August 12, 2019
August showers brought me flowers
Wet pedaling from Konstanz to Radolfzell via Insel Mainau
On every tour some rain must fall. Today was that day. I was awakened by the sound of raindrops again this morning. The rain fell pretty steady during breakfast at the ABC Hotel in Konstanz. It turned into a mist as I attached the pannier and headed north from Konstanz on the cycle path.
Today's route planned by Radweg Reisen had me cycling north to Insel Mainau and onto Dingelsdorf. The route then headed west across a peninsula to Radolfzell on western Lke Constance. The 22-mile route turned into a 25-mile route due to another bad choice in navigation out of Dettingen.
Insel Mainau was a short 5-mile ride from the hotel. The tour provider included tickets to the island which is known as the Garden Island due to ts extensive landscaping of elaborate flower gardens in a nature preserve setting. The island was a lovely excursion despite the rain.
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Leaving Mainau, I headed north to Dingelsdorf. Radweg Reisen's map advised me to leave the cycle path and head to Dettingen via road to avoid "hilly bits". That was enough to send me to the road. It was a pleasant road that did have some gentle elevation and nice countryside cycling.
I rejoined the cycle path in Dettingen. Unfortunately, our group made a bad choice in cycle path signage off course and had to retrace our path 3 miles back into Dettingen. We found ourselves back on course to Kaltbrunn. I followed the relatively flat road into Markelfingen for about 6 miles before joining the path again into Radolfzell. It was relatively easy to find our hotel in the city center.
Radolfzell is a lovely city of 30,000 that has nice amenities with plenty of dining and shopping options. It had the old-world German look and feel. It was obvious we were back in Germany from the prices. Germany has been noticeably less costly than Switzerland.
The group had what we agreed was the best meal to date on the tour at a small German restaurant. It has become apparent that traveling in Switzerland is costly. It is interesting that a small distance of 10 miles between towns can see the price of meals double or even triple. For example, tonight's dinners of schnitzels or lamb shank with beverage was $15-$20 USD. In Switzerland, these meals would easily be $35-$45 USD.
Tomorrow I head back across the peninsula to circle the very northern shore of Lake Constance to Meersburg, Germany. That is just about due east across the lake from Konstanz. The forecast for the day looks cycletastic perfect!
Today's ride: 25 miles (40 km)
Total: 105 miles (169 km)
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