Bregenz

I have to admit that the day did not start well. After struggling down from our room to the hotel garage carrying both panniers, two batteries, chargers, GPS units and a host of other stuff, I switched on my bike and made a most unwelcome discovery.

"Oh no, the battery has not charged at all", I exclaimed to nobody in particular. Which was just as well, since nobody was taking any notice of my predicament. What could have possibly gone wrong ? I had put both batteries on their respective chargers, and left them until the flashing lights went out. Now it looked like I will be riding a grossly overloaded bike with no electric motor support.

It was only when I took a closer look at the bike that I made a second discovery. I am such an imbecile that I had forgotten to put the battery in the bike. It was Maggie's bike that I had put the battery in, my bike was still bereft of a battery.

Feeling rather ashamed at my outburst, I quickly inserted the battery and watched the charge indicator rise to its full complement of lights. Things were starting to look up.

Today's route was to take us from Friedrichshafen to the far eastern end of Lake Constance. Once again the early morning started with fog on the lake, which gradually lifted by the middle of the day. With clear skies and a top temperature of around 25C, it would be impossible to imagine better cycling conditions.

The route around Lake Constance sometimes closely follows the waterfront, and sometimes veers away through nearby rural areas. One highlight of the morning ride was the unique suspension bridge at Langenargen. Apparently this bridge was the model for the much more famous Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

Another more dramatic highlight occurred a short time later. We had just pulled over to enjoy the lakeside views, when an eagle eyed Gordon spotted something much more dramatic - an airship. Yes, it was a real blimp coming straight for us. It was not something you see every day of the week, especially at not such close quarters. Friederichshafen is famous for being the home of the airship. Although we did not have time to visit the airship museum, we did get to see one flying right over our heads.

Further along we crossed the causeway to the small island city of Lindau. The waterfront is dominated by a towering lighthouse and a lion, also sitting on the top of a tower. Lindau is obviously a tourist mecca, complete with those dreadful little tourist trains and hordes of selfie taking visitors.

Maggie and I looked for somewhere to buy lunch, but quickly discovered that the prices asked by the waterfront cafes were daylight robbery. I did not feel like paying $60 AUD for a Wiener Schnitzel. We went in search of something more appropriate for our impoverished financial status.

Our search led us to a small bakery outside the dilapidated station building. At 5 Euros for a salad roll, this was more what I was looking for. What I wasn't expecting was to be served by the unfriendliest girl I had met in a long, long time. Not only did she snarl at me, but she literally snatched the money from my hand when I paid her. I wondered what had sent her into such a state, hoping that she had not taken the time to spit on our rolls behind our backs.

We then went to find somewhere to eat our budget lunch near the water. We eventually found a seat near the railway line, where we were entertained by a very talented saxophone playing busker. To my surprise, the rolls tasted better than expected, so it wasn't a complete disaster.

We only had about 10 km further to ride to reach our destination of Bregenz. This also meant that we had to cross into Austria, although neither of us noticed any sign of the border while we were riding. At this point the lake is narrower, and the opposite shoreline is quite spectacular.

The bike path is also quite spectacular for an entirely different reason. We shared the path with a continuous stream of other cyclists, many of whom were either inexperienced riders, wobbling all over the path, or would be Tour de France winners, trying to set a new personal Strava record. The combination made for a quite dangerous mix of near misses and shouted warnings.

We reached Bregenz mid afternoon and spent some time walking the centre of the city. I had heard about Europe's "narrowest house" being in the centre of the city, and wondered how anyone could live in a house that was only 57 cm wide. After visiting the house, I found out the answer. It is actually a con. Although the front of the house might be only 57 cm wide, once inside it opens up to a quite spacious art gallery. I was a little disappointed to be misled by the publicity.

Tomorrow's ride will see us start to head back westwards. The following day will see us complete our circuit when we arrive back at Konstanz.Read more