August 23, 2018 to August 24, 2018
At Yverdon-les-Bains
Walk in the town, swim in the lake.
August 23 Thursday, August 24 Friday 17kms
Repairs, planning, sightseeing and swimming.
So nice to have the luxury of a couple of days to sort out the final stage of our travels. Seems like Munich, which lies between our present location in Switzerland, and Salzburg, is the start of a short but attractive cycle route into Austria. The Mangfall River Route will take us down to Rosenheim, a city we passed through on our way to Innsbruck 2 years ago on the Inn river route to Italy. This time, instead of approaching Rosenheim from the north and heading south, we’ll be coming from the west and heading east. The second part of the route from Rosenheim is the final stage of the Bodensee to Konigsee Route which we had at one time considered cycling. We decide that we will catch the train to Munich and cycle to Salzburg from there. From Salzburg we plan to cycle the Adria- Alpe cycleway to Grado. We fly back to NZ from Venice. In Munich we have arranged Warmshowers accommodation for two nights.
Having time also enables me to take my bike in to get brake pads changed and a replacement rear tyre- the tread has worn, and though I think it would do the rest of the trip it’s preferable not to have to worry about it. We take both of our bikes to the local bike shop for some minor repairs- my brake pads replaced and buy a new rear tyre. We then ride to the ‘beach’ of Lac Neufchâtel for a swim. It’s a little shallow and weedy at the start but improves further out and is cool and refreshing.
This lake is obviously a popular recreational destination and also has rowing facilities on the canal which runs into the lake. Local farmland increased in area following the Jura Water correction when the three neighbouring Jura lakes: Lake Murten, Lake Neuchatel and Lake Biel were made equal in depth by running the Broye Canal between Lake Murten and Lake Neuchatel, as well as the Thielle Canal between Lake Biel and Lake Neuchatel. This provided more farming land, and some for recreation as well as establishing wetlands for wildlife.
Our shopping experience is interesting- its at a store selling all sorts of interesting, ‘farm’ products and mainly healthy, food.
For the remainder of our time we explore the small town which has a castle, a grand town hall, a military barracks which is now a primary school and a concert hall newly refurbished in pink and white. There’s a rustic wedding being celebrated in the main square that involves a tractor as transport. Late in the afternoon we walk to the prehistoric stone circle. these are about 5000 years old. Apparently there are a number of clusters on Lac de Neufchâtel. Yverdon sits at the junction of ancient roads which may explain their raisin d’être.
Staying with Wayne and Karen who have such a detailed knowledge of Swiss politics and society has been interesting and instructive in terms of seeing how a system so different from NZ’s can work. We are also impressed at how well they had adapted to living in such a different environment, particularly in relation to jobs and education.
We enjoy our final evening chatting about education prospects for the girls and find Karen’s description of their Highland dancing club in Basel most entertaining. Celtic culture has a long reach, though its origins, I recall were somewhere in Central Europe.
Today's ride: 17 km (11 miles)
Total: 3,411 km (2,118 miles)
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