27 June 2007

Langwiesen, Switzerland to Flaach, Switzerland

Another soggy morning. The rain and cool, cloudy weather over the last 3 days has been getting us down, but we packed up and took off. We were told by some cyclists yesterday that there was a nice waterfall a few kms down the river, so when we saw a bike route sign for the trail called Rhein Falls, we followed it. The last couple kms were on a gravel track with 2 hills that were like mountain bike hills, very steep and loosely packed. These were quite difficult on our fully loaded touring bikes.
We were amazed that we had to pay to see the falls. It was only 1 Swiss franc each, but it seemed hokey that you had to pay in the gift shop as you walked through to the falls. However, after descending the stairway down to the brink of the falls, we found that it was money well spent. The waterfall was big and roaring and there was one section where you could walk out onto a platform and you were right in the path of the surging water. It was a very unique experience.
When returning to our bikes it began to rain, so we took shelter in a phone booth until the heaviest rain ended. We continued riding to the town of Flaach where we followed the trail sign and started climbing a hill. John called for a map check stop and discovered that we should have probably crossed the river in Flaach and picked up a trail on the other side that would make the distance travelled shorter. So we turned around and the rain began again. We want back into Flaach and took cover under the overhang at a furniture store. This rain seemed to last longer than all of the others today. Our spirits were a bit low and Marie was getting pretty cold at this point. We also didn't have any lunch because the grocery store in town was closed from 12:00 to 2:30 as we've found is common in Switzerland but we keep forgetting. But we were indecisive as to whether we should go on or just call it a day and get a room. It looked like we would have a break in the rain, so we c!
rossed the river. Again the rain came down harder. We climbed up to the town of Rudlingen set on the idea of getting a room at the gasthaus. Upon getting up there, though, the sun popped out and we decided to go on but we weren't absolutely sure which way was correct. There were no bike route signs, but we saw a road which we thought was the bike route shown on our map. A teenager told us that this road was closed farther on because of a rock slide but we could still go that way but take a different side road. We just didn't feel comfortable with this solution, so we decided to go back over the river and climb the hill. As we returned to Flaach again, the rain continued steadily and Marie decided to call it a day. We stopped in a restaurant that didn't have rooms, but the woman directed us up the road to either the hotel or a B&B. We stopped at the B&B and met Margaret. She didn't have a room available and said the hotel was also full. She had us come in for tea a!
nd called around town to find us a room. One of her colleagues 500 me
ters up the road could accomodate us, so she jumped on her bike and led us there. She took off up a hill and we had a hard time keeping up and she had a few years on us!
Ruth at this B&B let us stay in the room she keeps for her grandchildren when they visit. It was very comfortable and we felt very welcome.
Of course, as soon as we decided to get a room the sun shined and it didn't rain again until early evening. But that's O.K. We're hoping this will be a sign of things to come. The only bright thing about today was the large sunflower fields we passed by.

Kms 28.82
Time 2:05:23
Avg 13.7
Max 38.7
Total 2407.1