A flat ride

No, I don't mean flat tires. I mean no hills. In 69 kilometers I only climbed 259 feet. Later I climbed over100 feet just going up to the chapel here in Breisach am Rhein, Germany. At least I didn't have a sore butt from doing that. 

The route followed tow trails beside old canals. That was not all the official Eurovelo 15 trail, and at some point I missed a turn to a canal and ended up on the official trail. From that point on i had to rely on the trail signs and the maps in the guide book. 

I stayed in Basel in a 4 bunk dorm at a hostel. In the morning I had a long chat over breakfast with one of my roommates: Jean Pierre of Switzerland. He is a professional guitarist who has played classical and flamenco music all over the world. He was recovering from hand surgery so no music last night. 

It rained again today but not a hard as yesterday and not as long. Probably about 1/3 of the way. 

As I was leaving Basel, I came by the Basel cathedral. 

It being a Sunday morning, the bells began to ring out to call the faithful to Mass. 

I wish I could post a video on here because it was loud, beautiful, and long. It probably went on for over 5 minutes. I pity anyone that was trying to sleep in this morning! 

Basel is a large city and it took some time to get out of town. European cities can be the worst to try to navigate for an American. In the old part of town, in particular, there is nothing reminiscent of a grid pattern. It's like somebody followed a cow around and wherever it went, that became a road. 

Good for me that someone showed me how to download a Google map and use it offline. It gives you all the functions of Google maps without charging any data. It has been extremely helpful on getting around these: cities. 

Leaving Basel...

It's either a Rhine tour boat or Jeff Bezo's runabout. 

An older Mercedes camper van

Before trains and semi trucks, businesses and farmers had to rely on water transport. Building canals and locks was high tech work! Now, like so many other things (remember typewriters and carbon paper?) they are obsolete. They still flow slowly but the locks are out of service and so you mostly have long shallow lakes that are mainly used for recreation. 

But the tow paths beside them have been repurposed for biking and hiking. Sort of a rails to trails thing. Today, got the first time, I heard a real live Cuckoo bird! He sounded a lot like the famous clocks. 

But if your bike has too short a rear fender, or none, the gravel trails can sure make a mess. 

Mama and Papa Swans taking care of their eggs. 

Random castle along the way. 

I always thought it was taller and someplace else. 

Based on a V2 rocket. We had something like this in the playground at the Timber Carnival park in Albany, Oregon. 

Many of the road have a designated bike lane or a parallel bike path. Though the drivers here are much much more courteous about bicyclists than back home (get off my road!) it is nice to have more distance.

Almost to my hotel and another cyclist (he was from London) and i exchanged doing camera work. 

Here's my little room for the night. 

After settling in i took a short walking tour of the town. 

Looking out front

Water splash pad for the kids. 

Jeepers, not only did I get my thumb in the picture...

The cathedral is the standout feature in town. 

You can drive up to it on a steep cobble road, but why do that when you can easily walk up 100 steps from downtown? 

Quite a view from up here. 

During the war over 85%of the city was destroyed by bombing. Even the cathedral. It took many years to rebuild. 

Tonight I'll just leave it at that. Nobody really wins in war. Too many lives are lost for generally foolish reasons. Cities are destroyed, lives are ruined, and all because someone wants more power. 

It's late and I'm ready for bed. Good night all.