Downhill and on the flats - Swiss roots but no Large Hadron Collider - CycleBlaze

August 18, 2019

Downhill and on the flats

Downhill spin from St. Gallen to Konstanz

Down from the mountains, very quickly Lake Constance came into view
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The forecast for today was rain and thunderstorms most of the week. I woke to sunny skies and temps in the 8os by noon. The cycling Gods must have been with me. The ride out of St Gallen was pretty simple. 

A beautiful farm near Arbon
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I decided to give Komoot, a bicycle touring app, a try. I was going to use it for this tour. I decided that the tour provider's maps would be sufficient. It took me many bad turns to figure out that I needed to map the tour in a touring app. My ride into St Gallen was the tipping point. Our group was hopelessly lost in hilly terrain. I was not going to repeat that again. Komoot worked like a gem. I rolled into Constance with no problems and missed steps.

The view of the Arbon Marina was perfect on my break
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The ride from St Gallen was a very quick downhill 9 miles to Arbon on Lake Constance. It was another one of the typical Lake Constance small towns with a beautiful marina. After a short break, I pedaled northwest on the Lake Constance cycle path.

Check out these paddle boats with lounge chairs in the front and slides off the back.
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Back on the Swiss side of the lake, the amount of tourists and bicycles is much lower than in Germany. With it being Sunday, there was a pretty good mix of people on the cycle path. I arrived in Munsterlingen on a fast and scenic ride.

Apple and pear Orchards were common sights today
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There appeared to be a festival taking place. It was a good time to take a break and walk around. It turned out to be a school festival. The best thing about this stop was that they were serving food. It was lunchtime and the opportunity presented itself. I must say that the school put on quite a spread in the cafeteria. The salad bar was quite impressive with many things  many of which I had never seen on a salad bar. A large salad was the perfect lunch.

Now this was a view for lunch!
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I was less than 6 miles out of Constance. I opted to follow the lakeside cycle path. Komoot insisted that I get on the road. It was very simple and soon I found myself in familiar territory cycling through Konstanz to the ABC Hotel.

Farewell pic of my Lake Constance tour crew
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Two of my friends were off to the train station heading to Zurich Airport for a flight early in the morning. My friends Sue and Mike are staying with me. We are heading to Zurich tomorrow morning and playing tourists for a couple days on our feet and not bikes. 

A final beer in Konstanz, Germany
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Wednesday I start a more personal tour of Switzerland. I will be heading west from Zurich through Aarau to Solothurn. My final destination is a small village by the name of Pieterlen. I will explain in a future post why I am completing my tour in western Switzerland.

This crazy statue in Konstanz makes me laugh
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Today's ride: 33 miles (53 km)
Total: 250 miles (402 km)

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