We had another great visit this morning with Gerhard and Yvonne. Yvonne had to work today, so we said goodbye to her shortly before 9 AM, and finally pried ourselves away from their beautiful house just before 11 AM. Off we went in the direction of Basel. It was another Okanagan morning. Dry, but with low hanging cloud. It was noticeably warmer than yesterday, I thought. Keith wasn't so sure.
Gerhard's latest project, and almost complete. A flat on the ground level of his home. The house sits on a hill, so this is at grade, and then the two levels below are Gerhard and Yvonne's home.
We managed to find our way into the outskirts of Basel with absolutely no drama. There was one umleitung but it was well marked and we were back on the bike path in no time. We came across three young people bike touring and had a good visit with them. Then the bike path popped us out at the exact location we met Gerhard last year.
Scott, Rich and Sarah, from Texas. Scott and Sarah have been on the road for two and a half years! Rich joins them when he can, and evidently every time he does, it starts to rain. You can read about Scott and Sarah's adventures at www.wanderwheels.com.
The Radweg popped us out here, where we were standing puzzling a year ago about the best way to go. Gerhard offered help, and then led us to Rheinfelden, and the rest is history. We were offered a place to stay, given a tour of the Roman ruins and made new friends in Germany.
We headed up into the hills today, into the vineyards. It was a great ride, but this is off the main Radweg and frequent navigational checks and the hills kept our average speed down. I don't have a paper map for this section so I have to keep an eye on the CN...at one point today he went through a tunnel and came to a T intersection. Unaware that I hadn't gone through the tunnel yet because you had to cross the road to get there and there was traffic, he happily carried on. I got to the T and didn't have a clue which way he had gone. I crossed my fingers and headed up the hill, as it seemed the most logical way, and was just about to retrace my steps when he came looking for me. We both would have been unhappy to do that hill twice!
A golf course. There were lots of golfers out. We had a little navigational glitch here, and went down the cart path, thinking it was the Radweg. They have many similarities, and this seemed to be on the edge of the course. When we got to the tee box at the twelfth hole we realized our mistake. The upside was finding the washroom there too. Most convenient!
We arrived in the charming village of Auggen and those leaden skies were starting to drizzle. I saw the Hotel Krone Auggen, and it said it had a sauna. Hmmmmm. We inquired, the price was right, the place looked gorgeous, and we decided to carry on. We did. For about five hundred metres. Keith stopped, we looked at each other, and turned right around again. It is a beautiful spot. We have had a sauna (actually, I have had two), a swim, and are cosy and happy. I may go for a third textile free sauna before bed. Spontaneity when bike touring is great!
Today's ride: 52 km (32 miles) Total: 2,323 km (1,443 miles)
