Slow and Easy to Solothurn

To Solothurn, Switzerland -- 41.3 miles, 12.4 mph, 625 ft

We awoke to cloudy skies this morning, the rumble of thunder having lulled us to sleep the night before. The prospect of a wet day was not terribly motivating. Still, we were packed and ready to go by 9:45.  Meg invested $28 in eleven of the incredibly tasty ham and cheese croissants from the on-site bakery. Given the price of restaurant food, we figured that was a bargain.

Today's route paralleled the Jura mountains to the north and a couple large lakes (Neuchatel and Bielersee) to the south.  With no hills or major route disruptions, the miles quickly passed behind us. By noon we were over halfway and found a nice grassy park at the end of Bielersee Lake. We even scored a table outside a closed restaurant. Dex and Kylie had a serious discussion regarding their next Minecraft creations and later tried out the fancy inclined lazy Susan at the playground.

The rest of the day flew by under cloudy but dry skies with light pedaling and smooth roads. The hundreds of well-marked bike paths in Switzerland has made it absolutely spectacular for biking.

A few days ago, we had arranged another WarmShowers stay for the evening. Since our host, Michael, would not be home from work until 5:00, we were in the unusual situation of having two and a half hours to fritter away. We pulled to a stop near some open-air restaurants in town deciding what to do when we were approached by a woman inquiring whether we were staying in town for the night. Turns out, she was Michael’s wife and surmised we were the evening’s guests. Guess there aren't too many English speaking families of four biking through town. 

We offered to pick up food for dinner and agreed to meet her (Ruth) and Michael after 5:00. Google helped us find the nearest Coop supermarket, our new favorite food store, though first, we needed some gelato to boost our energy reserves. 

We met Ruth and Michael as planned. They seemed genuinely pleased to have Dex and Kylie around, who are similar in age to a couple of their five grandchildren (a sixth on the way). Ruth shared pictures with Meg of their eminently practical wedding six years ago -- they combined the wedding ceremony with their move across the road to their new home together. Meanwhile, Michael showed me the route he had just completed on his beloved recumbent bike from Switzerland to the Baltic Sea. A software engineer for the railway system, Michael also explained the details of Open Street Map -- an open source, on-line map editable by anyone (similar to Wikipedia). Most importantly, he showed me how to use it to find all the recognized bike routes in Europe! Totally awesome (cycling.waymarkedtrails.org).

Ruth and Michael were absolutely fantastic. It was a real treat for us to be in their beautiful flat while enjoying a home cooked meal and their wonderful company for the evening as the kids played with the games and puzzles normally reserved for their grandchildren. Thank you, Ruth and Michael.