Day 12 Huninge to Lucerne 70.19 miles

Dist 70.19miles ride time 6hr 03mins 

Av spd 11.56mph max spd 39.15mph. Altitude up 3981ft

We woke sluggishly this morning with lots of bike maintenance to do before we could leave; the rain and sandy canal towpaths had left out bikes filthy.

Today involved the first real hills of the trip. First we had to get out of the city though. 

Huninge, lies on the French side of Basel the Swiss capital, across the river is Germany, and from our campsite we could see the 3 countries bridge. We wanted to say we had been to Germany so we crossed the bridge first! We were in Germany for less than five minutes before we crossed into Switzerland. then started a stressful and busy 20 miles particularly for me navigating, to be honest it was not enjoyable at all, but we got through it without any scares.

(The 3 countries bridge (the 3 in question being Switzerland, Germany and France)

(Basel and swollen river)

(John races a team in Basel)

Because Switzerland has so few roads for its size the villages tend to be linear, this meant we could see hill and farmland but it felt like it took an age to get out into it, as all the road edges are built on. 

We finally broke into forest and out first major hill, and it was pretty major. Towards the top I found a slow worm basking on the road, I quickly took a photo then picked him up and put him off the road so he didn't become a slow worm pancake.  

At the top of the hill the views were amazing and we met a very nice Swiss cyclist who pulled over for a chat, he told us the best way to Aurau and when he said there was a big hill, we knew it would be big. He must have been around 60 and he looked fit as a butchers dog, you'd have to love cycling to nip out for a spin where he lives! 

(These 2 characters waited for John with me at the top of the big hill) 

(Here he comes now)

The roads weren't great today; a lot of traffic, so we managed to find some bike tracks instead. The big hill before Aarau was no joke, it climbed up over 1000ft with some big hairpin bends, John and I agreed to meet at the top, when I finally got up there I took my shoes off and waited for him ,I got my breath back and took in the view it is a spectacular place. I could see John making his way up the hairpins below and he made it to the top, first big hill test passed.

(A Swiss bike track)

The descent the other side was steep and fun. At Beromünster we had our last proper climb of the day, it was nothing on the Aarau one though, then after that it was down hill all the way to lake Lucerne, that's about 10 miles down hill......brilliant.

Lucerne in 6 words: stunning, expensive, wealthy, expensive and bloody expensive.  

(Lake Luzern)

(Pulling into the campsite)

It's a beautiful place with the lake and the alps and some attractive buildings, the campsite has the best facilities of any we've been to but you pay for them, it's 3x the price of any we've been to. The locals all seem to be multilingual many speaking English with an American accent. 

We settled in for our evening and the long awaited rest day tomorrow!! John got angry with his tin of ravioli though and has cut his finger, I've bandaged it up but it may require attention tomorrow.