Neuenburg am Rhin: Mud

September 2, 2017

It took us 7km to get through the outskirts of Mulhouse and then we were on a wide perfectly paved track beside the Rhone au Rhin canal. We had had a choice today either a very short day of about 20km taking us directly to Neuenburg or a much longer one of about 70km taking us along the EV 6 almost to Basel before turning west to follow a track along the Rhine. The weather was overcast but we didnt thing there would be any major rain so we chose the later.

We were right about that all the way until we crossed the Rhine at the beautiful foot bridge that takes you from France to Germany then a few metres further on you are on Switzerland. We crossed the bridge and found a coffee, now everyone was talking German. Weil am Rhein is rather a strange town. On the border ther are enormous supermarkets and people flood over from Basel to do their shopping at a better price. Our challenge was to find the Radweg along the Rhine. With the efficiency of German signage we did just that. When we reached the Rhine the path along it had become unpaved and it was beginning to rain a little. We resisted stopping at the cafe at it s start and pushed on. The rain got heavier and heavier and we found a little place to shelter. After about twenty minutes we decided this wasn’t doing us much good so on we went. the rain didn’t last much longer but what had happened was that the track had turned to a muddy mess with massive puddles. We had another 28km to go. Never had we had such a dirty ride we, the bikes and our luggage were all covered in muck. We did stop briefly for something to eat but just tried to get it over as fast as possible

Arriving in Neuenburg am Rhin it looked so clean with its tarmac streets and the hotel seemed pristine. What a lovely man there was at the hotel. he said did we want a hose, so we cleaned up the bikes and the luggage then into the big comfortable room (with CNN) for a hot shower. It seems a typical German Guesthouse with fluffy duvets and I bet a delicious buffet breakfast in the morning

I dont. Know what these large furry creatures beside the canal were

We were worried that swans had no babies this year but today we saw lots

The muddy track. They had been cutting the grass beside it and baled it into these small round bales

Ken said he just had to get into Germany before he saw and interesting tractor. A Guldner

This is on one of our walls Mother Theresa on the other

Today's ride: 70 km (43 miles)
Total: 1,533 km (952 miles)

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