Saturday 29 May 2010 Basel to Wil (near Laufenburg)

Saturday 29 May 2010 Basel to Wil (near Laufenburg) 71km

We left Basel today a little worried about our stamina after being sick but we both felt pretty good so off we went.  Luckily it was early when we left as we made quite a mess of getting into the city from the airport hotel via quiet streets.  After spending what felt like an age just getting to the start of our days riding we stopped at a cafe and had some yummies and a coffee.  Actually Sandy ordered a tea but they gave her Earl Grey and the only person on the planet I know that likes Earl Grey is Sandy's mum Mary.  I had a curry ham roll and it was sooo good and my expresso was perfect.  After our little rest we grabbed some bread and started out on the EuroVelo 6 path.

It was a good thing the path was very well signposted as it weaved it's way across Basel but we were taken past some lovely sights and suburbs.  We saw a covered bridge, Roman ruins, majestic hills, dark forests and of course the powerful river.  The forest has taken on a new depth since the hills have started and it's all very 'Teddy Bears Picnic' or maybe that was 'Blair Witch', either way it was impressive.

The perfect route signposting let us down a little bit  near Stein and Sisseln as we must have taken a wrong turn.  To reduce the damage done we studied the map and followed a more direct path to get back on the EuroVelo 6 so we got to see some lovely industrial parks and factories.  These are the things you don't see in the tourist brochures :)

Roman ruins

As we rode we were both very surprised at how good we felt considering the three days convalescing in Basel, which was a good thing as the first campground marked on the map didn't allow camping?????  Yeah we didn't get it either, they had lots of little mobile home sort of things and was called a 'Campground' but they don't do camping, ah well off we went.  We filled up the extra water bladder expecting to have to rough camp it as the next marked campground was some ways away.  We rode and really didn't find many spots you could rough camp but we felt OK so we eventually made it to the next campground.  One thing we have noticed in Europe that is different to Australia (OK there are more than one thing) is when there is a signpost on the side of the road pointing to a town or campground they never put the distance.  At home you'll see the camping sign and almost certainly it will have 1km, 5km, 20km or whatever distance.  This is a bit important to a cycle tourist as that last 20km may be 1km too far.  Anyway we saw the campground sign and the symbol on the map made it look about 3km away so off we rolled.  Small problem is that so far in this country if you move away from a water course you go up.  We rode, and rode, and rode went past the town that was marked on the other side of the campground on the map and keep riding.  Just as we were having our doubts and wondering if we are going to ride all this way to find that this campground is like the last one and doesn't allow camping we see another 'Camping' sign.  No distance but it gave us hope.  Into another little town and then another sign but this one pointed up the side of a mountain.....bugger.  Into granny gear and push.  Now I'm carrying an extra 4kg of water just in case we need it so that makes the hills a little harder but we both felt pretty good.  It was a considerable climb, we gained about 100m elevation over not too much distance.   Thankfully around the next corner we saw the top of a caravan........more hope but after the last let down we knew that we could still be thwarted.   At the top, we saw a tent...yah!!!  We got off the bikes and hunted around until we found the guy who runs the joint.  So now with a cup of tea, a shower, a snack and a magnificent view we're relaxing.

Our camp, it's higher than it looks :)