Monday July 11th Ermatingen to Romanshorn

When I looked it up on the internet last night Romanshorn looked like a nice place to stay but the reality of a hot sweaty room overlooking the railway station didn't quite live up to the billing. Really annoyed with myself because I hovered around a Gesthof about 90 minutes from my planned destination which was on the beach, didn't look expensive and had internet access. I could have gone for a swim. As it was I ended up staying in my second hotel on this trip which feels like it's in the hands of bankruptcy administrators. Staffed laid off, no real restuarant, a skeleton service.

The other thing I discovered on the internet last night is that the town/city of Konstanz (Constance in English), which I thought I was going through today, is actually in Germany. Most people presumably know this but for some reason it was a surprise to me. According to Wikipedia it left its lights on in the second world war and wasn't bombed as a consequence as bomber pilots, like me, also thought it was in Switzerland. The final piece of slightly weird serendipity is that the Zeppelin airship designer was born in Constance and there was an airship flying overhead today.

Airship above Konstance

You can see the sort of thing that was going through my mind today as I was plodding along, mainly along a footpath along the side of Lake Constance, occasionally inland through a town, and sometimes through a campsite amongst the sunbathers. Apart from avoiding the sunbathers, the biggest diversion was around the southern Swiss suburb of Constance (known as Kreuzlingen) and past the fairly informal border crossings into Germany. Again the signs were brilliant and for once a big conurbation failed to present any navigational challenges.

Konstance

Lake Constance

So really a coastal walk but nicer than the last coastal walk I did along the Costa Dorada. Definitely a better class of architecture. Saw my first robotic lawnmower, thought this was amazing, but then saw another two in short order. Now suspect that like the national location of Konstanz the existence of robotic lawnmowers is well known to everyone apart from me.

Ended up walking 30 kilometres and what with the heat and hard surfaces my feet were seriously complaining by the time I got to the nearest thing to inner city I've seen in Switzerland. Hard to sustain this impression given Romanshorn's lakeside location and the views of the mountains which, to the east, are starting once again to become prominent. Perhaps to hold onto it just a bit longer, and avoid the pizza the administrators at the Hotel were offering, I went to another establishment and had my first kebab since leaving the UK. Very nice but not a touch on the kebab you get on the Seven Sisters road on the way to watching the Mighty Spurs.

Sunday 10th of July Stein am Rhein to Ermatingen

It's very easy walking now, almost flat, and after the dash yesterday to Stein am Rhein I'm now a couple of days ahead of myself so I'm taking it easy. Navigation is also very straightforward, just keep the water on your left hand side, today the Rhine tomorrow Lake Constance.

The main part of Stein am Rhein is actually on the north bank of the Rhine with the border with Germany immediately to the east of town. My very basic and, for what it was, very expensive hotel was just over the bridge on the south side and before leaving this morning I crossed over to have a look around the impressive main square. Half timbered houses are covered in murals depicting medieval scenes. High above the town sits the Hohenklingen Castle which was built in the 12th century.

Stein am Rhein

Stein am Rhein from the south of the Rhine

So today was another hot sticky one (the thunder storms went on all last night) but this didn't stop the Swiss who were out on mass taking every sort of exercise imaginable. Occasionally I had to share my wanderweg with cyclists but mostly they had their own route which was just as well as there were hundreds of them. Many were carrying gear and the cycle network looks as well organised and extensive as the footpath network.

It's so hard not to impressed by how everything works and indeed how this is helped by everyone's impeccable behaviour. People leave their bikes unlocked and trains run along tracks not enclosed by fences. In the UK the bikes would disappear and the cables running alongside the tracks would be removed.

Open access railway

It's amazing how Roger Federer seems to typify Switzerland with both combining incredible success with charm and modesty, even to the extent that Switzerland only seems to make a moderate fuss about Roger Federer (imagine if he was English - "Tim" Federer).

Must admit some of this impeccable behaviour feels just a tad conformist to me. I preferred tennis when Conners and McEnroe were its stars and I find those unlocked bikes tempting.

Switzerland mixes rural sentimentally with the aggressively modern. Within a couple of kilometres I walked past an ancient farmstead where diners were being served food in a setting reminiscent of Amish barn raising in Witness (a favourite film of mine) and a whole series of futuristic houses all of which would qualify for a Grand Design programme.

Grand Design

Today's walk was basically a resort to resort walk (Underdorf, Steckborn, Berlingen) with lots of people in the water doing lots of water based activities. Got to Ermatingen at around 2.30 after walking just over 20 kilometres. Hadn't bothered looking for a hotel in advance but found one really easily and for once it was very reasonable.

Saturday 9th of July Bulach to Stein am Rhein

Was a bit worried about navigation for today. Had paid for a room in Stein am Rhien, at great expense, so had to get there, and although I knew the towns I was supposed to go through I didn't have an actual route. To make things worse the internet access in the hotel last night was very intermittent and the inability to find an official route online made me more nervous. In the end, with the limited internet available, google maps allowed me to generate a route, take a screen save as a map, and give me confidence that, even if it wasn't the right route, at least I would get there.

As I understand it the official route goes Bülach, Freienstein, Irchel, Ober-Buch, Dorf, Großandelfingen, Truttikon and Oberstammheim to Stein am Rhein. I ended up going via Neftenbach and Adelfingen. Not sure which is longer or better but I started at 7 and got to Stein am Rhein at 5.30, a 44 kilometre walk.

If it wasn't for the fact that I generated an alternative route, and then started to use it, I could have stuck with the correct route and got to Stein am Rhein without a map. The signs are amazing and there really does seem to be a waymarked network of footpaths in Switzerland that both connects all the significant settlements and is integrated with public transport. So when I got to Adelfingen, which I guess is about 20 kilometres from Stein am Rhien, Stein am Rhien was signed along with all the settlements in between. I did miss a turn once but instead of retracing my steps I just went to the next settlement and went on a slightly different route to the same destination.

It wasn't a bad walk either, more hard surfaces than I have got used to, but much better than I was expecting.

Out of the mountains Switzerland feels like the London greenbelt. Lots of very prosperous towns with strips of intensely, almost manicured countryside in between.

The architecture in the villages is now more German and Gothic. Lots of timber framed houses with the integration of farm houses with cattle housing inside the villages particularly interesting. The fact that cattle are still accommodated inside villages is perhaps one measure of the extent of agriculture subsidies in this country, another is the number of new tractors.

Typically village centre farm

Things that struck me in particular today was the enclosed bridge over the river just past Adelfingen (shades of the "The Bridges of Madison County"); the tendency to put faces on the sunflowers (shades of little weed in "Bill and Ben the Flower Pot Men") and the naked man on the side of the river.

Covered bridge

Smiling sun flower

The naked man was hiding behind a bush, I was eating my lunch on a bench near the bush and he decided to reveal himself once he knew I was there for a few minutes. Did not help my digestion. Couldn't help but notice that he had a full body tan which is definitely something I can't claim.

Stein am Rhien is a gorgeous place, seriously German Gothic. Will have a proper look tomorrow when my feet have recovered. People were swimming in the river which can't be as treacherous as it looks.

If it wasn't for the expense, and the dodgy food, Switzerland would be the absolutely perfect place for walkers. The Hotel I'm staying in tonight has an Indian restaurant. It was busy, but had half the menu and was twice the price of any equivalent in the UK. I got one soggy popodom to start with and it went down hill from there on in.

Huge thunderstorm at the moment, was lucky that I had only had one when I was on the walk and was able to find shelter.

Friday 8th July Brugg to Bulach

Dielsdorf is the last town on Jura Howenweg and the European Ramblers Association web site doesn't really tell you how to cross 50 kilometre gap between Deilsdorf and Lake Constance. Menno, who commented on my original route, has given a list of towns and I will try and go from town to town using these stepping stones. Bulach is on that list and gets me within a long striking distance of the Rhine for tomorrow.

If you have ever been to Zurich than Bulach, where I'm staying tonight is just to the east of the final approach run to the airport.

The weather is a bit iffy at the moment. Last night was very hot and at about three o'clock in the morning there was an enormous thunderstorm and the evidence of the damage done was all along the route today.

I say route but I just couldn't find the Jura Howenweg coming out of Balsthal this morning. Sleepless night and the need to cover a lot of ground today didn't help matters but in the end I gave up and followed the local footpaths rather than get on the route proper. Basically I walked along the bottom of valley and of course the Howenweg sticks limpet like to the top, the "crest", whenever it can.

Walked along the side of the river to Baden, which looks a very prosperous town, past numerous factories and a lot of new building. Two of my favourite counter intuitive facts are that Switzerland's economy has the highest percentage of manufacturing for any country in Europe and its workforce the lowest proportion of graduates. The evidence of the first fact at least was everywhere today.




After Baden I decided to bushwhack my way to the top of ridge. As is usually the case going in a straight line up the side of a 600 metre hill is a lot harder than it looks (explains why they have paths) and the ground was particularly sticky after last night's storm. It was also hot and the horse flies were on patrol again.

Eventually I hit the trail proper and was able to finish of the Howenweg and march in Dielsdorf on the right route. Saw an interesting use made of a silage bale on the final descent. The penultimate town was Regensberg which was very picture postcard.









The last bit to Bulach was very dull but has to be done as I have big ambitions for tomorrow. Today's walk was 33 kilometres some of it in the right direction.

So I'm now yomping across the plain to Lake Constance and I'm trying to get to Stein am Rhien by tomorrow. I guess being so close to Zurich the hotels around here are extra expensive so I don't want to hang about. I'm one day ahead of schedule at the moment and after tomorrow that will be two days. Hopefully I can find somewhere a bit cheaper to hunker down for a bit. It's not just that the hotels are expensive, and I hate being in expensive hotels on my own, they are also not very good, food wise everything wise. Come back France all is forgiven!

Thursday 7th July Hauenstein to Brugg

Big 33 kilometre walk today with about 800 metres of climb. Hot and sticky with a bit of thunder in the air, rained a bit this afternoon but nothing serious.

The big pain at the moment, apart from smelly shoes, is horse flies. They are savage and I'm currently carrying four huge bites on arms and legs. The bite is much worse than a mosquito (although they don't buzz around your ear at night) and if you see them on your arm or leg it's basically too late they've got you. My standard insect repellant doesn't stop them and although I've also got some heavy duty DEET stuff I'm a bit loath to use it as standard. Still, as they say if it doesn't kill you it can only make you stronger (absolute nonsense of course).

On nasty biting things I have also adopted a new approach to ticks. I'm wearing shorts which means I can keep checking my legs. I now know the conditions where your likely to get them and I'm extra diligent when these conditions apply. Saw a deer today and sure enough a tick jumped on my leg but I got it before it made itself comfortable. For some reason had my flash on the camera so the deer shows up with a touch of red eye.



Another nice walk but much too misty to see the Alps. The limestone ridge is definitely starting to fizzle out but what as left, today at least, was a series of outcrops which in themselves made for some nice scenery.







Nowhere to get a packed lunch so treated myself to sausage and chips at Staffelegg, a road side restaurant, very pleasant. Despite the length of the walk it was all very gentle and I was making great time.

Wednesday July 6th Balsthal to Hauenstein

The good news is the Alps haven't disappeared and if it's clear enough you can still see them from this part of Jura Höhenweg. I could just see the sun reflecting of the snow today but not clear enough to actually see the mountains.

Escaped from Balsthal at about 9.30 having struggled as I usually do in a town of any size to find the route out. I think I have mentioned it but the Jura Howenweg is broken down into stages with the end of each stage linked to a public transport access point, usually a train or bus stop. I worked out today that what you need to do is head for the train station where there will be signs for the footpaths. This involves thinking as if your a Swiss person and expecting things to be organised instead of thinking as an English person and wandering around aimlessly on the assumption that they are not.

Well the Jura Howenweg has not fizzled out and the start of the day involved a 550 metre climb up to top of the Roggenflue, which is just less than a 1,000 metres high. The man spreading liquid cow manure on his field kindly stopped as I walked past although it wouldn't have made my shoes smell any worse.

There was an information board on top of Roggenflue describing what I would have been able to see if there wasn't so much heat haze and on a good day this would have included views all the way back along the Höhenweg to Mont Dole above Sant Cergue.

Although the Jura Höhenweg hasn't fizzled out, my ability to say anything new about what remains very nice countryside but basically the same very nice countryside, probably has. I have now been walking through Jura Howenweg for eight days, will probably miss it when it's gone but I'm getting ready for something else. As it was, on a hot and sticky day, I've devoured another 20 kilometres despite a 1,000 metres of climb.

Hill side restaurant

Down to Hauenstein

Shady Path

By the way fortifications re-emerged again today, lines of obstacles to stop tanks, some fairly new looking. Just before arriving at Hauenstein a whole hill had been fortified in 1915 and I think it's still used in some way. All along the side of the hill insignia of the army regiments who served there had been carved into the rock.

 Belchenflue

Staying at a Gasthof in Hauenstein which is very pleasant. They have brilliant wifi but the landlady doesn't know the password, which is a bit frustrating. If this gets published then I must have found it.

Tuesday July 5th Hinter-Weissenstein to Balsthal

Staying in a hotel in a Balsthal, a big hotel but it doesn't have wifi. This is a major pain because I have just finished my book and I can't download another one. When I'm walking on my own, and I've now had a long stretch on my own, I'm listening to podcasts all day and reading books, on my Ipad, in the evening. I'm dependent on a wifi connection to keep this all fresh and this useless place hasn't got wifi. Still I did knock them down three times on the price of the room.

Another nice day on the Jura Höhenweg. I think things will change after today. Although I've still got another 50 kilometres or so before I get to Dielsdorf, the end of the route, I think I have finished the 1200 metre plus part with the last two days at around 600 metres. In fact the big feature of today's 20 kilometre walk was the 700 metre descent at the end.

Left the splendid Gasthof at Hinter-Wiessenstein at about 8.30 (where they did have wifi) and the scenery was very similar to what I've been enjoying for the last week, although no views of the Alps today. Not sure if that's because I've run out of Alps for the time being or because it was too misty.

As good as it looks

It was a lot warmer today and heat was giving the countryside more of a high summer look, grass looking dry and the trees darker. Lots of haymaking activity and they really don't let any scraps go to waste. No idea what the weather forecast is but it could get seriously hot as I get lower down.

Picture postcard landscape

There was a final peak to climb, the name of which I forgot to record, before the drop down to Balsthal. Before the descent you walked a path along the ridge with a tall fence topped with razor wire on its side. This was definitely about something a bit more serious than deer management. Sure enough at the end of path, and on the other side of the fence, there was a group of young uniformed military men with blackened faces. Didn't have the nerve to take a picture.

And then the drop down to Balsthal, the first place since Saint Cergue with an ATM machine.

My shoes, although dry, continue to smell. Not sure if this is because they are basically trainers or whether it's what happens when you walk miles and miles in the same pair of shoes. They, the third pair, are wearing very thin and it will be touch and go as to whether they are still in one piece by the 19th when the next pair arrives.