We're really lucky. We finished our 300 mile 9 day ride (1 day rest in the middle) without ever getting wet. It's pouring out now after arriving dry and attending our celebration dinner here In Rorschach. Our hotel, Schloss Wartensee, is high up on a hill above Lake Constance. You can see over to both Germany and Austria. You get here by a cog railway.
Bikes are already on their way back to Geneva via rail service. You can send a bike anywhere in Switzerland, unaccompanied. The Swiss really treat bicycles well.
The last two days were ridden under the threat of rain and as I said, it didn't. Temperature was ideal for riding a bike though. Nonetheless, all, including Sue and I, are done. Every day they kept taking our stuff so we had to chase it to the next hotel. No choice ride your bike. It was a great time but my feet and hands are tired. We take a train back to Geneva via Bern for one last dinner with our group, then home on Monday.
The last several days we have been up in higher pastures. Cows with bells dominate the very lush and green Swiss landscape. There is a lot of fertilizer for growing crops These days though we see a lot of horses and dogs too. The presence of horses is obvious on the bike paths which can best be described as more organic than expected. The Swiss have a lot of dogs and are breeds I rarely see. They are all fuzzy and usually large. Very well behaved too.
Both of the last two days were long and tiring. Some of the discomfort is self inflicted with too much alcohol at night. I also think our guides zig zagged across the country looking for any hill to have us climb.
Small cheese, milk and ice cream makers sell their products out of their homes along these paths through meadows. We stopped at all of them I think. No processing, just as natural as 100 years ago. The raw milk was only refrigerated. Tasty. We met the cows that provided the milk for the emmantaler cheese we ate. The ice cream had intense flavor. I bought some cheese and hope to get it by the beagles at LAX! I am confident our two weeks of laundry will disorient their training.
I would write about the last two hotels more if I could read German. We are deeply in areas that are not touristy and the locals don't speak English. Last night we stayed in an old Benedictine Abbey with a beautiful church in Fischingen, which is in the middle of nowhere. Everyone was wakened to organ music at 6:30 am today. Thanks Father.
Tonights hotel is an old fort high above the lake. The meeting and dining rooms are old timber and stone from the 1500's. Our bathroom of course has followed us from the other hotels.
Sue enjoyed herself beyond her expectations. Besides the friendship of the accompanying group, beautiful scenery and experiences, you really learn how to ride a bike with the help of experts. Hopefully we'll do more in the future. Most of our group do this every year. The Italian ladies head to another trek in the Czech Republic, the Italian guy from Toronto working in Istanbul and his wife head to South Africa. The three amigos from India are off to somewhere I didn't quite get. The Pasadena lawyer and I plan a ride from San Luis Obispo to San Barbara in the near future.
If I didn't mention it or imply it, the Swiss have it figured out. Good for them. While we were spending our boom time money on flat screen TV's, they were building new bridges and railroads. They are always fixing and cleaning everything. Geraniums are everywhere. Everyone's hiking, biking or just walking around.
Soon we hop aboard the friendly skies of United. We expected pods on the flight over but got old seats. I asked the flight attendant where were the pods? Her response? Where's our pension? Oh well back to life as it really is.