DAY TWENTY… 48 miles (77 km)
The bikers disappeared early, revealing a pleasing green space, leaving only the very slow (us), or the disinterested. We eventually set off at a leisurely speed to search for French chocolate before leaving the country behind.
Then we headed for the three countries bridge. This is a bridge on which you are in three countries at the same time! Given that it spanned France and Switzerland, I’m still not sure how this is possible! Where is Germany ?
We followed the river out of Basle. This was not entirely straightforward. Then we headed for the Swiss side of the river as we had been told that this was much better for cycling. I’m not convinced by this. The whole of the Swiss side was un-tarmacked and involved riding over very potholed, bumpy, stony roads which resulted in me skidding horribly if I did not concentrate hard on the road itself, (a shame as we were passing through some lovely Swiss forests.) After half a day of bouncing about and intense heat (30 degrees centigrade) I was ready to cry and give up. Instead we crossed over to the German side as soon as possible. There was a lovely old wooden bridge and the pretty town of Bad Säckingen.
The remainder of the journey was very hilly and long, till we arrived, very late (7pm) at the campsite, not having shopped. The campsite was even worse than the last crowded one, and incredibly expensive (€26 and that did not include showers!). If last night was a tent city, this is even more so and there are even foxes here to eat anything you leave outside of the tent, like your shoes or other sundry items. I definitely want to avoid these kinds of sites in the future.
