We arrived in Solothurn, the halfway mark of the trip. Another cute medieval village built in the 13th century with walls to keep the bad guys out. We get tomorrow off for a hike we will skip and a river cruise we will take. It's an excellent opportunity to sleep in, seek out a local patisserie to enjoy guiltless indulgence and buy souvenirs (chocolates, cowbells, coo coo clocks, Swiss army knives, cheese, banks etc.)
Our hotel is on the River Aare which we followed for many miles today. It is also on the Swiss railway network which we will hear for many hours tonight. The hotel is a college student road trip dream. Free beer.
The ride today was flat along several different lakes. The path was filled with the young and old, a good reason why the Swiss typically live past 90 while eating all that chocolate and marzipan tempting us all week.
This is Sue's first bike trip. After the first few days of exhaustion, aches and anxiety she has really gained the strength from 140 miles of biking. It allows you the greater enjoyment of the scenery when the ride is a form of transportation instead of a form of torture. The broken bone in her foot is a mere annoyance.
Most of our group are fairly matched in skill. They do this sort of thing a lot. The lawyer from Pasadena has climbed 4 of the big 7 mountains of the world. He's here with his wife and Cal Poly freshman daughter, who is enduring us relievers of youth all pretty well. Two couples from New Hampshire spent the first two weeks of this vacation hiking the Alps. Betty from Lake Winnepisauke finally enjoyed her first day without incident. Three guys from India say little and dress like it's 40 degrees. Two gals from Italy say a lot I don't understand. There are 4 Canadiens. One couple lives in Istanbul where he works for the World Bank giving US money away borrowed from the Chinese. They are cheating and riding electric bikes. La Croix Rouge is on full alert for this guy. The other couple from Canada are from Calgary. She broke her clavicle a couple of weeks back and follows us by train. (Apparently there are no refunds.) BTW, you don't qualify as a municipality in Switzerland unless you are both charming and have a rail station with 1000 bikes parked in front.
I plan to download my camera to my iPad today and post. It's complicated but doable with the help of Stu, the Kiwi jack of all trades world traveling bon vivant tour chef.
With a threat of rain on day three only, the weather has been flat out gorgeous. 74 degrees, sunny, no humidity and no wind.