November 5, 2013
Four countries, no passport, one day: Now that's worldwide!
The exact point at which I crossed from Austria into Liechtenstein was not marked, but I soon realised that I was in a new country as the signs and the markings on the bicycle path became different. Now I know what you're thinking, you're thinking that I've become so desperate for countries that I've started making them up. But I promise you that I'm not, Liechtenstein is a real place, and it's in the UN and everything. It is quite small, but if you look very closely at a map of Europe, perhaps with a magnifying glass, you will see it, sandwiched between Switzerland and Austria.
As absurd as it may seem I had actually been to Liechtenstein before, on my way from Switzerland to Munich the previous summer, and so I wasn't too worried about rushing through it now. The last time I had been I had visited the small capital of Vaduz and then been caught in a fierce thunderstorm and had a wonderful conversation with a slightly overweight young Liechtensteinian under a big tree, which is, by the way, the perfect place to stand in a thunderstorm. It didn't really matter, therefore, that this time I just stayed on the bicycle path by the river all the way and spoke to precisely no Liechtensteinians.
I could have actually taken a bridge across the Rhine to Switzerland after one kilometre, but I decided I should do at least ten kilometres before I considered the place bagged, and so I kept cycling south on the Liechtenstein side for a while. It was really wonderful because big jagged mountain peaks rose on both sides of the river, snow clinging to their slopes and sparkling in the afternoon sun. It is a slightly unfortunate situation for the Liechtensteinian tourist board to have to deal with the fact that the most beautiful thing to see whilst in their country is actually the mountains on the other side of the river, which are in Switzerland. But the views were wonderful, as was the cycling along the flat river on a smooth bicycle path. As I rode happily along I thought to myself 'This is why you do this! This is why you put in all the crap miles, its for moments like this!' Pure, perfect, blissful cycling!
LIECHTENSTEIN SUMMARY
Time: Two and a half hours
Distance: 25 kilometres
Best bit: Wonderful cycling
Worst bit: Learning to spell Liechtenstein
Top tip: i before e except after t
05/11/13 - 95km (25km in Liechtenstein)
Today's ride: 25 km (16 miles)
Total: 9,189 km (5,706 miles)
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