After at least 6 days cycling along different canals, we decided to spend our last day in France, off the canal route and up in the hills – this was largely because Robin was bored of canal paths. About 25km into the day – we’d already climbed 2 hills and been through 3 small villages that were not used to cyclists – Robin declared that he missed the canal path. (Eye roll)

However, despite the stressful village cycling and the hills that were eating our already limited energy supply, we did enjoy watching the alpine scenery – big meadows and mountains to the north – Vosges and mountains to the south – Jura. And of course, the ever present, ever threatening rain clouds.

Another feature of this Alsace region is the mix of French and German languages. It seemed like suddenly the town names were in German but the road names in French. Of course, the region has a complicated history and has swapped between German and French states several times, before the present day borders set out in 1945. But is also has nice houses in typical alpine architecture, often complete with a low hanging roof and a massive pile of logs. The pile of logs outside houses has been something that has followed us all the way to Bavaria.

We came out of the mountains and joined the canal again for our final 30mins of cycling in France. But we did take a little rest when we joined the canal again. The sun was out at this time, and I was sleepy from the past nights of camping plus the cycling up hills – it is hard to cycle up hill on the tandem – it is heavy and we go slow. We power napped for 20mins and then set off again.

The canal path spat us out on the banks of the Rhine opposite Basel’s industrial port. We were greeted by a huge barge travelling down the Rhine, and left in no doubt that this was a river that fuelled industry (as most rivers do – but it’s a very different meeting of the Rhine than of the Danube – a later blog). We crossed the river via a suspension bridge, called out a farewell to France, and wheeled onto German soil for the first time in the trip. We then faced what felt like an obstacle course, to get onto the bridge that connected us to Switzerland, between cars, trams and tram tracks, border check booths – which we didn’t need, but some people did. Sometimes cars would drive in front of us, only to swerve to park in front of a border check booth, park the car and send someone out with documents to show the person at the window. Once on the bridge we had a cycle lane, we were passed by a couple of electric bikes that clearly knew where they were going, and once on the downhill we were in Switzerland.

3 countries in 30mins – France won the competition for best cycling infrastructure for that time.