Irsee, Germany to St. Margrethen, Switzerland
miles today 72.3
miles so far 2,638.4
feet climbed today 3,635.0
feet climbed so far 82,022.0
We had breakfast and left Irsee in a light rain around 8am.
We immediately started climbing uphill. In the rain. On gravel. Through the forest.
The suffering was lessened by the beautiful views.
I've seen several deer stands along the cyclepaths.
Several of the cyclepaths that we've been on lead right through someone's farm. It seems odd to go through someone's property like this but there are lots of cyclists and some cars, so it's a normal thing.
When I stopped to take a picture, the cows came running (and bouncing) toward.
There was one wire between us.
After two hours of climbing (and walking) hills, we had only gone 13 miles. We had 55 more to go!
Here is the road construction of the day.
And the associated traffic jam.
Then we came to this giant downhill... very steep. It was mostly straight, so only a couple of scary turns.
I stopped after the first turn to take a picture and almost didn't want to get back on the bike! This picture is looking straight across to the castle. I had no idea we were going to go down then ride up to it!
Or rather, walk up to it. It was very steep going up. I actually saw 20% grade on my garmin as o was pushing my bike up.
The top...(one of these girls had ridden up... no electric assist either).
the mountains on the left are in Austria (we are still in Germany).
Then we cycled along Lake Constance.
We had decided to cancel our non-refundable ($85) room in Isny (at mile 40) because of the weather forecast. Lynn called and reserved a room (without giving cred card info) in Bregenz at 4 Lander Hotel Deutschmann. We got there around 7pm.
As I was taking a picture of the hotel (and Lynn was too), a woman came out yelling that she doesn't allow pictures of the hotel to be put on the internet. She asked if we are staying here and kind of cooled off when we said yes. She went back inside.
Per usual, we rolled our bikes in with us to check in. Then she came out from behind the desk yelling at us that we can't bring those bikes inside the hotel. Then she yelled... no room for you. We went back outside to look for another place. After about 30 minutes of looking and calling, a man came by on a bicycle and asked if we needed a place for our bikes. We said we needed a room and a secure place for the bikes since we didn't have good locks. He said he was the owner of the hotel and that the bikes cannot go inside the hotel. He has a place outside for the bikes with cameras. We said cameras don't keep them from being stolen and that we didn't have good locks. He said "good bye then" and rode away.
Lynn called an Ibis hotel that was nearby but it was $500 per night. They had another Ibis 5 miles away that was $200... so we took that one. We rode another 5 miles to St. Margrethen. We crossed the Rhine River and unknowingly crossed into Switzerland.
We got to the hotel around 8pm, hungry, sweaty, stinky and tired. We left our bikes outside to check in. The gal behind the desk said they have a bicycle garage. We asked if we could take them to the room. She smiled and said, "yes, of course". Huge relief!
After showers, we walked 450 feet to a pizzeria for a $30 pizza (and one bottle of Sprite).
So, this is why I didn't post a blog last night. I knew I had time to do it today since we have no plans except to wait out the rain.
Last spring, Lynn was out for a ride and met a girl in New York who was from Hard Austria and wanted to get together when Lynn was here. It didn't work out with her but her dad was here. So, he picked us up this morning and drove us around the area and took us to a bakery for breakfast. He told us about the area. He told us the Rhine River had been straightened to try to keep the area from flooding. It carries water (and debris) from the Alps and dumps into Lake Constance. During the war when people were fleeing from Germany, this confused a lot of people because they thought when they got across the Rhine, they were across the border, when they actually were not. The border is on the smaller canal or original Rhine River. Also, the big straight river has to be dredged quite often so it won't build up with debris.
List of German words
Toilet = Toilette
Ladies = Damen (this one took me a while)
Gentlemen = Herren
Changing table = Wickeltisck
Thank you = Danke
Exit = ausfahrt
Entrance = einfahrt
Morning = morgen
List of Austrian words
Get out and stay out
