Tergernsee to Egnach – 394kms.

I’ve actually forgotten where my intended destination was! But it was somewhere beyond Zurich and into the hills, However, the views of the Bodensee (which we call Lake Constance) as we came round its eastern end were so appealing that before St. Gallen, I turned off the motorway and decided to look for a campsite, rather than drive on for two more hours. The first two I tried were full, so I turned around, thinking I would head back to the motorway and overnight on a service area. Then I saw another sign to caravan/camping and thought ‘might as well have a look’. Well! What a place!

Camping Seehorn at Egnach (I nicknamed it Eggnog) ….. if there’s a better site anywhere in Europe, I want to go there! The facilities are a m a z i n g! I won’t go on – you can look it up if interested. I suppose if I must find a drawback – no swimming pool. Normally, the lake would make up for that, but only in fine weather and if there’s enough water to swim in! More later.

The nice man at reception, Urs, the owner, I think, hesitated at first, but then he found me a pitch where I could spend one night. If I wanted longer I might have to change pitch. That suited me. Not yet realising how lucky I’d been to turn up there, I thought one night would be OK.

By next morning (Friday 17th), having looked around and studied some of the leaflets, I’d no intention of moving on! Urs said I could stay on pitch 104, where I was, so that was OK. I had lunch at the restaurant overlooking the lake, and got the latest load of washing done using the site’s excellent facilities.

In fact, there was a thunderstorm approaching, but not from those clouds, which moved away to the east; the storm came from the south-west.

I decided I would visit Europe’s biggest waterfall, the Rheinfall, and do it by train to Schaffhausen (see map). The railway line ran alongside the site, between the pitches and the restaurant. I thought I’d get the bike off the rack and go to Egnach station along the cyclepath beside the railway, and I would do a trial run on Saturday, to be sure that I could do it, and so could the bike (it’s electric and I wasn’t sure of it, not having used it for some time.) The ride took only 15 minutes, and there was an ample bike park at the station. Tickets were obtained from a machine by the platform. I wanted a day excursion ticket, but I could get it to produce one. (This was still Saturday, and I wanted the ticket for Sunday.) A lovely young lady came along to buy her own ticket for the next train, so I stood back, but then I asked if she could help me get mine. She got me a return to Schaffhausen; it was probably more expensive than the excursion ticket, but never mind. A brief conversation then took place between us in German and English until her train arrived. She was a sixth former (as we would say) and she wanted to visit England on exchange next year. Then the train came and that ‘brief encounter’ was over. ……..

Back at base, ticket in wallet, I made up my mind to swim in Lake Constance, just to say I’d done it. There was a sign on the jetty warning people not to dive off it! Ha – as if anyone would; the water was barely knee deep. There was a second diving platform some 50-70 metres out, but even those who waded out to it were still no more than waist deep. The bottom was a mixture of heavy sand and weed (and fish). I walked out a little way and sort of lay down and ‘swam’ a couple of strokes. So I swam in Lake Constance …… didn’t I?

Sunday 19 August: The last of my special outings. Bike – 2 trains – bus – funny little self-driving pod-bus and that brought me to the top of the Rheinfall:

The people on top of the rock pinacle got there by boat across the pool, and climbing the steps from the jetty at its foot! I didn’t do that.

This was the view from the terrace of the restaurant where I had lunch – a sausage and rosti. (Well, I hadn’t had a sausage all the time in Germany, so I thought I’d have one in Switzerland!) I understand that a lot more of the rocks to the left is normally covered with white water.

See the boat? That’s what I did next, just a short circuit, but enough to ‘enjoy’ the moment when the boatman revved up to full power and drove us straight into the spray of the main fall:

The return journey was made without the bus ride – I hadn’t realised that all I had to do was change trains at Schaffhausen, and there was a station at the top of the fall. Never mind.

There were some good views from the train, both ways, as sections of the line ran very close to the lake:

I can’t explain the white globe in the middle of that picture; it appears on all the photos which I took through the train window, if I pointed the phone straight at the glass, but not if I took the pic obliquely:

Next morning I left Seehorn, and pointed Harry to France (Alsace), then north to head for the Channel.

At Colmar I had a delightful al fresco evening with two English couples and the children of one of them. I wish there had been more evenings like that after the cruise, though not necessarily with English folk. The weather was still hot, so I chose campsites with pools. This one or rather, these two, were at Berny-Rivière:

Not good photos, as I was trying to be discreet. (Fine line between discreet and furtive!) This was a huge park, popular with Brits, and within day tripping distance of Paris and Disneyland, with excursions from the site. I spent two nights here so as to relax and catch up with the washing. I promised myself an end-of-trip meal at the restaurant, where I was tempted by the ‘Menu Traditionel’ which included escargots and blanquette de veau. However, when I turned up at about 7.30, the place was fully booked for the evening.

There’s one more incident to narrate. Channel crossing was now booked for mid-morning Sunday 26th, and I had 2 days easy driving to get there. Still aiming for a swim on my last evening, I chose a park at Guines, close to Calais, and proceeded as normal, stopping at service areas and lay-bys as needed. Once on site, I was sat in Harry, having a drink and doing a puzzle, when the van began to shake. Funny!? There’s not that much wind … then bumping noises from the back. I got out to find a young (black) man in a hoodie trying, I thought, to get my bike off the bike rack. When I challenged him, he walked away and tried to hide in a toilet cubicle. A neighbour kept watch while I went to reception for help. Long story short, when the police arrived (MEN with GUNS!), they and the site warden were of the opinion that he wasn’t trying to steal the bike, but that he had been ‘riding’ under the bike cover, clinging to the rack, probably since my last stop (at least 100 kms), having seen the GB sticker on the back, and assuming I was crossing the Channel that evening. A migrant, in other words, trying to get to England, and not realising I was going to stop overnight in France!

By the time that bit of excitement was over, I felt more like another drink than a swim, but this site had a restaurant, too, and I went to ask if booking was necessary. “Ah, oui, Monsieur, absolument!” – and the only available tables were outside. Hmm, weather was a bit threatening, but I booked for 7.30. The menu I chose didn’t start with six snails, as the previous evening’s would have – but with a dozen!

The main course was – guess what? – they weren’t in the news then – scallops! In a delicious creamy sauce. I had to push my table a little further under the awning at one point, to avoid drips from the rain, but it was short-lived and I was able to get back to Harry between showers. Once there, I thought a little digestif was in order to …. well, aid digestion and induce slumber …. slumber with echoes of G & S sounding across the Rhine, and visions of balmy, sociable post-concert cocktails on the sun (moon?) deck, of blue lakes and ‘sail boats and fishermen’, of a smiling Rhein Maiden and a thundering waterfall …. and of MEN with GUNS!

After an uneventful (fortunately) drive and crossing, I arrived at Porton Court mid-afternoon, and the weather being distinctly uninviting for going out, we had a Chinese takeaway. Next day, Monday 27th August, at about 3.15pm, after one month away, and a round trip of 3,652kms or 2,282 miles, Harry, and me, and Dippy, came home.