Well we've finished. It’s been a success in both aspects of our goal:
Thanks to everyone’s generous and very much appreciated donations we have exceeded our target for Alzheimer’s Research Trust.
And, we have successfully cycled all 1,320km/820 mile length of the River Rhine, from Andermatt to between 6 July and 24 July 2010. Plus the additional and excruciating stretch from to our ferry terminal at Europort.
It has been an epic experience for us. Your generosity has been a huge motivation to us. We set off from on 4 July, arriving in on the 5 July, before boarding several trains that took us to Andermatt for 6 July.
We started cycling the same day as we arrived in Andermatt and almost instantly hit the foot of the climb to our first Alpine pass, the Oppelpass. This was not the only pass we had to climb to, but it was certainly not far behind the Kunkelpass as the hardest and most sapping of the passes. That first night we camped in the valley on the far side of the Oppelpass from Andermatt and breath-taking Alpine scenery set the precedent for the rest of our Swiss experience.
On the 9 July, we made it to the Bordersee and by midday on 10 July we were sitting in a central plaza café in , bikes chained to each other around a street lamp, covered by a parasol from the blazing sun that followed us for that first week and a bit, listening to a string quartet. We were joined in by Tony, a school-friend of dads.
For the next five days we were constantly crossing between and , before camping the night of 14 July in . Our one night in and by chance it was the 14July. We estimate we had accomplished 500km by in eight days. Slow progress, but we had climbed out of Alpes and had skirted the Bordersee – the most physically strenuous part of the tour. The following day ourselves and Tony said our farewells.
The Alpes were most naturally stunning sights along the Rhine, but the subsequent valley stretch between Basel and Bad Godesberg held some tremendous cultural sights – castles and fortified bergs that strewn the valley’s sides, the huge bridge tower at Worms, the small and narrow yet numerous wine-yards around Koblenz. And fortunately the sun stayed with us throughout this.
From Bad Godesberg until Millengen, just tucked inside the , our tour was dominated initially by urban and subsequently by vast industrial landscapes. To coincide with the increasing dominance of industrial-scapes, the weather began to show signs of turning and time began to slip away from us. Consequently, we were forced to put in several 100km days, including one 115km day, and finish our days later and later, we reached Millingen on 21 July after 10p.m.
However, once we had reached Millingen and although none of our time nor weather-related problems had faded we became increasingly confident on our bicycles. Partly the physical exhaustion that we had experienced, especially in the Alpine phases of the tour, had become bearable almost to the point of not noticing it. Partly, getting up (reasonably) early packing camp, packing and arranging our bicycles and climbing onto our bicycles for another day’s ride had become by this point our routine. Partly, the fading intensity of the suns breath was much welcomed and a cooling breeze (even if at times it blew against us) was occasionally needed.
From Millingen on we were, however, persuade by an increasingly overbearing tiredness. That took its physical presence in the coalescing and mounting rain clouds that from morning until dusk, and despite some very warm sunny spells, built up across the south and western parts of the sky.
The rain finally came down in torrential downpour just as we piled into Gorinchem, 23 July, on our penultimate day of the tour and last full days cycle ride. From there it was still a long cycle to Europort, made even harder by the knowledge that we had finished the official Rhine tour (that came to a conclusion at train station) we still had to make the Europort terminal in order to board our ferry back to . Which it turns out we did in plenty of time, but not without a lot of pessimism.
In total we estimate we covered 900miles in the eighteen days that separated our arriving in Andermatt on 6 July and departing Europort, , on 24 July. By contrast the train journey between and Andermatt had taken sixteen hours.
Thank you so much for everyone whose generosity has helped us achieve our modest, but significant target. It has hugely appreciated! Thank you.
Kind Regards and many thanks,
Michael, Jonathan, Richard and Andrew West
