Thursday 10th June
We woke up quite early again. The weather was glorious again which allowed us to dry the camping gear out a little before packing it up. We decided to wear jeans again for the ride - and it was actually quite cool when we set off - which was nice (never thought I'd say that!)
Our morning route took us from Chamonix to Martigny in Switzerland, over the moutains. The road was amazing. All winding left and right with very tight turns. The mountain was on one side and a BIG drop on the other. I didn't realise how high we'd climbed until we got over the top and looked down on Martigny - it looked like a toy town! There were tall multi-story buildings which looked like match boxes.
After Martigny we headed upto Lake Geneve and went around the south and east sides. That road was also quite spectacular. I'm going to have to get a helmet mounted camera for the next tour!
Then we headed north up towards Basel again. As we headed up Switzerland the temperature started to rise again, by the time we got to Basel it was upto 31C.
We got to Germany at around 1pm. We had planned on stopping either in Switzerland or just over the border in Germany. We realised if we pushed on to Mainz, it would be possible to get the ferry on Friday rather than Saturday as we'd planned, so we rode on. We got within 100km of Mainz and the heavens opened. We stopped to put our waterproofs on, but mine leaked so I got very wet.
We got to Mainz, and after a little bit of trial and error, found the campsite we'd stopped at on the way down. As we were checking in a Dutch guy, aged about 60, came to say hello and told us he was impressed we'd riden from England. It turned out he had riden, on a bicycle, from an island off the north coast of Holland - and HE was impressed with US!!!
The rain had more or less stopped by the time we pitched the tents. Needless to say - I made sure mine was pitched nice and tight this time! As we were pitching the tents, a couple of retired English blokes came over to say hello and offer their assistance if we needed anything.
We went for a very nice steak and on our way back to the tents, the retired fellers offered us a drink at the bar on the campsite. As it would have been rude to refuse we joined them. It turned into a very good night, with lots beer, schnaps, and German singing!
p.s. Sorry about the fuzzy picture - but I wasn't very steady on my feet when I took it!