Sunday 28th May - Mainz to Lake Constance (362 km)
This was to be our final push into Switzerland before a rest day off the bikes. We got up to glorious sunshine and set off. We were sticking to the autobahns again because we still had a lot of miles to cover before Switzerland.
Our first stop was just before we got to Stuttgart. The services must have been the only ones for miles because it was absolutely mental. The services were for both sides of the autobahn and there were no markings at all for where to go or where to park - so it was just a free for all. It did serve nice food though.
We then rode past Stuttgart - twice as it happened - because I went north instead of south on the road we were taking to Switzerland. Also at some point in this stretch Nig lost my kettle - I hope it didn't hit anything as it flew off the back of his bike!
The weather had been nice all day, but as we approached Lake Constance the heavens opened. In no time at all we got absolutely drenched.
The directions we had to the campsite were not very good so we stopped to ask people where to go. I don't know if we were just very unlucky - but 3 out of the 4 people we asked were very rude and ended up sending us in the totally wrong direction - I think they just wanted us to go away. The final person we asked gave us good directions and we eventually found the campsite.
After pitching the tents in the rain we were not very happy. Thankfully the campsite was very nice so we all had showers (separately I might add!) and began to feel more human.
The weather cleared up later on so we set out looking for somewhere to eat. I had chosen the campsite because it said it had a restaurant and bar on site, which it did, but they were closed. The town had no other open bars or restaurants so we ended up buying a couple of packs of bear and some bread, ham and cheese, which we ended up sharing with the local birds (of the feathered variety) which were exceptionally friendly, they would even come into the tents if you put bread down.
It ended up being a very nice relaxing night.