Kehl to Breisach

On the way to Kehl, I met an Austrian gentleman in his 70s by the name of Bruno. This was his second tour this year. The last took him from his small town in Austria to Greece by way of Serbia and Macedonia. About 12 years ago, he hurt a knee. Physical therapy was prescribed and at some point he started on an exercise bike. The exercise bike lead to a real bike and then to long distance rides. He has, a tremor of some sort, maybe Parkinson's and he rides alone. He taught history and geography until he retired and he has since biked all over Europe seeing the places he'd only known from books. On Wednesday, he would leave the Rhine to head to France to see a masterpiece which he's wanted to see for years. In the winter when he's not riding, he's planning his next ride. Not a bad life. Bruno and I crossed paths several times during the day and again at breakfast, the following morning at the hostel. I'm leading a charmed existance, because when I mentioned that I still had not worked out my route to the south of France, he suggested how I might best go. There is a canal which links the Rhine with the Rhone. Canals are good. They generally follow river valleys and make great bike routes which are relatively easy to navigate. Later in the day, this route was to be suggested by another rider. Clearly this is my route. I will peel off the Rhine at Mulhouse.

Brisach, where I found myself last night was a surprise. The way into town was covered in beautiful vineyards. Because I was off course, I got to bike through the middle of them on paved farm roads. Many go through private property. All the farms are interesting. When not in vineyards, I was in orchards, or wheat, or carrots, potatoes, or whatever.

Brisach itself is a bit touristy, but it's got a cathedral high on the hill above dominating the view. Pictures below.

So I'm sitting at a table at a busy café, soaking up the sun and some cheese cake, when a gentleman on a bike asks me in German if he can share the table. Of course he can but I immediately break the first rule of table sharing and I introduce myself. Stephan Weber is his name and his English was just good enough. He was only out for two days. His wife had ridden her e-bike with him the first day and returned home by train. He went on for what was to be a 2 week ride. He couch serfs and was going to meet his hosts at 7:00. So for two hours and multiple beers for him, coffee and mineral water for me, we talked about equipment, routes, stresses of work and whatever else. He was also a sailor and a pilot of gliders and ultralights. He's 44 and a detective. He worked up north on drug and gangs, but it sounds more administrative now, describing his work as quality control. He has a blog which I will look up when I can and I'll include here for anyone so inclined. Cevennes2013.blogspot.de. It will be in German, but if you use Google, it may be able to translate it on the fly.

The Rhine has much less barge traffic on it now and there are flood control dams, locks and small hydroelectric generators. The river is divided into two up here, both a barge channel and the river separated. There are also still a few, smaller river cruise lines which run here.

I again had the experience of  happening on a small town with one large plant along the river. This one had 80 ton cranes, so it must produce some pretty large equipment though I couldn't see exactly what.

A small technical problem happened yesterday. I started hearing a ticking noise from my front wheel. Turned out to be a lose spoke which I promptly tightened. The wheel is somehow still true, but all the spokes feel a bit lose to me. On the other hand, it's working and why mess with it? Don't fix it if it ain't broke. Right?

My stopping points have much to do with milage (would like 50 miles a day), but also to do with what I may see. I tend to prefer medium size towns to others.

Big news. I did laundry in German . I can only just figure out all the controls in English, German is just as bad but I assume 2/3s are permanent press and unmentionable, leaving 1/3 to deal with. The jerseys came out about the same size as they were when they went in and all the colors were approximately right. I call that success.

Drying gets its own paragraph because it's unlike the way we do it, but very effective. They hang laundry lines in the drying room, and there is a machine that blows dehumidified air through the clothes. It would be perfect for drying things that won't go in a drier. Wet camping gear came immediately to mind. Even my heavy Patagonia shorts dried quickly and the whole process took less time than I'd imagined.

A quick search of things to do in Mulhouse turned up the largest car collection in Europe and a first rate train museum. I will be stopping at both today.

Political campaigning is very orderly here. Consistent sized and formatted posters with the faces of politicians are all over. The doggie is apparently running.

The tower is brilliant and it was just next door to the Kehl hostel. It's a fantastic exercise machine and after the sun went down, on my way back to the room I just had to climb it. The night shots are from the top.