We left Titisee south on D500. Said it before and I'll say it again - great road, make sure you put it on the list. Next time you're in Europe and need to get from 'up north' to 'down south' I thoroughly recommend it. In fact we both insist on it.
Turned west at Waldshut and followed the Rhein to Rheinfelden. It's a dull main road but sometimes needs must and we needed to cross a border.
Stopped at a cool little place called Laufenbourg half way. Very, very oldy worldy and it has a footbridge over the Rhein. Germany one side, Switzerland the other. Actually you can drive over but it looks like you need to ask nicely, move some traffic cones and pay a small toll. We strolled back and forth between countries for a while (just because we could) and stopped for a coffee on the German side. We really wanted a coffee, a strawberry beer and some black forest gateaux but we somehow ended up with two coffees and some ice cream. In the words of Roy Walker 'it's good, but it's not right'!
Bought a vignette at the Swiss border to try make good time on the Swiss motorways. Not that you really can. The speed limits are pathetic and they're keen as mustard on policing them. We had an uneventful but relatively speedy run to Thun then rode the northern road from Thun to Interlaken. It looks and feels very Italian but it's slower riding than Italy. Definitely worth a bimble though - lake Thunersee is absolutely gorgeous and once the road gains some height it's superb.
Turned south at Interlaken and rode to Grindelwald. Tonight we are camping in the shadow of the Eiger. It's literally just outside the tents looming over us. It's not every day you can wake up and be greeted by such a sight. We're in a valley with peaks all around us but the Eiger is magnificent. There's quite a lot of cloud cover this evening so we can't see the full face yet. The view last cleared completely at the weekend and there's not much hope locally for the clouds to clear for another few days.
We'll be leaving in the morning so I guess we'll keep fingers crossed for clear weather tomorrow.
On the subject of weather, we're still chasing the sun but not always successfully. Someone in Germany told us yesterday that the weather in the Black Forest has been unusually bad recently but it's normally excellent at this time of year. A Brit that we've just met at this campsite has travelled up through France after visiting his French wife's parents and it's pretty much the same all over Europe at the moment. It was cracking as we came down into Switzerland yesterday but the rain caught us eventually. Might need to look at some weather forecasts before planning our next move. We take some comfort in reports from home of biblical rain storms so I think we're doing pretty good really!
Catherine cooked up a killer veg rice for tea. It nearly did actually, given the amount of chilis she put in it but it was excellent none the less!
Yes folks, she can cook. Eligible bachelors take note!
151 miles
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