We rode through 3 countries today and one was not even intended. We hooked left near the eastern end of Lake Constance, crossed another covered bridge to take a break and have an apple, only to be greeted by this sign.

So, I’ve been to Austria! But most of the day was in Switzerland, where you would need to really try hard to get lost.

But seriously, Switzerland has obviously invested a bunch of time and money into making sure cyclists, bladers and walkers find their way around the country. At any point where you might need a sign one was there waiting for us. The map we had was great, too, and had all the major routes, with distance and gradients, as well as campsites…something Michelin has stopped doing, much to our chagrin. If you’re thinking about planning a self-propelled trip in Switzerland, here’s the excellent website of Switzerland Mobility, the group that overseas all this sign posting and route making.

http://www.veloland.ch/en/welcome.cfm

But back to the riding. Today we chose National Route #2, or more correctly it’s neighbor that tracked the Rhine on a pancake-flat path. On the other side of the river was Liechtenstein, and after crossing this extremely long covered bridge, we were in it for an hour or so.

This bridge was so long in fact, that when we took the first picture on the Switzerland side it was sunny, and by the time we got to Liechtenstein is was overcast 😉 No, sadly that was just the type of crappy weather we had all day.

After we crossed back to the Swiss side of the Rhine we bee-lined towards Sargans, and a warm bed for the night. After checking a couple of hotels in town I was accosted by a nice man in a new Audi (the only reason I trusted him, I have to admit…) who said he knew a good and cheap B and B down the road. We followed behind his Audi like a mini motorcade, to his mom’s place! But yes, it was indeed a B and B as well. This turned out to be one of those ‘you never know what you’re gonna get’ moments, and we had an excellent sleep, a wonderfully big breakfast, AND all the leftovers to make a lunch! Now, I can’t guarantee the same level of generosity that we got (the free lunch I mean…) but if you’re ever in the neighborhood of Sargans, Switzerland, give Mrs. Collenberg’s place a try.

www.sargans-bed.ch