Eurovelo 15

Basel, not Basil

by twowheeljourneyblog

Today we had moderate and enjoyable ~56 km ride ride from Laufemburg, Germany with a destination of Basel, Switzerland. The hills were manageable and for the most part we we’re on well paved bike paths. We didn’t start to notice or be bothered by the heat until we were about 15 km out from Basel. There were a few sections of gravel and rocks and riding on busy roads especially once we entered Basel. I kinda totally hate depending on the driver’s of big trucks to not run me over but today was alright and everyone made it to the hotel in one piece. 🙂
When we got to Basel my jealousy of Mark’s injury overtook me and I got trapped in my own clip in bindings, catching myself on the same hand I fell on a few weeks ago back home. Obviously I was not wearing my riding gloves that would have saved me from yet another “pavement palm” situation that I seem so keen on experiencing the past few years. It’s really not bad at it all and minimal blood was involved. I made sure to explain to Mark how much better it is to catch yourself with a hand rather than a face but I digress.

I do not remember the name of this town at all. It was in Germany by the Swiss border. Gerard explained to us that many of the villages close to Switzerland were spared in the Second World War. So this cathedral dates back to the 1700s we postulated but have no actual references to cite.
A very ornate interior as we have come to expect from the Baroque era chapels
We finally started to see some signage for the Eurovelo 15 trail we are following. Wahooo we are on the right track!!
We were taking this path through a very wildlife heavy setting and met some of the most docile birds I’ve ever seen. I couldn’t help but be intimidated by this mama swan with her cute little furball babies. I tried to be as nonchalant as possible but obvious needed pictures of this.
I gingerly approached mama swan to take a better photo of her and her family without threatening them. Some ignorant ass man actually kicked her on purpose while I was doing this!!!! Why do humans suck so much sometimes?
THERE WERE SO MANY SWANS. Yesterday was about the abundance of hills. Today was the abundance of swans. I couldn’t get a good vantage point to really capture how many there were but this photo shows just a fraction of them.

We clocked just about 35 miles and experienced 96 degrees Fahrenheit upon arriving at the hotel.

I immediately treated myself to a bier when we arrived at the hotel as one is wont to do. I was extra excited to see that I could maybe win a trip to the mystical USA for a BBQ!!
Basel city hall! It’s pretty old and beautiful and cool, yada yada. We didn’t make it to Old Town until after 6 so everything but bars and restaurants had closed up for the night.
This is a bit of a fuzzy photo but it commemorates the first time Mark and I have taken public transportation all by ourselves in a foreign city. Our dear tour guide Gerard had to get back to his real life duties and we bid farewell to him this afternoon.
Cheers to our last night in Switzerland! Where water costs more than bier and everyone can bicycle up mountains.

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