Arrival in Switzerland

Alsace (France) Stage 8 – Thurs 15th Sept 2016 – Mulhouse to Basel (45 Km)

Weather: 15⁰C min – 22⁰C max, cloudy, light rain

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The 43 Km ride today from Mulhouse to Basel was the final leg of my wonderful trip through Lorraine and Alsace. It has been a marvellous experience, and I have been very fortunate with the weather. Even today I was lucky to almost beat the rain, with just some light rain falling for the last 5 Km. My first impressions of Basel are that it looks a lovely town. I will have plenty of opportunity to explore it more because I am staying here three nights with friends, before flying back to London on Sunday.

After a week of paved bike paths, quiet country roads, fantastic scenery, perfect sunny days, and delightful wine villages, today’s ride was a bit of an anti-climax. Every day for the past week has been about 30 degrees, but the weather took a turn for the worse today dropping to a maximum of 22 degrees with some light rain falling. However, because I left Mulhouse at 7:15 am most of the ride was completed before the rain started. Instead of picture-perfect towns that I have become accustomed to, today I passed through a handful of unremarkable villages. Apart from a few short segregated bicycle paths, most of the riding was on marked bicycle lanes on either the road or footpath. There was even one stretch of about 5 Km on a fairly busy road with only a narrow shoulder to ride on, but there were no concerns about safety because the traffic in France gives cyclist a clearance of at least 1.5 m (a law here).

Resisting the urge to stop for a caffeine break, I made good time and arrived in Basel just after 10:30 am. Basel is Switzerland’s third-most-populous city (behind Zürich and Geneva) with about 195,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany. What surprised me was there was no noticeable sign indicating that I had crossed the border from France to Switzerland. It was only when I noticed a bread shop called a backerei (instead of a boulangerie) that I realised I was in a different country!

And so ends another great cycling adventure, one of the most enjoyable and straightforward I have ever had. Riding was easy, navigation was not an issue, weather was perfect, scenery was superb, and my body held together without any health or fitness problems. Now it is time to start planning the next ride, which will probably be in Australia in March 2017 … a trip of about 1,450 Km from Sydney to Melbourne via the coast.