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Published: June 28th 2017
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We woke to steady rain as forecast but by 9am it was starting to clear a little. We set off with coats on but they were soon shed and the rest of the day was overcast and warm, but not hot.
The first part of the morning hugged the coast then through many kilometres of vineyards and wineries. It seems that many of the old castles or monasteries have become wineries or schools. Our first stop was at Meersburg for a coffee and general mooch around. It was similar to many of the lovely towns along the way except it has a castle above the town and many fine buildings.
Further on are the historic stilt houses of Uhdingen but we didn't visit as we'd seen something similar in Italy before.
We bought our favourite TTATs lunch of a banana enclosed in a warm bread roll and set off for Friedrichshafen where the path now followed the main road. This is not so nice and is very noisey. Arriving in Friedrichshafen we found a lovely promenade and park by the lake front to have our lunch. Where there are many pedestrians, bikes are banned but it is okay
Looks like a maypole but isn't
The model shows the many different crafts performed by citizens over the years. It is topped by a garland and a garden of begonias at the foot. to push the bike and sit along the waterfront. This town is renowned for it's Zeppelin Aircraft Museum which we had visited a few years ago. It is well worth a visit to follow the history of zeppelins back to WW1 and if you have the money you can go up in one. It also has some nice historic buildings and one of the longest promenades on the lake of Bodensee.
After Friedrichshafen we biked next to the railway for many kilometres through cropping farms and allotments between the trail and the railway. Some people have put in an amazing effort to their vegey gardens which are only about 5 metres wide and maybe 10m long.
Our next stop was at Langenargen with it's castle/watch tower right on the water front and another nice promenade. It also has a small bridge which the San Franciscan harbour bridge is supposedly based on. Finally on towards Kressbronn where our next hotel is at a yacht harbour - called the Yachthotel (what else?) Maybe the setting is great for yachtees but I'm less than impressed. The whole area has been developed as a huge yacht harbour with working areas and a
A sea of masts at the yacht harbour
This is only a fraction of those in the harbour beside the hotel not far from Kressbronn camping ground nearby. There are hundreds of yachts and the harbour right by the hotel is a sea of masts. It feels and looks industrial and the hotel building looks cheap. I guess it's been built to look marine but it certainly does not have any charm at all. The interior is very plain and functional and not at all what I would expect for a Category A accomodation for this trip. Add to that, that bike groups seem to get allocated room with the worst views and ours looks over the car parking area. It's okay but not indicative of what we've experienced so far.
We had a spectacular finish to the day. While we sat outside waiting for our dinner all was calm. Then a breeze got up. Then the wind got up. The masts on all the yachts started to hum,, the water was disturbed and the boats rocked, the trees waved about. The skies turned black and lightning spread across the sky. Thunder rolled and crashed around the area. It was one strange and eerie experience and only later did the rain arrive.
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