The Rhine is one of the longest rivers in Europe. There is quite a bit more to it than just the famous stretch with all the castles. It passes through an amazing variety of landscape. Beginning as a mere trickle between Alpine peaks in Switzerland it runs eastward to Austria. By the time it becomes the border between Switzerland and Austria and then Liechtenstein and turns northward it has swollen to a broad contained flood. Upon reaching the Bodensee it then turns back westward with Germany on the right bank and Switzerland on the left. After Basel it turns northward once more with France on the left past the cities of Colmar and Strasbourg. Above Mainz or thereabouts Germany is on both banks and the storybook castles begin. The Moselle flows in from the southwest as the Rhine continues northward. The great river finishes by entering Holland and suffering a name change, becoming the
Amstel as it reaches the North Sea. The little red inchworm above shows my route.I began at the ski village of Andermatt in Switzerland and rode as far as K�ln in Germany before turning back to do the Mosel. But that's another story...This picture will change
if you give it a moment.
It's much easier this year doing my first long trip with a BIKE FRIDAY. I have an Airglide and it really smooths out the paving stones that the Europeans and particuliarly the Germans are so fond of. The first benefit, however, came as I boarded the train from Paris. "Ce train ne prend pas des velos." (No bikes) the conductor said. "Ca va, je vais le plier." I replied.(It's OK, I'm going to fold it) and he passed me with a wave. No more wrapping the bike in plastic. As you can see in the photo, I didn't even have to bag it.
Leaving Andermatt my first assignment was to cross the Oberalppaβ. Five minutes after leaving the train station I was on a 5 to 11 percent grade. Twenty two gear inches got me up, albeit slowly. I could have trained up but elected to be sportisch as the guidebook termed it. At the summit the view of the mountains was really pretty terrific. The view of the screamer down though looked like someone had spilled a box of hairpins.
Rolling eastward through Switzerland the Rhine Bike Route, der Rheinradwanderweg, actually runs just on ordinary roads, sometimes with a lane and sometimes not. There are a few tunnels and some really spectacular corniche roads clinging to the cliffside high above the river. Nearing the Austrian border separate bikepaths begin to appear. Where the Rhine turns north for its run toward the Bodensee there is a choice of riding on either ufer or bank. The weg here runs mostly on the dike bordering the river or in the floodspace beneath it.
It was along in here, just before reaching the Austrian border that I had to stop for a day and have the rear rim replaced. It was fracturing laterally. I must have caught it on the edge of a cobblestone or maybe in one of the inset tram tracks. The braking surface was slowly separating and begining to strike the brake shoe. The proprietor of the local Zweiradgesch�ft simply pulled another rim off the rack and rebuilt the wheel using the original spokes and hub. As BIKE FRIDAY had promised, the MBX wheel size is very common and available anywhere.
Shortly after reaching the Bodensee, also known as Lake Constance, I decided to take a boat ride to the west end. Just wheeled the bike on, had a beer and watched the coastline go by for a couple of hours. Instead of arriving in the city of Konstanz in the middle of the afternoon, I was there for lunch. The bike path goes right along the edge of the lake and is extremely pleasant but I had promised myself a boat ride, both here and on the Rhine.
Stein am Rhein, was the stop for the night. It's a great old walled town with a lot of medieval character. Here as in most other towns people were swimming in the Rhine. They were jumping off the town's one and only bridge, floating down with the current and climbing back up to do it all over again. After Stein the bikepath was a little disappointing for a while. It did not actually follow the Rhine very closely. It also started to make detours for no apparent reason except perhaps to keep you off the road. I started to stay on the roads more and more to avoid unneeded climbs. It began to be a matter of riding on small roads through fields. What kept me going was anticipation of the next big event. 
The Rheinfals, the falls of the Rhine is the highest waterfall in Europe. This is where Sherlock Holms supposedly died at the hands of his arch enemy Moriarty. First you have a whopper of a cascade then a gorgeous waterfall. Pretty impressive. You get the best view of it from a dramatically sited schloss above it. This castle has a very classy resturant, a souvenir shop of course and guess what - a Youth Hostel. I wonder what the physiological response is to sleeping on a cot while thousands of tons of water are falling just outside the window? The climb up was on a very steep gravel and hardpack trail. The screamer down afterward, fortunately was nicely paved.
By the end of this day I found myself in the town of Zurzach, where all twelve of the hotels listed were not taking guests. Either they were closed for the day or closed for repairs, or just plain closed. As I rolled by the train station a little two car local train pulled in. I fought my way on through the closing doors and then asked "So where's this train going?" I wound up in Basel, cutting off maybe a half days ride but getting a good nights sleep.
After a night of mad carousing I left Basel and headed north along the Upper Rhine. You can too just by clicking
