[Home]     Cycling Down the Rhine Thursday 24th August 2017 Friedrichshafen to Schaffhausen Well my cold seemed a lot better today. After breakfast at the Stadthotel Kleiner Berg we had to faff about by calling in at Asia World, an interesting 'all-you-can-eat' place where we had dined the previous night, to see if they had Andrew's glasses. No, they didn't. That done we set off in glorious sunshine and rolled along the northern shore of Lake Constance to Meersburg where we would be able to get a ferry to Constance. There's a good cycle-way along the north bank of Lake Constance and many cyclists of all ages were out making good use of it. Statue of a cherub holding a Zeppelin - in Friedrichshafen Meersburg Waiting for the ferry The ferry Austria On board the MV Austria At Meersburg we caught the ferry and had a good passage across the lake to the south side where we disembarked at Constance. Constance is a large town and was thronging with holidaymakers today, very lively and it took a while to find our way out of town and on the right route west. We carried on along the south bank of the 'Untersee', the smaller lake attached to the west side of Lake Constance, and paused in the village of Berlingen for a cup of tea at a bakery-cum-cafe which had a very pleasant tea garden right by the waterside. Constance The Berlingen tea-garden Suitably refreshed we pressed on, passing through Stein am Rhein, and with 10-12 miles still to go before Schaffhausen we entered the deep, dark forest on a rough track. The skies darkened as we slogged uphill through the gloom, then the lightning flashed and the rain sluiced down so we paused a while and contemplated life whilst watching from the shelter of the trees. A couple of other cycle tourers pulled up beside us and also waited for the rain to stop - like nearly everyone here they spoke English. Stein am Rhein Our garret at the youth hostel When the rain cleared we pressed on to Schaffhausen where Andrew had booked us into the local youth hostel. Cheap-ish, by Swiss standards, and very basic... and there was absolutely nowhere nearby where you could get a decent tattoo... Also it was miles out of town, those miles all being uphill ones, and so hidden away and unsign-posted was it that even when we were next to it we couldn't find it. Still we got there eventually. Then into town later for a pasta and beer. 75 kilometres ridden today.