Day 74: Kadelburg to Rheinfelden, Switzerland

July 12, 2014

Today we rode through four outstanding towns: Waldshut, Laufenburg, Bad Sackingen, and Rheinfelden. Each one had an interesting altstadt, and deserved to be checked out carefully. We were conflicted, though. Our new friends Jurgen and Susanne at Uhldingen had recommended that we include at least Triberg, among the towns that are deeper into the Black Forest than we had planned to cycle. Their idea was for us to take a train there from Radolfzell. But we did not want to give up on Stein am Rhein or Schaffhausen. So we hatched the plan of meeting up with our friends Didier and Brigitte and going with them by car deeper into the Black Forest. The only thing, we set up to meet with them in Freiburg on Sunday. Now on Saturday we were nowhere near. And we had four altstadts to check out!

We did come up with a great solution, but for now let's take a quick cruise through the towns.

The FIFA football games are big news here, of course. All over the place are public viewings. It's strange that they use the English words for this/

Here is the complete lineup of radwegs that use this part of the Rhine.

Waldshut is like Stein am Rhein - a couple of blocks of really nice buildings, entered by a gate. The buildings are four or five stories high, with many windows, featuring sills and often shutters. Many colours are used, with green, peach, and brown often seen. There was a market ongoing today, and peerhaps it is every day. Not a farmers' market, this one had the much loved (by us) cheese, bakery, fruit, and vegetable stands with local produce and some imports. like bananas and olives. We stocked up on bakery and fruit.

At one end of town was (yet another) liebfrauen church. It was a modest one, with only two side altars and the main altar. At the church we met a man watching over three touring bicycles, and we learned that he was from Krakow (Poland) and was heading to Santiago Compostella. The other bikes belonged to his two boys, so this was a father and sons tour. They had plotted it out to touch various churches and at these to stamp their pilgrimage passports. They already had a lot of stamps.

The man took out some magnesium squares that he had bought in the nearby grocery. We were very interested in these, as we have often suffered leg cramps at night. The man gave us his package, and we will look for them next timewe are shopping. This is something we have not seen in this form at home.

At the other end of town was an even simpler church, being the chapel for the former hospital. However it did not try to follow the pattern of most churches, and so ended by being impressive though small. This it did with attractive frescoes, and somehow the feeling of being 600 years old.

The buildings along this part of the Rhine are unique

How about this rather vampy black dirndl?

The pilgrimage stamps of the Polish father and sons

In the spital kapelle, interesting painting

This angel seems to begiving me the finger!

Laufenburg like the other towns is right on the Rhine, but it is in an area of rather steep banks. A main feature is a bridge that joins the Swiss and the German side. The buildings, again, are rather tall, with many smallish windows, and multi colours. From the German side, Dodie said casually "Hey, do you want to go to Switzerland for lunch?". Since I agreed, we pedalled over the bridge, found a bench, and ate our sandwiches! Then we just pedalled back.

Bad Sackingen was the one that made the biggest impression. As we entered the town, bells chimed out in an exuberant outpouring. It turned out to be a wedding at the first church. We later found that we had missed the bride and groom in a decorated carriage. As we entered the market square we had a really big treat. Three alp horns were being played, in front of an elaborately frescoed building. This is the first time we have seen or heard these famous instruments. They were followed by a small group of men and women who sang in harmony, with the women breaking into a clear series of tones that I would call yodelling, though it did not quite have the "twang" fo some yodelling I may remember.

The church in the square was also something else again. This was a flat out over the top fresco affair with high ceilings and lots of gold and marble. This is the church of St. Fridolin, and contains a golden box that presumably holds some part of him. On the box is the image of a skeleton, and one of the frescoes also has a prominent skeleton. Some research will be needed to find out who this saint is and what his thing is with skeletons!

The horns come apart and pack into custom padded cases

The harmonizing, yodelling singers. Dodie went over and thanked them after. They really were wonderful.

Fresco with skeleton. What's with the skeletons?

Rheinfelden was crunch time. We reached this twin city - one German and one Swiss on either side of the Rhine, about 5 p.m. This was the point at which our original plan called for a sharp turn to the north, and into the hills of the Black Forest. Maybe then in a couple of hours more pedalling we could reach Lorrach. Would that help, as far as being close enough to meet up with Didier went? Probably not. I was saying we could now jump a train to Freiburg, which is where we said we would be. But Dodie really did not want to short circuit any part of our ride. We came here to fight it out with the Black Forest, and now was not the time to bail out.

So , compromise. We cycled down into Swiss Rheinfelden to find a place to stay. Right over the bridge was the Hotel Schiff. Dodie went in - and came back a little shell shocked. They wanted 175 euros per night. However, standing across the street was Rosa, and the Hostel Beizli. This had hostel style cells with bunk beds, but a very serviceable communal lounge and kitchen. 80 euros (still not cheap!) got us our own room, with three beds, and shower and toilet across the hall. Our bikes could rest in the lounge. This met all our needs, and we are finding the hostel fun, with its kitchen - especially. Rosa was particularly friendly and helpful, and checked out train schedules on her laptop. So the plan is to train up to Freiburg to get together with Didier and Brigitte, and then train back down, to spend two or three days fighting our way back to Freiburg on the bikes again. We love this plan!

With our bikes safely in the lounge, we took a little walk through Rheinfelden. Again, this unique Swiss sort of tall house, and an overall esthetic that is surely Swiss, but hard to nail down. Fachwerk for example, or chalet houses with balconies and flowers are easy to describe. But what is it about this place? Anyway, it is super pleasing, and we are looking forward to walking through the town again for a bit on Monday, with our bikes still safely stowed.

Right now it is 9:32 p.m., and I know the Brazil/Netherlands football match is on. There is a bar at the end of the street with two large TVs. So, I will post this text, then go have a look at the game. Only after will the photos come, and no doubt captions will have to wait to morning, because I will be too wiped. So here we go, let's see how Brazil isdoing this time!

Last time , in Basel, we remarked on all the industry and demanded to know where the cheese and chocolate was. Here too, the Rhine can be very industrial.

Rosa, proprietor of our hostel, points the way to the trainstation across the Rhine in Germany

Today's ride: 58 km (36 miles)
Total: 3,739 km (2,322 miles)

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