Today’s 40km bike ride took us from Eglisau along the Rhein, across it into Germany at Kaiserstuhl where we continued on cycle paths until the next opportunity to cross back into Switzerland, available only for pedestrians and cyclists, at the Kraftwerk (power station) at Reckingen. Slightly bizarre, albeit quite practical, having a border crossing on a dam across the river.
Definitely a factor 50 sun cream day for me, I found some stretches in the blazing sun slightly too much, so I was glad whenever I found a spot in the shade where I could rest. Luckily, Switzerland has its fair share of trees, in fact almost one-third of the country is covered in forests, many of which have paths for walkers and cyclists to enjoy. I wish all countries could be this green, forests really are incredible places.
The highlights of today’s ride included cycling through the forests, picnicking next to The Rhein, seeing the charming town of Kaiserstuhl and passing a storks’ paradise at the end of the bike ride in Niederglatt. I wasn’t sure whether it was a shop selling storks’ nests or just someone who really loves storks and had built about twenty nests for these special birds. Just a usual Sunday bike ride in the local area but lovely, nonetheless.
Finally, I’ll also use this blog post to sing the praises of the Swiss rail company, the SBB. Return tickets are valid for 24hours so we were able to go to Eglisau for a Saturday night out at the Vivi Kola bar, return home at midnight and then go back the following morning for our bike trip. Swiss trains are clean, frequent and generally reliable. They even have designated carriages for bicycle users which makes it easy to transport bikes. At least it would be easy to do this if the doors to the bike carriage were not out of order. Unfortunately this was the case for us on both the outward and return trains. Slightly annoying but overall the Swiss transport system is brilliant and I’m sure the doors will be fixed soon.
Language tip
Today's tip is about idioms, those expressions that really capture the essence of something. Did you notice any idioms in the post? If so could you understand them?
This post includes the phrase ‘sing the praises’. Perhaps you can guess that this idiom means to show your strong support for something by telling others about it. Is there an equivalent in your language?
Idioms can be tricky to learn and use but they can also add character to language. Using too many can be counter-productive but if you’ve got some favourites that are easy to understand, why not try using them?
Do you want to get to grips with English idioms? How about reading more about them here?
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