Dear Readers
This is my first travelogue in English … and I'm still learning. This means that my style may sometimes be unusual and mistakes may occur or idioms and impossible synonyms may be used. If so, please don't hesitate and contact me - I'd like to learn and improve my skills …
It's holiday time! Although we had a really nice and warm summer here in Zürich we're looking forward to our bicycle trip to France. This year we intend to complete our project „from Oberviechtach to the Atlantic Ocean". Oberviechtach is my hometown, located in the north-east of Bavaria, near the border to the Czech Republic. In 2000 we started there, cycled along the rivers Naab, Danube and others until we reached Zürich. Last year we continued our voyage from Zürich to the French city of Nevers in the valley of the Loire. This year we continue our project by riding our bicycles from Nevers to the Atlantic Ocean.
Since last summer, some changes have occurred in our equipment: we both have brandnew gear, full-suspended bicycles manufactured by a German company called Riese & Müller. And our attitude towards travelling by bike has changed: taking our temper into account, we decided to make less kilometers per day and spend more time enjoying the beautiful landscapes, ancient castles and buildings along our way.
Our train departs 11:34 from Zürich Mainstation. As usual, much too early we are ready to start our trip and have to kill time. We load up our luggage and pedal very slowly to the railway station, drink - nervous and full of expectations - a last coffee there and watch other travellers and passengers until it is time to board the train.
As the train approaches Lausanne, we enjoy the breathtaking view across Lac Leman: the landscape is overwhelming with its lake surrounded by vineyards and mountains and lying in the bright sunlight. After Geneva, where we change trains, we are taken through charming countrysides, in particular the jurassic valley near Geneva, with white rocks looking like teeth between the different greens of the forrests. An interesting region to cycle through - perhaps next year?
After Lyon, where we wait for more than an hour, a convenient last change of trains in St. Germain-des-Fosses: a very obliging railway official helps us to cross the railway lines at street level, an assistance we gratefully accept as it means no need to drag the bikes and the luggage from one platform downstairs to the central corridor and upstairs to the platform where the next train departs. But what is even more surprising: it's the first time I meet a French official speaking English without being asked for. Did you ever make such an experience?
Tired but happy we arrive at Nevers just after sunset, check in at the hotel „Best Western" and have a late dinner in the hotel restaurant.
A misty morning. After breakfast we mount the luggage on our bikes while answering the questions of the hotel-owner who is interested in the suspension of our bicycles. Then we roll down to the river Loire. Here, just 50 metres from the ancient bridge made of stone, we sat last year at the end of our journey. I remember how sad and slightly sentimental we had felt because a wonderful trip had ended, and how we had watched the waters flow to the west…
A year has passed since and today we are able to go on. Soon the suburbs of Nevers disappear behind us and we are riding through a typical French landscape: meadows with edges of weed and wildflowers (impossible in Germany or Switzerland), hedges, shrubbery, forrests. And every now and then a view to the shallow river with its sandbanks. Unlike most of the European rivers the Loire is not navigable (only for small boats) and the shores on both sides of the river are quite untouched. The riverbed is wide and although the Loire is at its low level I can imagine what the situation may look like at high watermark, when the snow melts in springtime.
The weather is still foggy, we sometimes feel small raindrops on our skin and the temperature is quite low for August.
And although we are generally very optimistic, not everything is always positive: here a dead fox on the roadside killed by a car, there a hedgehog and a muskrat, also having died of no natural causes. Furthermore, my wrists are hurting and my knees say: „hello, Martin, here we are again…" (from last winter to late spring I had serious problems with them).
Nevertheless, we are in a good mood and the sight of two ospreys hunting over the river and all the swallows gathering on the wires for their own trip to the south makes us happy.
There are also stretches, that do not overwhelm us: it is very uninspiring to roll through rural areas on roads with no turns for miles and miles or cycle on small trails along a canal of the Loire. Through enormous fields with faded sunflowers or cornfields already harvested. The scenery changes when we aproach Sancerre: enjoyable cycling on a quiet route with smooth slopes and curves. The town of Sancerre, built on a hill, dominates the landscape and we can see the silhouette of the castle from a distance.
A roadsign tells us that we are on the „Route de Vignobles au Coeur de la France". Yeah, in the heart of France, it's obvious…
There are castles or residences or villas in every village we pass. One of them attracts me in particular: a run-down villa with a huge stair in a large park with big and rather old sequoia trees. Would be nice to live here, but you'd have to have the staff that cleans for you - and a gardener too…
It is half past three and we are close to Cosne-sur-Loire, our own batteries are low and we decide to check in at the campground located on the other side of the river. A beautiful first stop! And even more important: in the late afternoon the sun breaks through the clouds. In the evening we enjoy some local vine in the bar which belongs to the campground and are entertained by a musician with keyboard who plays jazz-standards much too loud...
In the night
it seems as if I heard the sound of raindrops falling on our tent. Must
be one of those weird dreams each of us is haunted once in a while, I
think by myself. But sometimes dreams come true and in the morning there's
a wet world outside our tent. What happened? The forecast was not too
bad and we expected fairly dry weather. Instead of this we have to cope
with heavy shower.
Everyone can imagine how funny it is to pack up a wet tent and moist equipment…
Before going on, we have to buy provisions. We cross the river and try to find a food-store in Cosne. Cosne-sur-Loire is a town of 5000 or 8000 souls, I assume, and you can buy almost everything from computers to furniture but we are not successful in finding a reasonable food-store. At last a baker offers sandwiches and orange juice, not exactly what we are looking for, but never mind, we will survive. Meanwhile we are discussing how far we can go today with this downpour. Would be nice if we could arrive at the town of Gien, some 45 kilometres away.
So then, let's go ahead! We don't see much of the countryside today but it doesn't really matter, it is similar to what we saw yesterday. Although we use a smaller road the traffic is heavy and the wet and rough surface of the street makes the noise of the passing lorries, vans and cars sound loud and dangerous.
The rain stops for a while when - near Briare - the „Canal lateral a la Loire" crosses the river on an iron bridge Gustave Eiffel built a hundred years ago. A former freightboat, reconstructed for tourists, enters the bridge while I take the camera out of the pocket. The young captain seems not to be a very experienced one, a loud „wwwrrrronnng" tells everybody that he doesn't hit the narrow entrance of the bridge. Still laughing we are back on the road again. We pedal another 10 kilometres in drizzling rain until the panorama of Gien appears, a beautiful spot despite the weather and the heavy traffic on the ancient bridge with ten to twelve arches. A break is what we need right now. We find a café at the other side of the Loire. We realize how wet and tired we are and decide to finish today. The „Hotel du Rivage" suits us very well and before too long our wet clothes hang for drying in the hotel room. After a little siesta we stroll along the streets of this picturesque town, still in search for a food store.
Later, we are having diner in a restaurant with two waiters and where the swinging door between kitchen and guestroom reminds me of a scene in Jaques Tati's film „Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot".
It's raining again. I ask the lady behind the reception desk if she has listened to the forecast and she informs us that it will be raining throughout the whole day until the next morning. Well…let's have breakfast… Jazz in the evening when we are already tired, jazz in the morning when we are still tired: today it is bebop, blasting out of the loudspeakers in the ceiling of the breakfast-room. A nervous and hectic music, not everyones delight early in the morning.
Anyway, half an hour later we are back on the road, heading for Sully where literally the „Valley of the Loire" begins. Here's the first of the famous castles along the Loire, a building with four towers, standing in and still sheltered by a waterpool. I'm not able to find a good position to take a picture but other tourists seem to be more lucky than me, I can read it from the satisfied smile in their faces. There will be no picture of the famous castle in Sully. So, let's have a break and a coffee right now!
Later, on the other side of the river we ride along a small but frequented road, and it is still raining. Suddenly, my front wheel slips away and as I try to balance my bike, Margrit's bike slips away and she falls down to the ground a few meters behind me. In a second I'm at her side and try to help her standing up and carry our stuff to the roadside. Luckily for us, Margrit is not seriously hurt, besides some bruises on legs and arms and a pump on ther head she is ok. But it's a scary situation with all the trucks passing by in full speed, and we both are shocked and frightened. How could this happen? Only then we realize that oil is on the street, invisible in the rain! Travelling by bike bears also dangers, a fact we ignore most of the time.
We push the bikes a kilometre or so, because the road is still covered with oil, but finally we are able to turn left onto a quiet and small trail on the embankment of the river. Here is the right place to make a break and swallow what we experienced a few minutes ago. Imagine a car or a truck right behind us in the moment of the accident, driving as fast as they use to do here…
Demoralized, we go on. We don't notice the cormorans, geeze and white egrets on the sandbanks of the Loire. Amidst an impressive scenery, slowly and thoughtfully we cycle to St. Benoit, visit the ancient abbey there and decide to search for a bed in Jargeau. There is almost no traffic here but it starts drizzling. As we approach Jargeau I get a flat in my back wheel and I have to change the tube in the pouring rain. We have seen better days…
The one and only hotel in Jargeau, the „Cheval blanc" has a vacant room for us and while having our diner, once more we discuss wheter we should wear helmets to protect us, as we did a few years ago.
As for myself I'm making an additional experience this day: it is possible to repair a damaged tube in a hotel room, and after drinking some glasses of French white vine (Sauvignon blanc) it's even more fun than without...
Raindrops, windscreen wipers, headlights, puddles - like yesterday and the day before. It would be a lie to tell you that we pack up our stuff in good temper - steady rain demoralises in the long run - but after breakfast the rain stops and the clouds look more like mist. No rain right now, this is what is important to us and therefore we can get rid of our rain-clothes, the cap and the gloves.
Today we can use the same quiet trail on the embankment as the day before, a unique landscape with its river and forrests, and reed and birds on the sandbanks. The silent sound of our wheels chases partridges away, we pass two pheasants near the border of a wood, while the temperatures are slowly raising and a slight head wind blows.
The City of Orleans is just an hour away, but we don't feel like visiting the bigger cities with their heavy traffic and try to find some alternative routes in order to avoid them. It is good cycling today. Soon the suburbs of Orleans are lying behind us and - believe it or not - sunbeams are coming through the fog. Our small and winding road leads us to Ardon. We are cooking pasta on the roadside and our good humor returns. It slowly gets warmer and friendlier.
6 kilometres of straight and flat and quiet road are followed by the most beautiful part of today's trip: just outside Jouy-le-Potier we roll through an old-growth forrest with a great variety of trees, brush-wood, moos and ferns. And the sun paints pictures on the leaves and the forrest soil.
After coffee in Ligny-le-Ribault, a friendly guy on a racing bike catches up and slows down his speed to chat with us about this and that on the next few kilometers - no Swiss or German race-biker would ever do this. Hm…friendly people here…
As the weather is getting better and better we choose the campground in Crouy-sur-Cosson to spent the night, and a huge oak shelters our tent. In the local food store among the moulding vegetables I'm lucky to find enough vegetables to prepare a meal for the night. Later in the evening we meet a Swiss biker who spent two months in Brittany and is now on his way back home.
Things are getting better…
We're not quite sure whether we should have an off-day without cycling or whether we should go on. We decide to go on but take our time. The well-known Castle Chambord is just a view kilometres ahead, why not spend the day visiting the castle?
Chateau Chambord is surrounded by a huge forrest sanctuary - there are about 6 kilometres distance between the entrance of the park and the castle itself. We stop right in front of the tourist shops and the self-service restaurants. Margrit wants to have a closer look and buys a ticket to visit the castle but I feel more like having a coffee and do some sketches of the tourists and the park and the building itself. Hmmm…buses full of Japanese and French and Italian tourists, Chambord is a real tourist attraction. And needs a lot of money to be preserved. But I'm a tourist too. A strange one, watched with suspicion by the other tourists…or is it envy?
Again there are 6 kilometres to go until we reach the exit of the park. Today we are tired and lazy and end this day's hop in the village of Cour-Cheverny. The sun shines and we spend the afternoon on the campground. The weather will be much better the next days: the swallows are flying high on the sky. After sunset, bats are taking their place, a big species high above the ground and smaller ones patrolling just a few centimeters above our heads.
No cycling today! We make a walk to the Chateau Cheverny, tour both the park with the old trees and the Castle itself and have a quiet day.
Saturday, Aug. 31st - from Cour-Cheverny to Veigny, 78 km
The evening before we spent a long time on our mats outside the tent watching the bats and looking for the first stars to appear. And this morning the sky is of a deep blue and the sun warms us as we pack up our stuff.
Wonderful riding in the first hours, climbing and descending the rolling hills of this rural area. Trails without cars, abandoned looking villages without a single person on the street (of course without any food-stores at all) and residences with huge gardens. Later we reach the valley of the river Cher where we have to cope with a more frequented road. We pass the busy town of Montrichard and before too long - now confronted with buses full of tourists - we arrive at the castle of Chenonceau. We are (exceptionally) allowed to park our bikes behind the entrance, where they will be guarded.
This time, I feel like visiting the castle too. It is built asymmetricly over the river Cher and it will be my favorite one. We stroll through the rooms and salons of the Chateau Chenonceau and get a glimpse of the aristocrats' life 300 or 400 years ago: a very rich society of just few members and an exploited majority that starves in poverty…like it's always been and always will be?
Soon those notions and the Castle itself are forgotten when we climb the plateau between the rivers Cher and Indré. Harvested fields, blue hills in the distance, violet thistles, soaring buzzards, a steady cross wind from the right, these are the impressions during the next hour.
Later we roll down to the valley of the Indré. Again poplars and willows on both banks of the river, but also bigger roads, busy towns and heavy traffic. Veigné offers us a campground near the river and - very important - an open food-store. Margrit watches a blue kingfisher hunting near our tent.
Again a blue sky and a warm sun and our tent is wet from the dew. A steady northeastern wind pushes us along the valley. Willows and boats and mills and anglers. Later the castle Azay-le-Rideau. We stop to have a look at this tourist attraction. Definitely a good idea: although we have seen lots of castles, everyone has its own character and Azay-le-Rideau is a white jewel in between the green grass and the dark trees of its park. Also the village of Azay-le-Rideau itself is nice to look at, with its white walls, blue roofs and red chimneys, all shining in the bright morning sun.
At Bréhémont we are back at the Loire and we follow the river on the small road on the embankment, still pushed by the wind. Feeling a little bit like a sailing boat we arrive at our next cultural event, the castle of Sleeping Beauty, Rigny-Ussé. But this time we prefer having ice cream in the coffee shop and we watch other tourists visiting the castle.
Time passes fast today and it is late afternoon when we reach the large but deserted campground at Savigny.
Monday, Sept. 2nd - Savigny-en-Veron to Les Pont de Cé, 75 km
This morning our gas-cooker refuses to work, perhaps the piezo fuse got wet during the night. Therefore we have to do our daily morning duties without coffee…brrrrr…but then some hundred meters back in the village an open bar offers us breakfast and coffee.
On today's schedule is the town of Saumur. Quiet roads in the morning sun, fields with faded sunflowers and tree nurseries with poplars in different growing stages.
We climb 60 or 70 meters to reach a plateau with a nice panorama view over the countryside, then descent to the level of the river and use the frequented road that leads us to Saumur. Wineries look like castles and most of the houses in the villages along the Loire are built very visionary and multifaceted, with towers and dormer windows and bays. Again a symphony in white and blue and red and green with a wide blue sky above…
We take Café au lait in the old town of Saumur. On the road again, we feel like being close to the ocean: the river is nearly invisible behind the sandbanks of the riverbed - which looks like a beach - and both vegetation and climate remind me of former trips to Brittany. The friendly wind still pushes us and helps us to climb the hills, which we appreciate because the last two hours of this day's leg were quite strenuous.
The campground located in the suburbs of Angers is very nice. It is situated on an island in the river and connected to the city by an ancient Roman bridge. A good place to have a second day off. Margrit does some overwork and cycles to the next supermarché.
During the last years we learned that days without cycling are very important to keep us in good shape and humour. We need these breaks to relax and load our batteries, to be open for new impressions and to be able to enjoy the forthcoming.
Apart from pleasant landscapes, picturesque towns and friendly people, we encounter another characteristic here in France: you hardly find food-stores in the smaller cities. Supermarkets are located in the industrial areas of the bigger towns. France is a country of car drivers. Unlike in Germany, Switzerland or Austria, people don't travel by bike and therefore there's no infrastructure for bikers, hardly no marked routes for them … still, it is a beautiful country to discover.
Once more the weather has changed. The wind blows from the West and brings rain and fog. It drizzles while we pedal through the suburbs of Angers, but the temperatures are not too low. After an hour or so the sun breaks through the fog and tints the countryside with beautiful colours.
Today, cycling is like a Sunday trip: a pleasant scenery, not too hilly, a small trail always close to the river, the weather again nice and warm and our own speed reduced and comfortable. The classic "Valley of the Loire" lies behind us. No well-known castles or famous towns anymore. The houses bordering the river are no longer made of white tuff but of grey granite.
Thursday, Sept. 5th - Ancenis to Blain, 58 km
Our world must have been a wonderful place in times when engines or motor-driven vehicles were not yet invented. You may have notions like this when you cycle through the quiet countryside, with the wind in your hair, the cries of the buzzards high above, perhaps the moo of a cow or the bark of a dog in the distance … and all of sudden the noise of a truck waking you from your dreams…
In order to avoid the cities of Nantes and St. Nazaire we say goodbye to the Loire, the river which was our guide for some 560 km and choose small roads that will lead us diagonally to Brittany, almost like the crow flies.
We spend the night in Blain, a little town at the Canal Nantes Du Brest. We never saw car-free downtowns like in Germany or Switzerland on our trip along the Loire. Also here in Blain trucks, lorries, cars - the whole traffic - rolls through the small town and over the market place. It's a bummer. Nevertheless, Blain is a nice place with a supermarket behind the church and one of the most convenient campgrounds. In the evening we meet a French couple, two young and friendly people who want to cycle along the Canal Nantes du Brest. They are quite astonished when hearing from our journey. As mentioned before, here in France people are not used to travel by bike.
Friday, Sept. 6th - Blain to Pénestin, 67 km
Today is a strenuous day: in the morning we hardly wake up and during the whole day we have troubles finding a steady rhythm.
First we buy provisions in Blain, eat pain au chocolat at the parking place of the supermarket and, remembering the talk with the French couple the evening before we decide to pedal along the Canal Nantes Du Brest for a while. Though it seemed to be a good idea, in reality it turns out to be very boring to cycle along the straight canal, and the rough surface of its trail does not improve the situation. Our maximum speed is 12 km per hour - even to us a bit slow. Then it starts raining. We put on our rain-clothes, the gloves, and the cap. After 5 minutes the downpour is over, we take off the rain-clothes again. Later we use a small road to Pontchateaux, perhaps the best moments this day. However, there I took the wrong direction at a crossroad and instead of the expected quiet route we have to cope with a bigger and very frequented one. Again rolling hills, ascending and descending, we have to put on the sunglasses and take off the jacket because it suddenly gets hot and bright, a few minutes later we have to put on the jacket and take off the sunglasses, because it gets dark and cold when the sun disappears behind the clouds. The constancy today is the permanent front wind and the heavy traffic. This day will be the most strenuous hop of the whole journey. Nevertheless we are excited when we see the silvery glimmer of the ocean in between the hedges and the fields!
Done! We've reached the ocean. Finally. A young guy, a windsurfer, shoots a picture from Margrit and me and the bikes on the beach of Pont-Mahé. Some minutes later we check in at the Campground in Pénestin and relax and enjoy the late afternoon.
Most Campers on the campground in Pénestin are shell-seekers: today there is la Grande Marrée, the lowest tide in the year. We have dinner in the restaurant of the campground - the first shells for years - while listening to music from Alan Stivell, a harp-player from Brittany, and to the raindrops patter on the windows.
Saturday, Sept. 7th - Pénestin
Today we make a break, watch the caravan of the shell seekers and, with the sun coming through the clouds, sit on the beach for about two hours. Later, when it rains again, we spend our time in the campground restaurant, with evergreens from the stereo and the noise of a soccer-match coming out of the television on the other side of the room.
Sunday, Sept. 8th - Pénestin to Port Navalo, 68 km
We still have a few days to spend so we decide to cycle to Locmariaquer, a village located at the Golfe du Morbihan. It rained the whole night through and in the morning we have to pack up the wet and moist equipment, not everybody's delight - as mentioned before…
The weather changes from minute to minute: we have downpour on the one side of the road and bright sunshine on the other… And we have to use bigger roads this day. And there's front wind, of course…
Nevertheless it is good cycling today, the countryside is quite flat and we have a relative high average speed. We already crossed the river Villaine, cycle through Muzillac and make a break in Sarzeau, where a local bicycle race excites the pedestrians on the streets...
Before too long we arrive at Port Navalo, at the eastern bank of the Golfe du Morbihan where we expect to find a ferry to Locmariaquer. Port Navalo, an ancient fishing village, is now a modern tourist center, with an enormous marina, luxurious residences, hotels, supermarkets and - a casino. Life at the harbour is busy, tourist and sailing boats and bars and restaurants. And we can see Locmariaquer, not even one kilometer away on the other side of the lagoon. But there's no possibility to cross the waters: the tourist boats are not allowed to carry bicycles and the ferry works only in summer, which means in July and August…
Well, this is disappointing! We have only a few days left and we wanted to spend the rest of our vacation in Locmariaquer and visit Carnac with its megaliths. Now, we just have two possibilities: surround the whole Golf, this would mean another 150 kilometres to cycle, or we stay in Port Navalo and enjoy the place on this side of the lagoon. We decide to check in at the campground in Port Navalo, which is beautifully located on a hill close to the sea. Well, this is the geographical end point of our voyage and later in the evening, when we have dinner in one of the restaurants we accept the situation, conscious that we have had a really wonderful journey, that we are healthy and that we achieved what we wanted: cycle from Bavaria to the Atlantic Ocean.
A beautiful morning! Sunshine and high temperatures! We have breakfast in one of the restaurants at the harbour because our cooker is still out of order.
Later we discover Port Navalo with the bike and - standing on a cliff - we notice the power of the tide: we are close to the narrow mouth of the lagoon and the tide flows like a big river in and out. In the afternoon we make a trip through the Golf with a tourist boat.
Tuesday, Sept. 10th - Vannes
It's time to organise our return journey to Zürich. We take the bus to Vannes, the next town with a railway station in this area. At the station there's a very obliging official behind the information desk, she tries everything to find out a way to bring us back to Switzerland with our bicycles (do they want to get rid of us?), but there's no other possibility than the night train from Quimper to Geneva. But this train doesn't carry bicycles - unless they are demounted. In this case, they would be treated as normal luggage. Well this is not impossible; we never did it before, but why not? We leave the station with tickets and reservation for the sleeper cabin in our hands.
We stroll to the picturesque old town, have lunch somewhere in a Crêperie with a lazy young waiter and ride back in the late afternoon. A few hours later we are sitting in the "Restaurant de la Plage" and after some vine we decide to leave Port Navalo the next day and ride to Vannes by using the smallest roads we can find.
Wednesday, Sept. 11th - Port Navalo to Penvins, 38 km
Eastern winds! Nice weather! A blue morning over the sea! After having breakfast at the harbour we hit the road again! We want to reach one of the campgrounds near the castle Suscinio. It takes a while until I find out the best route, but finally we find a trail marked for bikers.
In St. Gildas de Rhuys we visit the ancient abbey, granite with orange and grey moss, violet hydrangeas already faded, and the weekly market just finishing. There's an urban sprawl in this area; we notice a lot of new buildings and residences, quite an impairment of nature. But there are still beauty spots as we pedal on our small trail close to the ocean.
Chateau Suscinio. It was a ruin when I visited it nine or ten years ago, but now it has a roof and new windows and the whole building will be finished soon. There's a small restaurant in the village near the Chateau and while we have Crêpe and ice cream the music of a local band blasts out of the loudspeakers, rock-music with Celtic influence, sounding a little bit like Jethro Tull but with a modern touch. It's just an idea but I ask the waiter if I he would sell me this CD - it would be difficult to buy it in Switzerland - and luckily for me he agrees. Yeah, after a three-week journey I miss my guitars…
There's a campground a few kilometres away, still open for the campers, but the toilettes and the washrooms are closed…hmm…how do the campers do their daily…ah…? But half an hour later we check in at an enormous campground in Penvins with an open swimming pool. Well, the weather is still fine - today is actually the warmest day of our vacation - and we spend the rest of the afternoon at the pool. Late at night I can see the Milky Way shining very bright and near…
Thursday, Sept. 12th - Penvins to Vannes, 32 km
A blue sky and a warm sun in the morning. It is our last day and we take our time while we pedal along small trails, following the east coast of the golf. Everything is calm and quiet and mellow.
Then - we are very close to Vannes - a spoke in my rear wheel brakes … it will be fixed when we are back in Zürich.
Our quiet road leads to bigger ones and together with the trucks and cars we arrive at Vannes in the early afternoon. We try to kill time until it is time to cycle to the railway station and later we are seen on the platform where our train will leave, me demounting our bikes and putting each of them together to a small piece of luggage.
Friendly railway officials help us to get on the train with our stuff and half an hour later we have a cold beer, feel tired but very happy and watch the lights outside the window…
A convenient return journey. We change trains in Geneva and are back in Zürich at 1 o'clock pm. It's hard to believe we were in Brittany the evening before…
Here in Zürich we need two taxis to get our bikes to our apartment…
What a beautiful journey!