Day 68: Hochst to Friedrichshafen

July 6, 2014

Bernie guided us to the radweg from his house. It is not far, but we find the suburbs of Hochst a bit confusing. From this point we will cycle around the Lake, though not completely. We will spin off when we get to the Rhine, and use the Rhine to then head further west. So we will miss the Swiss bit on the west shore of the lake. No matter - we did it last year, and actually it is not the prettiest part.

Today was a hot sunny Sunday - the perfect conditions for the population to come out and enjoy the lake. All along the shore people found spots where they could sit and where they could go into the lake. The bike path was thronged with people - tourists with credit card level luggage, some with heavier loads, and many locals just going to the beach. Unlike in Salzburg or Vienna, though, we didn't run into any unsafe bike driving. It was all quite pleasant and sedate.

An unusual sunny Sunday activity by the lake was martial arts training

The Bregenzer Ach - Bernie's favourite cooling off river

We came to the Bregenz harbour area, where we had made our rendez-vous with Bernie two days ago, and had sat with him in the Hafen Restaurant. Already we felt nostalgic about our time there. We continued back around the lake, passing people all along who were enjoying the lake accesses.Most of these were somewhat informal, but we did pass at least one area that was more formally a "beach" and offered a lot of parking.

We sailed past the causeway entrance to Lindau island, and of course this time had no reason to go over. From this point on, it was new territory for us. What we found was pretty much a continuous "suburban" kind of development - lots of houses and guest houses, with a sprinkling of restaurants. Sometimes we were near the lake, but much of the time we we just inland enough to not see it. The guesthouses and restaurants were the only commercial development, though, so it is not as if we were wading through lumber yards, supermarkets, or anything like that. On the other hand, the route was often on road in the quiet residential streets, so it is not as if there is a dedicated bike path 'round the lake, either.

In and around the housing there were actually some open areas, and these were devoted to fruit production. This is quite a warm area, as we could see by the fact that Delia's eggplants are almost ready. So there are a large number of intensively maintained apple, pear, and cherry orchards. We bought some terrific cherries at a roadside stand, and came upon quite a few along the way. We remember from last year, even larger orchards up the opposite, Swiss side of the lake.

There was also one place right along the way that had some souvenir stores, and a church, anyway, and that was Langenargen. The church gave us a chance to get out of the sun, and it did have a nice interior, with lots of blue marble. We were interested to observe two under ten year old kids who were there at the same time as us, to see how they would behave and what they would be interested in. Apart from going up into the altar area (which one genreally does not do), the kids were well behaved, and seemed to be absorbing the ambiance, the same as everyone else.They might have preferred a playground, but they seemed ok with being brought inside this building.

There is a lot of camping available along the lake shore. We considered stopping at one just before or one just after Friedrichshafen. We decided on the one before, so we could take some time to check out the town tomorrow. The 18.50 euro camping, as always, just dumps you on a flat piece of grass - no table, no shrubbery. But at least our piece is right by the very elaborate services building, and I am typing this in the "dryer" room of that building right now. If the predicted thunderstorms also come tonight, we may do some time huddling in here as well!

From the 1500's, this is a giant wine press in a trailside display

There are many small, intensive fruit orchards

Lots of boring suburban type housing to pass through

There were quite a few fruit stands, like this

Just a cute car - anyone know what it is?

The church with the blue marble in the columns

Today's ride: 48 km (30 miles)
Total: 3,483 km (2,163 miles)

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