Finally I am getting some time to sit down and write some sentences about the start of my bike journey. Looking at the river Doubs in the east of France, being fully satisfied with a great dinner I made, I hope I can grasp most of the important highlights of my start.
Already 3 days ago I left my mum’s house with some rolling tears as I won’t see my mum again for quite some months, yet my heart was full of excitement as I left for my big cycling journey. I had roughly 2600 km ahead of me, which felt pretty abstract and hard to imagine in that moment.
After I made some final tweaks on my bike I cycled a few km in order to reach my official starting point, which was the beautiful waterfall of the river Rhein at Neuhausen in Switzerland. As a child I never payed much attention, but it is a huge power place where I asked for guidance and support for my journey.
I then drove through the village I grew up in, when suddenly a feeling of deep sadness came over me. It felt like saying good bye for good, even though I said good bye already and I have every now and then the chance to come back for a visit. I also had the sensation that things changed so much in the area, that it was hard to connect to the place like my home, maybe because I grew out of it, I don’t know.
With ever more km passing the less stories were attached to the landscape, more the sensation of adventour and curiousity became alive. I had to cross the border between Switzerland and Germany many times and I appreciated the lush green landscape and the huge waterbody of the Rhein.
Even though many of the big rivers in central Europe are challenged by the climate crisis, it left a deep imprint of a vital landscape in me that I can hardly connect to when I am in the south of Portugal. After about 80km I had enough cycling for the day and turned over to a beautiful horse ranch where I wanted to ask for a space to set up my tent. The couple who ran the farm said immediately yes and took me into the estate. I was offered to sleep in a great “Bauwagen” that they had in their backyard, which was a great surprise for my first night. I could take a shower, cook, was given freshly made apple juice – I felt like the luckiest man of that day.
I fell asleep at 20.00 and slept for 11 hours, which was a great rejuvenation and took a bit my fear that I could not sleep if I don’t feel safe.
My next morning was also pretty exciting, as I had to help an old man that fell off his support vehicle and directly on the road when I was just having my first break. I called for some more people to help me as the old man would have not been able to get up without support. Luckily he wasn’t insured much. After the adrenalin level regulated I continued my ride. I reached Basel, which was my last station before I would cross the border to France. It was also the last city I knew before I took off into unknown territory.
I have to admit, I nearly didn’t recognize that I was now in France, as my navigation sent me through some tiny crossing in a small village in the outskirts of Basel. I thought in the beginning it was just an obstacle to prevent cars from passing through, so I went back to properly celebrate my first serious new country that I would now need to get used to after Germany and Switzerland.
One first thing I noticed was the interesting paint style that many chose to renovate their half timbered houses, but I really liked the style.
At some point after my lunch break I cycled up a hill and was met with this beautiful scenery where I could see the Vosges mountains from a far.
For the evenig I was again lucky as one can be as the first farmer I asked wether I could set up my tent on his meadow not only said yes, but also invited me for dinner and provided me with a cold beer and a shower! It was a beautiful experience as my french was so rusty and he spoke no other language, the only support we had was his wife who knew 3 words of German. I felt again really greatful for the support and had my first night in my tent.
The next morning I got up a bit later as I still needed to get comfortable sleeping outside again, but I could start my day more relaxed as I am still in my introduction phase of these long trips.
Most of the day I spent cycling along a channel which has a long distance cycling trail right next to it, the Eurovelo 6 – a cycling highway one could say. There are quite a lot of cyclists around, also for long distances. It is nice to see so many people following that call for adventure.
And so it happened that I noticed an injury at my achilles tendon which got swollen, so I decided to stay right at the place I am at right now typing these words. Luckily I found a nice spot to set up my tent, I could take a swim close by and even found a small cottage where I could take some fresh water for my tea.
This beautiful being came to me after I took a swim and didn’t want to leave me. I needed to open my bag and it jumped on my finger. Sitting there it was very calm and when I wanted to change hands, it flew around me, kept flying around my head. It felt like a fairy wanted to tell me something, it was so sweet. It then went back on my bike and stayed there until late in the evening.
I hope I could take you along into my first days, I am sorry it is not more detailed, I am writing all of this on my smartphone after a long day of cycling. But it is great to have you all on my side and that makes it joyful to send some words and pictures.
If everything goes as planned, I will be in the Communaté de Taizé on Saturday and be there until Tuesday morning next week. I might only write to you after I was there.
Thanks for tuning in and have a good night.
