Day 19 - Jestetten to Mühlheim am Donau (69 miles)

Today was definitely a day of two halves. The morning was relatively flat and easy with highlights of the Rhine Falls, the beautiful Swiss town of Stein am Rhein and cycling around a stretch of Lake Constance. The afternoon was sweat and pain.

Within thirty minutes of leaving this morning I was back in Switzerland and admiring the strength of the Rhine Falls, the most powerful waterfalls in Europe, although at only 75 feet high not exactly Niagara.  Nevertheless, they were very impressive to experience: the roar as masses of white, foaming water poured over rocks at the high point and dropped into the river below. Another two hours of mostly road cycling by the river saw me to 

Stein am Rhein, a medieval town of half-timbered houses with beautifully painted frontages and very close to Lake Constance, a body of water fed by the Rhine and bordering Austria, Switzerland and Germany. My route took me for fifteen miles around the German shore to Radolfzell, although more often than not I was slightly inland tackling the high ground surrounding the lake rather than on the shoreline with its cafes, hotels and activity centres, mostly closed and awaiting the season. A short stop in Radolfzell for coffee and a bite to eat and then it was time to embrace the challenge of the afternoon.

Stein am Rhein

Lake Constance

That challenge was attaining the highest point on this trip. To date I have generally been ascending, following the Loire and the Rhine upstream but from tomorrow I will be generally be descending, following the Danube downstream to the Black Sea (although sadly not downhill all the way). I knew from the profile that today would involve a lot of climbing but it seemed relentless and I felt every metre. Not that it was overly steep, I have tackled steeper hills in higher gears than I managed today, but the inclines seemed continuous. I would start a climb enthusiastically but my legs would tire quickly and I would crank down the gears. Whether it was the extra weight, the cumulative effect of days of cycling or the headwind I don’t know but the usual mind games that get me up steeper hills were not working as well today. There were downhill sections, short and steep, but they never made up for the effort required to achieve them and I actually felt cheated knowing that the highest point of my climb was still ahead of me and here I was having to give up hard earned height.

Amid all the effort it didn’t help that I got off route. I had been following some EV6 signs that had appeared in the day and after a long downhill stretch I stopped to assess my progress only to find that, whatever EV6 route I was following, it now wasn’t the one in my phone. I seemed to be diverging from the route I had expected and the one around which I had planned my night's accommodation. I could see no obvious way of them coming together and I concluded that the most sensible thing was for me to cycle back the three miles to where they had diverged. Interestingly that three mile stretch, going gently uphill with the wind behind me, seemed quicker and easier than it had been coming down into the wind. I can only conclude the wind was playing a bigger part in the afternoon's hardship than I had realised.

After a long and slow afternoon I eventually reached that high point, stopping briefly to celebrate. Not that it was all downhill from there and a couple of steep hills were timely reminders that I couldn’t relax. But a mental hurdle had been crossed and mind and body worked better together from that point. I soon reached Tuttlingen, the town where I joined the Danube and I then followed it to the tiny hilltop village of Mühlheim am der Donau where I have a room above an Italian restaurant. A main course of spaghetti and a large pizza have been devoured in an effort to replenish the fuel tank and a good night's sleep will no doubt have a recuperative effect on the body.

As High as I Get

Danube This Evening