Day 5: The Rhine

July 18, 2024

Rapperswil-Jona, CH to Buchs, CH (via Liechtenstein)

After another slow morning (I think tearing down camp takes me as long as setting up camp). Maybe I’m just slow to get moving. Loving waking up early though and I’m fully in the bike tour mindset now.

I set off around 0845 in search of a kaffee. About 10km down the road in Uznach I found it and a donut. And a croissant…. Don’t judge.

Then I set off with a goal to eat my camp lunch by the Rhine, via Sargans. More specifically instead of climbing a mountain I opted to ride around one today instead following national route 9.

The main thing to note is again how much the Swiss love their bike tunnels. I find them mega spooky but I’m glad this other lady went first in the first tunnel. Then I was left to fend for myself for the next five.

Thank you kind stranger for showing me that this is actually intended for bikes. We don’t have these where I’m from. Also it was way darker than this picture looks - the later tunnels didn’t have working lights at all.

The other thing to note is it continues to be awe inspiringly blue. Blues and greens are vivid here near these lakes and heavily forested mountains. The farm roads are also a great break between the towns.

50km down the road I made it to my lunch spot - the Rhine! That legendary river, I made it here by bicycle. That’s just nuts.

I had some bread and my final bites of Gouda for lunch. Since I was here pretty early (1400) on account of not knowing how to time non mountainous climbs given my current fitness level, I decided to take a side trip to Liechtenstein. Don’t worry it was just across the river. Here’s me in Vaduz.

The day ended in a hotel with many chores. During check in it became self evident how stinky I was after 3 days outdoors in the sun working up a sweat. Most nights I routinely wash at least the bike shorts and try to let everything else air out in some fashion until the sun goes down but that only gets you so far. The first order of business was to hand wash everything in the sink since I wasn’t sure where to find a laundromat. This probably worked up more of a sweat than the ride today.

My next rest day will probably include a real laundromat stop but this should help for now. The problem with laundry on the road is it’s typically a sit still daytime activity which doesn’t work if the plan is to keep being on the go and making forward progress on the bike ride.

Dinner was a restaurant and a Non Alcoholic beer.

I’m looking forward to sleeping in a real bed tonight but the overall vibe of my tiny bivy tent (didn’t know it was considered that till recently) has started to grow on me at least a little bit and I expect plenty more camping to be done this trip.

Today's ride: 85 km (53 miles)
Total: 345 km (214 miles)

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