A short train journey and I arrive into Stuttgart. I was suggested a couple of museums to attend. Namely the Mercedes car museum; unfortunately I chose not to do this but a bit more admin. I had tax returns and paperwork to do. You can never really leave life behind!
However, my visit to Stuttgart was to meet my friend Christina and her partner Jan. I met Christina whilst working in Denmark and hadn’t met for over 3 or 4 years. It was nice to see how they were getting on and their plans for the future. The final night before I left for Switzerland and them off towards the Austrian mountains, they took me to the local restaurant. It happened to be located at the bottom of the apartment block.
The lady who runs the restaurant has been working there since the age of 12. I feel much has not changed in that time. I had a mixture of two local Franconian dishes and both were delicious. The restaurant had this beautiful old décor reminding me of the old pubs you find in the UK countryside. The only new decorations are provided by the chef. It is the central hub for all the gossip in the area because everyone comes through the restaurant.
Setting off towards Montreux
The next day saw me setting off on a 7 day journey through Southern Germany and Switzerland, this would average 65km a day. This should give loads of time to stop and look and just generally chill. I decided to use campsites as well, the rules were a bit mixed on wild camping and with the heat I wanted a shower each night! The budget would need to be tightened though, especially considering the costs in Switzerland.
The route starts following the river Neckar out and round Stuttgart, this avoids some pretty nasty hills to the South. Been a while since I had challenging hills, namely South West England! Only having to do 64km average per day I can take the journey at a more relaxed pace and it starts to feel a bit like a journey and not jumping from location to location.
After crossing over to Switzerland I was initially surprised to find a campsite at only 11 CHF and I started to think my worries about costs in Switzerland were over stated. The next day I had a shock that my campsite would cost 34 CHF! Ahhh, that was the Switzerland I was warned about. Well I’m only here once I thought to myself. I’ll do a bit more research for the next campsite. It was a lovely campsite just not worth 34!
But even just getting the bits I need for food from the local supermarkets were expensive. However you can see where the money goes. Good infrastructure, maintained cycle routes and happy people! My last campsite was a bit of a disappointment versus all the others, still expensive at 17.50 CHF but not as good as the first at 11 CHF!
However, the next day I get to meet my uncle Adam’s family who I am staying with for a few days and then my friend Dan, who moved here from the UK and I was always wanting to visit.