Click here for the photos (sorry I've not had time to link them up!)
Click here for our route
August 7th
This morning we got up early for coffee and showers before leaving the campsite (and neighbouring donkeys) behind in favour of the town of Lindau. We parked close to the railway station, got out our bikes and cycled the small distance to the town.
Lindau is a tiny island in Lake Bodensee, which is joined to the mainland by a bridge for vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians. The town is a wonder of varied architecture from the 13th century Mang Tower, or "Old Lighthouse", to the New Lighthouse and Bavarian Lion which guard the harbour and where built in the 19th Century. The main street (Maximillianstrasse) we buzzing with stalls and in the air the local Zeppelin floated calmly overhead. Finally the weather was on our side and the bright sunlight brought out all the colour in this vibrant little isle. Even the New Lighthouse had a smiley face!
The main government buildings such as the Old town hall and Railway Station were wonderfully ornate and beautifully decorated, the old town hall in particular, with it's mural paintings based on sketches by Munich painter Josef Wildmann. Even town houses, formerly owned by wealthy merchants, were getting in on the act.
The view from the harbour deserves a mention too as from here you can see Bregenz, in Austria, and it's surrounding forests as well as the Rhine valley in Switzerland. With the sun reflecting off the lake it was spectacular.
We stopped for a picnic on the lake walls before again taking to our bicycles and hitting a cycle route which passed the van. Next we went to go to the nature reserve which was a stone's throw from the van but because of the amount of rain we had had in the area lately Lake Bodensee had risen considerably which meant most of it was now under water!
So, next, we decided to cycle around the lake. It's worth noting at this point that cycling is more than a hobby over here, it's a way of life. Cycling here is like being in the Tour de France. There are cycle lanes to take you anywhere you want to go and the cycle lanes in Belgium, Holland and France, Luxembourg (and beyond I'm sure) all link up. We saw a lot of families with camping equipment on their backs bombing around on slick-looking racers and mountain bikes. We got a lot of smiles and curious expressions as they saw us with Nailz running full tilt alongside them.
During the cycle we came across an interesting feature which was a pillar with all kinds of information on it such as the temperature, humidity, distance to capitols (851Km to London), where it was midday and much more besides. It also showed the height of the lake since 1817, which showed that there had not been much change. No global warming here then.
The cycle route took us into the Austrian town of Bregnez, which we had been looking at from across the water earlier in the day from Lindau, about 8 Km away. Here we found a lovely park over looking the Lake and parked the bikes to have a look around.
The first thing we really noticed was what looked like a large broken sculpture a little way off. We made our way there through the park to find a semi-stadium which surrounded a large stage which was actually on the water. Here, and what we thought to be the broken statue, was an intricate stage for an opera on the water. The set looked like a broken Statue of Liberty with a golden elephant for good measure. We had arrived just as they were performing some tests and we got to see how the stage was going to move during the performance, for instance the torch would rise from and fall back into the water and the face of the statue would split in two and be lifted by two cranes. We were told this was the biggest stage on water in the world, and it did look impressive but we decided to carry on exploring.
As we were looking around the town of Bregenz we spotted the top of a bulbous tower over top of the town houses, so we made our way up a steep slope of cobble streets, under an archway (with portcullis) and into Bregenz-Oberstadt. This was the walled old-town of Bregnez and every street was made up of wonderfully quaint houses, often with detailed murals adorning the walls. We found the church of Martinsturm which, in keeping with the area, was a lovely church with a bulbous tower. Walking back through the new town I spotted this terrible advertisement for health and safety in the workplace.
We got back on our bicycles and with a slightly weary Nailz by our side set off for Germany and the comfort of our van. It had a been a long and tiring, but rewarding day. The sun shining had been a real treat after the rain we had had recently and to be able to cycle to another country on great cycle paths, enjoying the sights along the way was tremendous fun and now our bed was calling.
Click here for our route
August 7th
This morning we got up early for coffee and showers before leaving the campsite (and neighbouring donkeys) behind in favour of the town of Lindau. We parked close to the railway station, got out our bikes and cycled the small distance to the town.
Lindau is a tiny island in Lake Bodensee, which is joined to the mainland by a bridge for vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians. The town is a wonder of varied architecture from the 13th century Mang Tower, or "Old Lighthouse", to the New Lighthouse and Bavarian Lion which guard the harbour and where built in the 19th Century. The main street (Maximillianstrasse) we buzzing with stalls and in the air the local Zeppelin floated calmly overhead. Finally the weather was on our side and the bright sunlight brought out all the colour in this vibrant little isle. Even the New Lighthouse had a smiley face!
The main government buildings such as the Old town hall and Railway Station were wonderfully ornate and beautifully decorated, the old town hall in particular, with it's mural paintings based on sketches by Munich painter Josef Wildmann. Even town houses, formerly owned by wealthy merchants, were getting in on the act.
The view from the harbour deserves a mention too as from here you can see Bregenz, in Austria, and it's surrounding forests as well as the Rhine valley in Switzerland. With the sun reflecting off the lake it was spectacular.
We stopped for a picnic on the lake walls before again taking to our bicycles and hitting a cycle route which passed the van. Next we went to go to the nature reserve which was a stone's throw from the van but because of the amount of rain we had had in the area lately Lake Bodensee had risen considerably which meant most of it was now under water!
So, next, we decided to cycle around the lake. It's worth noting at this point that cycling is more than a hobby over here, it's a way of life. Cycling here is like being in the Tour de France. There are cycle lanes to take you anywhere you want to go and the cycle lanes in Belgium, Holland and France, Luxembourg (and beyond I'm sure) all link up. We saw a lot of families with camping equipment on their backs bombing around on slick-looking racers and mountain bikes. We got a lot of smiles and curious expressions as they saw us with Nailz running full tilt alongside them.
During the cycle we came across an interesting feature which was a pillar with all kinds of information on it such as the temperature, humidity, distance to capitols (851Km to London), where it was midday and much more besides. It also showed the height of the lake since 1817, which showed that there had not been much change. No global warming here then.
The cycle route took us into the Austrian town of Bregnez, which we had been looking at from across the water earlier in the day from Lindau, about 8 Km away. Here we found a lovely park over looking the Lake and parked the bikes to have a look around.
The first thing we really noticed was what looked like a large broken sculpture a little way off. We made our way there through the park to find a semi-stadium which surrounded a large stage which was actually on the water. Here, and what we thought to be the broken statue, was an intricate stage for an opera on the water. The set looked like a broken Statue of Liberty with a golden elephant for good measure. We had arrived just as they were performing some tests and we got to see how the stage was going to move during the performance, for instance the torch would rise from and fall back into the water and the face of the statue would split in two and be lifted by two cranes. We were told this was the biggest stage on water in the world, and it did look impressive but we decided to carry on exploring.
As we were looking around the town of Bregenz we spotted the top of a bulbous tower over top of the town houses, so we made our way up a steep slope of cobble streets, under an archway (with portcullis) and into Bregenz-Oberstadt. This was the walled old-town of Bregnez and every street was made up of wonderfully quaint houses, often with detailed murals adorning the walls. We found the church of Martinsturm which, in keeping with the area, was a lovely church with a bulbous tower. Walking back through the new town I spotted this terrible advertisement for health and safety in the workplace.
We got back on our bicycles and with a slightly weary Nailz by our side set off for Germany and the comfort of our van. It had a been a long and tiring, but rewarding day. The sun shining had been a real treat after the rain we had had recently and to be able to cycle to another country on great cycle paths, enjoying the sights along the way was tremendous fun and now our bed was calling.
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