Day 2: Müllheim to Thann

July 22, 2023

Testing times

There is a good reason for queuing at Basel train station late last night. Today is Saturday, parkrun day. Those who know me will appreciate that I will move heaven and earth to get my weekly parkrun fix. One of the joys of cycle touring in Europe is the ease of finding a parkrun not too far from wherever we are. Fortunately, Bruce (Tour Leader) has come onboard. He now packs running gear and joins in after years of relegating himself to parkrun sidelines.

Our itinerary for this tour has been designed around being in a parkrun location every Saturday morning. So, a hotel booking was made some months ago for Basel, chosen because of its proximity (within easy cycling distance) to the Dreiländergarten parkrun. How cool, I thought, to take part in the Three Countries' parkrun. It was a blow, then, when I saw a last-minute Facebook post advising of the event’s cancellation this week. Heaven and Earth were moved again. Our visit to the Basel station ticket office was to book (with bike reservations, of course) a train to Freiburg this morning, in time for a 9am start at Freiburg’s parkrun.

Our plans run to schedule this morning, though the Freiburg train is 8 minutes late leaving Basel station. We wonder how this could happen in the country that invented (or should have) “like clockwork”. But then we notice a posse of Swiss police leaving the train, surrounding a clearly unhappy chappy. His getaway train must have let him down.

In brief, we find Freiburg parkrun, jog 5km (though I have to have stern words with my legs, who consider yesterday’s bike ride to be enough exercise), enjoy the post-parkrun chat at the café afterwards then bike back to the station.

Phase two of today’s itinerary kicks in now. Tour Leader has plotted a new route back to France that doesn’t involve retracing our steps from Basel (so much border-hopping!). We’re looking forward to a slow regional train ride, without the drama of reservations and bike hangers, to the small town of Mullheim, chosen for its proximity to a bridge over the Rhine. A shorter ride than initially planned, some 40 km, will take us to the village of Thann in Alsace. It’s a neat plan . . .what can possibly go wrong?

People, that’s what. Too many people. We check every bike carriage, only to find all bike spaces taken up. In desperation, we push our loaded machines on board an already full carriage just in time, to be greeted by perhaps 10 bikes in the spaces allocated for two. Make that 12. We’re not getting off. Shuffling forward, we position ourselves in the middle of the carriage and lean the bikes against others of their ilk. At some stage, two passengers manage to leave the train with their bikes, both of which were buried under ours.

There’s a great spirit of camaraderie amongst our fellow cyclists. I’m standing right by the toilet door; opening and closing it for bemused customers becomes part of my role, moving my panniers away each time. A woman suggests putting my bike in the toilet in order to manoeuvre it around. What a great idea! I slide the bike and myself into the very roomy, vacant convenience (honestly, we could have fitted both bikes in there but I thought better of it. What if someone else wanted to use it for its intended purpose?). And that’s where I spend the rest of the journey, the door partly closed to maintain some sense of normalcy in the midst of chaos.

At Mullheim, a complex choreography kicks in. Four of us leave the train with the correct bikes, though this takes some time. There’s nothing like the fear of the train guard’s whistle while in mid-evacuation to hurry things along. We’ve jettisoned our panniers in favour of getting the bikes off first; no worries, though. Other people leaving the train pick up our various bags from the floor and, one by one, pass them to us on the platform. We wait thankfully as the platform empties, repack the bikes then start cycling towards France.

This sounds like enough drama for the day. And it nearly is. We cycle off the platform and immediately join the bike path pointing towards the Rhine about 10km away. There’s something special about crossing such a majestic river on a bridge linking two countries.

Back in France, we’re now on our way to the Alsace region. It should be an easy 40-odd km flat ride. We’re off-road nearly all the way and there are no problems with navigation. But it’s not that easy for either of us. It’s really hot by now. There’s a vicious head wind as we ride to the west, limiting our average speed to around 12 km/hour. And we’re climbing without realizing it – somewhere between 300 and 450 metres for the day, depending on whose bike computer we believe. When the path goes into woodland, we appreciate the shelter even if the surface is bone-shaking. Bruce is a strong rider, having completed some epic rides back in NZ, but he’s suffering as much as I am today. We get through the last 20 km by stopping often for water breaks.

Thann cannot arrive soon enough. But arrive it does . . . eventually. It’s remarkable how a shower, dinner and comfortable bed help to remind us – when it’s most needed - that we’re privileged to be able to travel the world by bike. Cycle touring is a wonderful thing Bring on tomorrow!

Today's ride: 43 km (27 miles)
Total: 128 km (79 miles)

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