Day 29 Switzerland/Germany 17/10/2010 Wagenhausen–Ramsen–Singen–Mühlhausen–Engen 18.91miles/30.5km, 2hr11minutes, av 8.6mph.

Woke up to grey skies and drizzly rain. Not far to go today due to the uneven distances of the camp-sites. We also took a bit of a short cut off the official route and decided to avoid riding around the shore of the Bodensee/Lake Constance.

Today we officially said farewell to Switzerland when we crossed the border in Ramsen. The plan was to carry on across country and then rejoin the Eurovelo route 6 at Singen. Clearly the reason that no maps exist for this section is the fact that they haven't put any signs up yet. At the very least we couldn't find them!

Fortunately we had a compass as we followed the cycle route signs through Singen. If we had stayed on the marked route we would have ended up very west of where we were supposed to be. We soon got ourselves heading back in the right direction and by way of a few of the omnipresent hills we made it to Mülhausen. From there it was a straight ride into Engen.

The camp-site seems nice, although we as yet haven't found anyone to pay and it's at the top of a steep hill. Still it's nice to arrive at lunchtime and have a leisurely afternoon.

We have a long one tomorrow as we pick up the main route along the Danube. A beer may be in order tonight!

PS. A beer was indeed in order, as was a funny evening in the restaurant with some of the camp-site residents. We quickly had all of them discussing the merits/stupidity of trying to cycle to South Africa. All this was translated through the one English speaking resident.

Day 28 Switzerland 16/10/2010 Wagenhausen/Stein am Rhein.

It was wet and cold this morning, so we are giving our legs a rest before we make a big push onwards over the next few days. The forecast is suggesting the possibility of snow, so we are hoping that doesn't happen.

We took a stroll into Stein am Rhein to have a look at the lovely buildings and pick up a few supplies for tomorrow. We should be waving goodbye to Switzerland from tomorrow as we head north into Germany.

Take care all.

Day 27 Switzerland/Germany 15/10/2010 Zurzach–Rafz–Schaffhausen–Diessenhoffen–Stein am Rhein–Wagenhausen. 38.57miles/62.45km,4hr06minutes, av 9.4mph

Very cold this morning but dry at least. We crossed the Rhein once again and continued through Germany along our way. The road if anything was hillier than the day before and we began to feel like we were pedalling for ages and making very little progress.

Once again the border changed quite regularly. Which if you are planning on buying things must make for a bit of a headache, as to which currency you need. There are even some border signs and barriers along dirt tracks and through woodland.

After what had felt like an all day climb we came to the outskirts of Scaffhausen and immediately were greeted with a terrific downhill section right down to the Rhein. The only trouble was that the now Swiss cycle signs wanted us to go back up the otherside. We were rapidly running out of gears on the 15% hill, that would take us back to the main route. When the track then turned to gravel and we were greeted with two 20% descents and a fallen tree, we were beginning to wonder if the signs were wrong. The route then took us back over the Rhein, which begs the question why we didn't stay the other side in the first place!

With 20km to go Debbie started getting a lot of knee pain and we rather limped our way past Diessenhofen, which had a lovely wooden bridge across the Rhein. From there on, it was another steep climb and then a descent into the very pretty town of Stein am Rhein. The mural painted buildings are like something out of a fairytale. We crossed the Rhein once again and eventually made it to a very nice camp-site and are currently camped right by the Rhein. If it wasn't about 500m to the showers, it would be even better.

Day 26 Switzerland/Germany 14/10/2010 Basel–Rheinfelden–Bad Sackingen–Zurzach. 46.84miles/75.67km, ride time 4hr28minutes, averaging 10.4mph.

Lovely, waking up in a warm apartment and getting a cup of tea without having to light the stove! It was with something of a comfort hangover that we set off once again along the Rhein.

The weather has really turned and it feels like winter is around the corner. Let's hope it lasts a little longer otherwise it is going to be pretty miserable. Especially as we have to head north for a while to join the Danube.

Today's journey was spent flitting between Switzerland and Germany. The border seems to take on a slightly random shape along the Rhein. For a while we stuck to the German side until the path turned to gravel. We then swapped over to Switzerland for the remainder of the trip. Most of this was spent along a road, which admittedly had a cycle lane, but when lorries are flying close past you it isn't much fun.

I think it's safe to say that the hills that were absent during the first part of the route have now arrived with a vengeance. Sorry to any of our friends living in Switzerland who basically regard these roads as flat, to us flatland Norfolk dwellers they are very steep. The German side of the route gave us an indication of the terrain when we had to climb up into the many pretty villages as the path took us away from the Rhein. Most of these detours were because of train lines that we seemingly had to go over or under at a regular frequency. These short but steep climbs were almost always followed by short but steep descents. In Switzerland however the road just seemed to go up and up.

It was with quite tired legs that we finally arrived in Zurzach and found our camp-site. Passing a nice thermal baths, with no time to visit didn't help much either! Oh well life on the road, an early night is called for I think!

Day 25 Switzerland 13/10/2010 Basel and a very nice apartment!

As previously suggested the hangovers we woke up with were good ones. Good job we were only moving across the city this morning!

After a few trips back to the room we eventually got all our gear downstairs and attached to the bikes. We then set off on the brief trip across the river to Howard and Fiona's apartment. Their directions had been good and we found it without any trouble. Howard came down to meet us and helped us move our gear, while the bikes got locked safely in the garage.

It was fantastic to have the use of the washing machine, when we figured out how it worked! Plus we got loads of research done on our coming route and managed to locate some camp-sites along the way. Just having a bit of space and time to regroup has helped enormously.

Jeff came over in the afternoon and was joined by his girlfriend Lea later that evening, when Fiona cooked us all a lovely meal. We had a fantastic evening and we can't thank our hosts enough for their hospitality. We hope to see you all again sometime.

PS we hope your exam went well Howard.

Day 24 Switzerland, 12/10/2010 Basel. All on foot!

Breakfast is included! Swiss hostels are very expensive, so its nice to get something for free. We filled ourselves up as much as we could and then headed out into the city to have a look around.

Starting from the hostel we walked up the hill, past the mysterious church that although closed in appearance always seemed to have organ music coming from it. Ghosts or a tape recorder, your guess is as good as ours.

Typical our first stop is covered in scaffolding! The Cathedral apparently has an interesting knight on horseback slaying a dragon statue. We could see the top half but as to the rest of him I wish I could tell. Mercifully you can still see enough of the building to have a look around. From the Cathedral we followed a walking tour, that Debbie had picked up from the hostel. Which led us through the medieval streets of Basel. Up and down quite a lot of steps and some steep hills. The city centre is very pretty, with an interesting mix of old and new. Ivy clad houses stand side by side with graffiti art covered walls.

Braving the Swiss prices we managed to get hold of the map books that would take us all the way to Budapest. We also managed to get some more fuel for the stove which was getting a bit in short supply.

The Welsh have arrived! Walking through the city, there seemed to be an over abundance of red clad people with welsh accents. We hadn't realised that Wales were playing Switzerland in the Euro qualifiers tonight in Basel. This would probably explain why our first choice hostels were all full when we were trying to book last week.

After spending quite a lot of the day walking round, we decided to ride one of the trams that travel round the city to get an overview of Basel. Thanks to the hostel we were given free passes to use the public transport during the length of our stay. The hostel wasn't on any of the tram routes though!

Having had a productive day we went back to the hostel to do some research on the route ahead. Checking the blog we saw a message from Debbie's old friend Jeff who as it turned out lived not far from Basel. A hasty phone call later and we arranged to meet that evening in an Irish pub. We ate a nice 4 course dinner in the hostel and then got ready to go out. Needless to say when we got to the pub it was heaving with Wales supporters. We managed to find Jeff and were later joined by his friend Howard and a little later Howard's wife Fiona.

As kick off neared, the pub cleared of the supporters and we had a great evening chatting and drinking too much beer. During the evening we got an offer to stay at Howard & Fiona's apartment tomorrow, which we duly accepted. Moving on will have to wait for another day. Which is just as well with the potential for a heavy hangover in the morning. By the way Wales lost so there was no singing in the valleys or hostel (thankfully) tonight.

Day 23 Germany/France/Switzerland, 11/10/2010 Breisach–Vogelgrun–Fessenheim–Kembs–Basel. 44.5miles/71.89km, ride time 4hr04minutes, averaging 10.9mph

For some reason this morning the sun just didn't want to rise. So we laid in a bit later than usual. The plan was to get everything sorted and give the tent some time to dry out as we have booked into a hostel for two nights in Basel.

With everything packed away we headed into Briesach from our camp-site to pick up some bread and a few supplies for the day ahead. We rather prematurely said goodbye to France, as it turns out that today’s route is on a better surface in France. We didn't fancy nearly 50kms of unsealed road in Germany.

We crossed over the Rhein and headed south through several small French villages. Oddly everything was closed, a good job we got supplies in Germany! The cycle routes mostly followed relatively quiet roads and we again made very good progress.

From Kembs onwards the route moved onto a hard packed gravel tow path along a canal. Although good for covering the distance, these routes become a little tiresome. They are almost dead straight and bypass all but the outskirts of the surrounding villages. We continued along this route straight into the outskirts of Basel, where we encountered our first border crossing. Well there were some kiosks and a nothing to declare lane, but no customs officers. Perhaps they were all at lunch!

After getting the hang of the different cycle signing in Switzerland, we made it into the city centre. All we then had to do was find the hostel. This turned out to be easy, although it did involve riding up a short but very steep hill. Not really what you want at the end of a cycling day, but we had been warned about the steep Basel streets.

The hostel is very smart and currently we are the only ones in a four bed mixed dorm. After getting settled in we went to have a stroll around the area and get some dinner. The city looks like it will make for an interesting place to explore tomorrow. We also have to buy some more maps for our route along the Danube.

A nice dinner of Asian food and it was back to the hostel to watch a film and plan for tomorrow. Night all.