Taxman

If you are thinking of starting a cycling trip from Zurich airport think again.  As best I can tell, ALL the roads leading from Terminal 2 arrivals are motorways.  I enjoyed a happy half hour circling round the airport looking for a way out without success.  Eventually, to break out of my little Groundhog day, I hoofed it across a grass bank and over a railway track and I was free.

The Danube actually starts in Donaueshingen (Donaue is kraut for Danube, though why they can't use the proper name is beyond me) so I had a pleasant (though rather uphill) 50 miles and an early night ready for my new adventure.

Today was billed as 78 miles but I have finished with 85 on the clock.  Lovely scenery, almost entirely on cycle paths, but a good deal lumpier than I was promised.  The river runs through a gorge at the start and the path often climbs the sides a bit (would never happen in a beautiful British gorge!).  I was all done by 3pm in Riedlingen so I have tracked down the tasty beverage shop and am now rehydrating.

A comment about buying beer in krautland that I have been meaning to make: All beer comes with a recycling fee - for cans it is a wopping 25 cents and for glass bottles either 8 or 15 (no idea - it just seems to vary).  I believe you can take back the empties and get this credited against your shop but this is seldom convenient for a touring cyclist.  Since a beer can be had for as little as 50 cents if you shop around it is a pretty punitive tax on thirsty cyclists!

Time to pay some more tax.

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