I started out Day Three with a clicking noise from the front wheel that seemed to go away after an hour or so. I'm no mechanical genius, but doing nothing fixed it ... just saying! Also, my Hammerhead Karoo GPS unit seems to want to continually go on pause while riding ... cold early starts may not be its thing. Again, after about an hour it seems to right itself.
The ride through Bad Ragaz at 8.00am was otherwise uneventful. The backstreets were just as impressive as the town centre. I depart this town very envious of its inhabitants.
After a short ride on quiet country roads, I came back to the Rhine where I left yesterday. There is a drought in Europe, and Switzerland is not immune. Rivers and lakes here are at record low levels generally and the Rhine is no exception. It still is an impressive river. The river's backdrop of mountains looked great in the early light.
I'm feeling very Swiss. Having mastered 'Guete Morge' (Good Morning) I've now truncated that to 'Morge' similar to 'Morning' which is our popular morning greeting in Australia. We leave it to the other person to decide if it's a good or bad day. I now move on to the Swiss version of Good Afternoon (until now I've avoided eye contact after noon).
Not too long after leaving Bad Ragaz, I left Switzerland briefly to cross into Liechtenstein ... the second country I've ridden in this trip. As I crossed the bridge over the Rhine, I stopped halfway where there was a marker dividing the river along country lines. This is where I met a Liechtensteiner (yes, I looked up what the people of Liechtenstein are called) named Markus. He was so welcoming and friendly, and recently retired. After giving me a brief history of the country which he obviously loved, he did offer to take me to tour, what I thought he said, Vaduz castle. It was a very generous offer however meant riding up more steep mountains so I politely declined. I offered to buy Markus a coffee and he politely declined. I'm sure I'll regret not taking up his wonderful offer. Update: I now read that Vaduz Castle is the palace and official residence of the Prince of Liechtenstein. Markus looked suspiciously like the prince (incognito mixing with the common folk?). Regardless, Markus was a very decent human. Be like Markus.
I left my new friend and headed to Vaduz city centre. First stop, the Vaduz post office where I had my passport stamped - remember when they used to do that? I did ask if I now had access to the generous tax rates ... maybe it was a language thing but received no reply. As I walked down the mall I saw that you could get your passport stamped in most shops ... ripped off.
After a coffee and apple torte at the nearby bakery, I rode through the 135 metres of Old Rhine Bridge (an imaginative title) which was built in 1901. Traffic is now limited to bikes and walkers.
Crossing back into Switzerland and riding along a great pathway on top of a dike overlooking the river I saw my first White Stork, popular in the upper Rhine area.
I arrived in Buchs by 10.00am so thought I'd strike out for a couple more hours of riding in the direction of Lake Constance. Camping grounds (campingplatz) were becoming more prolific the closer I got to the lake, a popular tourist destination, so I didn't think I'd have too much trouble finding accommodation. The route through Buchs went through a mall that seemed lively with coffee shops. As I'd stopped and eaten not long before, I decided to keep riding ... but I needed to fill my water bottles first. Most towns have water fountains for public use ... they often look like horse troughs! So knowing this I was on the lookout ... but zero luck. After consulting Google Translate I started 'Wasserfontäne'ing anyone who looked like a local. The first three people I asked stared blankly at me ... must be tourists as it couldn't be my translation! Finally, I asked a woman who looked very intelligent ... as we discussed where I might try, she then stepped to one side and, lo and behold a bubbler! Yay!
The ride took me onto a narrow main road however traffic was light. It was uphill ... a funny way of getting back down to the Rhine! It turned out to be the best leg of the day. I rode through farming land where dairy cows and maize ruled. It was a beautiful morning ride only interrupted by needing to pull over as a piece of farm machinery thundered past or dodging cow pats!
Sadly that ended and the next leg was the extreme opposite. In what seemed endless, I rode for kilometre after kilometre sandwiched between the Rhine and a motorway ... it was so noisy. By this time the Westerly winds had come up so I was being buffeted head-on, or sideways, depending on the curvature of the path.
I finally pulled into the only shade I could find to look up the nearest campingplatz. Campingplatz Bestelluna here I come ... just another 7 km after my body said 'enough'!
Upon arrival, reception raced away to get John who was to become my interpreter. John works part-time at the park as a lifeguard. The campingplatz is a popular local haunt as it has a large lake in the middle of it from which the owners make more money than from campers. I set up my tent then went into the swimming centre for some lunch ... chicken nuggets and chips (don't ask!). The AU$25 reminded me how expensive Switzerland is (I love you but bring on Germany). Unfortunately, ĺunch didn't hit the mark however the friendliness of the staff more than compensated.
There is no shopping centre nearby and not one on my ride in, so it's a 2 km sojourn tonight to a local restaurant or brave Bratwurst und brotchen mit bier by the lake.
John, a Dutch national, dropped by to see if I'd settled in. His girlfriend works at the centre as well. I dared not ask if she was the chef! He had a fantastic life journey - burnt out and spiritually lost in his early 20s, he travelled to India where he ended up living in a small village not far from Manali (where I'd visited a few short years ago) for 7 years. Tibetans, who had never been to their homeland, were the main inhabitants of the village. Now I know what you are thinking however I surreptitiously looked up 7 years in Tibet ... John was not Brad Pitt. After Markus, I wasn't to be caught out again. John eventually met a Swiss girl and moved back here. His other part-time job is working at a local refugee camp, however, there is an outbreak of diphtheria in the camps so they've been in lockdown. He has 9 more weeks in that job and won't renew his contract - he found it too emotionally draining. John is another great human being - be like John ... or Markus ... or both.
Thanks for reading.
I'm doing this ride to raise funds for Blue Dragon Children's
Foundation. I'm self-supported so all donations go directly to Blue
Dragon. If you can give please do at ...
https://au-bluedragon.givecloud.co/fundraisers/pedalling-for-a-purpose.
Alternatively, go to Blue Dragon's website at bluedragon.org
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