To Mulhouse 223km

I had planned today's short day in recompense for my first 2. In touring circles doing 30k is spoken of in whispers. With little giggles as if you're doing something naughty. To Mulhouse is about 40. I felt rather risqué setting off. 

There are other thing tourists always say. Where are you from? Where did you come from today? How far was that? Where are you going? What's the surface like? They also like to talk about the weight of your gear. 

I digress. 

So. Packed up after yesterday's thunderstorm- in the rain and headed - with my Swiss francs - to Basel. That's out of France and into Switzerland. Keep track. I wandered around for a while and was generally underwhelmed. Seems most of the town is closed Monday mornings too. In the end I stopped for coffee and a sandwich which used up all my coins. There wasn't much else to see and I'm still nervy about leaving my bike with its fly by night lock so I headed off. 

That's out of Switzerland, over to Germany and then back into France. 

The route is quite simple. You sort of find then follow the canal. The views aren't spectacular but I'd kind of hoped the way would be easy. Comparatively it was I suppose but, good god what a slog. The wind was in my face. The view didn't change. It was slow and mundane. 

At last we turned a corner and things eased. Then it was straight on for Mulhouse. I'm camped at a sight south of the town and have availed myself of the very busy supermarket to buy a better lock. 

A border. Switzerland to Germany. 

The view for most of the day. 

For want of any other photos: camp. As you can see my bike is multi functional - today working as a clothes horse and umbrella stand.