Yesterday was a day to celebrate my son Ben’s wedding to Sharon. It was a beautiful event, with meaningful vows, surrounded by close family and a few friends.  We later celebrated with more friends and family back at the Steinemann household.

Festivities included a traditional Steinemann treasure hunt in the nearby forest, bride and groom included.

Massive kudos to Judy, Stefan, Joy and Devita for all the work behind the scenes and on the day.

This morning it was farewell to Bern and my home for the last 7 nights. I was up early, packed for my next adventure – bikepacking across to Italy.

I arrived in Zurich by train and needed to meet my first navigational challenge……I needed to find my riding companion Geoff at an allotted cafe!!  Up and down a few escalators in the sprawling Zurich railway station and I found him ready to roll…well not quite, he needed a coffee first.

Geoff hails from Mudgee in New South Wales and is a friend of Tony and I, whom we met on the London to Venice trip. He flew in this morning on the long haul flight from Sydney, put his bike together at Zurich airport and rode to the railway station.

Jetlagged he was determined to get 100 km done and dusted.

So the obligatory starting photos: 

Navigationally the plan was simple….follow Zurichsee, Obsersee, and Walensee until we hit the border with Liechtenstein. We would follow a variety of surfaces including sealed roads, sealed bike paths and gravel tracks.

This next picture is near the base of Zurichsee where there is a thin isthmus before Obersee.

For lunch we stopped at a village supermarket and sat by the river beteeen two lakes. Heading off this view way nice ( the mountains I am referring to!). But check the size of Geoff’s backpack. Don’t think I could carry that up some of the mountain passes we need to cross!

The colour of the lakes water is an amazing green.

Riding along the edge of the third lake, Walensee a tunnel looked ahead…after my scary experiences a few days earlier I was feeling ok, as we were on a bike track ! Probably not long…

It was not 1325 metres long, but a decent length as you can see…how awesome as this is infrastructure just for cyclists, and walkers. There were about three we travelled through.

Nice house and backdrop.

Bike path signs..

 

By mid afternoon rain was looming high in the mountains and we felt a few spots of rain. we had just ridden into Sargans, which is bordered by the Rhine River and Liechtenstein just a few km down the street.

We had no accomodation booked and we saw a sign for Marion’s Bed and Breakfast. Geoff tried unsuccessfully to haggle the price. A very lovely, welcoming couple who have a fan going on our hand washed cycle clothing.

They made suggestions for dinner, and the lady who worked at that restaurant just happened to be driving past and they arranged or us to have a lift.

We had a wander around town which boasts an interesting history dating back to medieval times, a Schloss ( castle) from 1282, and the dominating Mt Gonzem.

Todays route of just over 100 km.

 

Geoff hit the sack early, not surprisingly tired from his flight. I learned two things today about him. Firstly, he has asked me to ensure he does not have more than two beers, otherwise he might become belligerent and sarcastic. He only had one!

Secondly, he seeems to steal stuff. He found a set of VW keys in his pocket. He is unsure how they got there, or even whose keys they could possibly be? Did he collect them in Australia or Switzerland??  Who knows, but if you are missing your keys, they are at Marion’s B&B in Sargans, Switzerland…😬😂

Time for me to get some sleep for tomorrow’s big climb. As I finish up, this is the view out the kitchen window of the B&B. Goodnight Switzerland.