Day 9
On the 26th Alec (cyclist from Scotland England living in the Netherlands) and I have breakfast together. Of course, he is faster in packing up then I am and is leaving some 20 minutes before I head of in direction of Basel. After 2 days of rest the cycling is easy enough and some 92 km later I find myself on a camp site in the Swiss village of Bubendorf.
The camp site itself is located in a rather industrial area and mostly accommodated by permanent residents/workers. I'm happy enough to make the acquaintance of Birgit and her 2 kids (3 and ~1 years old). She is cycling from Wurzburg to Geneva, for a couple of weeks altogether, to attend a wedding in the area. She's lucky enough to ride an ebike so pulling the trailer up the Swiss hills won't be all that hard, yet I admire here courage and stamina traveling alone with 2 kids.
Km clocked up: 92
Day 10
How very naive of me to assume that the "Eurovelo" route would be of a similar difficulty in Switzerland. I really should have looked at the elevation data. Or should I have...? After all, I don't wanna overprepare :D
Following breakfast with Birgit and the kids I set off not too late, 10:30ish. Naturally, Birgit is gone faster than me (despite getting up later!)
I tell myself to take it easy today and "slow down". Little did I know that this would not be a choice but rather a given: after 2.5 hours I've barely made more than 20km. I guess it was not my brightest idea to carry an excess of 4 liters of water plus some clothes soaked in water+soap (for purposes of cleaning) up the hills, and it doesn't take long until i dispose of the water.
Luckily there is always a way down. Also some cherry trees on the way to cheer my up. I arrive at the camp site in Sursee just in time to see the last 5 minutes of the game "Germany : Korea". It's not too cozy but I don't care. I just wanna get some sleep and not cycle Tomorrow I will look for another camp site at the lake to chill for a few days.