the time to set in. I remained hard and continued cycling with my folding bike. Behind Nierstein, below the “Red Slope” – named after its clay sandstone ground and known for its excellent Riesling wines – about 30 people blocked the bike path.

Wrong direction

Serving of wine in Mainz

As I wriggled through, I realized the reason for the blockade: winemakers served their wine for free. “Do you also want to drink a glass?”, one of them asked me. I had to think of Abdel-Kader Zaaf. The Algerian professional cyclist had drunken wine during a stage of the Tour de France in 1950, had laid down under a tree to cure his hangover and, after waking up, had driven in the wrong direction. So I declined the friendly offer. Later in Mainz, I passed another serving of wine, but this time the temptation was not so great. After all, I had driven at that point 111 kilometers and wanted to go on for another one or two hours.

One week on the road

This rain front passed me

Nine and a half hours after the departure in Altrip near Ludwigshafen, I stopped exhausted in Bingen am Rhein. The look at the odometer compensated me for the hardship: today 149 kilometers. I would never have done the last sixty kilometers if I had succumbed to the temptation behind Nierstein. Then I would probably have laid down as Abdel-Kader Zaaf once did – and like him would have later driven back. For a week I am now en route along the Rhine for “School up! River down!”. The result: a total of 868 kilometers, so far no noticeable breakdown (the chain jumped off twice, but that does not count), and I also remained without any falls. I wouldn’t mind if things continued like this. Tomorrow in the direction of my hometown Cologne.

Departure in morning fog

I will sleep well, no matter how loud it is. “I have to warn you,” said the hotel staff at the front desk. “We have three wedding parties today, and music might be played until 6 a.m.” The hotel in the village of Altrip, located on the so-called “Blue Lagoon” about 15 kilometers from the gates of Ludwigshafen, specializes in the align of weddings. On the other hand, it also offers a special discount for bike tourists. Exemplary! And so I stood around 6 p.m. in my bike pants in the hotel lobby, a few meters away from me one of the three brides – and many guests who were dressed up. “Don’t worry,” I answered to the receptionist. “I’m all run down, I’ll sleep like a stone.”

Dead end

Idyll near the Murg estuary

Another 130 kilometers are in my bones. This morning, Ralf Dujmovits brought me and my folding bike back to the spot on the Rhine near Söllingen, where I had finished yesterday’s stage of “School up! River down!” By noon, I had – now almost obligatory – once more lost my way. I followed a bike path sign, which obviously did not belong to the official Rhine bike tour – and suddenly I stood in front of the Murg, a tributary of the Rhine, without a bridge at that point. So I had to drive almost two kilometers inland to get back on the right track.

When father and son get lost

Shared path

In Karlsruhe I had arranged to meet my son Jan, who is temporarily working in the town of Stuttgart and wanted to accompany me for a while. We found ourselves, but then not the right way. We followed a bicycle sign, which led us to a pebbly path right on the Rhine, which was almost impossible to drive with a loaded bike. Not enough, we landed in an industrial area from which there was only one way out: back. We lost three quarters of an hour. After this misfortune we decided to switch to the other side of the Rhine which Jan had already rode by bike. A wise decision. Here we could roll comfortably. Asphalted and well signposted paths. No wind and only a short rain shower, the end of which we could wait for.

Achilles says hello

At the gates of Speyer

In the late afternoon our paths separated in Speyer. Jan drove back to Stuttgart by train, while I decided to continue cycling a bit further to the north at a moderate speed. After nine hours on the saddle, I decided to finish today’s stage. I could hardly have driven much further. Climbing stairs does not work so well, my Achilles tendons are stressed by the constant pedaling. My calves anyway. But otherwise I’m fine. Tomorrow morning, the next stage along the Rhine towards the town of Mainz is waiting for me. After a deep sleep, no matter how loud the three wedding companies may be. Let them celebrate!

Not so alone as it looks like

It was the day of encounters. At first I cycled – for a change, in sunshine – along with a Swiss from the town of Zug, in his mid-60s, tanned, on a mountain bike that had already seen better days. “I’ve stopped working after 45 years,” the cyclist told me. “And now I am fulfilling my life dream. I always wanted to make a long bike trip.” I asked him how much time he took for the ride along the Rhine. “I’ll see how far I get until winter,” he said, grinning. In the further conversation it turned out that he was also a passionate mountaineer. He had climbed all four-thousanders of his home country, said the Swiss: “Actually, I had always dreamed of climbing Mount Everest one day. But tourism on this mountain has nothing to do with the way of climbing that I like.”

By ferry to the other side

Also a companion

With a heavy heart, I had to allow the Swiss to race ahead, I could not keep up his surprisingly high pace in the long run. But I did not go alone for long. My next companion was a 77-year-old local who is usually doing a half-day bike trip every day, in good weather. “I have to be back home by noon,” he told me. “Otherwise, my wife worries.” I owe him that I did not have to go a long way around the town of Rust (which most people know because of the leisure park nearby). This was a peninsula, the local expert explained to me at the decisive parting of the ways. Therefore, it was better to change to the French side, and to return later to the other side with a ferry. No sooner said than done. This was a really good advice. And by the way, I added with France the fifth nation on my tour down the Rhine after Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria and Germany.

Over the creek

From stone to stone

Shortly after I had said good-bye to the senior, I landed in a dead end. “Have you not seen the sign?”, asked a man who was standing with his old bike on the Rhine. I had overlooked the sign. I now had two alternatives, the man said: either to go back one and a half kilometers or follow him on a secret path: “But you have to cross a streambed. I get over there with my bike. But I do not know whether you can do it too with your packed bike.” I thought: What he is able to do, I also can. I followed him on the trampled path with nettles and brambles. The streambed was not dry, as I had supposed. Instead, I had to carry my folding bike across some boulders, in between water flowed. I took off my saddlebags and brought first the bike and then the luggage over the bridge of stones. After all, I could continue my journey without a long detour.

Moral support

With Nancy Hansen (l.) and Ralf Dujmovits (r.)

The fourth encounter of the day was a planned one. In the town of Kehl, I met Ralf Dujmovits – the so far only German climber who has scaled all 14 eight-thousanders – and his life companion, the Canadian climber Nancy Hansen. They wanted to accompany me on their mountain bikes a bit of my way along the Rhine and thus support me morally. Together with Ralf and the Austrian mountaineer Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner, I had launched the campaign “School up!” at the end of June 2015 to rebuild the school in the small mountain village of Thulosirubari, which was destroyed by the earthquake in Nepal on 25 April that year. My donation bike trip “School up! River down” is to flush further money into the project, so that we can pay the ongoing construction work at the new school.

End of the day trip after 125 kilometers

Water from above and below

I really enjoyed sharing a bit of my way with Ralf and Nancy. Besides, I almost forgot my tired legs because of the good talks. Even a heavy downpour, the first of the day, could not cloud our good mood. In the town of Söllingen we finished the bike day – for me after 125 kilometers, for Nancy and Ralf after 45 kilometers. I spend the night at their house in the town of Bühl. Tomorrow morning they will bring me back to Söllingen, where I will continue my journey down the Rhine. I have now managed 589 kilometers in total. Some were quite exhausting, but encounters like today’s compensate for all the hardships.

Basel in rain

The man was so wrong. “This is passing by and it will be raining in the Black Forest,” the hotelier said in the morning in Laufenburg when I drew his attention to the threatening black clouds in the sky. His weather forecast stood up to reality about ten kilometers riding with my bike, exactly to Bad Säckingen. There it began to rain and did not stop until the early afternoon. The way to Bad Säckingen, I had heavy headwinds, even squalls, which had torn branches from trees and made garbage bags drifting across the street. At the same time, I even wondered if I was cycling in the right direction: the storm caused waves on the Rhine against the direction of flow. Well, I thought, if now in addition rain comes along, the weather inferno is complete.

Muddy bike

Clean is different

It turned out to be not so bad. The rain replaced the storm, so that I was only wet, but could ride at a decent pace. Around noon I reached the Swiss town of Basel, in the shower mode. My shoes and stockings were now drenched. When I had left behind the town Weil am Rhein, on the German side of the river, it finally stopped raining. At exactly 2.10 p.m. – I was so surprised that I looked at the clock – I actually noticed the first sunrays of the day. Magic? And the wind was blowing in my back. I enjoyed riding along the Rhine through the region Breisgau with a quite constant speed of 20 km/h. Small drawback: The continuous rain had soaked the non-asphalted cycle paths so that my folding bike after a while looked so muddy, as if I had made a cross-country trip.

Sprayed clean

This rain shower fortunately passed me

From time to time the sky darkened, but the showers were all short. And so I was able to make up a bit of the time which I had lost during the rainy morning. If there was not this stupid, rather long-distance detour in Neuenburg – the bike route along the Rhine was blocked because of a construction site – I would have even reached a little further. So I’ll spend the night in Breisach. Again in a “biker’s hotel“. This is not only known by the garage for the guests’ bicycles. Before I placed my folding bike there, a staff member of the hotel connected a hose to the water line and sprayed the bike and my dirty saddle bags clean. If this is not a service! Not only for all sponsors of “School up! River down! “: Today I rode 120 kilometers.

P.S. This time I did not describe my physical condition. Only so much: My calves would give me the finger if they could. Since they can not, they simply hurt.

At the Rhine Falls

I am exhausted. What a day! I feel I have fought constantly. Against the heavy legs, my weaker self, against some, thank God, only short rain showers – and especially against the headwind. It has made me almost see red. It began already shortly after the start in the town of Kreuzlingen, when I rode along the so-called Untersee, the lower part of Lake Constance, before it flows into the River Rhine again. I was happy that the announced rain showers first stayed away, but the wind blew straight in my face. And this in addition to the fact that I really felt the first two stages of my donation bike tour “School up! River down!” with a total of 226 kilometers within two days in my calves.

Over the hills

Stopover at a vineyard

In the small town of Stein am Rhein, where Lake Constance flows into the Rhine, I crossed to the right side of the river. There I first put on my raincoat – for nothing as it turned out, because the rain shower was short. But the wind remained. Finally I reached the Rhine Falls in Schaffhausen, about on the half of the stage, clearly after the scheduled time. Because of the uncomfortable weather there were much less tourists than I had expected. From Schaffhausen I rode my folding bike to the town of Waldshut-Tiengen – “over the hills”, as it was written in the tour guide. That should have made me think. In the hilly terrain, bike paths are often dirt roads with sometimes steep ascents. A couple of times I had to dismount my bike and push it.

A cup of coffee to come down

Bike route signs in Schaffhausen

I had my mental low point, however, at the trip distance of 80 kilometers. I was now on top of the hills and was looking forward to finally driving down again. However, the headwind was so heavy that, with great effort, I was only able to ride down with just 15, 16 kilometers per hour. At some point I roared at the wind: “What have I actually done to you?” The next moment, I felt it was quite idiotic. I went into a snack stand and drank a cup of coffee. After that I felt better. Perhaps I had really impressed the wind with my outburst of rage: it calmed down a little bit.

One night in bed

In total, I rode nine hours with my folding bike today. I managed 117 kilometers despite all the adversities. This time I allow myself to spend the night in a small hotel in Laufenburg-Luttingen which is specialized in hosting cyclists. Yesterday’s starry and therefore cold night in Kreuzlingen was little relaxing. With my ultralight sleeping bag I was quite “underdressed” for these temperatures, so I was cold and woke up again and again. Today I urgently need a few hours of deep sleep to regain strength.

300 g steak at the end of the day

Disturbed idyll: The Swiss nuclear power plant inLeibstadt

You may ask yourself what I eat and drink during the trip. Today, I took a pack of Peronin for breakfast, full of calories. The powder, vanilla flavor, is mixed with water, one portion has 1,907 kilojoules. It has been developed by the South Tyrolean adventurer and arctic specialist Robert Peroni. En route, I ate a croissant, two “Landjäger” (spicy smoked sausages), a chocolate and a power bar, plus two cups of coffee and two liters of water. After the arrival I filled my calorie store again: starting with a bouillon liver spaetzle (a regional speciality) and then eating a 300 g steak with fries and salad. So I have some calories again to burn tomorrow.

Nice bike path, less nice weather

I know every rain is a kiss from heaven. But there are days when you do not want to be kissed, at least not from above. Unfortunately no one asks. This morning in Bad Ragaz, I had to pack my tent already wet. I started to ride in rainwear. After all, the involuntary shower ended after half an hour. I cycled down the Rhine with my folding bike for a long time on the dike top of the right side of the river. So I made flying visits in two other countries, first Liechtenstein, then Austria. Again and again some drops fell, but I could not bring myself to put on the rainwear again.

Along the “Old Rhine”

The “Old Rhine”

In contrast to the previous day, when landscape continued to change, I felt the area was rather monotonous. This was mainly due to the fact that the mountains on the right and left side were covered with clouds, so I only saw the Rhine and the bike path. Near the Austrian village of Koblach, I changed the river side and thus also the country. Now I went back to the Swiss shore. Just as I paused under a bridge to eat an apple, there was a thunderstorm. This is called luck. In addition, the short, but violent downpour cleared the sky and the sun appeared for the first time on this day. I enjoyed the ride along the “Old Rhine”, where it had once flown into Lake Constance. Today, this part of the old river bed which was separated by the river’s degradation is a nature reserve.

Great bike paths

It can be so beautiful

When I finally reached Lake Constance, I saw the next rain front and thought it would hit me, but again I was lucky. I just got into the fringe of the rain. It was hardly worth to wear the rain gear. Afterwards, it became sunny and warm again. April weather in September. The beautiful bike path along the shore of Lake Constance earned the sunshine. In terms of the quality of the cycle paths, the Swiss can almost compete with the Dutch, and the sign posting is also exemplary.

Behind the curtain

The disaster is approaching

In the end, however, the rain caught me, just before the town of Romanshorn. This time there was no escape. Saint Peter opened the flood gates. I tried not to be impressed and continued cycling in raincoat and rain pants. In Romanshorn I passed a farm, which had laid apples for sale in front of the barn. I went to the farm. The farmer signaled to me from the window that I should throw the money into the box on the table. He did not want to set a foot outside. His wife then watched behind the curtain whether the man hooded with rainwear really paid. Otherwise for sure she would have chased her husband out.

My tent at the lake

After 20 minutes the rain was over and the sun was shining again. I enjoyed the cycling, if one can still say that after 100 kilometers in the legs. My tent is pitched at a campsite in the town of Kreuzlingen, right beside the lake. My balance on the second day of my donation bike tour “School up! River down!”: 115 kilometers. The rain probability of tomorrow’s Wednesday is, by the way, unfortunately still higher than today. Heaven will kiss me again, whether I want or not.