We reached Lake of Konstanz. It’s a very large lake and it is a source of the Rhine River. So we have reached our plateau and starting from here, we will be going down river rather than up river. It is a landmark achievement for us. We are exhausted. Although we went a very short distance today, it was more than enough. Our legs are burned out and we are going to take a rest day here and not bicycle at all.

We found the campground in Markelfingen on Lake of Konstanz and have a view of the lake right from our tent. It is a big campground park full of motor homes and large tents, but it is very lovely here. Ever since we bought our raincoats, we have not had more than one day of serious rain to ride through. So now we are in this sunshine and the warmth of the lower elevation at the lake. It’s as if we flew magically on a carpet from the North Pole to the tropics. Suddenly we have summer again. We hope it lasts.

We spent a rest day off by taking the commuter train into Konstanz. There were more bicycles in the town that in all the Wal-Mart stores around the world!

From here, we ride the Rhine River to Basil, Switzerland. From Basil, there is a bicycle route along the flat canal that takes us to the first French town of Mulhouse. We still have no maps of the area. We are amazed that to get a map of the Euro Velo 6, one has to order it in advance. But tomorrow we will go to Konstanz and see if we can find maps.

It has been an amazing journey to this point. We have enjoyed the Danube River and the Danube Bike Trail. In retrospect, one should know that it is not all an easy route. Especially as the Danube enters German it is much more hilly than the Danube through Austria, Hungary, Serbia and Romania. In Germany, there was also a lot more gravel trail. They were equally enjoyable in different ways. In Austria, you rode mostly along the Danube and had to cycle off route into the towns. In Germany, the route went through the towns for the most part. There is so much to see along the route, a cyclist would have to spend a lot more time with days off if they truly wanted to visit all the wonderful towns along the route.

We did have strong and numerous headwinds and sufficient uphill doing this route in reverse. Still, those doing it in the downstream direction have plenty of hills to negotiate especially between Lake of Konstanz to Tuttlingen, Germany. These hills are extremely challenging.

Now it is our turn to go down river. We have about 1200 km to reach the Atlantic Ocean. We are looking forward to the downstream ride.