Bike Club Swiss Tour - July 2011
Ten members of the club had recently returned from Europe after completing another successful tour. We started the tour in Zürich, where we spent a couple of days before starting the ride on July 11th. We rode along three lakes and in four countries and finished back in Zürich on July 16th. Along the way we enjoyed old European towns and great panoramic views of the Alps.
We started the ride from Zürich, Switzerland (country #1) along the northern banks of the Zürich See (lake #1), until we came to Rapperswil with its old castle. We crossed over the lake using the dam. On the other shore we came to the little town of Lachen. We rode along the harbor and continued cycling along the Linth Canal, the man-made canal between Lake Zurich and Lake Walen until we arrived in Weesen.
We boarded the ferry boat to Walenstadt on the other side of Walensee (lake #2). The lake is 150 m deep and is towered over by the 1800 m high Churfirsten Mountains. Some of us took a dip in the refreshing water of the lake. This was the longest day of our tour.
The second day was a little warm. After a few kilometers we arrived at the valley of the Alpen Rhine and crossed a bridge to the principality of Liechtenstein (country #2), where numerous, impressive castles tower over the valley. We climbed to Schloss Gutenberg to look at the great view and continued to Vaduz. At Vaduz we had a long break for souvenirs, lunch and some ‘terrorizing’.
We then continued to where we spent the night; the Medieval town of Feldkirch, overlooked by the Schattenburg Castle, which is in Austria (country #3). Some of us toured the pleasant old city and the castle in the afternoon.
On the third day it started to rain. It was not a downpour but a steady rain which was enough to get us fairly drenched. The rain stopped every time we took a break. We rode in the forest along the Ill River until we reached the Rhine. We crossed over the Rhine Valley and took a train from Altstätten to Gais, which is up in the Appenzell countryside. Alpine meadows and cows, like those from children’s books, accompanied us on the hilly path the rest of the day.
At the old town of Appenzell we stopped for hot drinks and some cake at the lobby of Hotel Appenzell and then continued to Stein, where after a long uphill we stopped at a cheese factory. We got some good bread and cheese and had a small picnic in the playground next to the factory. From Stein it was all downhill to St. Gallen, where we stayed the night. In the afternoon, some of us borrowed umbrellas from the hotel and toured the old city and the beautiful St. Gallen Abbey.
On the morning of the fourth day it was wet and a little chilly, but there was no rain. We cycled downhill towards Lake Constance (Lake #3), and it was an easy ride with sweeping views. We reached the town of Arbon, where we took a break at Schloss Arbon. From there we cycled along the shoreline through villages and apple orchards on towards Konstanz.
We stopped for lunch at Uttwil, and most of us ordered hamburgers, which turned out to be a giant. Just before Konstanz we crossed to Germany (country #4) without even noticing. We cycled and walked a little bit in the old town and then continued to Mainau, the beautiful island of flowers. The island is actually a property of Sweden (country #5?). After touring the island and having a delicious ice cream-filled iced coffee (Wien Café) we rode back to our hotel, which had huge rooms but was a little freaky.
We started the fifth day with a quick tour of the old town of Konstanz and then we cycled through small Swiss fishing villages along the shores of the unter (lower) lake until we came to the beautiful town of Stein am Rhein with fresco-adorned medieval houses. After a lunch break we continued along the Rhein River to Schaffhausen, crossing over between Germany and Switzerland numerous times along the route. We took a short break across from Diessenhofen to take pictures of the picturesque wooden bridge and buildings.
After checking in to the hotel in Schaffhausen, most of us took the bus to the Rhine Falls, the largest waterfall in Europe. There we spent a couple of hours walking around, taking a boat ride to the falls and shooting hundreds of pictures.
On the sixth and last day we rode along the Rhine and Glatt rivers back to Zürich. We stopped on the south side of the Rhine Falls and at some other places that were less distinguished, but still nice nevertheless. We had a lunch break in someone’s driveway in Niederglatt with food we bought at a supermarket next door.
We all enjoyed the trip very much and everybody had lots of fun. All and all the weather was very good. We had only one day with rain, but surprisingly enough, that was the day that some of us loved the most. We are all looking forward to the next trip.
Participants:
David, Sharrin, Ronen, Tal, Loofie, Dean, Shy, Uri, Neil and Ronnie.
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