Left: Switzerland; right: Liechtenstein
Crossing the border
29 June 2010
We backtracked along the Rhein (Rhine) river to get back to Switzerland via Sargans. The Rhein forms one of the borders between Liechtenstein and Switzerland. We followed the river for a while on the Liechtenstein side, then crossed a bridge to the Swiss side.
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Left: Switzerland; right: Liechtenstein |
Crossing the border |
We quickly found one of the characteristic Swiss bike path signs.
The combination of extensive bike path infrastructure and typically high-quality signage (notice the different markings for road bike-suitable paths and mountain bike-suitable paths, and the various numbered routes) really makes biking in Switzerland different from biking in the US. The bike routes in Switzerland are actually designed to take you places.
Past Sargans, we headed away from the Rhein. The road took us through farms and past the Churfirsten mountain range.
Eventually we lost the bike path around Wallenstadt. We figured that this was a good time to go into town anyway since it was basically lunchtime and Lisa wanted to go to an internet cafe to take care of some business. The internet cafe was right next to the Wallensee, so Piaw and I went to the waterfront, found a picnic table in the shade, and started eating.
In Wallenstadt |
Picnic spot along the Wallensee |
The Wallensee |
After lunch we continued along the shore of the Wallensee. The bike path there is a pleasure to ride on. It runs right along the water, yielding great views of the opposite shore. And at one point where the adjacent car road goes into a tunnel, the bike path gets its own dedicated tunnel!
View along the Wallensee |
Dedicated bike tunnel |
Eventually we decided that we would head up to Linthal, which was right at the foot of tomorrow's climb to Klausenpass. We followed the highways for a bit until we were able to get back on bike paths.
The rain was about to come in to the Linth valley. Some of the towns we passed through had many abandoned buildings. Altogether the valley had this sort of eerie and dead vibe.
The rain really started just before we arrived in Linthal, which put the pressure on to find a hotel. We had to ride across town and go to a couple of places before we found one (Hotel Adler in Linthal) that was both clean and had rooms available.