Day 7, 3 6 2014, Breisach to Mariastein
On returning to the Rhine from the Black Forest, the main impression is how the Black Forest seems to lack the prosperity of the Rhine area. We noticed that our hotel last night was very well patronized and had the look and feel of a place doing well, where the feeling of the places in the Black forest were that they were doing it hard. The hotels and restaurants we stayed at were poorly patronized. We also noticed that much less English is spoken, a view confirmed by some travel guides.
This morning was very easy, rolling along on a well-made bike path alongside the Rhine past crops and orchards. But by the time we reached Weil, we were over the “green tube”. This is something I have mentioned before. The path is defined on either side by forest, and you can see nothing other than the path and adjacent water. Not particularly interesting.
A very attractive feature of much of Europe is the definition of field boundaries by walnut or cherry trees. Cherries are ripe at the moment, and we stopped by a tree on the track to eat a few.
Navigation through the Weil-Basel conurbation was not difficult, but perhaps a bit tedious.
We stopped in Basel just long enough to get maps and guides, then rode out on Swiss national route 7, the Jura route. We have been to Basel before, and while it is a lovely city, felt no need to spend more time there.
The climb out of Basel was very gradual, but increased to around 7% for the last couple of kilometers into Mariastein. This is the Jura, so we expected hills. If it doesn’t get too much steeper we will be reasonably comfortable.
We stopped for the night at Mariastein, the first town with accommodation outside of Basel that we found. It is eye-wateringly expensive for what it is. Similarly, dinner at the hotel was expensive, but excellent.
After checking in, we found that the adjacent kloster also offered accommodation. We asked one of the monks about it, but other than confirming that it did, he could tell us no more. We asked about accommodation in other klosters, and he said he understood that there were guides, but he couldn’t help. He was such a nice chap, but needs to get out more.
100Km for the day.tan
The map is a bit of a mess as the GPS file did not download properly.
Roz says: six new cygnets with huge mother swan in the morning light, so beautiful. What is it with time and bells? We are next to the bell tower and from 6 till 7 the bells rang constantly, now it is every half hour, not just the basic ding but the full bizarre clanger and smash!! The hotellier assures me the ding donging will cease between 10 and 5am, lets hope he is right!!
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