Aarau - 47° 23' 32" N 08° 02' 36" E

By -
Kilometre 0 - Leaving Bischoffsheim

After breakfast with the the Bouviers, we left their front door on our fully-laden bicycles, headed for the Bischoffsheim train station. The forecast had been for rain and the skies were delivering on their promise. Through the rain we went, refusing to let the drizzle dampen our spirits.   We were catching the 07:54 TGV to Basel, Switzerland to meet Gord and Jenny at the train station, jump on our bikes and begin the odyssey.  They met us as planned and, after a few bike adjustments, started towards Aarau and our beds for the night.

Gord and Jenny are all we could want in riding (and travelling) companions - positive, adventurous, talkative (helping the kilometres fly by), experienced and capable cycle tourists.  We are glad to have organized the trip with them.  This is going to be so much fun!

Town fountain in Aarau

Navigating the densely-populated European cities by bicycle would be a daunting challenge, were it not for an extensive network of bike paths that stretch from Amsterdam to the southern tips of Spain and Italy, as well as east and west across the continent. The trick is finding them from where you are in any given city. We did go 'round and 'round through Basel until we found and recognized the proper signage. Once we did, the going was great, cruising along the relatively flat riverside pathways. We left the city, cruising past schools, outlying suburbs and eventually farms.  Then we got the first of the hills.
Sixteen percent grades are not something that anyone should have to experience on a bike.  Super-powerful, multi-thousand horsepower locomotives AT THEIR BEST struggle greatly to climb ten percent grades.  We spent the middle part of the day grunting up roadways littered with the collapsed bodies of alpine-bred mountain goats that had ATTEMPTED the climbs we were currently endeavouring. We did, eventually, make it to the top of the 788 m high pass between Ormalingen and Rothenflue.  The road then took on a more gentle, roll.  We cycled along paths of fresh green hay, interspersed with wildflowers. As we wound our way along the rural road, we saw few cars despite going through many lovely villages.  The villages were beyond picturesque, with rough-hewn log beamed barns and houses built so close to the road (or maybe the road built so close to them) that you could run your hands along them as you went by. Cobbled, winding roads passed the village church as we made our way along the bike route (clearly and reassuringly signed at every corner and intersection of our 68 km ride).

Through the rolling hills

By 5 pm, we were in Aarau and were at our AirBnB for the night. Out for dinner and beer to reward ourselves, we ploughed through huge piles of pasta. We had a quick walk around the old part (inside the old town walls) of Aarau, and yes, it is quaint and scenic. A bit touristy, but fully functioning.

I'm looking forward to seeing how my legs do with a night's sleep and a fresh challenge tomorrow.




Comments

Post a Comment

Check out our most popular posts!

Moving Aboard - 49° 38' 27" N 01° 37' 00" E

By Kate and Sean -
Image
Wow, that was a big week.  We are exhausted. ... and smitten! Monday was a paperwork day, but aboard Chinook.  We went over the contract, item by item, to ensure that everything the contract stated would be delivered.  There were a few things missing or incomplete (mixups in ordering, vendor delivery timing issues) but they were noted with written assurances that they would be delivered, changed out or corrected.  This all needed to be clearly stated before we transfer the lion's share of the purchase amount to Garcia. Signing and double-checking the contract Anything that wasn't in place, was incomplete or not working properly would be dealt with by the warranty team.   There was no refuting that they had delivered A boat. We had no idea how she sailed and there was no way that a single day of inspection would allow anyone to check every bit of the more-than-5000-person-hours of labour that went into this sleek looking vessel. The "Grin and Grab" p
Read more

Leaving Chinook and heading back to Canada - 49° 38' 27" N 01° 37' 00" E

By Kate and Sean -
Image
 Yep, you read correctly.  Our plans have changed, as plans often do and our 2024 is looking somewhat different from what we wrote in a previous post - A Rough Plan for 2024 .  Chinook will be left safe and sound at Port Chantereyne Marina - with her Garcia friends! We still plan to head to the UK and Ireland after Easter and will spend until mid-June cruising around, exploring the area and putting Chinook through her paces.  Our plan is to sail to Alderney, just off the coast of Normandy, on Easter Monday or Tuesday.  It is a short hop but has some major tides that can run up to 10kn so we need to time our departure well.  We bought the "Aurigny' (Alderney to the English-speakers) courtesy flag from the local chandlers here in Cherbourg We will then cross the English Channel to Portsmouth and work our way west along the coast of England to Wales and Scotland before heading south along the eastern Irish coast.  We need to be back in Cherbourg by mid-June for the 3-month warran
Read more

Garcia Boatyard - 49° 38' 48" N 01 35' 47" E

By -
Image
When we rocked up to the Garcia office for our Monday morning meeting, we couldn't help but notice that a mast-less Exploration 45 was parked outside the shed door where we had previously seen our hull parked.  Could this be o-u-r boat? Nice boat.  Could it be ours??? Marie, our project manager, confirmed that it was our boat!  Although we had come to the yard to put the Boat Show goodies that we had acquired into Garcia-provided storage, we were meeting with Christophe, the after-sales guy to go over spare parts and after-delivery emergency equipment that we were putting on our order.  We would not be getting a look ON BOARD this marvellous aluminium creature.  We would just be admiring through the meeting room window.  Our boat tour was tomorrow. The next day, we had mistakenly thought that the meeting was at 11 am, rather than the scheduled 10 am.  at 10:15 we received a text message from a puzzled Marie.  "Are you coming for the meeting?  Don't you want to
Read more