Chilled out summer days in Switzerland

We were pretty knackered when we got to Marianne’s house. A good, long sleep, even with the local church bells clanging in our ears, it seems we didn’t need much rocking. Now, the church bells do clang every 15 minutes. Yes, that’s through the night. All night. Didn’t hear one single ding. Until 7am. Then I rolled over and went back to sleep.

Breakfast was yum. It was a lovely morning, not too hot, a bit overcast. Just nice. So, what do we do? Yep, get on the bikes and do a wee local tour, ducking in and out of Germany and Switzerland.

I could see Marianne giving Ed instructions from the pillion seat. Fanny had other ideas. She did take us into a couple of farm yards. I could see Marianne gesticulating on the back of the bike. I knew that she was saying, “Whatever!” (Fanny’s the sat nav, just in case you didn’t know). We went through some lovely villages, some obviously very old indeed. A wee sprinkle of rain wasn’t puting us off, just a wee drizzle, nothing of note.

Quiet roads, smooth bends, beautiful countryside, a bit of slo-mo practice when Fanny got it wrong; what more can you ask for?

We didn’t plan a long run, we were only out for a few hours. Back home, out of the bike gear and then off to the local lake for a swim. It’s a wee hike to get to it, but well worth it when you get there. From the first of April this year, Marianne was swimming pretty much every day. Last year she covered 200 miles swimming in ‘her lake’!

Marianne’s lake

What we did next, I didn’t expect in the slightest. We went back through Trullikon to watch the Tour de Suisse pass by. What an opportunity. It seemed like there were loads of marshals, fancy that job. All riding identical Yamahas. Lots of police riders and then the guys doing all the work.

Here they come

The leaders

Here they come……

Woooooosh…. They’re gone!

It was all over too fast. No bloody wonder, they are going fast! There had been a wee bit of a clatter and a delay earlier. It’s no wonder when they’re riding so close together!

Ed, plaiting wheat

We watched the air show that was put on to celebrate the day’s finish of the Tour de Suisse. How lucky were we? All this in one day. We were invited up to Marianne’s friend Ruth’s family hut for a BBQ. Up above the village. We were surrounded by rape crops, wheat, barley and a cherry tree beside the hut. Ruth’s great uncle had put the hut there. The local station was bombed in the war, however this little hut was left standing. It used to house ‘small animals’ prior to transporting. He was allowed to take it away when they were rebuilding the station after the bombing destruction. Now it has two rooms, no running water, but thanks to solar power, it now has electricity. Very cosy.

WW2 hut, saved

Today, Wednesday, was nice and sunny again, not too hot, unlike at home, where, by all accounts people were getting sunburnt. Ellen springs to mind!

The route had been planned by Ed and Marianne. We had, according to Ed & Fanny, 28 way points on our route today. 28 chances to do a u-turn. The distance was originally 222km, but, as Fanny kept having seizure ‘moments,’ we reduced that to 210km. How many u-turns we did, I have no idea. Given the number of wee, cracking roads that we were on, it had to happen. My counterclockwise slo-mo has improved substantially.

Our destination was Säntis, in the mountains that we could see from the hill above Trullikon.

We were riding back roads all the way. Brilliant. We were off road a few times and when we got close to home, we even rode between vineyards. Oops. We weren’t meant to do that…. Hell, we’re tourists. For me, that was an ‘up on the pegs’ job. Good old Smoggy was very happy. Glad again of my off-road riding day in Inverary!

A short coffee break on the way to Säntis and a bite to eat whilst we were there. The cable car wasn’t going to be worth it though, it was cloudy and refreshingly cool. The run up there though was fabulous. About 10km of pure twisties to get a bit of practice in for the rest of the holiday! Break ourselves in gently. So, we headed down the hill again. Not worth paying all that money to get no view!

Gorgeous

On the way back down, I needed another stop for coffee and more importantly, water. It’s the biggest issue having a husband with the stamina of a Duracell bunny; he keeps going on and on. That’s not a good thing when it’s hot. We shared a litre between us. Damn cheek charging us 5 Francs. Marianne won’t be going back there. Their strawberries were good though! Marianne had planned dinner at Kartause Ittingen which previously was a monastery. They make their own beer, grow their own livestock, 95% of their food is sourced locally. All in all a fantastic meal experience. If you’re in the area you should visit. More water needed.

Working watermill

We got home just before 8. All of us pretty tired, but what a satisfying day. Tomorrow, destination Austria. Mountain passes galore.

The view towards Trullikon

Ed & Marianne