Weather was iffy: Saturday looked probably good, but Sunday was given a high chance of rain. That and high hotel rates led us to make our ride yesterday round-trip. We knew that if at any point it was too difficult, we could head to a train station and get home easily and cheaply. So, off to Burgdorf, an 86 km. route on Swiss Regional bike trails. With a new rear bike rack and case holding our emergency gear (those rains might come early), even riding on gravel paths was easy. Heading toward Langnau and the Emme River (Emmental means valley of the Emme and yes, that’s where the cheese comes from), was a bit of a climb. Then we had a gradual downhill from Langnau through and beyond Burgdorf, ending with a smaller uphill climb to home. In Burgdorf itself we were entertained by a typically high-priced Swiss café and a lovely little castle, where we learned a little about antique ceramics, the Swiss gold rush and making linen.
Cows and alps
Burgdorf castle towerTextile museum in Burgdorf castle
Itinerary: On the bike, follow Swiss Regional Route 64 to Biel, stay overnight, come home by way of Sankt Peterinsel and Swiss National Route 8.
Looking for something close and easy, we chose Biel as our destination. Jon was able to put the routes into our GPS. And we decided to try a trip without the trailer, just a small pack, so no camping.
Cow Crossing on our way to Biel
Biel is downriver from Bern so the 45k ride to Biel was as expected a gentle downhill grade, through what now seems typical to us: constantly changing vista of small towns, farmland, and forests. No surprises, nothing amazing. Biel itself is mostly a modern city with bland buildings. We took a funicular to Magglingen—us and a few dozen heavily padded mountain bikers. They rode down; we walked. Looking at their trails, we understood the padding. The view from up top was amazing. The walk through the forest, delightful. Biel’s tiny bit of Oldtown, a couple blocks of medieval buildings, was unimpressive. After dinner, we strolled down by the harbor, picked up some ice cream to go with the cherries we’d gotten at a roadside stand and called it a night.
Sunday we felt quite capable of going the extra miles to see Sankt Peterinsel, a long narrow island at the southern end of the Bielersee. Apparently it’s a popular place for a stroll on a sunny Sunday morning, for we shared the path with lots of walkers, baby strollers, and other cyclists.
We knew our route back to Bern would be, on average, uphill since it was upriver. But the Swiss surprised us. The 8 is a National Route, yet there are spots where we passed through private property, carried the bike up and down stairs, and generally had a much harder time than we expected.
Bike Path Steps on our way home from Biel
We did have a fun lunch in Aarberg, a cute town with a wooden covered bridge leading to the Oldtown square. A group of Harley motorcycles rode up and parked beside our bike, then some of the riders politely asked if they could share our table as the others were all full. Jon often tells the story of carrying a sign on his van loaded with bikes “When we grow up we want to be Harleys”. So MC points to our tandem and tells this to the Harley folks, the one English speaker passing this along to the others in German. Good for a laugh all round.
Harleys alongside our tandem in Aarberg
The last stretch was through Bremgarten Forest, which should have felt idyllic, a carless road through cool green shade. But we were so exhausted, even this seemed a struggle. That’s how it is, in life or in life on a bike, you can’t always know where the tough stretches will be.
It felt like we were taking it easy. Yes, there were a few hills the first day. But we had so much time to cover not many kilometers (Schaffhausen to Basel in 3 days), that the pace seemed almost leisurely. Especially since through this area, the ambience is all lovely farmland, pretty little towns, and the swiftly flowing Rhine.
Schaffhausen is known for its oriels (bay windows above the ground floor). They were once a status symbol for the rich merchants in this town which was built up simply because shippers needed a place to off-load their goods in order to get around the falls.
Schaffhausen Oriels
Since the bikepath often took us along hiking paths through the woods along the river, we saw a few remains of cement bunkers, left from World War II. Often German territory is directly across the Rhine from Switzerland.
WWII Cement BunkerWild Roadside PoppiesMale Swan by Coot Nest
We stopped at Augusta Raurica a partially reconstructed Roman amphitheater, a little east of Basel. For another point of view, search on “Augusta Raurica, Augst, Switzerland” and zoom in on the satellite view.
Too perfect to be true, but it is. The plan (the dream?) was 4 days biking by the Bodensee with 3 nights camping. The reality was 4 glorious days biking by the Bodensee with 3 nights spent being completely coddled by friends. I had not realized that a couple whom we let park in our driveway in America while they were vacationing there lives close to the Bodensee. When Jon mentioned this, I emailed them to see if they might be at home for a hello. They invited us to stay in their house for as much of the holiday as we liked. AND every night and morning they fed us a mountain of wonderful food (see 5/15/12 to understand how important this was) and entertained us with their company. I am hereby extending my assumptions of warmth and graciousness which were earlier granted to the Swiss to all of Germany. (I do hope I’m correct in doing so.)
Hans on the Balcony
BODENSEE DAY 1 Mostly the path takes us by farmlands, orchards, small towns, and a number of typically German permanent campgrounds filled tightly with tiny trailers. It’s a bit cold with the constant breeze across the water, but as Jon said, it’s great to be finally really comfortable because we’re on the bike and for us, this is what Europe is. Almost always we have a view of the huge lake and an unusually clear view of the Alps, so rare in summer, with sail boats dotting the water in the foreground. Then our first major hill: we walked beside the old fortress/castle, up the steep narrow lane lined with tiny shops, touristy but not kitschy. Following Google’s directions to our friends’ home, we climb another very steep hill, wondering if we’ve lost the path. And then we are in their town, and face yet another, fortunately somewhat shorter, hill to our rest for the night.
Bodensee with Alps
BODENSEE DAY 2 At our hosts’ suggestion, we ride back to Meersburg, ferry to Konstanz, and visit the garden isle of Reichenau, rather than the garden isle of Mainau which is expensive and requires a full day to visit, better when they are at the height of their flowering season. Reichenau is peaceful, lovely, and free. We go through Stein am Rhein, which is famous for it’s painted houses. We end our ride at Radolfzell and train back to Bermatingen.
Stein am Rhein much photographed painted houses
BODENSEE DAY 3 With better instructions for avoiding the monster hill between Bermatingen and the lake, we slid down to Friedrichshafen to see the Zeppelin Museum. We were surprised to learn how very many of these airships had been built, how there were regular flights across the Atlantic (only four days to Brazil!), and how many were produced for military purposes. Then up along the coast to the cherry-sundae Birnau Cathedral, after pausing at a Middle Ages fair in Uhldingen.
The Path Less Traveled--Jon wanted to see if this path would get us to the Lake sooner
