The days starts with a fine and big breakfast and a final check for a nearby cycle shop. Happily it's only a kilometre away, and a few meters off-route, so we arrive full of hope. Velo Paul immediately set to replacing my saddle clamp bolt and I was ready to go. Only problem was that the hotel had been in France and he was in Switzerland and asked for Swiss francs, of which we had none because we were sticking to the German side of the Rhine (much cheaper). He accepted €5 instead so that was OK. As a Swiss, he spoke German and fluent English which rather meant I had wasted much time overnight, whilst struggling to sleep in the heat, practising explaining my problem in French. Basel is such a confusing city!
The morning started with a thin cover of cloud which kept the temperature to a perfect warm level. This soon burned off and the day turned stupidly hot. Shade temperature was 31C. This is for sure the hottest we have ever cycled in ... especially as most of it was NOT in the shade. Luckily there were only a very few short hills to climb. We watched longingly as a thunderhead arose before us, but no refreshing downpour ensued. The day moulded itself into our usual routine of a coffee stop @ 1/4 of the way (Herten), and a lunch & beer stop after the half way point at Bad Sackingen where we reacquainted ourselves with the beautiful church and the old wooden bridge. It was too hot to stop in the afternoon, tempting as the picturesque town of Laufenburg was... we needed the breeze of forward motion. After a day of mixed surfaces, from gravel to velvet smooth tarmac, we rolled into our destination of Waldshut which we remembered from our Rhine trip. Our hotel is bang in the centre on the cobbled pedestrian street and we have a beautiful room at the top overlooking the old 19c buildings. Pizza and beer/rose finished the day off nicely.
44 miles at 9.5mph moving average (but remember this includes a lot of walking around town centres); 4 hrs 35 min time on pedals; 312m ascent
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