Day 26 : Je suis arrivé en France

Leaving the campsite earlyish I followed the Rhein cycle path which closely followed the river.

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Some grebes on the Rhein

The Rhein has a nice green colour and has small eddies and whirlpools all the way along.

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Swirlpools

This old covered wooden bridge was one of the many bridges (over to Switzerland) along the way. It had a nice old wooden smell to it!

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Wooden bridge – would probably float if it broke

And I spotted another building with chevron shutters. It must mean something.

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Chevrons

A large section of the path was sponsored by an energy company who had placed  ‘learning spots’ along the river. The building below for example housed a turbine from an old hydro electric dam over the river.

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Turbine house

At one stage my bike developed a problem. All of a sudden I was unable to turn the pedals round. I coasted to a halt and propped the bike against a lamp-post to take a look.

The chain had come across too far on the derailleur and was jammed against the pannier rack support:

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Yes, it needs a clean

I got out my tools and levered the chain back out. All was well and no damage done.

Pedalling on I soon came across some Roman sights in Switzerland:

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Under floor heating system
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Mosaics

Later on I arrived in Basel. I saw a poster that claimed ‘One Basel’, but I saw several. As I rode in it seemed quite nice and arty, which then soon turned into upmarket high street shopping. After I crossed a bridge it was markedly less well off. The spike in the river marks the spot that Germany, Switzerland and France meet:

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Undramatic meeting of countries

When I crossed the river into France, things at once seemed elegant and relaxed so I took the opportunity to get acquainted with the cuisine.

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A taste of France

I then joined Eurovelo 6 cycle route which happened to be going my way along the Rhone canal.

One long (30 min cycle) section of the path had the solar system bodies placed proportionally apart which was nice I thought.

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Neptune (at the top)

The canal path was easy cycling.

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Rhone canal path

I headed for a campsite in Mulhouse. Mulhouse itself seemed OK. I’m pretty sure I was the only tourist in the town centre though.

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Mulhouse town hall

No restaurant at the campsite, so a 5 min pot noodke and cheese sandwich for dinner.

Waldshut-Tiengen to Mulhouse, 119 km. Total so far = 2,225 km.

4 thoughts on “Day 26 : Je suis arrivé en France”

  1. Well done James. You seem to be making great progress and are representing Brits abroad admirably! I trust you are sporting the knotted hankie to keep the sun/rain off?

    Reply
    • Thanks! I find a cap better for keeping the sun out of my eyes, but when the need arises I tie a cheerfully patterned hanky to my main tent rope so people don’t trip over it.

      Reply

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